When it comes to cooking, Mike Keyton is another person I'd likely kidnap and chain to my kitchen. This could be why the best cooks never visit me.
PS...Note the temps, spelling, and weird words like treacle. Mike is British, but I don't hold that against him. :grin:
Take it away, Mike.
Early Christians would be bemused by what we eat to celebrate Christ's
birth. No doubt there'd be conferences to ensure the Turkey was not an
heretical bird. A medieval lord would be equally cautious in forsaking
his pork or beef for such a strange looking creature. A global culture
encourages uniformity, it also allows diversity and the chance to free
ourselves from the shackles of Christmas Cake and the ubiquitous mince
pie.
This Christmas go Caribbean. Below are two recipes: Jamaica Ginger Cake, followed by a fat free and protein rich cake I pinched from a West Indian cook.
Recipe and Method
7 oz Brazil nuts - cut in half 4 Figs - chopped
6 oz Walnuts - ditto 3 oz raisins
3 oz almonds 6 oz half glace cherries
4 dates - chopped 3 oz mixed peel
Mix the above together and stir in to the batter below:
3 oz sifted flour
3 oz brown sugar
3 eggs
A squeeze of lemon (alternatively rum) pinch of salt, tsp of baking powder, vanilla essence.
Place in greased-proof paper lined tin and cook for 2 and a half hours at 300 degrees F.
The result is a very nutty cake. Not good for dentures.
***
Jamaican Ginger Cake Recipe
This combines richness and pungency and is dead easy to make. Done right
you will have a dark brown cake with a slightly gooey gingery centre
that solidifies when cold. (The original recipe used lard instead of
butter and had a little less ginger but this works for me)
2 oz butter 4 oz black treacle
6 oz of molasses sugar 2 oz golden syrup
2 beaten eggs 1 tbs of dark rum
8 oz of self raising flour 2 oz sultannas
3-4 tsp of ginger 3 pieces of stem ginger in syrup.
Method
Place butter, sugar, treacle and syrup in pan and warm until the fat has melted and the mixture is soft.
When cooled a little beat in eggs and fold in all the remaining ingredients, slicing the stem ginger before hand.
Pour the mix into a lined and greased 2lb loaf tin.
Bake 180 degrees (Celsius) for aproximately 40 minutes.
Okay, now the cake is done, and between now and Christmas you'll be
gorging yourself silly. But for me, coming up is the real treat of the
season, best sampled in the early hours of Boxing Day or the day after
that: Toast and dripping.
I'm talking about the post-roast meat jelly, which most cooks urge you to use in your gravy. Well, put some aside.
Toast a thick slice of bread and spread the jellified meat juice* on to
it. Puncture the toast whilst it's hot so the melted juice sinks
through, and then sprinkle with salt.
Eat immediately - preferrably early in the morning, outdoors and beneath a grey, shreddy sky. Lancashire weather.
Contemplate the year's end and the year yet to come and enjoy the simplicity of hot toast and dripping.
* If you're feeling a little bit sinful you can use some of the fat.
That's the white stuff that does all manner of bad things but which,
like sin and Blue Stilton is good in small doses.
***
NOTE: For other DIY Christmas posts, go here. All contests for the DIY posts end 12-22-11, so you can comment on any previous post.
I'm an adventurous eater, but not a particularly adventurous cook. Are you?
This is why I kidnap good cooks and bakers. (Don't worry. I eventually let them go.)
Adopting and almost losing Murray kind of brought things into perspective for me. I am insanely competitive, especially with myself, but nearly losing that little guy made me realize how fragile life is. Selling a book is ridiculously insignificant compared to family and health. If I sell, I sell, but I will no longer beat myself up to meet self-imposed deadlines and sales figures. 
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