A Wizzard Wheeze
I wish it could be Christmas every day... Not sure Roy Wood really thought that one through. In terms of the economy, nearly everywhere would be shut so we'd never get a chance to work or buy food and presents. In terms of the nation's health, we'd just spend the day consuming vast numbers of calories with no exercise aside from carving and that fairly pointless post-lunch walk we feel duty bound to do. So really, Roy, the best we could really hope for is that we wish it could be Christmas every three days...
The beardy one has a point when it comes to some of the food though. Chestnuts, for example, should be enjoyed for as long as they're in season. These weren't roasted on an open fire but in a closed oven at about 200 degrees C for 30 minutes, as per the BBC's suggestion. They were also half price in Waitrose, because, well, there are always post-Christmas seasonal bargains to be had.
That was also the case with this two kilo slab of ham. Before Christmas I'd decided to do a ham for the big day - bizarrely the first I've ever done - and the results were so spectacular we've decided to never buy pre-packaged ham again. Doing it yourself is tastier and, we reckon, more economic, (well, assuming you've got sugars and spices and stuff at hand) plus the stock makes great soup and / or beans. The Christmas ham was a bargain slab c/o the excellent MarkyMarket, cooked mostly in accordance with Felicity Cloake's typically sage advice over at The Guardian Word of Mouth. Mind you, having also read Tim Hayward's recipe via the same paper, I decided to reduce the number of cloves. This second version - smoked this time, and another post-Christmas Waitrose bargain - saw no orange (no reflection on Felicity's recipe, just because I forgot to buy one) and Billington's Molasses sugar instead of the more straightforward brown sugar. The results in both cases have been glorious: sticky, spicy, sweet, moist and intensely hammy. It can only be a matter of time before I'm doing this too...
The beardy one has a point when it comes to some of the food though. Chestnuts, for example, should be enjoyed for as long as they're in season. These weren't roasted on an open fire but in a closed oven at about 200 degrees C for 30 minutes, as per the BBC's suggestion. They were also half price in Waitrose, because, well, there are always post-Christmas seasonal bargains to be had.
That was also the case with this two kilo slab of ham. Before Christmas I'd decided to do a ham for the big day - bizarrely the first I've ever done - and the results were so spectacular we've decided to never buy pre-packaged ham again. Doing it yourself is tastier and, we reckon, more economic, (well, assuming you've got sugars and spices and stuff at hand) plus the stock makes great soup and / or beans. The Christmas ham was a bargain slab c/o the excellent MarkyMarket, cooked mostly in accordance with Felicity Cloake's typically sage advice over at The Guardian Word of Mouth. Mind you, having also read Tim Hayward's recipe via the same paper, I decided to reduce the number of cloves. This second version - smoked this time, and another post-Christmas Waitrose bargain - saw no orange (no reflection on Felicity's recipe, just because I forgot to buy one) and Billington's Molasses sugar instead of the more straightforward brown sugar. The results in both cases have been glorious: sticky, spicy, sweet, moist and intensely hammy. It can only be a matter of time before I'm doing this too...
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