The earliest traditional Christmas meal in Britain was stuffed boar's head,
but by the Middle Ages it was customary to serve large stuffed fowl, the
bigger the better. While royal households and nobility feasted on peacocks
and swans, herons and bustards, those not in the swan-eating class made do
with duck or chicken, or goose if they were lucky.
These impressive birds, particularly peacock and swan, were skinned before
roasting, then served in their feathers, the peacock's beak propped open
with a piece of bread soaked in alcohol. This would be set alight and the
bird served with much pomp and ceremony. This may be the origin of the
custom of setting fire to the Christmas pudding.
Swan was served with a sauce made from its liver, pounded with vinegar. The
more humble goose was stuffed with sage and onions, and the rich, dark meat
was eaten with apple sauce and mashed potato.
Game birds in season at Christmas, particularly pheasant, partridge and
woodcock, have always been popular at the festive table. Although small, and
tricky to cook for large numbers, they are perfect for small celebrations of
two to four people. Henry VIII was the first English king to enjoy turkey,
although it was Edward VII who made eating it at Christmas fashionable.
Turkey may have eclipsed fowls of the sea and air with the well-to-do, but
centuries passed before it came to challenge goose as the nation's favourite
Christmas bird. In the mid-17th century turkeys and geese were walked to
London from Norfolk and Suffolk in time for the Christmas market, but the
turkeys were not a popular option until the 1890s. It was the introduction
of mass-produced, quick-growing white turkeys, fed on any old stuff and easy
to pluck, that led to the bird's eventual popularity.
Last year 87 per cent of people in the UK chose turkey, but many opted for a
superior bronze bird.
This year, whichever bird you choose, it is the provenance that is
preoccupying discerning cooks. I even heard of a West Country goose farmer
who fattens his birds on windfalls in his apple orchard, and another who
mixes cereal with grass from a clifftop paddock, so the geese are being
seasoned with salt as they eat. Ritual is important at Christmas and there
is great pleasure and reassurance in the familiar - but as these recipes
show, there are many variations on the traditional meal.
Mark Hix
Small game birds
Game birds such as teal, snipe, woodcock, widgeon, pintail and even pigeon are
a great way to entertain your guests at Christmas. What's more, they don't
take much longer than 15 minutes in a hot oven to cook, so you can pop them
in while you are having your starter. The fun of eating game birds is that
each has a unique flavour.
Christmas lunch of small game birds
Serves 8
Ingredients
16 or so small game
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
32 sage leaves
A few knobs of butter, softened
Method
Preheat the oven to 230C/Gas 8. Season the birds inside and out and place the
sage leaves in the cavities. Rub the breasts with the softened butter. Place
in one or two large roasting trays and roast for about 15 minutes, keeping
them pink and basting with the butter from time to time. If you are cooking
widgeon, allow an extra 10 minutes or so as they tend to be twice the size.
Serve the game birds on boards or a platter, with pan gravy or a hedgerow
jelly.Buttered sprout tops tossed with chanterelles or lightly roasted
chestnuts work a treat, and bread sauce is a must.
British Seasonal Food by Mark Hix,Quadrille, £25
Gary Rhodes
Chicken
That wonderful nectar-of-flowers ingredient, honey, lends this chicken dish a
slightly caramelised, sticky and sweet edge. Seasoning with coarse sea salt
gives a crunchy texture to the skin when cooked and at the same time
sharpens all the other tastes.
For the very best flavour, select a free-range chicken. Once cooked, the bird
needs to rest to allow the meat to relax. With this recipe it's simple - the
chicken relaxes while still in the oven after you have switched it off.
Honey, lemon and thyme roast chicken
Serves 4
Ingredients
1.6-1.8kg chicken
Large knob of butter
Sea salt and pepper
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 level tbsp thyme leaves
4tbsp clear honey
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Rub the chicken all over with butter and
season liberally. Place in a roasting tray and roast for 40 minutes. Remove
the bird from the oven and pour any juices into a bowl.
Mix together the lemon zest, thyme and honey and pour over. Return the chicken
to the oven. Baste every 5 minutes or so, then, after 20 minutes, baste once
more and turn off the oven, leaving it to rest there for 15 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the roasting tray and heat all the honey and juices in
the tray with a little water to loosen, if necessary.
Meanwhile, remove the legs, separating the thigh and the drumstick, and carve
the breast into thick slices. Divide the meat on to four plates, spooning
over the honey, lemon and thyme juices.
Gary Rhodes 365, Penguin, £25
Sarah Raven
Partridge
Partridge has a great flavour, and the key when cooking is to keep the flesh
moist. Do this by covering the breast with streaky bacon and stuffing the
cavity with this delicious nutty mix. This is a recipe that Peter Weeden
(the head chef of Paternoster Chop House) devised for using the Kentish
cobnut. Lay each bird on a slice of bread to catch the gamey juice.
Roast partridge with cobnut stuffing
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 partridges: reds or stronger-flavoured native greys, dry-plucked, preferably
not plastic-wrapped
8 rashers streaky bacon
4 half-slices of crusty white bread, buttered
For the stuffing:
1 onion, chopped
25g butter
75g cobnuts
150g breadcrumbs
1 apple, diced
1 egg, beaten
Salt and black pepper
A little milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 175C/Gas 3-4.
To make the stuffing, sweat the onion in the butter for 10 minutes over gentle
heat. Roughly chop the cobnuts and mix into the breadcrumbs with the apple
and beaten egg, salt, pepper and onion. If the mixture is too dry, add a
little milk.
Stuff the birds with this mixture, cover the breasts with the bacon and sit
them on a half-slice of crusty white bread, butter side up, in a baking
tray. This will fry and soak up the juices as it cooks. Roast in the
preheated oven for 30 minutes, allow to rest for at least 10 minutes, then
serve.
Sarah Raven's Complete Christmas Food and Flowers, £25, Bloomsbury
Gordon Ramsay
Goose
Goose is a real Christmas treat but easy to overcook as the size, density and
amount of fat all affect the cooking time.
Work to about 15 minutes per kilo, but the best way to avoid overcooking is to
check the goose half an hour before the end. If it's not ready, give it
another 15 minutes, then check again. The Chinese five spice gives it a
lovely dark coating and wonderful aroma.
Five Spice and lemon-infused goose
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
1 goose, approx 5.5-6.5kg in weight
1 orange, finely zested and halved
2 lemons, finely zested and halved
2 heaped tbsp five spice powder
1tbsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
5 tbsp runny honey, to drizzle
Method
Place a deep roasting pan with a wire rack in the oven and preheat to the
highest setting, about 250C/Gas9. Remove the giblets from the main cavity of
the goose and trim off any excess fat.
Coarsely grind the orange and lemon zest, five spice powder, salt and pepper
in a pestle and mortar. Lightly score the skin of the goose in a criss-cross
pattern with a sharp knife, taking care not to slice through the flesh. Rub
the seasoning all over the skin.
Season and stuff the neck-end cavity with the lemon wedges, tucking the flap
of skin down around them.Place the goose on the preheated wire rack and
roasting pan, breast-side up, and bake for 15 minutes until the skin is
golden-brown. Turn down to 180C/Gas 4 and roast for another 30 minutes.
Pour off some of the fat from the roasting tin (keep it for roasting
potatoes). Drizzle the honey over the goose. With a sharp knife, cut around
the thighs and prise the legs open (this allows heat to penetrate the dark
meat and ensures that legs and breast cook simultaneously). Baste the thighs
with a little goose fat and drizzle with more honey.
Place the goose back in the oven and roast for another half-hour until browned
and slightly caramelised. The flesh should feel firm with a bit of spring
when lightly pressed. Alternatively, insert an electronic probe or meat
thermometer into the thickest part of a thigh. It should register 70C (the
thermometer must not touch the bone or the reading will not be accurate).
Remove the goose from the oven and cover loosely with tin foil. Let it rest
for 15-20 minutes. To carve, cut off wings and legs and set aside. Carve
thin slices off the breast. Cut down the centre of the legs to separate
thighs from drumsticks. Holding them upright, slice off the meat around the
thighs and drumsticks. Arrange on a large platter and serve.
Donna Hay
Turkey
It may be your first, or it may be your turn every year: either way, the
Christmas turkey should be simple and no-fuss. Retain the pan juices from
the cooked turkey to make a cranberry gravy afterwards.
Turkey with lemon and parsley stuffing
Serves 8
Ingredients
4.6-5kg fresh turkey
100g soft butter
2 cups chicken stock
For the stuffing
80g butter
2tbsp shredded lemon zest
3 cloves garlic, sliced
7 cups fresh breadcrumbs
2tbsp chopped thyme
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
80g soft butter (extra)
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Wash and dry the turkey.
To make the stuffing, place a frying pan over medium heat and cook the butter,
lemon zest and garlic for 3 minutes. Combine the lemon mixture, breadcrumbs,
thyme, salt, pepper and extra butter in a bowl, and stuff it loosely into
the cavity of the turkey. Tie the legs together with cotton string.
Spoon the soft butter between the turkey skin and the breast meat. Place the
turkey breast-side down on a greased rack in a baking dish. Pour the stock
into the bottom of the baking dish, cover and bake for 1 hour. Turn
breast-side up and bake, uncovered, for a further 45 minutes to 1 hour or
until cooked when tested with a skewer in the thigh meat.
Buying the bird: where to find them
Blackface
Dumfries, Scotland
01387 730326
www.blackface.co.uk
One of the UK's leading suppliers of wild game birds, including snipe, teal
and woodcock. Also offers locally raised bronze turkeys and grey and
red-legged partridges.
Turkeys can be ordered until they run out. Last orders for all other birds on
Monday, December 15.
Clerkes Farm Geese
Saffron Walden, Essex
01799 586248
www.clerkesgeese.com
Recommended by Heston Blumenthal, Clerkes geese and chickens are raised on
home-grown corn and meadow grass and are dry-plucked for crispy skin when
roasted.
Last orders for Christmas on Monday, December 15.
Graig Farm Organics
Llandrindod Wells, Wales
01597 851655
www.graigfarm.co.uk
Organic and additive-free turkeys, chickens and geese traditionally raised in
local specialist farms.
Can be ordered until they run out and last deliveries are on Christmas Eve -
though best not leave it that late.
Alternative Meats
Wem, Shropshire
0844 5456070
www.alternativemeats.co.uk
Along with such exotic fare as crocodile, kangaroo and caribou, Alternative
Meats offers free-range chicken, gold and bronze turkeys and “oven-ready”
teal, partridge, goose and woodcock.
Last Christmas orders on Monday, December 22.
Appledore Turkeys
Ashford, Kent
01233 758609
www.appledoreturkeys.co.uk
Traditionally reared white, bronze and free-range turkeys that are fed a
natural diet, hand-plucked and hung for two weeks.
Last orders for Christmas on Thursday, December 18.
I've previously heard that Gordon Ramsay is an expert on game birds.
Jonathan, Inverness, Scotland
Does it really only take 1hr. 45mins to cook a 5kg turkey?
L COLLINS, High Wycombe,
"The more humble goose was stuffed with sage and onions, and the rich, dark meat was eaten with apple sauce and mashed potato." Hardly medieval, given that potatoes weren't commonly eaten here until the C17.
Anna, Manchester,
I've taken to cooking small and medium gamebirds in chicken bricks. It takes longer but is totally worry free as, apart from the initial browning in a pan, you don't need to look at them or baste while cooking.
gerry, exeter, england