The editors are preparing Christmas dishes for YouTube recipes
NEW YEAR - IT'S NOT ONLY A YOLKA, gifts and meetings with relatives, but, of course, a festive table. This year, our editors bravely decided to try cooking traditional (and not so) Christmas recipes - from roast beef and a special variation of shepherd's pie to eggnog and Christmas logs. We are sharing the results with you - maybe you decide to follow our example and cook something on a vacation or on New Year's Eve.
Christmas Eggnog With Chocolate
Ksyusha Petrova
editor of growth and distribution
After watching the Christmas series of "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina", I was excited to cook egg-legs, he is an alcoholic eggnog, a traditional Christmas drink made from eggs and milk. I didn’t consider quite intricate recipes (I didn’t make much progress in culinary matters from the last year’s experiment), but I wanted to show off somehow - that’s why I chose Jamie Oliver and his “egg-legs with a twist,” that is, adding chocolate. For this it was necessary to tinker and melt a couple of tiles "Babayevsky" in a water bath. More precisely, the dairy bath - so does Jamie in his video, however, his milk does not run away and does not fill the stove. I think it would have been great without chocolate too, because there are a lot of spices, spiced rum and a couple of cocoa spoons in the drink.
It’s difficult to fail with this recipe, since all the ingredients are good in themselves: milk with cinnamon, vanilla and cardamom is pleasant to drink and so, and spiced rum, which suddenly turned out to be a sponsor of the video Jamie, is generally one of my favorite alcoholic beverages. If you somehow managed to spoil the dairy-egg part, you can always pour more rum (or brandy), and no one will notice the trick. By the way, I made eggnog at once for thirty servings: the experiment was successfully performed at the home pre-New Year party. The guests liked everything, and I was also pleased: Jamie's egg-legs with a recipe turned out like alcoholic creamy cocoa - what might not like it? However, I am ready to put so much effort into preparing drinks only on major holidays, and for less solemn occasions I will advise you a simple and ingenious recipe with the same spiced rum: it is mixed in a 1 to 3 ratio with cold pomegranate juice, it turns out very tasty.
Oven baked salmon
Olga Lukinskaya
Health section editor
In general, I do not recognize the festive homemade food - if I do not cook even on weekdays, then this is definitely the last thing that comes to my mind on a holiday. But on December 24 in Barcelona makes its own adjustments: Christmas here is so family-friendly that all restaurants are simply closed and it is impossible to dine outside the house. At the same time, before the Orthodox Christmas, I eat only fish from food of animal origin, and I can only cook salmon from fish and only in one way. In general, I searched for a video with a recipe for the request "Christmas salmon in the oven".
The video was excellent - from Jamaica, where the New Year holidays take place without snow and ice. The recipe had to be slightly modified: first, I can not stand onions in any form, so I simply removed it, without changing anything. Secondly, the store did not find anything similar to sweet chili sauce, so instead of it I poured Tabasco fish.
Usually I just put a piece of fresh salmon, water teriyaki or smear Dijon mustard and put it in a preheated oven; Sometimes I buy frozen fish and put it right like that, without defrosting - it will just cook five minutes longer. In the holiday recipe, everything is not so: the fish should be marinated in lemon juice, soy sauce, and the same chili, with the addition of pieces of garlic and lemon and aromatic herbs. I left to leave almost a day.
It turned out very tasty, juicy, lemon felt, although I expected the taste to be sharper. It is easy to cook, but in my case there is a very big risk of pickling a fish and remembering it when it gets messed up. So if I repeat, only with a reminder in the calendar!
Roast beef
Sasha Savina
Editor section "Life"
I have long wanted to try to cook roast beef, so the experiment was very helpful. Besides, I thought that it should be relatively simple, no wonder everyone says that the main thing in cooking meat is to choose a good piece. I took Jamie Oliver's recipe from his Christmas selection - Jamie is super, and it was thanks to him that I learned how to cook poached eggs.
To say that it was incredibly difficult, I can not - all the difficulties were related primarily to how hyper-responsible I approached the process and worried when something was not going according to plan. Plus, I like to follow clear instructions, and I clearly lack basic knowledge about how to prepare products - this also prevented me. For example, in the textual description of the recipe they offer to take three kilograms of beef - there was simply no such huge piece in the store, so I took two kilos and began to count how long they needed to be baked. Jamie proposes to refer to his website - there really is a very convenient guide for baking, but it is supposed to bake differently than in the video: do not fry the meat in front of the oven, but first hold for a few minutes at a high temperature and then continue to bake at a lower one. In general, the recommendations did not help, so I had to google it again - in the end I decided to check the readiness of the meat by the cut and the color of the flowing juice. This is a good working method - it’s more efficient to get a special thermometer for meat.
I didn’t work out as elegantly as Jamie did: it was impossible to hold two kilograms of meat in one hand with one hand, and in parallel to shake the vegetables in a baking dish (I cooked in heavy glass) is unreal. With the gravy, which had to be prepared from a vegetable pillow, everything is also not so simple. First, it is assumed liter of broth - I, as not the most diligent hostess, continue to use the cubes. Secondly, the wine turned out to be a bit too much, although I followed the description - the result was a distinct alcoholic flavor. Apparently, it was necessary to splash quite a bit. Third, the gravy was not thick enough. I also realized in the process that there was no suitable large sieve at home - so I had to violate the experimental conditions and ask my husband to help them to remove the softened pieces of vegetables from her.
Otherwise, everything turned out well. The meat went dry on the edges, but in the center - pink and juicy, so on the second day, when we made our way to the middle of the piece, the roast beef seemed more pleasant than on the first. I think I could repeat this experience, but for a special occasion: it’s not ready to take a couple of hours cooking on a typical day. And yes, Jamie is right - if you decide to cook and eat roast beef, get a good sharp knife.
Shepherd's cake
Dima Kurkin
Opinion Editor
Speaking about the New Year's table, they often mean something like that with a subtlety that they cook only on special occasions. But it seems to me that this, on the contrary, should be a very simple and very homely meal. So I chose the shepherd's pie, in fact, the British version of Olivier salad (strictly speaking, it is a demi-season dish, although he also has Christmas variations). I dreamed of cooking the shepherd's pie since I tried it the first time, and besides, it is almost impossible to screw it up. Perhaps that is why Gordon Ramsay's video recipe - if you learn, then from the best - lasts only two minutes and consists of extremely meager instructions. “This is what happens when a culinary show is taken to shoot Michael Bay,” write the wits and commentators.
I replaced something in the classic recipe, based on taste preferences (I threw out tomato puree and onions, which I do not eat), something - of necessity (lamb is not so easy to find in the nearby stores, it had to be replaced with veal). Perhaps, in vain he refused chicken broth, which would make the meat stuffing more thick. But for the rest, I think everything worked out - it tastes like shepherd's cake. Ramsay says the case: the fat from meat would be good to be heated, but you should not overdry it; Parmesan crust on the crust is not necessary - although you can use any hard cheese. In my case it was the Mordovian "Grand Sarmich" (how do you like that, Gordon?).
Standard servings should be enough for three or four people. Almost all products are easy to find: except for the mutton mentioned, except Worcester sauce caused concern, but it is already sold a lot. In short, a great offer, I recommend.
Christmas log
Anya Oreshina
senior designer
I don’t really like sweet things, and I cooked baking only a couple of times in my life. But I decided that since this was an experiment, then I needed to take something really interesting, and chose a dessert - Christmas (it’s the same yule) log. The first mistake I made was to start cooking logs at night after a hard day, without eating anything for the whole day, and of course I received little pleasure from the process.
At the test stage, everything was pretty simple, until I set it to bake. It turned out that I had a weird oven, and for a long time I could not understand whether it was ready or not. As a result, the top turned out as it should, but from the bottom the dough cracked a little. I rolled the biscuit base into a roll, left to cool and began to take the cream. It was then that I made the second mistake. Prescription cream should be chocolate, but I do not like chocolate desserts and decided to make it orange. The mistake was that I added too much orange juice to the base of the oil, and the cream turned into slush. It’s good that just in case I took two packs of oil and I still managed to save it by adding slush to a new pack.
The time was nearing one o'clock in the morning, I was increasingly irritated by the process, the cream seemed very fat and quite unpleasant, the whole kitchen was oily, and in the sink there was a mountain of dirty dishes. When I realized that the roll should be covered with chocolate icing on top, which still needs to be prepared, I just got dressed and went to the store for the finished one, which can be found in the pastry department in the bag. And here I am all in butter and chocolate, and the log has finally become a log.
I didn’t have any desire for it, especially after realizing what cream cake filling is (butter with sugar! I don’t like butter at all, that's why there is such a reaction). The next day, I still wanted to try what I had prepared there. Without much enthusiasm, I cut off a piece and ... it turned out damn tasty.
Panna cotta
Anton Starovoytov
photo editor
I decided to cook a dessert - I can not imagine Christmas without sweets and fruit. I have been looking for a recipe for a simple and spectacular dessert for a long time and decided to make panna kotta - perhaps, not everyone associates with Christmas, but nevertheless it can be found in the subject collections.
The problem with Gordon Ramsay video recipes is that the cooking process is sometimes shown quickly and some details are omitted - probably, if I had a more complicated dish, I would have to understand the intricacies. The main and only difficulty in making panna cotta is the correct amount of gelatin. After the first attempt, the milk with cream was not frozen, and I ran to the store again. The second attempt was more successful, I prepared the sauce, and the dessert was ready.
The cooking process was so simple that I even felt ashamed of my laziness. But overall, I am satisfied with the result - it turned out very well, besides, I love sweet and sour desserts. Worst of all, it seems, it turned out to rub chocolate, but this is uncritical.
Pigs in a blanket
Anastasia Narushevich
Editor section "News"
The choice of the dish I was preparing was obvious, at least because of its touching name. What could be more festive than the "pigs under blankets"? Especially when the coming year is directly related to the image of this animal. In fact, do not listen to horoscopes and beliefs: bacon will decorate any dish, so feel free to add it everywhere.
The main criterion for choosing was a simple recipe that can be repeated at home, both alone and in the company of friends. The only thing worth focusing on is, paradoxically, the choice of sausages. Ideally, they should not be too long to be wrapped in bacon. I used regular milk sausages from the supermarket, so I had to wrap them in not one, but two pieces.
Another important point is the temperature of the oven. Some food bloggers offered to warm it up to 200 degrees, but it is better not to exceed this mark, otherwise the dish will simply burn. Watching him needs to be careful not to miss the moment when the hot dogs are warm enough. In addition, in different recipes instead of sauce, maple syrup and cranberry jam are offered - for lack of the first one, I chose the second option. In an ideal world, you need to get frozen cranberries, mix it with sugar, bring to a boil in a small saucepan and remove the foam. But in the universe of my laziness, grated cranberries from a jar were used, which can also be heated before serving. Otherwise, the whole cooking process takes no more than 45 minutes, and the output is a satisfying, albeit not very healthy dish. My mother, who helped as a sous-chef, gave up after the first sausage, and I managed to cope with two.
Ginger cookie
Dasha Tatarkova
Deputy Chief Editor
It is not yet known what is simpler: go before New Year to Ikea for pepparkaka or find all the ingredients and bake cookies on your own. I honestly tried the first and was so stunned by what was happening there that I didn’t even remember the sweets - my head was occupied exclusively with plans to escape home. So I took the path of least resistance: the path went through all the neighborhood stores in search of such familiar things as molasses and the right brown sugar. It was difficult to find even such a banality as ground ginger. In general, if all the necessary ingredients are already at your fingertips, let's begin.
First, you need to open the best channel about food You suck at cooking - I, of course, am talking about all my favorite cooking channels, but this one is really brilliant. Despite the fact that the video on it is a cross between absurdist sketches and actual recipes, dishes according to the author’s instructions are obtained on the top five. You must first watch the video just to the end!
Secondly, you need to fix a couple of components. The notorious molasses (this is the same “molasses” that flooded Boston in 1919 and whose smell, according to local confessions, can still be felt on a particularly hot day) I replaced with date syrup - the same sweetie. You could make the syrup yourself or add honey, but in general the dates managed. I recently saw the correct sugar only in Auchan, but I did not dare to go for one bundle of this outrage, taught the Ikea fiasco, so I had to use fake brown sugar, which is in any supermarket. The texture of his categorically does not fit, but we will go to this sacrifice in order to save his own nerves.
Thirdly, we will break the recipe and pour out at least two times more than all the specified spices - including ginger. What kind of gingerbread cookie is this if we throw some miserable two slivers into the dough?
I committed the most serious crime against the recipe at the end: instead of cutting out all the characters from the hand, I went the conformist way and used cookie cutters. Forgive me this weakness! The confrontation between the monster truck and the centaur on the baking sheet did not work, it turned out to be an unfinished Kinfolk - but what a sin to conceal, that was what I wanted. The main thing - do not overdo the ginger guys in the oven: it is better to get them a little soft, then to break their teeth on their petrified bodies.