« The Reshaping Of America Via The Courts Goes Both Ways, And It's Going The Right Way Now! | Main | Gun Thread: Sunday Before Christmas Edition [Weasel] »

Food Thread: Ah...A Fully Laden Table...America!

Alas, the internet has failed me! All of the photos of a Christmas Feast are so busy and packed with seemingly dozens of dishes that nothing really stands out. But this one looked like fun.

Roast lamb (the Rosemary is a tip-off), suckling pig, a stuffed pork loin, a big chicken (or small turkey), a roast duck or goose, and a cask of something that hopefully isn't what it says: Campari. Yuck.

But the ratios are fine...19 pounds of meat and four carrots. Perfect.

******
Why do we feast? Specifically, why do we derive so much pleasure from heaping the table with all sorts of delicacies and traditional foods, completely out of proportion to the number of guests present at the festivities?

Is it the simple pleasures of the confluence of friends and family and the elemental pleasures of eating?

Is it the pride and satisfaction and safety in the implicit message that, "Yes, I can feed my friends and family without worry?

Is it a modern-day Potlatch?

Whatever it is, it's a pleasure.

******
I mentioned in the comments recently that our Christmas Eve feast will be fried chicken, my world-famous (in my own mind) biscuits, and my SIL's collard greens. But I just discovered that she will be cooking them without bacon. I was unaware of the existence of any recipe for cooked greens that does not require some sort of porky/fatty goodness, and in fact just assumed that it was illegal south of the Mason-Dixon line and frowned upon in the other parts of America besides the hipster enclaves (which aren't really America anyway).

Your thoughts? Should I attend? Should I hold out for ham hocks? Should I carry a handful of crumbled bacon in my pocket and dole it out to deserving relatives, based on their voting proclivities?

******
From commenter "Jane D'oh" comes a really nice recipe for three of my favorite foods: garlic, butter and shrimp.

Shrimp is so often brutalized by lousy recipes. Stop overcooking them and you will discover why shrimp is marvelous. Now, Jane probably gets great fresh shrimp, but even if you are far from the oceans or the Gulf you can get good quality shrimp in the freezer section of your market. I can get excellent American shrimp for not much more than the heavy-metal-laden foreign stuff, and it often goes on sale, so it is competitive with the crappy stuff.

Garlic Butter-Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

Oh, Jane says not to bother with the cocktail sauce. Just have something around to soak up the butter-garlic sauce!

******

I push back against the devilry of the "instant pot," but I do like me some deviled eggs, and I like bacon, and I hate making them because it's such a pain in the ass, so....

Instant Pot Bacon Deviled Eggs

You can count on this guy's recipes. Solid, uncomplicated, good-tasting food. I might even do the unthinkable and buy one of these engines of Satan...

******
I love cooking in my cast-iron pans, and judging by the number of comments about them, so do you. But they are different, and they require some attention soon after use.

This guy is a fanatic, but everything he does makes perfect sense.
how to clean a CAST IRON PAN after cooking

[Hat Tip: Hrothgar]

******
And speaking of cast-iron skillets...
This Story of a Cast Iron Skillet Rescued from a Burned-Down House Will Give You All the Feels

[Hat Tip: ibguy]

******

[Hat Tip: ibguy]

******
Food and cooking tips, Castelvetrano olives with a sprinkle of chili flakes, young wild pigs, crisp bacon (although I am moving toward less crisp), thick and fluffy pita, and good tomatoes that aren't square, pale pink and covered with Mestizo E.coli: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com. Any advocacy of French Toast with syrup will result in disciplinary action up to and including being nuked from orbit. And yes, shaking a Manhattan is blasphemy...it's in the Bible!