Winter festival preparations

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Beekissed

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #30 on: December 02, 2015, 22:55 »
Can you guys tell me about these puddings and cakes you make weeks before you are going to serve them?  I've never heard of such a thing and am quite curious...are these desserts or some kind of cured meat based foods?   

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Mrs Bee

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #31 on: December 02, 2015, 23:14 »
They are desserts.

Christmas puddings are made from butter, sugar, dried fruits, flour with beer. You mix it all up and put in a pudding cloth or basin and boil or steam for several hours. the longer you steam it the darker and richer it becomes.

 You can do this up to a year ahead and leave it to mature, or make it a month or two before Christmas. They keep well in a cool place for a long time. My pudding for this year was made a year ago. I will re boil the pudding in the basin, tip it on to a plate, pour warm brandy or rum over it, set the alcohol alight and take it to the table to be eaten as the dessert course. Served with a rum sauce or cream. Some people serve it with brandy butter, but I find that far too rich.

Christmas cakes are very rich fruit cakes that you can make up to a year in advance, keep in a tin and feed them. Feed them with a rum or brandy to make them rich and alcoholic. You then cover them in marzipan and icing with Christmassy decorations which you can make with icing or buy ready made ones, and have it for tea after your cold meat and pickles on Christmas day or boxing day.

Do you know about Chocolate logs and trifle?

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Beekissed

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #32 on: December 03, 2015, 02:52 »
I sure don't!  Tell me about those? 

Thanks for the explanation....it's hard to imagine and I'm thinking one would have to see and taste such things to understand the texture, taste and why they are made so far in advance.  The only thing we have that may be similar would be fruit cakes, but I don't know of anyone who likes them...very dense, cloyingly sweet and with weird cherries that no longer resemble cherries on them and they don't seem to have an expiration date on them.  They used to be a popular holiday item to gift to others but I haven't seen one since I was young.

Over here a pudding is usually a custard type dessert made with milk and must be kept in refrigeration or it will spoil.  Best if eaten cool and fresh.  Our cakes are also a dessert and usually best if eaten fresh baked, as they get dry and crumbly if left too long.   

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New shoot

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #33 on: December 03, 2015, 08:22 »
Christmas cakes and puddings are mostly dried fruit, nuts, spice and alcohol Beekissed. The flour and eggs part of the batter is just there to hold the rest together.  They are very rich and dark, but not overly sweet.

We have custard based desserts as well.  Trifle is a layered dessert in a bowl.  It has sponge cake in the base, soaked in alcohol and with jam, fruit or jelly.  Then comes a layer of custard and finally whipped cream, topped with flaked almonds or sprinkles or more fruit.  There are any number of variations on a theme for it, but it is a Christmas classic over here.

Chocolate log is a chocolate flavoured rolled sponge cake, cut and shaped and decorated to look like a wood log.  It is a reference to the old tradition over here of bringing a yule log into the house to burn in the hearth over the Christmas period. 

What do you have over there as traditional Christmas desserts ?
« Last Edit: December 03, 2015, 08:23 by New shoot »

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Mrs Bee

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #34 on: December 03, 2015, 14:43 »
There is nothing lovelier than a trifle although I would say that trifle with jelly is, IMHO, a travesty not a true trifle. ::)

And the custard should be an egg based custard, not the powder variety.
And after eating a real trifle you really should get a cab home.

Do you have mince pies where you are?


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tosca100

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #35 on: December 03, 2015, 17:13 »
I agree Mrs Bee....absolutely no jelly and proper vanilla egg custard. I also like it on day two when everything melds....if there's any left of course. :lol:

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surbie100

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #36 on: December 03, 2015, 18:20 »
Am really looking forward to making trifle with my own raspberries this year.

As to the jelly/no jelly debate - have what you fancy. I personally prefer no jelly and plenty of booze.

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Mrs Bee

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #37 on: December 03, 2015, 18:23 »
I agree Mrs Bee....absolutely no jelly and proper vanilla egg custard. I also like it on day two when everything melds....if there's any left of course. :lol:

Left over trifle in my house. Errr that is an interesting concept.  Not one I am familiar with however. :closedeyes:

I only make trifle when there are enough people to eat it in one sitting. Trifle is my very great weakness along with Amaretto coffee, or Tia Maria coffee or indeed any coffee with some alcohol and cream floating on the top.  :lol:

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Beekissed

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #38 on: December 03, 2015, 22:56 »
Christmas cakes and puddings are mostly dried fruit, nuts, spice and alcohol Beekissed. The flour and eggs part of the batter is just there to hold the rest together.  They are very rich and dark, but not overly sweet.

We have custard based desserts as well.  Trifle is a layered dessert in a bowl.  It has sponge cake in the base, soaked in alcohol and with jam, fruit or jelly.  Then comes a layer of custard and finally whipped cream, topped with flaked almonds or sprinkles or more fruit.  There are any number of variations on a theme for it, but it is a Christmas classic over here.

Chocolate log is a chocolate flavoured rolled sponge cake, cut and shaped and decorated to look like a wood log.  It is a reference to the old tradition over here of bringing a yule log into the house to burn in the hearth over the Christmas period. 

What do you have over there as traditional Christmas desserts ?

You folks really like your alcohol!    :lol:   I don't really know of any one dessert that is most likely served for Christmas, to be honest.  But then, I'm probably not one to ask...we've never been traditional, nor followed the usual traditions for holidays. 

I've seen other people's Christmas dinners over the years and can't really say I saw anything specific turn up over and over at the various, different Christmas meals as a particular "Christmas dessert".   Usually it has very much to do with the individual family, region or culture in which they were raised and America is the melting pot, so it has a lot of variety in that regard. 

I watched a YT vid last night of what Irish people thought about American Thanksgiving food and I have never eaten a single dish they served on that vid....and most of the people commenting from the US hadn't either.  Don't know who put that vid together but that's not typical Thanksgiving fare, for sure. 

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hamstergbert

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #39 on: December 04, 2015, 22:09 »
Although a proper Christmas cake does have at least a teensy smidgin of alcohol, in my estimation what it absolutely must have to be the genuine article is a wedge of Wensleydale cheese alongside it, the crumbly texture and milky colour of the cheese acting as the perfect foil to the rich heavy darkness of the cake.  (To really push the boat out, better than Wensleydale is Coverdale but rather hard to find the real thing.  To get the idea of Coverdale, think spirit of buttercups as cheese eaten on a hill in green dales country....)

Oh, and an open fire and a belt with lots of spare notches.....
The Dales - probably fingerprint marks where God's hand touched the world

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tosca100

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #40 on: December 05, 2015, 03:02 »
Oh if only I could get Wensleydale! I will have to make do with Cheshire from the freezer (far too crumbly but needs must) Like it with mince pies....and apple pies too. Can't get cream here.

Might try our own goats cheese though.

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snowdrops

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #41 on: December 05, 2015, 08:29 »
When I used to make a Christmas cake I only put extra brandy on as it cooled,then it was wrapped up when cold to wait to be decorated with fruit & nuts on Christmas Eve. I don't like icing,I don't make one now as there's only me that eats it & I don't need the calories😒
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Mrs Bee

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #42 on: December 05, 2015, 08:43 »
We don't like icing either so I make a collar of marzipan, which we do like, and top with glace fruit and nuts.

Although I am going to do something different this year as I got a really cute Santa and sleigh and snowman to go on the cake so I am going to cover the cake in marzipan, roll out a really thin circle of icing for the snow for the top and then use a cake frill for the outside.

I am doing a lot of things differently this year, since the arrival of Louisa. We used to have the white, sparkly theme with Christmas but small children love bright colours so we are going back to crimson, green and gold and cute decorations on the Christmas cake.

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New shoot

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #43 on: December 10, 2015, 08:56 »
I had a flurry of activity last night and was in the kitchen until about 10pm. 

Gooseberry gin and quince brandy were strained and bottled.  The fermented raspberry wine concentrate was mixed with vodka for the raspberry vodka.  I made some marron glace and am halfway through making candied orange peels.

The quince brandy just needed a little sweetening and the leftover syrup from the marron glace was perfect.  Just a couple of spoonful's per bottle and it was transformed.  The quince flavour seems stronger somehow and the drink is far more rounded.  I also have a small bottle of vanilla and chestnut flavoured syrup for other uses.  It is too good to throw away.  In addition, I have a small bag of gin soaked gooseberries in the freezer which are dynamite.  Not sure what to do with them but again, way too good to waste.  The quince was less appetising and was ditched as it had gone a bit sludgy coloured. 

We may not have any actual real food in yet, but I am getting there with the pressies  :)

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Mrs Bee

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Re: Winter festival preparations
« Reply #44 on: December 10, 2015, 14:24 »
Can I come and stop with you New Shoot?  All those lovely gourmet treats and I wouldn't need to set foot in my kitchen. :D

I seem to have been at it not stop.

I have done the white chocolate, raspberry and brandied cherry truffles, the hazelnut truffles, sundried tomato and cheese biscotti, baguettes, seeded rye bread cut into trees, stars and holly leaves to go with the home smoked salmon and tuna and the hot smoked duck for DIL who doesn't like fish. Oh and the almond Christmas stars to go in the hampers with the biscotti.

I have white chocolate snowball bombes for my nephew, have trialled and come up with an acceptable trifle substitute for  the slimmer's world and diabetic bods, a slimmer's world  chocolate log with banana ice cream and one with cherry ice cream.

We have raisin and rosemary bread, walnut bread and baguettes to turn in to crostini with the cheese, wholemeal cheese bread and the sour dough starters for Casalingua, and German rye bread.

I am just having a break before parcelling up my brown quince from the quince vodka, will add that to apple tarts and crumbles, bottling the quince vodka, finishing the Arancello and straining the crème de cacoa, spiced rum, cassis and coffee vodka.

Cheese is ordered as is the beef and the turkey and the gammon has been soaked and is in the smoker for an extra smoke before being shoved in the freezer. Have some olives and pickled garlic in the smoker too.

The to do list is getting smaller, just the stolen, Dutch apple ring, and Mr Bee's vanilla ice cream and the Christmas cake to decorate and then I think I can sit down for a bit. ::) And finish the tree decoration for Louisa's first Christmas.

 

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