December 20th, 2007 - 10:24am
So, I'm here at home cooking Christmas dinner because I won't have any time over the weekend. It's our 2nd Christmas here in our little house, but the first one we've hosted a gathering. It'll be the in-or-outlaws - hi Kevin and Lise! plus D's Mom and friend Steve, so 6 in all. I'm cooking the dinner on my 1944 Wedgewood stove, which is the real reason we bought this house. " When we moved in, we spent three days and completely stripped down and cleaned and fixed it up, so it's in wonderful shape. During the making of this dinner, we'll be using almost all of its features, including

• the oven
• the famous "back burners"
• the grill

So, heads up Kevin - here's the progress report on your dinner! Stay by my side as we wend our way through the intricasies of creating this traditional American feast.

I started by roasting the potatoes, both sweet and Russet, for their respective dishes, Mashed Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes. For good flavor, we're starting out with organic ones.

Already, Potatoes have become a "learning experience"! The local natural food grocery has sweet potatoes on special, with 4 varieties all priced the same. I, in my Adventurous Chef identity, of course bought some of each.There was one kind that looked especially exotic; very twisty, with lots of eyes and a deep purple skin. After washing and paring, they were a near-white. After baking, it was clear they would not work in the dish -- their outside formed a new leathery skin, while their inside proved uncooperative to mashing. They did taste good, however, but more like a plantain banana than something you'd want alongside the Jewel yams underneath the marshmallows. Here's a picture of one after baking: Pretty unappetizing, eh? It's proved to be a good snack, but their absence from the dish means I have to go shopping again and get some Jewel yams to make up the shortfall.

I also overbought on the Russets, so we'll be eating on those tonight to make room for all the great stuff that still needs to go into them - butter, cream, etc. Here's what the mashed potatoes look like now, in their protoean, unalloyed state:

I'm a big fan of the bad boy of cooking, Tony Bourdain. His recent Christmas show was amusing as usual, and different in that there was some actual footage of Tony cooking. One of his big admonitions for home cooks is to make your own stock for that professional chef flavor. He actually showed how to do it (almost), so I re-watched the episode and took notes. I started by roasting (at 450) a chicken carcass and some vegetables, with a little tomato paste.

I also roasted a load of chestnuts for the stuffing at the same time. Because of the demand on the stove's BTU-producing abilities, everything took longer, but eventually we got some good roastage happening.

Next, I put the roasted bones and vegs into a 12-quart stock pot and filled to the top with cold water, adding a couple of bay leaves and some fresh thyme, and simmered.

After about 3 hours, it looked like this.

I let it continue to simmer overnight. This morning I strained it, put it in a clean pot, and added some red wine and shallots. The wine, a Bear's Lair 2003 Merlot, was chosen the way I choose most any wine, by some combination of attractive label, name and/or price. This was $2.99, and is actually quite drinkable.

Here are the wine and the shallots eyeing each other.

Here they are again, having just gone into the stock. Next comes the process of reduction, allowing the water to evaporate and the flavors to concentrate. It's starting to taste pretty good! The wine was a good idea.

12:20pm - The liquid level is noticeably lower, and scum accumulates on the surface, which I've been skimming off. I've increased the flame slightly over this level for the reduction process:

Peeling the chestnuts proved to be the most labor-intensive chore thus far. Here's my peeling setup on my office table last night. Note the drab, prison-like lighting and the large job that still lies ahead.

As a Midwesterner, Jello salad was often a part of big meals, especially on my mother's side of the family, who were from Missouri. I'm adding a gratuitous Jello salad to our meal, and have gotten a start on it here with this raspberry with coconut and pineapple version. I'm thinking of topping with a layer of tapioca.

I made the cranberry sauce last week, because I for one love it. Nothing here but cranberries, orange juice, brown sugar and molasses. It's scrumptious!

I have to run off now and pick up my green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's, in case the apocalypse hits over the weekend. And not to forget those yams!

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