Fatted Potatoes (authentic Irish/Welsh recipe)

Many of the recipes I’ve made have several things in common, they taste great, but they aren’t necessarily good for you.  The next recipe, fatted potatoes, is a breakfast recipe that is prepared the night before.  Traditionally, the recipe called for the potatoes to be poached  in lard before cooking, but I like using the left over potatoes in this manner.  The recipe comes in two parts – the dinner the night before (pot roast) and the morning after (fatted potatoes).

Night Before Ingredients:
3 Lb chuck roast
2 TB olive oil
4 lb red potatoes, washed and cut into quarters
1 large leek, diced
3 large carrots, diced
1 sprig of rosemary
4 cloves of garlic minced
sea salt and pepper to taste

Like making pot roast, you will want to sear both sides of the chuck roast to seal in the juices.  Once browned, add enough water to cover the roast and let cook for about 45 minutes on medium stove top heat.  Add the vegetables and the spices and continue to cook.  If the water begins to evaporate, add some more, but no more than a 1/2 a cup at a time.  Cook until carrots are tender.  Pull the meat from the pot and half of the vegetables and serve.  The remaining veggies should be pulled and placed into a sealed container with enough of the pot roast broth to cover.  Cool overnight for the fatted potatoes.

Fatted Potato Ingredients:
Left over potatoes and carrots
1 lb of thick cut bacon
sea salt and pepper to taste

Cut up the bacon into 2 inch slices and begin cooking them in a deep fry pan or dutch oven.  While the bacon is cooking, strain the leftover vegetables so that only the vegetables are left.  Once the bacon is half cooked, add the potatoes.  Stir occassionally.  Be careful, not to break apart the potatoes too much, as it will create a mess and not be visually appealing.

Once the bacon is done and the potatoes are heated, remove from the heat and serve.  I recommend serving with biscuits or toast!

Spiced Turkey (not spicy)

Festive holidays bring friends and family together.   In my household, holidays also mean feasts.  Below is a recipe I used for cooking turkey.  This past weekend, we did a unique twist to the recipe and smoked the meat as well.  You can do this recipe easily in the oven, if you don’t want to smoke it, but smoking it adds to the flavor.  Below is the recipe from this weekend and I hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients:ycitriv2
1 turkey (between 13-15 lbs)
6 oranges
1/3 cup of whole cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp of garam masala
3 cups of applewood chips
6 cups of water
Large cast iron pot with ring insert
fire

Process:
begin soaking the wood chips in the water overnight.  While they soak, zest two of the six oranges and reserve the zest.  Pierce the skin of the unzested oranges with the cloves.  They should look like pomanders or Christmas decorations when done.  Place in the refrigerator until the next day.

The next day, make sure the turkey is thawed and its body cavity is rinsed out and clean.  Cut the two of the four cloved oranges in half and place in to the turkey’s cavity.  All four halves should fit, if not, push them in more forcibly and sew the bird shut.

If smoking the bird, place the wet wood chips into the cast iron pot with the ring insert above the wood chips.  Before placing the bird on top of the ring, sprinkle the cinnamon and garam masala spices onto the exterior of the bird.  Lay the bird, breast side down in the pot and place the last of the oranges outside of the bird in the pot and cover.  Once covered, place the pot on direct heat.

Check every twenty minutes and add about a cup of water to the wood (do not pour it on the bird).  The water will create a steamy smoke that will help season the bird and keep it moist.  The bird should reach an internal temperature of 175 degrees. At festival, this took 3.5 hours for a 14 lb turkey.

If you choose not to smoke the bird, use the ring, to keep the bird off the direct heat of the pot.  In the oven, cook at 400 degrees until the turkey reaches 175 degrees internally.

Pull the oranges out (do not serve) and let sit the meat set for 5 minutes before carving.

Ship Provisions during the early 17th century

A friend/colleague forwarded me some information regarding the typical provisions on ships (particularly the Dutch East India Company) during the early 17th century.  It was forwarded to me by MacGregor’s Historical Games.

Source:  It is taken from the Halve Maen (Half Moon) interpretive manual found at http://www.hrmm.org/halfmoon/manual.htm

I thought fan of food and historical research may appreciate this list.

1. Meat (Beef)
2. Bacon (Pork)
3. Wine
4. Brandy
5. Oil
6. Klein beer (i.e. small beer)
7. “Good” beer
8. Spanish Wine
9. French Wine
10. Vinegar
11. Water
12. Ham (for officers)
13. Smoked Beef (for officers)
14. Smoked tongue (for officers)
15. Biscuit
16. Groats
17. White peas
18. Gray peas
19. Beans
20. Butter
21. Stock-fish (usually dried cod)
22. Cream Cheese
23. Hard Cheese
24. Salted Pork
25. Salted Beef
26. Pickled Herring
27. Whale Blubber
28. Brandy
29. Salt
30. Mustard Seed

I find it interesting that brandy is listed twice on the list.