Food chat with Globe critic Sheryl Julian
Sheryl_Julian: Hello Everyone! How did the holidays go? Anything wonderful we should all know about? Or did anything go woefully wrong? Let's chat!
Cape: Hi Sheryl, do you find that most families you talk to keep the same holiday traditions every year? Our family has changed traditions - we used to make Turkey and ham, and now we make pot roast and - this year - chicken marsala. Is there a "typical" Christmas meal? What do you find most people are making in this area?
Sheryl_Julian: I hear about all kinds of traditions, from things you'd expect to read about in English novels (goose, fruitcakes soaked for weeks) to real Italian traditions (like the Feast of Seven Fishes we wrote about before Christmas). My theory is to add a new dish to the table every year, just to mix it up and have something no one is expecting. If you clear off the traditions and start again, there can be a family uprising. How was your pot roast and chicken Marsala received?
Sheryl_Julian: For the person wondering what to do with all the holiday leftovers: You can freeze all cakes and cookies. Do that old-fashioned trick of sticking toothpicks in the top of the cake before wrapping in foil (so the cake top isn't ruined). Nuts can go into zipper bags and frozen. You can even freeze big chunks of ham and turkey. Use the sweets and nuts within 3 months. Use the cooked meats within 1 month.
Cape: Thanks, Sheryl. I think all went well with the meal, but the chicken marsala was too salty, I think. Perhaps it was the gravy seasoning ... I'll have to work on that. We've also started eating shrimp and crab cakes for appetizers -- a big hit!
Sheryl_Julian: Gravy seasoning as in bottled gravy? Throw it out! You have all that good sediment in the bottom of the pan. Skim the juices, let them bubble rapidly until they thicken slightly, and serve.
nan: Hello, i have a question about pie crust. I followed a recipe fo ra sweet crust thatlso a had an egg in in. It was a pat in the pan type. A disaster! It was like concrete and stuck to the bottom nad sides of the pan. What do you thinkhappened?
Sheryl_Julian: I make a pie crust that has an egg in it and it works like a dream. The egg acts like a kind of glue and keeps the crust from falling apart. I wonder how much butter was in the dough. It should have had about 6 to 8 tablespoons (almost a stick). So what did you do? When I was a student at the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London, they used to tell us, "If the sweet doesn't work, bung it into a bowl, add whipped cream, and call it a pudd!"
JoanCharlotte: Hi Sheryl! Is there any way to save burned food? Can I cut or pour off the top, or will the smoke permeate the rest of the food?
Sheryl_Julian: Burned food can be a problem. Of course cut off the bad parts first. And yes, sometimes the smoke gets into the remaining good stuff. Another problem is that your house smells of burnt food, so even if you manage to serve something that doesn't look burned, the aroma is there. If I burn something, I often try to turn the good part into something else. Say a pot roast gets burned. Remove the offensive parts, cut up the meat, put it into a deep baking dish, and cover it with mashed potatoes. You have to think fast, of course, and rely on what's in the house. Frittatas, which are "cakes" of eggs, will hide anything and everyone usually has eggs around. I hope you had something to serve!
nan: I think it did have that much butter in it. We sort of chiselled it out and ate it anyway. It was lemon meringue - I guess I could have called it queen's pudding or something! Thanks
Sheryl_Julian: After you get over being miserable about the pie, remember that you and your family will laugh about this later. Kitichen disasters always make great stories after the fact.
nutella14: We had some guests arrive late, so we started the Chirstmas meal later than intended. We covered the pots to keep things warm, but the roast potatoes lost their crispness, and the pasta got overcooked and mushy. What's the best way to delay a meal without ruining it?
Sheryl_Julian: Late guests! When I write my 26-volume encyclopedia of pet peeves, late guests will get a large entry in the L section. I'm afraid you did the opposite of what you should have done. Covering pots keeps the warmth in. You wanted to cool everything off quickly (a rimmed baking sheets works well; spread the stuff out). Then when the guests do arrive, let them settle in while you reheat the food in a hot oven. The etiquette rule is that dinner is served 20 minutes after the last guest arrives. That means that food can go into the oven to be reheated when the last doorbell rings. By the way, are you related to these people? In other words, is this something you half expected?
mrmark: "The usual" for this crowd would be steak of some sort....we often do tenderloin with bernaise sauce...would like to do something else that's fun.
Sheryl_Julian: Do you really want to switch from something like steak to a totally different evening? Perhaps the dinner works because it has some predictability to it. Once when I wanted to turn the evening around, I cleaned off my kitchen island of crocks of utensils I keep there, spread it with newspapers, and spilled half a bushel of oysters out. I gave oyster gloves and openers to two guests I thought could handle the situation and we sipped bubbly and had a wonderful time. Meanwhile, I was off at the stove toasting bread on an old cake rack right on my gas burner, sprinkled the golden rounds with olive oil and salt, and passed them to nibble on the side. I also offered a large round of aged cheddar. The sit-down part of the meal was the same as usual. The night was a huge success.
mrmark: For Christmas we served a beef brisket with portabello mushrooms and dried cranberries with red wine/chicken stock sauce, lots of rosemary and shallots. Yummy and most of the work and cooking is done ahead of the meal. I found the recipe on epicurious and it's terrific!
Sheryl_Julian: I love long-cooked beef dishes for large groups. Add mashed potatoes and you have a fine, homey meal. And not a huge tab at the check-out either.
hautecuchina: Hi Sheryl, can you give me some tips on how to make veggies with a high water content (cucumbers, beans, etc) taste good? I hate dousing them with salt all the time.
Sheryl_Julian: You can slice cucumbers thinly and layer them with white wine vinegar and parsley. You'll need a little salt. It's a great crunchy salad. Blanch green beans for 1 minute, drain them, and toss them in a skillet with hot peanut oil, garlic, and ginger. Again, a little salt, but the aromatics go a long way.
time2eat: Hi Sheryl, what's the most elaborite Christmas dinner you've ever prepared and/or eaten? What about the best family holiday meal you've ever heard about from readers? Thanks!
Sheryl_Julian: The most elaborate holiday meal I ever prepared was a paella that practically cost a paycheck to make. It was filled with shrimp, mussels, saffron. Everything expensive you can name. We were 10 for dinner and I put the paella in to cook about 30 minutes before the guests were to arrive. Well, 6 people came on time and the last 4 (to whom I am related, I should add, so there's no getting rid of them) arrived more than 1 hour late. The rice in the paella had turned to mush. I thought I would weep. Well, from that day on, my cousin gets long-cooked beef dishes, nothing fancy, and nothing costly that can ruin so easily.
mrmark: We had "cheesy potatoes" with the brisket...shredded taties, sour cream, cream of chix soup, and shredded white cheese. Bake and serve. Easy and tasty, though not good for calorie counters! I love the oyster idea, and we've got the right folks for it.
Sheryl_Julian: Potatoes sound great. Not sure I would add a can of soup to something that already seems wonderful, but them I'm a from-scratch cook when possible. By the way, oysters are very low in calories!
mrmark: Besides split pea soup, any ideas for leftover smoked ham?
Sheryl_Julian: Put chopped ham into a vegetable soup, add it to a frittata, to tomato sauce for spaghetti, to grilled cheese sandwiches, in which case they become the famous French croques monsieur. Also freeze a chunk for another day.
mrmark: Sheryl, thanks. Cheesy Taties recipe from a noncooking friend...we served dinner for 22, so slow-cooking oven dishes ruled the day. As to oysters, this gang has done that before...the guys are kind of competitive and we've had a "shuck-off" or two. No injuries yet! Paella is also a good idea, though I think one of our guests isn't a huge seafood fan. Maybe we'll do bulgoki or some other Asian beef dish...
Sheryl_Julian: Make your own quesadillas, assemble and bake mini pizzas, roll your own Vietnamese spring rolls. Any of those projects will be fun.
Sheryl_Julian: I'm signing off now. Thanks to all and Happy New Year. Here's wishing you good food and wine and happy times around the table. Sheryl Julian
homecook: what is the best local place to buy cookbooks? New England Mobile has a great selection, but was wondering if you knew of any others.
Sheryl_Julian: I love New England Mobile Book Fair -- especially if you want to look at the books first. Cookware shops also carry books, but mostly their own, or from celebrity chefs they may work with. You can always browse on the web, then really look at NE Mobile.
