Belated Christmas Feast Recap

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
Final Menu: My Old Kentucky Home Christmas Dinner

Cocktails:

Beer Cheese

Benedictine Spread

Bavarian Pretzels

Smoked Oysters

Olives

Smoked Almonds

Assorted Crackers

Cocktails, Glühwein, Assorted Beers, Wines, and Champagne.

Dinner Buffet:

Baked Kentucky Country Ham

Smoked Turkey

Roasted English Christmas Potatoes

Scalloped Oysters

Corn Pudding

Green Beans with Bacon and Onions

Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Streusel

7- Layer Salad

Cranberry Relish

Pickled Beets

Green Tomato Pickles

Spiced Peaches

Bavarian Mustard Pickles

Caraway Sourdough Rye Dinner Rolls w Irish Butter

Dönhoff Riesling Spätlese, Shannon Ridge Petite Sirah

Dessert Table:

Kentucky Cherry Jam Cake (Hit of the evening)

Whisky Cherry Fruitcake

Christmas Cookie Platter (Lebkuchen, Zimtsterne, Spitzbuben, Pfeffernüße, Springerle, Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Scotchies, 7-layer Bars, Chocolate Cherry Bars, Cinnamon Bars, White Chocolate Peppermint Sandwiches, Chocolate Nutella Sandwiches, Sugar Cookie Snowflakes, Christmas Trees, Triple Gingersnaps, Cranberry Pistachio, etc.)

Candy Platter: Bourbon Balls, Philadelphia Chocolate Fudge, Mozartkugeln, Kentucky Cream Candy, Asbach-Uralt Brandied Cherries, assorted chocolates.

Sugarplums: Chocolate Dipped Candied Grapefruit and Orange Peels

Cognac, Underberg, Egg Nog, Coffee, Tea

Most of the recipes were either old family traditional or from the wonderful "Kentucky Keepsakes" by Elizabeth Ross--my go to cookbook when I'm cooking down home country style.

Everything turned out perfect. There have been so many dinners where the expectations didn't get met on 1 or more dishes, but every dish turned out spectacular. Whichever dish I had in my mouth was my favorite of the evening during dinner. But the scalloped oysters were a true standout and recevied many compliments.

But it was the old-fashioned Jam Cake that stole the evening. People are still raving about it and how amazing it was. And I have to say, that is about the best damned cake I've ever eaten.

I have lots of pictures if there is a way to post them in the new format.

 
Mrs. Creason's Kentucky Cherry Jam, Date, and Pecan Cake with Caramel Icing

from the Louisville Courier Journal as printed in "Cissy Gregg's Cook Book."

1 cup butter
2 c. sugar
5 eggs, beaten
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1.5 t. each of cloves and allspice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. dates, chopped
1 c. pecans, chopped
1 c. jam (I used cherry, traditional is blackberry)

Cream butter and gradually add the sugar. Cream together until it is light and fluffy (this is a serious 15 minute high speed beating to get to this stage). Add well beaten eggs. Sift flour before measuring and add to it the spices and the salt. Dissolve the soda in the buttermilk and addit and the flour mixture alternately to the eggs and butter mixture and beat after each addition. LIghtly dredge the dates and pecans with extra flour and add. Next, add the am. Stir to get good sdistribution. Grease and paper line 2 9"inch cake pans. Batter fills pans 2" deep. Bake at 325F for 40-45 minutes. Ice with Caramel Icing.

Notes: I made 3 big 8X8 square layers, the pans were full. Assembled and iced cake was 5 inches tall.

I didn't beat the eggs separately, added them one at a time and incorporated after each as per usual and it was just fine. 1 less bowl to wash. Ditto with the dry ingredients, I added the spices, and salt, then started adding the flour. Another bowl I didn't have to wash.


Caramel Icing I

Cook together 2 cups brown sugar and 1 cup cream until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage. Beat until creamy. If the icing gets too hard before you get it all on, beat in a little more cream.

Decorate the iced cake with candided cherries, pecan halves, and large sanding sugar (I used an aqua blue tint which worked well against the caramel icing).


Caramel Icing II
"Aunt Nora's Caramel Icing"

1 c brown sugar, packed
2 T butter
1/3 c. milk
2 c. confectioners' sugar

In a saucepan, mix brown sugar and butter. Stir until ilt boils. Add milk. Boil 1 minute. Cool to lukewarm. Add confections' sugar. Cream and spread. Beat in more milk if it starts to get too thick before cake is iced.

 
Scalloped Oysters

1 pt. fresh oysters
3 c. Club Crackers, crushed into crumbs
3/4 c. butter, melted
1 c whipping cream
1/4 cup oyster liquor (top up with more cream if necesssary)
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire
celery seed
1 tsp. granulated onion

Combine cracker crumbs, butter, and onion powder, salt, and pepper to your taste (I do not use salt as there is enough in the indgredients for my taste). Spread 1/2 of the crumbs in a buttered 9"inch pie dish. Cover with oysters, sprinkle with celery seed, top with remaining crumbs. Combine cream, oyster liquor, and Worchestershie saunce. Spoon evenly over the top. Dot top of crumb layer with thin slivers of butter.

Bake at 350F for 40 minutes.

 
do you use lye when you make your pretzels?

I thought I sent you instructions for pictures? There is also a new gallery feature but I have not given out instructions to anyone for this yet.

 
How interesting you ask. I can share some info as I just made pretzels last week

I don't know if Richard makes his own- but probably!

I recently watched the master class series of The Great British Baking Show. I wanted to see Paul Hollywood in action and he really gave good tips and excellent recipes. I used lye in the past for pretzels to make them hard and crunchy and shiny. He used baking soda instead- and also malt baking powder. Make the dough, knead it for 10 min, get boiling water with baking powder ready, drop in the formed pretzels for 5-8 seconds, put on parchment paper on baking sheets and bake. I need to take another try at it as mine were good but not excellent. I made them too small. I will post a photo if I can figure it out.

file:///Users/CathyZ/Pictures/Photos%20Library_2.photoslibrary/Masters/2018/12/23/20181223-150410/IMG_3474.JPG

 
No, I don't use lye

except when I make soap. I buy them at Servatti Bakery. Cincinnati is a German town and we buy our big soft Bavarian pretzels at a bakery like Germans do. smileys/smile.gif

And indeed you did send instructions, but I thought those were for use at the other location before we migrated here? Or at least I cannot get it to work now. The link results in:

"No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post".

 
Holy Moly is right! I am exhausted just reading the menu and imagining the effort you put ...

into this amazing meal!

Do you make the Bavarian Mustard Pickles yourself? And if you do, would you mind sharing the recipe? That is, once you've caught your breath after that marathon. smileys/smile.gif

 
How many ovens do you own???

How much could you make ahead off time? Obviously the pickle-y things, but wow, that's a lot of sides! Did you freeze some beforehand?

 
Years ago I visited Lititz, PA for Wilbur chocolate & the Pretzel factory. They said that baking

soda which was added to the boiling water helped turned the pretzel dough brown when baked.

As part of the pretzel tour, we were trained in shaping a pretzel (it's a double-handed twist and flip movement) and at the end, we received a certificate and a paper HAT!

 
2 Wall ovens

I had both going of course.

It really wasn't that bad. Lots of stuff was made in advance in the weeks before. Then that day I had a staff of 3 peeling, chopping, and running tasks on demand.

 
Bavarian Mustard Pickles (Senfgurken)

4 kg unwaxed salad cucumbers
2 tbls. salt
3 large garlic cloves, slivered

For the brine:
600 ml white wine vinegar
1 Liter water
250 g sugar
50 g mustard seeds
3 bay leaves
5 allspice berries
5 black peppercorns

Wash and peel the cucumbers. Halve the cucumbers and if there are large seeds, scrape them out with a spoon. Chunk the cucumbers into bite sized pieces. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with the salt, mix well, and let sit for 2 hours.

Pour the salted cucumbers into a sieve and drain thoroughly. Place the cucumber chunks and garlic slivers into sterilized jars.

Combine the brine ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.

Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers in the jar and seal.

Allow pickles to mature for 4-6 weeks before eating. Best eaten chilled in the fridge.

Makes 8 300ml jars.

Die angegebene Menge ergibt ca. 8 Gläser je 300 ml Inhalt.

 
This is what my Grandmother's Christmas Eve table was like

recreating that was my goal. Of course she was feeding more people, but it was fun reliving Christmas memories of old. I certainly won't be doing this every year, but it was a lot of fun with the food and memories. My brother thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he saw the feast spread out on the sideboards.

 
What I do...

I don't make whole batches to put up. I make them on an as needed basis, the same for Egyptian pickled vegetables called Torshi.

I also use bigger jars, and usually just do a quart at a time and yes, I include all of the spices and the bay leaves (from my tree) in the jar.

These are very different and unusal pickles. They remind me of my great great grandmother's corn relish, which also uses a lot of mustard seed and sugar.

 
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