- entry 2021/12/26

Christmas dinner

So I put on a pair of latex gloves swiped from work, washed the big knife, and went into panic mode. That's because the last time I cooked a chicken for myself, I think I was about 13 and I didn't cook it all the way through. It made me quite ill. Mom was away, doing something, so I made myself chicken with Bisto gravy over it. It was nice, but deadly.

I hacked off the breast meat from both sides and chopped it into pieces. Aiming for about 2cm wide, 1cm tall, and 3 cm long. But since it's squishy meat, the end result was more "sort of maybe" than regular sized nuggets.

These went in the frying pan on a high heat to give them a nice browned texture, and then on low heat for ten minutes or so until cooked. I then added a frozen mixed veg selection (carrot, potato, peas, fried onions, various herbs) and cooked it all together on a lowish heat for a further 10-15 minutes (until the potato was done). By this time, the chicken was cooked sufficiently that it wouldn't be lethal.

Only really missing Bisto gravy, but the supermarkets in Châteaubriant only carry beef flavour, and it's about €9 a tub (170g) from Amazon. So I had it just nicely fried.

Christmas dinner.

I had been planning on my usual ritual of a Fray Bentos Just Chicken pie. I guess I'll have that for New Year.

The chicken itself? Meh, to be honest. It tasted... watery? Like there was a chicken taste, but not much of it. It did have a nice texture, though.
These birds, Capon? Chapon? They usually sell for around €16 each (it depends upon the weight), and they came from a local farmer who has an arrangement with the worker's committee to supply them pre-ordered for a better price (and quality) than in the supermarket.
He must have thought his Christmas had arrived early when they called and were like "Yeah, we want to place an order for a few birds, to be delivered here on the 23rd". How many? "About a hundred and sixty."

Etc...

It is raining. That's the bad. It is nearly 11°C. That's the good. Which, I guess, means it's time to upload this, put the kettle on, then get into bed (heated blanket, yay!) and - oh - a new episode of The Expanse was released on Friday. Time to catch up.

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John, 26th December 2021, 13:20

I'm afraid the capon has been chemically neutered with hormones rather like I am at the moment with the cancer treatment! It makes them get fatter - again like me!    At least I'm still alive, unlike the capon.

Gavin Wraith, 26th December 2021, 15:45

My Danish Christmas meal (on the 24-th) was roast pork  with sprouts, carrots and roast potatoes (caramelized for the others) cooked by my youngest daughter, followed by riis'a'l'amande : cream, chopped almonds, rice and hot cherry sauce. My English Christmas meal (on the 25-th) was ragoust of duck on pappardelle, cooked by my eldest daughter, followed by a pavee de marrons and whipped cream. Tonight I shall make biksemad with the remains of the pork: parboil and dice potatoes, fry grated onion, add the potatoes and diced pork, serve with fried eggs on top.

Rick, 26th December 2021, 17:21

Well, riis'a'l'amande sounds rather nice...    The capons are castrated, not chemically neutered. It's a local farmer rather than a big producer.    Of course, reading up on what they actually do, it's rather ****ing unpleasant. But one has to remember that over here, foie gras is still a thing, and that's marginally worse.

Gavin Wraith, 26th December 2021, 17:59

It is very nice. I first had it at Christmas 1970 made by the lady who became my mother-in-law. I liked it so much that I finished it off for breakfast the next day.

VinceH, 27th December 2021, 00:43

My traditional lunch on Christmas day consists of ham sandwiches or something similar. However, this year I didn't bother going off for a walk.    So I cooked up a couple of sausages, shoved them in a couple of bread rolls, and plastered ketchup on them. Perfect.

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