2821

Yeah I’d have a hard time picking it out by taste/smell too. Roquefort is stronger and saltier than most blue cheeses though, so there’s that.

I used it in homemade pizza yesterday when I made one with mushrooms, sausage and a few other bits and bobs. If you’ve got a good sauce, a good crust and some good cheese you’re pretty much set. In this case most of the cheese was really cheap supermarket stuff, but adding some roq’ took it to another level.

2822

Made crock pot pork tenderloin today. I would have taken a picture but, damn. We’ve been smelling that wonderful aroma all day. When it was done the family tore it up.

2823

I made cauliflower risotto from a Jamie Oliver recipe my dad used to make. Haven’t done any serious cooking in months so it was kind of exciting to do something in the kitchen that required more or less constant attention. The risotto tastes amazing but I can’t help but think that the presentation needs work. It looks like a bowl of grey glop.

2824

Okay, technically this is not something I cooked lately as it is my wife who cooked them. But it is interesting nonetheless. The recipes came from Quinoa 365, a book she received for her birthday. She’s been doing breakfast items from the book.

After some searching, we found some quinoa flour. She used that to make pancakes and waffles.

The pancakes were nice. Quinoa has a natural nuttiness to its flavour that came out quite well in the pancakes. They were quite good with maple syrup. The waffles were very good. They came out quite light, and were very nice with some berries and maple syrup.

There was also some hot cereal made with toasted sliced almonds, raisons, cinnamon, and apple. It sounds good, but the end result was so-so. I think I’d much rather have oatmeal with those accompaniments.

We also had quinoa and potato hashbrowns. That wasn’t too bad. It would have been great with some bacon, but then again, what wouldn’t be great with some bacon?

2825

With leftover turkey, I made Kentucky Hot Brown for dinner.

Toasted Texas Toast + Turkey, smothered with Mornay sauce, topped with bacon and parsley and paprika.

FOR DINNER.

Take that, purists.

I’m going to go have a heart attack now.

2826

Om nom nom nom!

I tried to make patties out of the leftover mashed potatoes to avoid the standard potato texture. Didn’t come together. Ended up topping it with cheese and gravy, labeling it “deconstructed poutine,” and calling it a night. No pictures, for good reason.

2827

That has got to be one of the worst names for a dish, ever. Looks good though!

2828

Right! As if the hot brown in West Viginia or Tennessee tastes any different!

2829

My gift of UK working man’s condiments rocks, relevant pictures here:

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=2987089&postcount=648

Branston Pickle: Still my favorite. I’m going to make some tuna salad with it.
Colson’s Mustard: Validates my own attempts to make mustard which were invariably hot as hell. Had a phenomenal sandwich with this today.
Da Cheddar: Good, similar to the fancy stuff I can get around here but a bit creamier
Marmite: Um, jury’s still out. I think I’m put off by the fact that it looks like one of my favorite things, sorghum molasses, but substitute the sugar for salt. I’m trying.
HP Sauce: Tasty, different.
Bovril: Still too scared to try.

And the honey. Still remarkable.

2830

I am lucky enough to have a regular supply of Branston Pickle and Colson’s Mustard here.

Much respect to our British brethren.

2831

I’m surprised that I never knew HP Sauce wasn’t available in the US.

2832

Not in supermarkets, though I’ve seen it in specialty locations.

2833

Christmas baking so far includes:

Peanut brittle
Chocolate-hazelnut drop cookies
Biscotti
Sugar cookies (cutout)

May or may not do shortbread and brownies yet.

Also planning on making croissants and pain au chocolat for Christmas.

2834

Anybody have a good baked beans recipe for a crockpot? My wife tried one that was cooked in a regular pot that used ham hocks. It was okay but tasted more like pulled pork with beans. I’m looking for something was some rootin’ tootin’ goodness.

2835

Perhaps I should have said widely available, I figured specialty stores would have it, possibly import sections of grocery stores would have it as well. Here it’s available right next to the A1 sauce and other steak sauces in the regular sections of the super market.

2836

Hmmm… HP Sauce is widely available in Canuckistan.

2837

We ended up deciding to cook a ham for Christmas because goose was all sold out. So while shopping the other day, my wife – who like me doesn’t know ham that well – calls me from the supermarket to find out which ham to buy. There’s not a lot of selection, but one option is something called “champagne gammon ham”, and since I know that a gammon ham is also known as a Christmas ham, I tell her to get that.

Well, it turns out that a Champagne Gammon ham is really a pre-cooked processed “ham” loaf that is made from, according to the ingredients, “pork”. Thankfully for the rest of the world, it appears to be sold only in Singapore (and at one store in Western Australia that advertises on the Internet), since that’s where it is made—although we bought it at a French supermarket (Carrefore), so go figure. Interestingly, the company that makes it does not include its name on the label – it’s just “Champagne Gammon Ham . . . product of Singapore”.

Too late now, so what am I supposed to do with this for Xmas? The suggestion on the package is to bake it in the oven for 20 minutes (otherwise, it claims, the “ham” becomes dried out), and then cover it in the cranberry sauce (or should I say “cranberry” sauce) that was included in the wrapping (together with a “cooler bag”???). Somehow, I don’t find that idea particularly promising. But the only other idea I can come up with is a retro-style Christmas ham-and-cheese sandwiches using wonder bread and Velvetta, 'cause the “ham” really looks like something my family in Kansas would have bought in the 1960s before middle-call America discovered food.

So, any suggestions as to how to make a silk-like purse out of what literally might include a sow’s ear would we greatly appreciated.

tl;dr version: Any ideas for how to make a pausible Xmas dinner out of a mistakenly purchased pre-cooked, processed “ham” loaf?

2838

Nuke the “ham” from orbit.

2839

I was thinking of that, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

2840

Are you very poor or do you live on a remote island? Why don’t you just chuck the ham, tell your wife she’s not allowed to shop for food anymore and buy something else?

If you’re very poor or live on a remote island, I apologize for my insensitive suggestion, but cannot offer any advice as it doesn’t sound like food I’m familiar with.

I made Alton Browns turkey brine, 2 kilos of matchstick sized fried potatoes and three more plates of cookies - today will be first stuffing, then roasting the turkey combining the Alton Brown recipe with some English Christmas turkey thing. I’m thinking I want to involved bacon.