Boxing Day

When I put the memory card from my big camera in my computer to upload my Christmas pictures, I found a picture from the big snow we had two weeks ago. We had 9” of snow on December 11 and 12. Here’s what that looked like on the deck.

Snow on the deck two weeks ago

Now that we’ve had three warm days, we’re seeing large patches of green grass again. Weird weather. Still, not a bad thing to reduce the accumulation before we get more. Also, all the snow slid off the solar panels, so we’re back to as much production as we can get during the short daylight hours.

One of the girls laid a truly giant egg last week. Hilda thought it must have three yolks, it was so large. I ate it for brunch this morning, and it only had two.

Giant egg next to two normal pullet eggs. That had to hurt.

In preparation for Boxing Day game night, I roasted the rest of Jake. This time, I tried cutting the leg and thigh away from the breast and wing. I couldn’t get both pieces to fit in one roasting pan, and I didn’t want any hanging over the edge like last time. I put the leg/thigh in my auxiliary roasting pan. The breast then had a large bare patch where the thigh used to be. I cut the excess skin from the neck and grafted it over the bare spot with toothpicks.

The other half of Jake, in two parts. Note skin graft held in place by toothpicks on the breast.

Would both pans fit in the oven at the same time? Of course not. The oven was plenty wide, but was not deep enough for me to get the door shut when the large roasting pan was parallel to the walls. Bah.

Before this year, I always thought that Thanksgiving was the easiest of menus. Pop the turkey in the oven, and you’re done. I never understood why people thought it was hard. This was because I had always cooked a 12-pound turkey. Even with the white and dark meat separate, I could not get the meat done. There seems to be a law of cooking that you can’t ever get the thermometer probe in the coldest part on the first try. I started with the breast. When it got to 165°F, I pulled it out and repositioned the probe. It dropped 15°. Back in the oven. It took longer to cook the breast, which was probably about 8 pounds as to cook a whole 12- to 14-pound bird, just because the meat was so thick. It was finally done at 3:30. I thought that surely the thigh and leg would be done for dinner at 6:00. But no. By 6:00, I was only to the first repositioning of the thermometer, and it ended up taking three tries before I finally found the last spot to get cooked. At 6:20, I gave up and served white meat for supper.

Breast meat finally done, thigh and leg going back in the oven for another half hour

By 7:30, I had the meat stripped from the bones, the bones and skin in the slow cooker for stock, and the roasting pans washed. It certainly felt good to sit down.

Jane joined us for Christmas lunch. She made roll-ups of smoked beef, cream cheese, and dill pickles for hors d’oeuvres. Here is our sommelier pouring the champagne.

Terry pours the champagne; Jane's roll-ups in foreground

For our main dish, I made Tuscan-style roast pork with garlic and rosemary from a recipe I found in the Cook’s Illustrated 2016 Annual. I made an infused oil the day before by sautéing lemon zest, garlic, rosemary, and red pepper flakes in olive oil. I strained to oil and kept the garlic, etc. Christmas morning, I made a paste of the reserved garlic mixture and 2 ounces of bacon in the food processor. I totally messed up butterflying the pork loin. As you can see from the photo, the stuffing makes a “Z” shape through the meat rather than a perfectly symmetric spiral. Oh well. The point is to evenly distribute the paste through the meat, and I think I accomplished that. Some of the infused oil was used to brown up the roast after it was done in the oven. The rest I mixed with 2 tablespoons of juice from a grilled lemon (only I forgot to measure, but it was fine) to make a vinaigrette to serve with the meat.

Hilda made roast potatoes, celeriac, carrots, shallots, mushrooms, and bell peppers.

Main course--Tuscan-style pork roast and roasted veg

We had to take a respite between dinner and dessert to digest and have a glass of wine. It is never hard to fill the time with stories at laughter at our family dinners. During this time, Bertie showed up at the bird feeder. He’s been hanging around again, but not for the company of the hens. He’s just hungry. I went out for my camera and got a picture of him ducking around the coop.

Bertie making an escape around the corner of the coop

A few minutes later, he was on the deck. Terry, who was the only one of us to spend any amount of time outside yesterday, said that the wind was nasty, and that Bertie was probably just looking for shelter.

Out of the wind on the deck

We had cookies for dessert. My dad arranged the tray. I accused him of being stingy with the Christmas bison. In his defense, he said that the bison were at the bottom of the container, and by the time he got to them, he’d run out of room. 

Cookie platter

The two turkey roastings had been hard on the oven. I started a self-cleaning cycle before I went to bed. Not a good idea. The house soon filled with smoke. Hilda called down to ask if we were burning candles or something. I'm sure she thought the house was on fire. I was both surprised and relieved that I didn't set off the smoke detectors. Perhaps I should clean the oven more often. 
Tonight we will have turkey sandwiches. I hope all the guest will take some turkey home as well.