Christmas cooking
Fare and fowl
Marika Hanbury Tenison
In the hurly-burly of the few days remainintng before Christmas, I am almost relieved be confined to a hospital bed with a virus:id unknown origin'. With electric typewl'A-a plugged in, twenty-four hour service aulie slimming diet of institution food, lam Jil happy position of being able to Plarleire peace my ideas for the presents I would tti-e myself and which therefore you mightil' to buy for your food-loving friendsl My number one present is the best til to happen since the stove was invented. l'cla may thing I'm mad to suggest btlYillgpj barbecue in the middle of winter but 51114%0 have had the new Calor Gas GG'h-as (£89.00 plus VAT.) my cooking life with been revolutionised. No messing firelighters, nor hours waiting for the eha coal to glow, nor food that is cinder-00°o raw — this new concept of grilling hfrab volcanic lava in ten minutes and has a or low setting. The 00600 is like a trolleeY; has wheels with a gas cylinder on thel°,vies shelf, looks attractive, has a stout lid, des° not rust and does not need cleaning8 food tastes better than that cooked over°, fierce grill and that special taste comest1,01 from charcoal but from the fat hitting e, coals and producing an aromatic sirg/to Herbs can be strewn on the coals for e,%et5. flavour and you can cook steaks,eutteio legs of b, fish and almost anythin is g els SW3) Parrots (Fulham Road, London Aif has one of the best Christmas spreads alle'd I had the money I would get them to isicej me and my best friend a pound 0f s,r;i1 salmon every month throughout theYePood costs considerably less than rnost g to smoked salmon and a delightful WaYrido make it last is to roll the thin slices ar°11of light mousse of smoked mackerel, celeriac remoulade. Jackson's of Piccadilly in Lond° aligaablehave a stock of rare and often itioluirey foods. I particularly liked their `C°43734-ed Herbs Kit' which includes readY`gthifli herbs and spices for special dishes like„cociii con came. If you are drinkingcharnPe.i, foie bed try some small biscottes spread vvt.II`orroy gras aux truffes de Perigord; the _1500 just enough for two for £4.45 and te jos have to share the truffe, but it does coil` china pot. For a mere fifty-six pence, on the Other hand, you can buy a tin of sliced mangoes in syrup which make the most delicious ice cream. Cookery books (thank goodness) never fail to give pleasure as a present. Top of my list is Old Cook Books, a delightfully illustrated history by Eric Quayle (Studio Vista £8.95) which contains many excellent recipes going back to the sixteenth century. Quentin Crewe and Anthony Blake's Great Chefs of France (Mitchell Beasley £12.50) is another masterpiece, good for any gourmet; Prue Leith's Cooking for Friends ( Hamlyn£6.95) hasrecipes forentertaining on 'cheap', 'not so cheap' and 'frankly expensive lines; and Jane Grigson's Veg etable Book (Michael Joseph £10) is ideal for anyone who enjoys fresh food and good cooking. New Cuisine by the famous chef Paul Bocuse has nothing new in it but does contain a lot of classic French recipes (and so it should at £15, Hart Davis) and Michel Guerard's Cuisine Gourmande (Macmillan £6.95) is a definite improvement on his gimmicky Cuisine Minceur. And if you find all those a bit pricey dare I suggest my own Recipes from a Country Kitchen (Hart Davis £4.95) for those who yearn for the simpler, country-fresh and often unashamedly old-fashioned joys of life? If you haven't yet made a Christmas Pudding don't despair — Marks and Spencers and Sainsburys both have excellent ones which, with a few well-boiled fifty Pence pieces (allowing for inflation) and from extra brandy, will be indistinguishable trom the real thing. Both stores also carry good and competitively priced wines and, in the case of Sainsburys, a good spirits list. The Marks and Spencers champagne and the Sainsburys half-bottles of brandy are verY good value. On to the kitchen and the nicest idea yet for keeping your turkey moist and wellflavoured. If you live in the country, or have a farmer friend, beg, borrow or buy a veterinary hypodermic syringe, boil it to sterilise and fill it with some red wine mixed with Olive oil in which some herbs have been steeped. Inject the thick parts of the bird with this mixture — plunging in the needle, drawing it out about a quarter of an inch and then squirting. Failing this, cover the bird With a double thickness of muslin soaked in Plenty of melted butter, remove the muslin or the last twenty minutes of cooking time .and baste the bird with a mixture of whisky, honey, lemon juice and seasonings. There is a new line of citrus fruit this Christmas. A clementine has been married With a tangerine to produce a `mi,chal', red-skinned, orange-fleshed and sweeter than a tangerine. Make a hole through the centre, remove the centre pith, fill the core wr ith finely chopped dried fruit soaked in a iqueur and poach the fruit in a fairly strong sugar syrup until tender. D.Eaux de vie from Gabriel Boudier in Ii°11 (home of great mustards) are sold in s ,Pecial packs for the cook. Framboise, Kirsch and poire William are invaluable for the cook with discerning or frankly boozy guests. Pour the framboise over ice creams or an iced soufflé flavoured with chopped ginger; flavour a mixture of sweetened cream and crushed meringues or macaroons with kirsch, pack it into a tin with a removable bottom, freeze it and turn it out' to serve with a fresh fruit salad; or make an excellent light pudding from pears stewed with lemon juice, puréed, flavoured with poire William and beaten up with some home-made custard and stiffly whisked white of egg — simple but very subtle.
Finally, when it all gets too much for you, have a real drink (an improvement on my usual Bloody Mary): put into a shaker a double measure of vodka, a quarter-pint of tomato juice, a few drops of Worcester sauce and Tabasco, salt and pepper, a pinch of celery salt, one tablespoon of dry sherry and the white of an egg. Add some crushed ice and shake well until foaming. If that doesn't do you any good you had better come and join me in hospital.
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