Domestic Science

I don't care what the weatherman says...

…It might be raining a hailstorm out there, but I am too busy in the kitchen to notice.  After a quick trip into Crouch End for some essential ingredients, I’ve been hard at work.

First up was the ceremonial Starting of the Homebrew.  The Other Half has invested in a complete kit to make 40 pints of Woodford Wherry, and we got it going this morning.  Should be ready for Christmas. 

Next up: mincemeat.  Suddenly realised that it wasn’t that far off until Christmas and I had no mincemeat at all, as I used up all the old stuff in fruitcakes.  So there is a large tray of fruit and spices cooking slowly in the oven.  I follow the recipe from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course, though I exercise a fair bit of latitude as to the actual fruit involved.  I like sultanas, raisins, figs, dates, and no candied peel whatsoever.  I also add any odds and ends lurking in the cupboard, which this year involved a few organic apricots and a packet of dried cranberries that came free with an Ocado delivery; I am sure the lady who introduced Cranberry mania to the British would approve.  That’s got another 2 hours to go before I add the rum and bottle it.  I put the fruit for the Christmas cake to soak at the same time and I’ll make that tomorrow. 

Then there was the tomato plants.  The last fruits are never going to ripen, so I gave in and made chutney.  Fortunately I had a punnet of ripe tomatoes from the veg box, and another punnet of ripe-ish ones that I picked last week and have been ripening indoors, so its going to be a nice red colour and definitely different to the dark sticky chutney we already have from the big bag of green tomatoes our friends gave us this time last year.  Not that I am knocking the traditional dark chutney, but the donors of last year’s green tomatoes also gave us a jar of  amazing red tomato relish and I am trying to replicate that.

I am running out of bacon, so I bought a slab of belly pork this morning and that is now dry-curing in the fridge.  Can’t wait till it’s ready and I can try out the new hand-cranked slicer (just like my Mum’s) that I bought on eBay a while back.  The nice butcher boned the pork for me, and the bones are now in the slowcooker with some lamb bones I had stashed in the freezer, making stock.  I roasted them first, and added some instant veg stock so it should be nice and tasty.

We also had a milk glut.  I haven’t been eating enough porridge, I think that’s the problem.  So I am making English muffins, and also broccoli, cauliflower and Stilton soup.  Both use up milk, and the soup not only deals with the chunk of Stilton lurking in the fridge, but also the problem that this week’s box had both broccoli and cauliflower AGAIN!  And the Other Half won’t eat either of them. 

I wanted to bottle my latest batch of ginger beer too, but I can’t as I have run out of large saucepans to mix it in.  So that will have to wait until tomorrow; I can do it while I am baking the Christmas cake.   I’ll also be slow-cooking a pheasant, as they had them on offer at 3 for £10 at my butchers.  Such good value. 

But that is tomorrow’s work; for now, I am frankly exhausted so I am just going to sit here and knit, while my chutney reduces, and look forward to the ribeye I bought as a treat for our dinner.

'Tis (almost) the season to be jolly

November.  Time to make mincemeat. 

Last year I read an article in Good Housekeeping UK, all about buying in your Christmas feast from the supermarket.  Their staff had conducted an exhaustive review of ready made seasonal delicacies, and provided the harassed housewife with a shopping list for the the ready-made Christmas.  Unfortunately, to acquire the proposed menu, you would have had to visit around seven different supermarkets.  I prefer to stay at home and peel my own spuds.  Or at least, make my own mincemeat, which is the easiest part of the whole Christmas shindig. 

For enough mincemeat to last me through the 12 days of Christmas, I loosely follow the gospel according to St Delia.  I peel, core and chop 3 large cooking apples.  I put them in a large pot with a packet of suet (the standard Atora size, I think its about 250g or so) - I generally go for the vegetarian stuff in case people are awkward.  I add about 3005 soft brown sugar, about a 1 1/4 kilos of dried fruit (sultanas, raisins and dried figs are my preferred mix), and a small packet of flaked almonds.  I add zest and juice of 2 lemons and 2 oranges and 4 teaspoons of ground mixed spice, stir the whole thing up, cover and leave over night. 

The next day, I put it in a low oven (still covered) for about 2 hours to melt the sugar and suet.  Finally, I stir in a large slug of brandy and pack into clean jars.  It stores for  ages, and will certainly keep until Christmas.