Food

Start them onions now and they'll be pickled by Christmas. Just in time for a month's worth of leftover ham.

I mean, who the fuck gets bored of good ham?

I think I want some ham

I was thinking porchetta for the holidays as well. This place is spooky at times.

Was there not a flurry of porchetta recipes here a while back? From the Chevroned One perhaps?

ham, salad & salad cream sandwiches
turkey, ham, stuffing & mayo sandwiches
ham and cheese toasties
ham & poached eggs on an english muffin
just ham on it's own every single time you open the fridge.

Yeah he has a solid recipe

I usually do a jerk porchetta for Christmas. This year I'm doing traditional as above and a jerked one.

TWO!? Jeez. Better up my game.

One thing I'm not sure about on Porchetta is texture after the initial cook. I've had it from vans/stalls in Italy etc and that's basically the only time. It's been hot, sticky, moist af and with crackling etc. But what happens when it cools. Same thick-ish cuts? Or finer slices and basically say goodbye to crackling (and just chew porky toffee instead? Which I'm completely fine with obvs.)

ham wrapped in ham

Turkey and ham pie

we're through the looking glass here people

Remove crackling.

I normally slice it thick and then reheat in a pan with a lil butter to crisp up, like rolled bacon w/stuffing. If you could get it really tightly rolled/held together, chill and have a meat slicer you could do it really thin, otherwise I think it's a bit of a faff.

I should buy a meat slicer.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/298666/

What stock pot should I buy - I want one thats 10 - 15 litres, and one around 20 litres.

I'm paralysed by choice.

^^^^ etc...

I'm smoking some pork knuckles for Christmas Eve and making ham & peas.

Not decided what I'll do for Christmas - We're hosting family, so I'm thinking beef rib (a rack of 3 should do it) threaded with pork fat & smoked oysters.

I just bought this one, seems legit.
https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-classic-stockpot-26cm-11l/p230770582?sku=230770582&s_kwcid=2dx92700027729347042&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=CjwKCAiAxarQBRAmEiwA6YcGKHm2ao3sPZ3H8CsO8bf9iggjtm9qYBN8gvbJFiOIuY_OybSPHTg2qxoCin8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I’d just have a mooch around TK Maxx, get a feel for size. The pan I use is only 6L but the colander insert is useful when draining.

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I second this one. Just got it and like it

While you're at it, forum... best slow cooker? I have one of those cheapo ones but I want something a bit more industrial and solid.

Has anyone got a recommendation for a tried and tested pickled onions recipe? I want to make a big batch for Christmas.

As someone who should have made a career out of pickling and eating things (usually eggs and onions but I've recently turned my hands to basically anything that can absorb liquid) I can confidently say it is entirely dependent on personal taste and what notes and subtleties you want in there.

Depending on the vinegar used you're going to need a lot of aromats to break through though - people usually underestimate how much and just get a pickled 'thing' that tastes of vinegar and little else (which is totally fine btw).

I usually make the base liquid and add different things depending on what I'm pickling and what time of year - either extra christmassy spices or more sugar or different vinegars etc.

Something like:

1.5 parts water
1 part vinegar (malt or cider usually depending - malt a bit more christmassy, cider a bit cleaner)
1 part brown sugar (to clarify, this is a LOT of sugar).
sea salt (a good handful depending on how much you're making. I probably make 2 or 3 litres at a time so about 50 grams).

Then I'll add, variously, star anise, bay, peppercorns, cloves, fennel, mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe ginger, other, etc.

Basically chuck it in a stock pot and slowly bring to the boil making sure all the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat off and drop the onions in and once cooled a bit add them to sterilised jars, seal and chuck in the fridge to test your resolve over how long you can wait before you eat them.

This sounds perfect, thanks very much I'll give it a bash. Can I clarify rough quantities if I'm making 2-3 litres?

Is that 1.5 litres of water to 1 litre of vinegar with 1kg of sugar?
When you say go heavy with aromats is that 1 tablespoon each of the things in the list?

Spot on with quantities - you can use a little less sugar but I quite like them sweet for 'christmas pickles'.

And I'd say add aromats to taste - some will give off flavour more easily than others so I wouldn't want to risk saying 1tbspn for each spice. Longer boiling and steeping will help. And certainly make sure you include some of the spices in each jar and don't drain them out.

When I get around to onions this year, for that quantity of liquid, I'll probably include:
6 - 8 whole star anise
1.5 tbspn black or mixed peppercorns
1 broken cinamon stick
1 tbspn mustard seeds
.5 tbspn cloves
.5 tbspn nutmeg
.5 tbspn ginger
a few bay leaves (I'd like to leave a leaf in each jar and tbh, same for cinamon so I'd be inclined to carefully chop the stick into small inch long sticks so you can leave a chunk in each jar - for visual appeal as much as flavour).

But really just go wild and see what comes out.

I'm almost weeping at the thought of how much I love pickled eggs..

Hmmm maybe I'll pickle some onions.