A standing rib roast, preferably with Yorkshire pudding and plenty of good red wine is the only way to go.
Turkey tastes like cardboard? Hello? Somebody can’t cook.
I can honestly say I have never EVERY cooked a turkey that tasted even remotely like cardboard - or anything else distasteful. It is all about preparation, seasoning, and proper cooking.
For turkey to taste like cardboard, one must not season it at all, not add any moisture, and finally you then over cook the crap out of it.
Anyone that ignorant doesn’t deserve any “help” or “suggestions” other than to learn how to cook.
I prefer cornish game hens or duck(ling) for special meals.
That jalapeno jelly sounds like a nice base for a glaze.
Unfortunately, neither my wife nor my daughter would agree.
Brine that turkey, and then cover the breast meat with tinfoil so it isn’t totally dried out by the time the thigh meat is done. Or else butcher the thigh and leg off and cook them for 1/2 or so before putting in the rest of the bird.
I have grown up mostly in the South, had the southern grandmother to beat all southern grandmothers and have never seen or eaten possum on any table I have been graced to attend.
And leftover turkey is a joy. The benefit of a large bird not the dregs.
I brine a fresh turkey, stuff with citrus and herbs, butter the skin, truss it and roast it to the breast doneness not the thigh. Perfect every time.
I baked and maple-glazed a ham earlier this week. Yesterday I boiled the bone and end meat, cooked it down to a hearty stock and added split green peas, carrots and ham chunks. That and homemade yeast rolls for lunch. Yum!
I use Alton Brown’s city ham recipe. From memory it’s brown sugar mixed with bourbon (we use juice since we have alcoholics in the family), then mustard, any type works but I do like the hot kind... then pack on the brown sugar and spritz with the bourbon or juice and then pack on ground up ginger snaps. Bake whatever for however long, I forget and it forms a crust. Totally junky and I’m leaving the ginger snaps off one end of it this year since we have someone with a gluten free diet. Yum.
We are breaking tradition and having prime rib this year...yum!
A standing rib roast, preferably with Yorkshire pudding and plenty of good red wine is the only way to go.
You ought to pass along that possum stew recipe. I saw tracks in the snow the other day, and I think they were possum.
We have standing rib for Christmas with Yorkshire pudding.
Ham is New Year’s with black eyed peas and greens.
Oh, “A Christmas Ham”, I thought you were talking about Obama.
parsy, who misunderstood
Cook your Christmas ham in coca-cola. There are many recipes on the Internet...I use Nigella Lawson’s. Save that juice and ham bone and use them to make some of the best baked beans you can imagine.
All of you FReepers and your food! Makes a guy want to wrangle and invitation to all of your homes and go from house to house(via transporter of course, ala Star Trek)and sample a little of every thing! Threads like these are guaranteed to make a person ravenous!
Makes a heckuva mess of the pan but the ham is really excellent.
My wife thought I lost my mind and I had to convince her I saw Martha do it first.
Line the pan first and you will like this ham a lot.
No one who has tried my brother's fried turkey would ever think turkey tastes like cardboard. Sadly, he prefers to keep his method secret, but he does make one of the holiday turkeys. (We have a big group and need several turkeys, one fried, one baked and one smoked.)
As for ham, didn't someone say that one definition of eternity is two people with one leftover ham?
For many years, my parentssent us a Honeybaked ham for Christmas. We looked forward to it. When the passed away, I decided to buy one and was apalled at the cost.
The beauty of the spiral sliced ham is that each slice is baked to have a sear and glaze on it. I bought the ham that the various grocery stores were competing for as loss leaders and sliced it on the bone so it was similar to a spiral sliced ham. I add a glaze of brown sugar, allspice, and ground cloves. The only leftovers I ever have is the bone that I use for split pea soup. My gusts take the rest with them.
I get a Honeybaked-style ham for $.89 a pound so I buy way to much and friends and family have meals for weeks.
Has anyone ever had goose? Maybe some of you hunters out there? A hunter friend did give me a couple of wild ducks (plucked and ready to cook) a few years ago.