A GOOD REASON TO SAY MACKESON

i feel somewhat blasphemous doing this, but i knew the job was difficult when i took it. it's no secret that we're guinness drinkers over here, so it might shock a few that we're actually saying the word mackeson on the blog.

well truth be told, in a realm such as this, we're equal opportunity. so when i was given the choice of stag bread or mackeson bread at maria's bakery, i opted for the only available stout option. decided to take one for the team.

turns out that things could have been much worse. it was actually a nice bun. taking one for the team wasn't bad at all. though it was a hefty bread that was very filling (it was part of a relatively big breakfast that rallied me through the entire day!!) the price tag puts this in luxury class for me. at $25, this will have to be a once in a while treat. i mean, i think two people can share it if done right, but that's still a good bit of coin to put down on a round. now the bun i got (yes, got as in got a free sample. thanks for the generosity) was from the daily display, so there is a chance that the price tag might be the loaf price. we'll double check and let you all know.

following the recommendation of the sales rep (my bad fuh not getting her name but... more times fuh dat), i wanted to try it with something cheesy, so i whipped up some cheesy scrambled eggs with a few strips of turkey bacon at the side. i also toasted the round a little for no reason other than i like a lil crisp to my bites. it did go well with the sharpness of the cheese as it had that bitter sweet stout flavor. not the alcohol flavor, but the dark, roasted aftertaste you get from stout. it worked in this situation. i think it could also be nice at the side of a spicy chili bowl topped with cheddar. or even with a flavorful stew. i would imagine the beer versions might do well with a soup.

i would have preferred the flavor of guinness bread more (which they also make) because i don't really like the sweetness of mackeson, but that is purely a preference thing. it was a good bun with the right texture and flavor for a bread of that nature. if nothing else, it got me interested in finding out how the guinness and the stag versions would do. if you happen to be interested as well, you have to place an order to have it made as it's a specialty item. i think i'll be placing one soon.

the early bird sees the turkey

i've never seen the very start of my father's turkey process. reason being, the bird is in the oven by 7am latest. even when i lived at home, my daily routine included keeping late hours and jumping out of bed early. so i've always used weekends, holidays, christmas and new year's day, to sleep in. this year however, with the help of the most brutal ringtone a phone could have and a late start by my father, i was able to catch the start.

this is the bird chillin in the fridge. it sat there thawing 2 days before, had some seasoning rubbed on it (including under the skin on the breast meat) the day before, and today its ready to take part in the festivities.

but before taking the bird out the ice box, he prepares the stuffing. this starts with some olive oil in a pan.

he adds to this some onions and celery...

about a heaping teaspoon of salt and some cayenne powder.

meanwhile, mom crushes some crackers a bit at a time. unlike me with my modern, unique, absolutly premium rolling pin, mom is a fan of the standard traditional equipment.

multi-grain crix was the flick this time around. this is how fine they go with it.

back over on daddy's side, minced beef is added to the pan to get some colour.

he mashes about 5 big potatoes in a bowl and adds the cracker crumbs, a box of evaporated milk, a little melted butter, some chives and the minced beef. mixes it all up.

this is what the mixture looks like before its oven appointment.



now the bird is set free from its chilly prison. butterball turkeys (i don't know about any other brand) come with this handy string that you wrap around the bird. you'll see it in action a little later on.

dad stuffs the bird first from the cavity below, then from the neck cavity, so the bird is well packed. now, both my father and myself usually listen to the advice of alton brown of food network fame, but on this matter we differ. alton's advice is to cook stuffing separate so that the bird cooks faster and dries out less. for the turkey drippings to soak into the stuffing for that blow mind flavour... sorry alton, but we'll wait. and we'll do our best not to let the meat dry out too much.

a lot of pinning up takes place. a pin goes into each wing to hold them down. this helps it cook evenly.

then an operation of a pin job goes on at the neck cavity to help hold the stuffing in.

remember the string? well there yuh go. lift and transfer.

next he creates a mixture of melted butter, olive oil and honey...

which he uses to glaze the turkey.



then its into the oven preheated at 350. following the butterball guide, on which our turkey fell closest to the 10 to 18lbs category, this bird would roast for about 3hrs.



every hour, he applies the honey glaze to it. gives it a nice colour and texture. according to how it looks when he takes it out, he adjusts the temperature of the oven. this time around, he backed down to 300 after the last glaze for the final hour.

it's all done and ready to be enjoyed when the stuffing is out of the turkey in a bowl at the side, and the house smells unbearably good. this is no time to be mixing matters.

the stuffing is always a hit, and with a strong supporting cast, there's no better way to bring in the new year. especially since mom bought chinet so we didn't have to wash wares. no place like home on new year's day.

leh we bubble in 2010!

THE SAUCE OF INSPIRATION

tomorrow will make it one year since i promised to do a post with this title. i guess good things really come to those who wait, because this is the perfect post for it. during my mother's birthday dinner at the normandie hotel, my father and i tasted a cranberry sauce that was quite nice. he called me on christmas eve and asked "what yuh say was in that cranberry sauce again?". "i think i was tasting x and y if i had to guess." was my response. (the ingredients shall remain nameless for now to maxmize impact later on) "yessssss! aight, ah gone." he replied. little did i know he was in the middle of preparing everything already. when i arrived on christmas morning, the main stuff was already done, but guess what he was about to prepare? yup... the cranberry sauce. in other words, the source of my inspiration in the kitchen was in the kitchen preparing a sauce inspired by a sauce that inspired me to try cranberry sauce on my turkey for the first time ever. i thought it was ripe for a saucy entry.

so he started off by getting the two secret ingredients:



cinnamon powder



and bay leaf. now in these here parts, a lot of herbs and spices are picked fresh from the garden. bay leaf is no exception. can't beat that with a bat.



he put the spices in a sauce pan and added some water plus that hot fiyah.




next, he got out some jellied cranberry sauce. we have this every year, but i never put it on my turkey. the jelly just isn't my thing.



he mashed around the jelly with a wooden spoon while it took the heat.



then he added a little salt to refine the taste.




balanced out the flavours wth a little sugar. it thickened up nicely and had this sweet and spicy flavour that was reminicent of the sauce that inspired the effort. i had to try it on my turkey.



so i did. it worked. i don't like a lot of sweet stuff, but this was just right. it played a good supporting role.



the cast was strong as usual: (going clockwise from the turkey at the bottom) minced beef and potato stuffing, cauliflower in white sauce, shepard's pie, peas with coconut milk, vegetable lasagne, beef pastelle and a vegetable rice with carrot, pepper, celery, onion, chive, apple and raisins.

thanks to the sauce, the falvours changed up again this year and it was another meal worth remembering.