Christmas Cake/Pudding/Ham bake/steam/roast-a-long 2023 edition
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Our outside lights went up at the weekend too. Quite a lot of houses round here seem to be doing it earlier than usual so we thought we'd get in to the spirit of things, given how utterly fucking shit the rest of the year has been.
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I think there's been a push from mental health charities to go early, or at least I'm sure I read that somewhere. Quite right too. Ours all went up yesterday. -
Mincemeat this Friday and decorating/ first batch of pies on Saturday.
Decorations are slowly appearing around our way but I really like keeping Christmas to December, though I've given into the Christmas retail mania and bought some new lights and decorations. Taken a day off this week as well to get the last presents in, and then that's it.PSN : time_on_my_hands -
It is a bit early but December is tomorrow - so not much of a stretch. Next weekend is a crunch one for daughter #1 as she has a lot of work to get sorted the following week for her course (final year). I reckoned she wouldn't have been in the mood and we thought the week after that would be pretty late so we went for it.
NI is in lockdown this week and next week so trad shopping is pretty much out...Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
I'm glad UK lockdown ends this week. I'm going to get to the shops on Thursday - hopefully they won't be stupidly crowded. I hate ordering small stuff like stocking-fillers online.PSN : time_on_my_hands
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Hate to be pedantic but NI is UK as well...we will still be in lockdown.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009.
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Shops are still open in Scotland too, which is, for now at least, also part of the UK.
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Alright... Jeez.
(uppity provincial colonies...)PSN : time_on_my_hands -
Heh..
Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
What are good Christmas ham recipes? I've never had one, and my roommate asked if we could have one this year (he also asked for a turkey for Thanksgiving, which I agreed to as well, and then we just left him to go on a week long road trip). -
@Nina - there are a few examples of hams in the earlier posts of this thread as far as I remember..Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009.
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One from me from back in 2012!
GooberTheHat wrote:Operation Christmas ham now under way. Before the oven. Celery, a leek, pepper corns, thyme, bay leaves, cloves, orange peel and an onion (not actually in the pic, I forgot and had to put it in later), and tha brown stuff is black treacle, I couldn't find molasses.
That's in the oven now waiting for it marinade, below. All this blended up (the edible bits anyway) 
makes this rather unappetising but fantastically pungent and powerful sludge. 
 Sorry for the picture quality, taken on my crappy camera phone. Will update with more pictures later.GooberTheHat wrote:I used black treacle in the poaching liquid so hopefully that flavour has permeated throughout the ham. I'm not going to use any mustard in the glaze as I've got lots of chilli in the marinade so I reckon it would be too spicy. I am going to make a glaze out of orange juice, brown sugar and rum.GooberTheHat wrote:Operation Christmas Ham phase 2 It has marinated in the fridge for 24 hours now. I scraped of the excess marinade, studded with cloves and added the glaze, basting every 5 minutes for about half an hour.
The juices you can see in the foil almost were not there. After finishing off the glazing there was a lot of left over juice in the pan and I was going to pour it away until I tasted it. It was amazing, sweet, spicy, sticky, gorgeous. So after persuasion from the wife I poured it all over the ham and this was the result. -
That looks delicious Goober, will probably go for something easier first time. Honey / mustard seems to be the default, but I like your cloves and orange peel, so have to see what I can find online. Never made a ham so no idea yet how the oven will handle it. Was thinking of maybe trying to bbq it, but I'm not good enough yet at keeping the bbq at temp for a long time.
Gonna make worstenbroodjes this week (it's similar to a sausage roll, but more with a bread coat instead of the flaky dough) and freeze some for Christmas breakfasts. B's mom always made them, and they are one of the things that are from the area he was born and grew up (Brabant).
We don't really have any Christmas traditions, so it's hard to figure out what to make, will probably make the stollen again.
Guess mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts or something to go with the ham? I'm still not sure how to eat the ham tbh. Do you slice it up really thinly, or cube it? -
Ham is normally sliced. Thickness is purely personal taste but it tends not to be very thin.
Roast and/or mashed potatoes is traditional. Sprouts and carrots (quite often in batons) too. Sprouts in particular will go well with it.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
Ahh ham... can't wait to cook my ham. Going honey and mustard... Goober's looks amazing, but I'm happy with simple H&M, especially after a few days and that sweet coating has had time to mature.
Thickness depends on usage. With bubble and squeak a day or three after Christmas then thin it is. For breakfast with fried eggs on top it's about the thickness of a pound coin. Can't beat ham and eggs post-Christmas breakfast. With a cheeky mimosa. -
Had to look up bubble and squeak. Apparently people also search for "toad in the hole", "faggot", "spotted dick" and "bangers and mash". You definitely have some weird food habits on your islands there.
Only know ham as the really thin slices for sandwiches. Or wraps if that's more your thing. So I appreciate the slicing tips. -
I tend to have the ham on Christmas eve as part of a buffet, sliced fairly thin (thicker than sandwich ham, but not as thick as a pound coin) and served with pickles, chutney and cheese etc.
The left overs tend to get used up on boxing day for breakfast with bubble and squeak and fried eggs, and for supper with chips and pickles again. -
Oh that's actually a really good idea. Was gonna grab some nice cheeses anyway, nothing in my brain linked that to the ham yet.GooberTheHat wrote:I tend to have the ham on Christmas eve as part of a buffet, sliced fairly thin (thicker than sandwich ham, but not as thick as a pound coin) and served with pickles, chutney and cheese etc.
Current plan is going out on Christmas Eve, drive-in shows Gremlins and I've never seen that.
Christmas morning have the worstenbroodjes and open Secret Santa at some point, prepare ham, make stollen, have ham, mashed potatoes and sprouts for Christmas Day.
Then next day we'll have ham, stollen, cheeses, was gonna make mulled wine as well as I've never had that and Cinty was talking about it in discord. Will also grab limes for dark 'n stormys and can use the wine oranges for old fashioneds as well. Have enough ginger beer soda's to also make kentucky mules.
Doesn't sound that bad in the end. -
Gremlins is one of the all-time greatest ever Christmas movies, so you're in for a real treat Nina.Come with g if you want to live... -
Yeah the drive-in has been a good way to get out of the house this year, have caught up with a lot of things I hadn't seen before. I've never really understood what kinda film Gremlins is (all those people saying they're still scared of it, is that because childhood memories or is it actually still scary?) so will be good to figure that out.
@Goober, I was looking in my 3 good things book, and they mention a ham, squash, marmalade dish which also sounds really nice and could go well with the buffet. It basically uses the marmalade and (ham) water as a glaze when roasting bits of ham and squash.
Jamie Oliver also has a roasted ham with marmelade on his youtube, looks really tasty. -
I wouldn't say Gremlins is scary...unless maybe you're a small child when you see it. It's just awesome.Come with g if you want to live...
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It's got some jump scares but it's a comedy. It's scary like a roller-coaster is scary.
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Ham is cooked. Now the tricky bit. Waiting for it to cool before the first cut.
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OH MY!Come with g if you want to live...
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A first quick taste and it’s all good. First real cut will be for breakfast. Cold ham with fried eggs on top. Can’t be beat.
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Splendid.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009.
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Picture of the remains......forgot to take one on the day!!
Tasted great. Microwaving a portion at 600w for a couple of minutes makes it taste almost as good as on the day. And as I have discovered, a home made pudding isn't stodgy as bought ones can be. Is quite light. Tangy.
I flamed it with Brandy and just poured some cream on it. Splendid.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
Looks superb mate! Come with g if you want to live...
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Stir up Sunday is the 21st Nov this year.
Doing a pudding and a cake.
Get your bowls out peeps!Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009.
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