Roast Turkey 

Recipe 1

Now to prepare the grand traditional centerpiece of Christmas dinner! 

In a skillet, cook six slices of bacon until crisp, remove and crumble. Pour off all but two tablespoons of drippings. Cook one cup of sliced celery and a half cup of chopped onions in the drippings until tender. 

Toss lightly with one, 240 grams or 8 & 1 / 2 ounce package of herb seasoned stuffing mix, 2 cups of coarse core bread crumbs one 300 gram or 10 & 1 / 2 ounce can of chicken broth and one slightly beaten egg.

Fill the cavity of the turkey loosely with stuffing, truss and place in a roasting pan. Cover with foil and roast in a 160 Celsius, 325 Fahrenheit oven for about four hours, or 25 minutes for every 455 grams, or one pound. 

Uncover the turkey for the last hour to brown. Remove the turkey to a serving platter. Skim the fat from the drippings and add one 305 gram, ten and three fourths can of cream of mushroom soup, a half cup of whole berry cranberry sauce and a fourth cup of orange juice. Heat and stir to loosen the browned bits.  This makes twelve servings.

Recipe 2

Ah! There is nothing that compares with a golden roast Christmas turkey with a tasty stuffing!

Stuffing Ingredients: 225 grams or 1 / 2  of a pound of sweet Italian sausage, crumbled, 4 tablespoons of butter, one medium onion, chopped, one stock of celery, chopped, 3 cups of roughly crumbled corn bread, 2 cups of cubed toasted crustless bread, 1 egg, a third of a cup of parsley, chopped, 2 teaspoons of dried sage, one half of a teaspoon of dried tine, broth which is optional, salt and pepper.

Gravy Ingredients: one 305 gram, ten and three fourths can of cream of mushroom soup, a half cup of whole berry cranberry sauce and a one fourth cup of orange juice

In a frying pan, sauté the sausage until it is cooked and browned. Pour off all but two tablespoons of the fat. Melt the butter in the same pan. Add the onion and celery, and sauté with the sausage until softened.

In a large bowl, combine the sausage mixture with the breads. Mix in an egg, the parsley, sage and tine, then blend well. Add a little broth if the stuffing seems too dry. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Fill, but do not pack the turkey with the stuffing. Truss the bird and place in a roasting pan. Cover with foil and roast in a 160 Celsius, 325 Fahrenheit oven for about four hours, or 25 minutes for every 455 grams, or one pound. Uncover the turkey for the last hour to brown. Remove the turkey to a serving platter. Skim the fat from the drippings and add the cream of mushroom soup, the whole berry cranberry sauce and the orange juice. Heat and stir to loosen the browned bits.  This makes twelve servings.

Roast Pork With Sauerkraut

This dish is customarily eaten on New Years Day to bring good luck the whole year through!

Use a rib or loin roast of pork. Place the meat into a roasting pan that has a lid. Sprinkle the roast with rosemary, preferably fresh rosemary, and bake it uncovered at 160 Celsius, 325 Fahrenheit according to the size of the roast. The proper time to cook a roast is 25 to 28 minutes for every 450 grams or 1 pound. There is no need to salt the pork, because the salt from the sauerkraut will mingle with the juices of the pork roast to season it. One hour before it's done, cover the pork with sauerkraut and the juice from the canned sauerkraut, cover with roasting pan lid and continue cooking.

Mashed potatoes are the perfect accompaniment for this meal. Be sure to mix the potatoes with warm milk, and try adding a little soy sauce or garlic salt for added flavor.

Golden Stuffed Cornish Hens

For small gatherings (2 or 3 people) a grand Christmas turkey or goose is a bit much. How about trying this recipe for Cornish game hens. These little birds make for fancy eating, just the thing for a holiday occasion!

Ingredients:
2 Cornish Hens
4 slices of bacon
1 half of a cup of chopped carrot
1 tablespoon of snipped parsley
1 eighth of a teaspoon of dried savory
1 & 1-half cups dried bread crumbs
1-quarter of a teaspoon of chicken bouillon granules
2 tablespoons of hot water
2 tablespoons of  dry red wine
1 tablespoon of  melted butter
1 tablespoon of orange juice
a dash of pepper
cooking oil

Directions:
In a skillet cook the bacon until crisp. Drain and reserve 1 tablespoon of the drippings. Crumble the bacon & set aside. In the same skillet, cook the carrots in the reserved drippings, about 5 minutes, until tender. Stir in the bacon, spices and bread crumbs. Dissolve the bouillon in hot water and drizzle over bread crumbs, then toss lightly. Season the cavities of the Cornish hens with salt and stuff with the bread mixtures. Brush the birds with cooking oil, cover them loosely with foil, then roast them at 190 Celsius or 375 Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. Combine the wine, butter and orange juice. Uncover the birds and baste. Roast uncovered about 1 hour, basting a couple times more with basting sauce. Serve the hens with your favorite vegetables or salad. This recipe may be doubled or tripled.

Golden Praline Ham

Ingredients: One canned ham, one 455 gram or 16 ounce jar of apricot pineapple preserve, one half cup of brown sugar, and some pecans and Maraschino cherries for garnish. Combine the apricot pineapple preserve with the brown sugar and heat in a sauce pan, stirring well. Spread the mixture over the ham for the last half-hour of baking. You'll need to bake a 2.75 to 4.5 kilogram, six to ten pound canned ham, for one and a half to two and a half hours, at 165 Celsius, 325 Fahrenheit. When the ham is finished, garnish with alternating diagonal rows of pecan and cherry halves, and that's it!

Glazed pears Topped With Cherry Sauce

This makes a festive dessert to complete any Holiday meal! This recipe serves 12.

Start with 16 fresh pears. Core them and slice them lengthwise into wedges, leaving the peel on, then place the slices into a bowl of lemon water to stop them from turning brown. In a large sauté pan melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Pat the slices dry and then add them to the pan. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of brown sugar over the pears and continue cooking until the juices are absorbed and the pears are glazed.

To make the cherry sauce you'll need 2 cups of fresh pitted cherries. Place them in a blender and process at medium speed until the cherries are chopped, then put them into a small sauce pan, add 3 tablespoons of honey, and stir over low heat until just below boiling. Mix 2 teaspoons of corn starch and 1 / 4 cup of water, then add this to the cherries. Cook slowly until the mix is smooth and thick.

Pour the sauce over the pears and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Roast Goose

Christmas is a coming, And the geese are getting fat.
Please to put a penny, In a poor man's hat.
It goes without saying that the Christmas goose is a holiday must for many!

Ingredients:
1 goose
1 or 2 teaspoons each fresh sage, parsley, hyssop (or mint), and savory
1 or 2 hard pears (peeled, cored, and chopped)
1 or 2 quinces, if available (or use sharp apples); (pared, cored, and chopped(
2 or 3 cloves garlic, mashed or finely minced
1 cup of seedless or seeded grapes
1-quarter of a cup of bread crumbs
1-half of a teaspoon of ginger
1-half of a teaspoon of cinnamon
1-quarter of a teaspoon of vinegar
1-quarter of a teaspoon of red wine
1-half of a teaspoon of salt, or to taste

Directions:
Stuff the goose with a mixture of herbs, fruits, and garlic and sew or sewer closed and roast on a rack in an open pan in a 160 to 165 Celsius or 325
Fahrenheit   oven for 66 minutes per kilogram or 30 minutes per pound. Pour off the fat as it accumulates, and set aside. When the goose is almost done, make a sauce by blending the bread crumbs, spices, vinegar, and wine, with up to 1-quarter of a cup of the accumulated fat. You can pour this sauce over the goose, serve it separately, or, most authentically, cut up the goose into serving portions, after removing the stuffing an mixing it with the breadcrumb-thickened sauce, and serve pieces of goose on a platter around or under the sauce.

GRAVY PROBLEMS GRAVY SOLUTIONS:

* Gravy is lumpy.

With a whisk or rotary beater, beat the gravy until
smooth. If all other attempts fail, use a food processor,
strainer or blender. Reheat, stirring constantly; serve.

* Gravy is too salty.

If the oversalting is slight:

A. Add several raw potato slices and cook until the potato
slices are translucent. Remove the slices prior to serving.

B. Add a few pinches of light brown sugar (only a few pinches,
or gravy will become too sweet). If the oversalting is severe,
the gravy must be repaired by increasing the quantity. Prepare
another batch of gravy, omitting all salt. Blend the two
batches together.

* Gravy is too light in color.

Add ½ teaspoon of instant coffee.

* Gravy is not thick.

If time permits, allow the gravy to continue to simmer on the
range top. If time does not allow, mix the following thickening
agents as indicated:

A. Cornstarch - Blend 1 teaspoon per cup of liquid in cold water.

Stir until dissolved then mix into gravy. Continue to cook and
stir to eliminate the cornstarch flavor.

B. Paste of flour and cold water.

NOTE: Mixing starch with cold water before adding it to a hot
mixture prevents lumping.

* Gravy is too thick.

Slowly whisk in more broth until the desired thickness is reached.
 

* Gravy is greasy/fatty.

For an immediate fix, the fat can be skimmed off the top or
soaked up with a fresh bread slice. If more time allows, chill
the gravy, skim off the fat and reheat the gravy until it bubbles.

from the: 0-ChristmasFun4Everyone@egroups.com