Ghosts of Christmas Meals Past

Due to crazy schedules, this year, I was unable to make my "Dickensian-Style Victorian Christmas Feast." How sad. After watching the Victorian episode of the Supersizers, I was inspired three years ago and decided that I would celebrate Christmas like the Victorians. Here are some highlights (in my opinion) of my Christmas dinners past.

Brown Windsor Soup: This delicious soup is more like a beef consomme. A British favorite during the Victorian and Edwardian period, this soup has lost favor in the UK for reasons that are a mystery to me. The dish does take a while to make, but it is totally delicious! Essentially, you need braising beef, carrots, onions, celery, etc...and you let those ingredients cook together for a couple of hours until they disintegrate. Then, you strain the soup, so that you are left with just the liquid. Sure it seems like a waste of a good beef stew, but the concentrated flavor of all of the ingredients in the soup make Brown Windsor soup, in my opinion, incredibly delicious! 

Beef Wellington: So, can you tell that I really like Beef Wellington? Since I've already written about this dish, let me just say that these gorgeous medallions are from last year. So perfect!

This year, we had to use pate, but in the past two years, my dad (who is a master smoker of foods), smoked the chicken livers that we mixed with the mushrooms. His chicken livers were sooo good! Even though they were meant for the Wellington, I couldn't stop eating them as is! 

Roast Goose: In A Christmas Carol, the crowning glory of the Cratchett family table is their roast goose. Roast goose was a popular dish eaten by the Victorians at Christmas. In my attempt to bring Victorian England into my home, I went to a local poultry farm and bought myself a goose! Whilst this was great and all, I realized that I had no idea how to cook this bird. After some internet surfing, I settled on Gordon Ramsay's 5-Spice goose recipe. It was exotic, but Gordon has never led me astray, so I thought, "why not." Well, I learned that year that goose is not my favorite food. It wasn't Gordon's recipes per say, although that did play a role, but the goose was a bit too gamey for my taste. I think I'll stick with Wellington or turkey. Still, I am glad that I made it and at least for that Christmas, I really did get to see and taste Victorian England!

Game Pie: It made look like an ordinary apple pie, but this in fact is a game meat pie! I saw this on the Supersizers too and was intrigued. Granted the pie that Sue serves to Giles is about 10 times bigger than mine...but nonetheless, I thought this could be interesting to make. At the same place that sold the goose, I was able to purchase a selection of frozen game. Rabbit, venison, quail....I don't even remember what I cooked! I just remember marinating the meats, covering them in flour, and they braising them in a giant saucepan. Once they were mostly cooked, I baked them in a pie. Despite the variety of meats in this single pie, it was quite tasty! 

Homemade Mince Pies and Mincemeat Palmiers: As you all know, I love mincemeat and I pride myself on making my mince from scratch. (Also, the pre-made stuff in the grocery stores is gross). This was the first year I made mince pies and palmiers! 

Steamed Christmas Pudding: Besides the goose, the highlight of the Cratchett feast in A Christmas Carol is Mrs. Cratchett's plum pudding. As she presents it to her husband, very seriously, he takes a spoonful. After a minute of solemn consideration, he smiles and says to his wife, "A triumph my dear. Another triumph." For me, this is such an iconic moment in A Christmas Carol and it inspired me to attempt a steamed Christmas pudding, though I went for a dried fruit one, not a plum one.

The first thing I realized, I didn't have the right equipment. Apparently, in the UK they sell equipment designed for pudding making! Well, I rummaged around my kitchen and found things that I thought would work. This was quite an adventure, since I am used to baking cake, not steaming it. After buttering a large round bowl, I added my batter, covered the bowl tightly with parchment paper, and let my pudding steam for several hours. For a first attempt, I think it came out great! Soft and delicious! I am curious to try my hand at this again!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my journey through Christmas past! I hope to keep trying lots of recipes in future Christmas dinner and I will hopefully be able to extend my repertoire!