The Boy turned 50 on December 26.
We began a Twelve Days of Scottmas early enough to get all the 12 days in before he heads out across the Atlantic.
The Festival involves mostly food.
Of course.
We planned a panoply of gastronomy, both of us working together to put really yummy stuff on the table each evening. For inspiration, we called upon Scott’s ex-chef brother, Jo’s best chef cousin, friend Arlye, Tony Bourdain, Daniel Boulud, “Cook’s Illustrated,” and The Joy of Cooking.
Here are a couple of the dishes we concocted:
French Onion Soup, one of Cook’s Illustrated’s best, although it takes hours and hours, literally, to reduce those four pounds of onions down to a half-cup of intense essence.
Christmas Eve we have seared fois gras. This year Jo made fresh pineapple chutney to accompany. And she dragged out her ancient recipe for Caesar Salad complete with raw egg. We finished it off with a luscious Slovak Tokaj five Puttonyos.
We have decided to create a new tradition for the ZumBurgess Family here at Boar Lodge. That is to make sausage on Christmas Eve. Scott gave Jo one of her most favorite Christmas presents last year: a sausage stuffer. We use only pork – no cereal – and we spice them with chilli flakes, cumin, sage, salt and paprika.
We buy a big side of pork and a couple kilos of pork belly (for the fat) and go to work. Jo’s second most favorite kitchen appliance is her Moulinex Master Chef 8000 with its electric meat grinder attachment. You can imagine how much Sisi loves this new tradition.
A real treat, but a real pain in the arse to cook is: paté de fois gras. Jo’s cousin Martha, who spent 15 years of her life living in what we consider the epicurean capital of the world (France), has a recipe she uses for her annual tradition of paté de fois gras during the Christmas season. Jo tried it first several years ago in London and failed miserably. This year almost ended the same way, until The Boy made a suggestion to cook it for three hours instead of 25 minutes. We used simple ingredients of a whole fois (minus a couple of thin slices we had for Christmas Eve), salt, sugar and a small glass of Calvados. Jo didn't bother to devein it either. No one told us what it should look like, only that it would be best eaten a week after it was made.
We had it this morning and, while it cannot possibly be as smooth as cousin Martha’s, Scott pronounced it a success.
Not all 12 days have been only about food. Scott has kept more than one fire going – both in the sporak (yes for cooking) and upstairs in the fireplace. With wood he chops outside.
And we've had a bit of fun with fireworks too. They haven’t been banned here yet and they’re readily available in all the supermarkets. Roman candles, bottle rockets that burst in mid air, even sparklers (when was the last time you had a sparkler?). While Sisi was more than happy to stay inside, we had fun on the terrace using our empty wine bottles to stage our own New Year’s Eve party.
Tonight we will have Daniel Boulud’s spicy pork belly with lentils (it’s been curing the fridge for two days) and tomorrow, in honor of Scott’s brother Lee, who turns 48, we will have gumbo!
Šťastný Nový Rok! Happy New Year!
