Once again we all overslept this morning and as I had a rather large ham to cook I made a quick coffee and then went to work on the ham. The butcher had sent me a wonderful perfect diamond shaped whole ham with which I was delighted, I was less delighted when I discovered that he had neglected to tell me how much the blessed thing weighed!
Everyone knows that a ham should be cooked for 20-30 minutes per pound but this information is useless if the weight of the joint is not know. Then I had a brilliant idea, I could weigh it on my sons luggage scale my kitchen scales being useless for the task. Much searching later and I had to abandon the idea as time was pressing.
Another brainwave save the day and I popped round to see my neighbour to borrow a meat thermometer so that even if I had no idea how long the meat would take to cook I should at least know when it was cooked....does that make sense?b Being now reasonably happy with the situation I made a belated breakfast of pancakes with lemon and sugar which we all enjoyed mightily.
By the time we had finished breakfast the delectable smell of roasting ham was beginning to scent the kitchen and during the afternoon it wreathed its way upstairs and our poor little cat was so tantalised by the hams rich aroma that haunted the kitchen like and anxious little ghost throughout the entire cooking process! The ham was to be served OT for dinner with glazed root vegetables, garden peas, duchess potatoes onion sauce ans bakes sit crusty dumplings and gravy and I spent an hour or so preparing these adjuncts to the meal.
From time to time someone would drop in with a card or a gift and oddly for et time of year empty jam jars. This is the second large batch of these items I have received since yesterday and although I shall have no use for them for months I know from experience that I shall be glad of them in the summer. It seems that no matter how many jars I have a the beginning of the jam making season I always run out of them well before the end.
I have thought to have a trip on the buggy today but the rain looked uninviting even for me and I decided against it. Instead I washed my hair and made a list of the things I have to do tomorrow, for it is on Christmas eve that we always eat our \Christmas dinner, yes I know that sounds odd but there is a good reason for this.
When my son was small it seemed silly to spend the whole day coking a huge meal and miss out on all the fun of playing with my baby and so at that time we decided that on Christmas eve we should have our Christmas dinner and on \Christmas day cold meats and cheeses, pork pie and pate. This has remained a family tradition and the only cooking I do on Christmas day is the baking of fresh loaves and soft rolls r=for the cold meats feast. This also means that there is always plenty for any stray guests who arrive and over the years we have had a few odd ones.
A few years ago a young couple were having a walk in the lane when the young woman went in to labour. We took them in of course and called for an ambulance which took for ever to arrive and I truly thought that I might have to deliver the child myself. The poor husband bless his heart was frantic with worry and then he remembered that they were supposed to be at her parents house for Christmas lunch so we telephoned them and they arrived well before the ambulance witch had got lost in the country lanes. The labour pains stopped and it was considered to have been a false alarm.
We shared our Christmas dinner that year with these unexpected guests in the form of sandwiches all round and as the pains had stopped even the young lady managed to eat a little.
The labour pains had begun again by the time the tardy ambulance arrived so they couple left in the ambulance with the parents following behind. The child was born eighth hour later, a girl, it was sweet of them to let us know and it certainly made for a different kind of Christmas.
Back to the ham which did eventually cook and judging by the amount of time it took I should say that the weight of the joint was around the 18lb mark,it was juicy and delicious having been rift skinned and then given a mustard and maple glaze followed by a crusting of brown sugar. The skin would by the foxes portion of the feast so no one was forgotten.
As this was one of our special meals we had crackers and candle light and we drank a flagon of pear cider with the meal which was followed by chocolate pudding with fresh cream .
After that we had no room for cheeses and so we ended the meal with a home made orange rum liqueur before tackling the dishes.........their is always a fly in the ointment. Still together we soon finished and decided that we would have a quite evening watching a film as we were all too stuffed to move.
I enjoy the challenge of cooking at Christmas and I am looking forward to cooking the turkey tomorrow and I hope that by then every one it hungry again.
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