With everybody having less cash in their pockets this holiday season, making gifts is a way to save some money while still giving friends and family a gift they will enjoy. Cookie baking starts this weekend and my friends and I will make ( while sipping on some cocktails) pounds of cookie dough, ready for the freezer. If baking is not your thing or looking for something different why not try making some homemade beverages alcoholic or non alcoholic they simple and easy to make. Some of my favorites are homemade Irish Cream (Bailey’s knock off) and coffee liquor (Kahlua knock off) and homemade ginger beer.

 Ginger beer is a really refreshing non alcoholic drink or mixed with vodka it makes a great Moscow Mule. I started making ginger beer when I was a kid, my dad would make the ‘home brew’ and I would make ginger beer. Needless to say it is simple to prepare but does take about two weeks from start to finish.

Ginger Beer Plant

The first step in making the ginger beer is to grow the ‘ginger plant’. The ginger plant is a mixture of sugar, yeast, ground and or fresh ginger and water. These ingredients are mixed in a jar and then covered with muslin or a paper towel. Each day for one week a teaspoon of ground ginger and sugar is added to ‘the plant’ allowing the yeast to ferment and the ginger flavor to develop. After a week ‘the plant’ is strained through muslin or cheesecloth and mixed with water, sugar and lemon juice and then bottled. The strained solids of the ginger plant can then be placed back in the jar with water and the process started again. Once the ginger beer has been bottled it should be ready to drink after one week. The yeast from the ginger beer will result in a natural carbonation or ‘fizz’.

If I am making the ginger beer as a gift I like to use a glass bottle to store it in, they are available online, at home brew shops or at places like Ikea where I bought these bottles for $2.99. If you are making it for yourself you can always just use leftover plastic carbonated soda bottles, the choice is yours.

Homemade Ginger Beer Recipe

For the Ginger Beer Plant

• ½ teaspoon dried yeast
• 1 heaped teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• 7 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
• 7 rounded teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup lukewarm water

For the ginger beer syrup

• 4 cups of sugar
• 24 cups of warm water
• 3/4 cup strained lemon juice (if you can get your hands on some  organic meyer lemons it makes all the difference)
• zest of lemons

 Method:

Mix fresh ginger, yeast and 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger together in a jar, cover with a piece of cheese cloth or paper towel and secure with a rubber band. Each day for the next week, add 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon ground ginger.

To make the Ginger Beer:

Strain the ginger beer plant through two layers of cheese cloth. Pour the resulting liquid into the syrup and mix well. Bottle and seal. The ginger beer should be ready to drink by the end of a week.

The plant:  

Divide the plant left in the cheese cloth into two halves. Place one of these in a glass jar with a cup of warm water. Then next day start feeding as before, that is, one teaspoon of ginger and one of sugar each day. The other half of the plant can be discarded, or you can have two plants ‘on the go’.

Makes five, one quart bottles with a little left over to sample

By now you the turkey should of been ordered or defrosting but if  not a fresh bird is the only option because believe me you will not get a large bird defrosted between now and tomorrow!

So assuming you have the bird taken care of and you are still need some quick and easy sides to go with the big bird or for our veggie friends (tofurkey) here are some ideas.  All the recipes come with videos so you can plonk your laptop on the kitchen counter and follow the recipes step by step. If you don’t want to get your computer covered in food you can always print them out and remember you can text the ingredient lists to your phone so no need to worry about the shopping list.

So forget the greenbean casserole, here is my guide to some perfect sides and a cocktail or to keep everyone happy!

To start why not make yourself and guests a cocktail to get them in the mood and they won’t even notice if the food is running late.

Try the Orchard Cocktail from The Carneros Inn Napa or a pomegranate and vodka based martini  ‘Tears of the Prophet’ from Parallel 33 Restaurant.

Soups are a great appetizer to serve before the main event and they are east to prepare in advance and will actually help stop you over indulging on the turkey.

Orion Balliet from Azul La Jolla’s Rosted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup includes cider and calvados to give he soup that extra rich apple kick. For a lighter seasonal soup try a Roasted Sweet Potato and Ginger soup, topped with coconut milk. Lemongrass is also a great addition.

For the none meat eaters this Roasted Butternut Squash and Arugula Salad with pecans, goatcheese and lemon tarragon dressing is perfect. It has all the thanksgiving flavors and chopped medjool dates or dried cranberries can be added too for extra sweetness and color.

Already made the stuffing, well why not make some Skillet Cornbread too. This recipe has jalapeno and feta cheese to brighten up this old favorite.

Don’t forget the brussel sprouts, people seem to love them or hate them, but whatever you do just don’t over cook them or you will be left with a very unpleasant taste and smell. Here are some recipes from chefs David Warner of Jrdn Restaurant, Christope Girard of Farm Restaurant at the Carneros Inn and Neil Fraser of Grace Restaurant on how to cook those sprouts.

If you have eaten enough pumpkin, sweet potato and pecans though out the meal and looking for a quick and easy dessert, try Cat Cora’s recipe for Baked Apples or Frabrice Dubois from The Carneros Inn’s recipe for French Country Apple Galette

When all the cooking is over remember the most important think is to be thankful and enjoy time with friends and family,

Happy Thanksgiving

On Saturday I hosted the 2nd annual turducken dinner at my home (although my friend Kristie prefers to refer to it as a ‘festival’). The first turducken party/ festival was founded last year by my friend Pat.

 Pat was unemployed at the time and idling his time away on Wikipedia. This is where he came across the turducken a dish believed to be southern in origin and consisting of a boned chicken, stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey and roasted together. After much persistence Pat persuaded me to attempt to prepare this awe inspiring creation. I had first come across the turducken when I was in college back in Dublin, Ireland and read Jeffrey Steingarten’s book I’t Must’ve Been Something I Ate: The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything’ . Steingarten’s description of boning, stuffing, rolling, tying, sewing and storing the the boneless birds overnight in his already crammed refrigerator, held shut by a tilted chair piled high with books, jammed under the handle obviously inspired me and the challenge was on.

Preparing a turducken is at least a four day event, even longer if defroting and brining the birds. Last year I decided to brine the birds, this may of been because I wanted to do everything by the book (or wikipedia) and more probably because I had moved into my house two days prior and therefore had an empty refrigerator with plenty of room to brine my birds (I like to remove the bottom draws, scrub them and use them as a vessel to hold the brining birds). This year after some discussion I decided not to. Did it make a difference to the moistness of the finished dish? I am not quite sure. Last years turducken was moister and juicier but it was also smaller and had a shorter cooking time.

But before the brine or not to brine dilemma is considered the birds need to be boned. The same technique is used when removing the bones from each bird and the same tools are essential, a sharp narrow boning knife allowing you to cut the flesh away from the bone, a large chopping board or boards and a number of clean clothes to hold the birds steady.

Once the flesh is removed fromt he carcas of the birds in one piece it is time to make the rich flavorful stock from the bones and to stuff the birds. This year I also removed the skin from both the chicken and the duck as I did not like the texture of the unroasted pale skin. In hindsite I think this also may of had an effect on the juiciness of the birds. Make friends with your local butcher and he may do this for you, saving you most of the leg worth but also some of the challenge

Stuffing and assembling the dish in my opinion is definitely a two person job and hats off to my animal loving, vegetarian friend Chimena who held the bird together while I stuffed, sewed and secured the birds together. I used two different types of stuffing inbetween each bird, a bread crumb and mushroom, duxelle like mix between the the turkey and the duck and an apple, apricot and pinenut stuffing between the duck and chicken, but which ever stuffing you prefer will work.

Once the turducken is reassembled to look like a turkey again, I like to leave it overnight before roasting. Before roasting the birds it’s important to weigh it in order to gauge how long to cook it for. I find the easiest way to weigh the bird is to weigh yourself on the bathroom scales holding the a chopping board or pan which the turducken will rest on. Then place the turducken on the board and weigh yourself again. Subtract your weight from the total and there you go. Saturday’s bird was 26 lbs which roasted gently for 15 minutes per pound and 15 minutes over or until the densist part of the bird reaches an internal temperature of 165 F. Once the bird is cooked it then needs at least 30 minutes for the meat to rest before carving thick juicy slices. Once the turducken is roasted its time to start on the sides!

I finally feel as I can enter into the land of the living! After fighting a cold and chest infection over the last ten days I am starting to get my appetite back  and therefore can start to think and write about food. Lets just say that I know I am really not myself when I loose my appetite and all motivation to cook and eat.

Proof of this was last Saturday when I attended the San Diego Bay Food and Wine Festival’s Gran Event with fellow foodies and bloggers Alice Q and Caron Golden. With over 50 restaurants and over 120 wineries participating it sounding like a fun afternoon. But with temperatures in the 90’s on a mid November afternoon it was not the best climate for gorging yourself on steak and warm red wine which there seemed to be in abundance. As Alice noted in her blog steak and ahi tuna seemed to be the most popular dishes to serve among the chefs. Maybe this is due to the ease of preparation as it should be noted that in my experience (as a former chef and vendor) at the festival, restaurants are required to prepare 1000 tasting sized portions. This is a lot of food to not just prep on for a Saturday afternoon but to also serve to a large number of people over a five hour period. Keeping hot food hot , or cold food or wine cold on a day like Saturday is a real challenge while also showcasing your signature dishes. Think back to many a ‘Top Chef’ episode where Padma, Tom and the guest judge critique contestants dishes at large events, whether it was tailgating at a Bears game or  late night street food in Miami and you will kind of get an idea of the challenges that chefs face. Speaking of ‘Top Chef’ there were a few former contestants spotted, local chef and former contestant Brian Malarkey from Oceanaire  definitely had the loudest display and longest lines at the Oceanaire booth with DJ, ice luge and quail egg and oyster shooter included. He seemed to also have roped in CJ another forner contestant  from the series to help out at the booth and I know Richard Blais and Cassie were also spotted checking out the food and wine and signing books.

Overall I did not consume as much as I usually would at a food and wine festival due to the high temperatures and failing tastebuds but I did really enjoy the ice cold beer from the Stella Artois tent, a small glass of sparkling wine and a couple of bite sized macaroons from Opera Patisserie. Alice Q awarded the Rubio’slobster taco as her favorite dish of the day and I can’t argue, because if there is anyone who should know how to feed the masses in San Diego with simple street food it would have to be Ralph Rubio!

My table captain Tony

After a long night of food, fun, Jack Daniel’s and of course the famous southern hospitality it was an early start to get down to the real business of judging world class barbeque. As all 72 judges arrived and found their seats, the apron signing began. All judges are given an a black apron and a silver sharpie to sign each others aprons, a fun tradition and a great way to introduce yourselves to one another. Then it started, the barbeque tasting marathon, the main event, judging at least 6 samples of lip smacking, finger licking good barbeque in all four KCBS categories. Additionally there were 3 more categories of cooks choice, sauce and to really tip us over the edge into a food coma, desert!

Team I Que, winners of Cooks Choice Award       Team Switzerland

Photographing the entries by judges is not allowed but  we started with entries in the cooks choice category included braised lamb shanks (a whole shank each served in a pumpkin), bacon wrapped scallops and roasted pork loin, then it was on to sauce (with pork shoulder to dip), chicken, pork ribs, pork shoulder, brisket and desert. In between each category there was a chance to walk around the judging pavilion, rub our growing bellies. Jack Daniel’s were also thoughtful enough to supply us with small cooler bags with ziploc bags for left over bbq and moist face towels to wipe off our face and fingers. This was definitley a first, I don’t think I have ever had so many people, photographers and video cameras watch me eat. As spectators were eying up the extra samples we were busy scoring each and every entry. I had some veteran judges who had been at ‘the Jack’ since it’s inaugoration 20 years ago.

Once the judging was over it was time to relax and hangout with the teams before the awards ceremony began. In the end it was the Swiss who took first place in the international competition and the grand champion was ‘4 Legs Up BBQ’ with resevere champions ‘4 Mile Smokin Crew’ (for full results click here). Overall I have to say that the ‘20th Annual Jack Daniel’s Invitational World Barbeque Championships’ was the most fun that I have had at a food event and I hope to be back for more next year!

‘Wild Geese’ team at the awards ceremony