December is a month of
many holidays, to name everyone would take about a full newspaper page, so here
is a few most Americans may have heard of, or even practice.
Saint Nicholas Day
(Christian)
Fiesta of Our Lady of
Guadalupe (Mexican)
St. Lucia Day (Swedish)
Hanukkah (Jewish)
Christmas Day (Christian)
Three Kings Day/Epiphany
(Christian)
Boxing Day (Australian,
Canadian, English, Irish)
Kwanzaa (African American)
Omisoka (Japanese)
Yule (Pagan)
Saturnalia (Pagan)
By the way, the Twelve
Days of Christmas are December 25th to January 5th, aka
Twelvetide, a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus Christ;
and the dates change dependent on which sect of Christianity you practice. December 26th is known as Saint
Stephens Day, or Boxing Day; all I know is that it is my birthday, and yes, I
do expect presents…that’s a little hint right there.
For Hanukkah, potato
latkes and doughnuts (sufganiyot) are requirements, while brisket is the
traditional meat served. Traditional
Yule foods include festive meats, winter vegetables, and colorful preserved
fruits. Cookies and caraway cakes soaked
in cider, fruits, nuts, pork dishes, turkey, eggnog, ginger tea, spiced cider,
wassail, or lamb's wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples), apples, mulled
wine, beans, and oranges. Omisoka is the
Japanese New Year’s Eve (celebrated December 31st); Toshikoshi soba
is Japanese traditional noodle bowl dish eaten. This custom lets go of hardship
of the year because soba noodles are easily cut while eating.
Depending on where you
live in this massive world of ours, traditional Christmas main dishes are
culturally inspired. Roast goose or
roast beef in Britain, whole roasted pig in the Philippines, Feast of the 7
Fishes in Italy, tamales in Costa Rica; and immigrants have brought these
traditions to this United States as well.
Growing up, my family had roast turkey with all the trimmings, it was
Thanksgiving all over again! Later on,
celebrating with other families, I experienced glazed ham with raisin sauce;
Peking duck thinly sliced and layered onto Mandarin pancakes smeared with
hoisin sauce; Sauerbraten (translated “sour roast meat”) and German potato
salad. Oh yes, my culinary palette has
had an amazing educational experience when it comes to food.
Personally, my food
philosophy, and Roy has embraced this too, is to try anything and everything
once. May not like something, might even
find it to be totally disgusting, but at least can honestly say, “Yes, tried
it, and no, do not like it.” Or who
knows, may simply love it to the point of craving it. This is the point of this entire story, do
not give up traditions, but do not give up on learning. Also strive to try something new; this is, to
me, the meaning of life, of existence, to learn something new each and every
day.
So, from the Cokenour
household, Happy Holidays to All, be it Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous
Yule, or whichever belief you hold dear.
Oh, and here’s my recipe for Prime Rib, in case you’ve never experienced
it…enjoy!
Normally a prime rib roast
comes with the bones attached. You can
do several things with the bones once removed; use them as a rack for the roast
to rest on while roasting; cook them separately to eat later on; use them to
make beef stock. Or you can ask your
butcher to remove them for you and not deal with them at all; to me, that's a
complete waste. Prime rib usually comes
with a thick fat cap also; I removed a good portion of it so I could get the
seasoning rub onto the meat itself, but left enough fat so the meat could self-baste
while roasting.
Prime Rib
Ingredients:
1/2 can of water
4 large shallots, peeled
and split into sections
2 tsp. dried rosemary
3 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. ground black
pepper
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
8 lb. prime rib; bones
removed
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil; pour
the beef broth and water in. Place the
shallot sections in the pan so that the prime rib will be located over them. Spray the rack with nonstick spray and place
into the pan; be careful not to tear the foil.
Mix together the rosemary,
thyme, garlic and onion powders, black pepper and salt. Brush olive oil over top of the prime rib;
spread seasoning rub onto it.
Place the roast onto the
center of the rack; make sure it is over the shallots. Roast the beef for 45 minutes at the 400F
temperature; turn the temperature down to 300F and roast to desired
doneness. A meat thermometer is going to
be your best friend with this process as it will tell you the internal temperature
and, therefore, how you like your meat cooked.
125F is rare, 135F is medium-rare, 145F is medium and 155F is well;
anything over that, in my opinion of course, is shoe leather. In the words of Doctor Who, it's a
"wibbley wobbley, timey wimey" process.
Once you have the roast at
the desired doneness, pull the entire pan out of the oven, remove the roast to
a platter, cover with aluminum foil, and let it all rest for 30 minutes. This lets the juices from the roast
redistribute back throughout itself; then place the roast on a cutting board
and cut one inch slices.
You're probably wondering
about the beef broth, water and shallots?
This is what you'll use to make either an au jus or a gravy; first
remove the shallots with a slotted spoon.
Then pour all the remaining liquids and solids into a freezer safe
plastic bowl; put the bowl into the freezer for 45 minutes; the fat will rise
to the surface, solidify and you can just remove it easily with a spoon. Pour the fat free liquid through a strainer to
remove any bits of missed solid fat or herbs.
That will give you a lovely clear, herbal flavored au jus; or you can
put the liquid into a saucepan, add a tablespoon of corn starch, bring it to a
boil and make a gravy. The
shallots? I chopped them up finely and
added them to the au jus, but they could just as well be served on the side of
a prime rib slice.
Now what did I do with
those rib bones? Glad you asked. I seasoned them up a bit differently by using
my all-purpose seasoning rub. After the
prime rib was done, I popped them into the 300F oven, sitting on an aluminum
foil covered rack in a pan; I let them roast for 3 hours. They made a good snack for my hubby later on.