Are you cooking Christmas Dinner this year?

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Our golf club has a Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve. And both seatings sell out weeks in advance (you're probably talking about close to 400 people in total). I think I made our reservations about Thanksgiving or so.

Robyn

Can you post a listing of the seven dishes?

One of my absolute frustrations has been finding a restaurant that serves such a feast around Christmas. I could only find one in Chicago and the seating was so late that it would interfere with all of our Christmas Eve activities.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by Natsku

What about New Year? Anyone cooking something special for that? I'm going to roast a whole duck

Read your mind and started this thread :

//www.city-data.com/forum/food-...years-eve.html

Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

Can you post a listing of the seven dishes?

One of my absolute frustrations has been finding a restaurant that serves such a feast around Christmas. I could only find one in Chicago and the seating was so late that it would interfere with all of our Christmas Eve activities.

Can't remember everything we had. It was not all traditional Italian. Basically everything from fresh (local) shrimp and crab to cioppino to baked fish to pasta with shellfish. We played golf day after Christmas - and the lunch special was all the leftover seafood served with linguine and an alfredo sauce. Pretty tasty .

I am surprised you couldn't find something in Chicago. The only Italian restaurant I can remember in Chicago is Spiaggia/Cafe Spiaggia - which was pretty good last time we were there (a while ago). Here is what it did for the Feast of the Seven Fishes (although it wasn't on the traditional Christmas Eve):

Feast of the Seven Fishes at Cafe Spiaggia

Give it a google next year (Feast of the Seven Fishes Chicago) - and see what comes up. And make reservations at least a month in advance (this event seems to be pretty popular just about everywhere). Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

do you roast a duck any differently than a chicken??

I love duck!!

I made a sign before Christmas at a store that said " Get Ducked for Christmas"!!

Duck is a lot different than chicken. A heck of a lot more fat (which the ducks need to keep warm when they're paddling around/dunking in water all day). Even when I cook duck breasts (don't care to cook whole ducks) - you have to pay attention to rendering the large amounts of fat from the breasts.

Also - duck breasts - unlike chicken breasts - are best served rare/red. And other parts - like the leg - are best prepared in a different fashion - like in a confit.

D'Artagnan is my go-to website both in terms of buying and cooking duck. You might have some fun exploring it:

Duck Recipes | D'Artagnan

Robyn

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Duck is a lot different than chicken. A heck of a lot more fat (which the ducks need to keep warm when they're paddling around/dunking in water all day). Even when I cook duck breasts (don't care to cook whole ducks) - you have to pay attention to rendering the large amounts of fat from the breasts.

Also - duck breasts - unlike chicken breasts - are best served rare/red. And other parts - like the leg - are best prepared in a different fashion - like in a confit.

D'Artagnan is my go-to website both in terms of buying and cooking duck. You might have some fun exploring it:

Duck Recipes | D'Artagnan

Robyn

thanks for the reply...

yes the ducks are a bit more fatty....trim up the breast well


I get ducks and geese on my lawn in the spring/summer and sometimes a smart one will fly into the bay window (duck) and we take it as an offering from the duck gods,,,,so I go out and breast it,,,,cut the breast out , trim it up and fry it up....I like the flavor!


I almost had a fresh goose this summer

a big hawk had a geese one morning this summer ...he(the goose) was honking and honking......the hawk had his talons in the geese...one of them,,,i was going to shoot the hawk...they were in my front yard..... I hesitated,,,thinking with my luck, this hawk is some kind of an odd eagle,,and some nature lover would have me on video- walking by,,,,so I just ran after the birds,,the hawk let go and flew off,,,the goose wasn't doing so well,,

I debated whether to put the goose out of its misery and start boiling some water for some geese stew,

well the geeses mate came over just a head bobbing....and the injured goose perked up and managed to waddle over ...he did make it...


have you had a wild canadien geese before??

[Threerun]

We eat tons of wild duck, geese and upland fowl. Lot's..

i love whole roasted duck! My favorite wild game of them all, hands down #1!!

Got wild goose?

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

...have you had a wild canadian geese before??

Canadian geese? They're Florida geese now! A while back - some migratory birds didn't want to commute twice a year. So they decided to live full time in Florida. There are tons where I live. Hanging around golf courses (which have lots of water) - landscaped retention ponds in HOAs - etc. It's not unusual to see groups of 20 or more. They breed like crazy (poop like crazy too) - and are now considered a nuisance. Our HOA has started to try to thin out their ranks. You have to jump through some legal hoops first:

Resident Canada Geese

We do have a limited hunting season for geese in Florida (not in my HOA - we're a "Non-Hunting Community"). But I'm not a hunter. And a former neighbor who hunted never brought back geese - only pheasant . So I've never eaten one. I once had swan (in the UK) and didn't much care for it (it was "well hung" and pretty gamy). I'm not sure I'd like goose any better - but might try it if I run across it. Robyn