It’s the brightest time of the year to plan for Christmas dinner treats and indulgences.
Back when I used to help cook Christmas Eve Dinner, it was a hot, sweaty event.
Cousins took over the kitchen, with each one assigned a menial task. To peel, chop, fry, roast, and braise.
We’re supposed to make Christmas treats!
An ugly Roast Turkey
There’s the Christmas Roast Turkey, which we could never get to sit right. Dainty.
Chef Cousin’s Christmas Roast Turkey is an undignified bird with drumsticks and wings akimbo.
We solve it by lying the bird on her side, kind of like sitting sidesaddle on a motorbike.
While the other cousins fussed over the bird, I’ll keep out of harm’s way and scrape the pan.
The burnt and charred bit of onions and precious pan juices were collected.
This includes rendered Turkey fat. I get to reduce these juices and strained them twice to make gravy.
Tip: Go easy on the gravy and sauces, girlfriend. That’s where the calories lie.
Roast Potatoes
I remember roasting an abundance of root vegetables.
The pumpkins, carrots, potatoes, and leeks are delicious.
My only saving grace was a roast potato dish which I make once a year.
No more.
It is still my favorite.
The best way to make it is with goose fat.
You press this on a hot cast-iron skillet so that the spuds caramelize on the edges.
The crispier, the better.
Tip: No goose fat at the local hypermarket? No worries, check out Amazon’s Grocery & Gourmet Foods section.
Christmas Roast Turkey
I don’t, particularly like Christmas Roast Turkey.
I shun that bird. It’s easy to overcook and end up with stringy breast meat.
So I would eat stuffing and roast potatoes instead.
Well, mostly roast potatoes!
Beef Wellington & Yorkshire Pudding
The only two things I never got to make but love is Beef Wellington and Yorkshire Pudding.
A chef friend says he can not understand that I wax lyrical about puffs of batter.
I know too.
If you’re like me and fell madly in love with cotton candy (pink color pretty please), you will understand my fixation for Yorkshire Pudding.
If my home chef is reading this, you know how to win by heart now. The secret is out. Shhhhh…
If you’re looking to eat, you can try David Brown’s Restaurant & Tea Terrace in Penang Hill for Beef Wellington.
Fruit Cake & Limoncello
We would finish our feasting and eat dense fruit cake marinated in brandy and drink Lemoncello.
Lemoncello is an Italian liqueur, traditionally served after meals. We like its simplicity.
There are only three ingredients in Lemoncello: sugar, spirit, and lemon.
Drinking this after-dinner digestif, serve in chilled shot glasses (read frozen) diluted with 7UP, makes a nice drink.
For extra zing, we add the juice of one fresh lemon for every four drinks.
Nothing is more Christmassy than Roast.
Christmas Dinner Treats & New Year’s Celebrations At Hotels in Penang
If you’re lazy like me now, then do the next best thing for Christmas.
Check out the Christmas and New Year Tasty Treats at Penang’s Hotel to share.
There’s always a great lineup of buffets at the hotels for the end of the year celebrations.
Smart Dory looks at some tremendous celebratory spread by the chefs and found some winners listed below. Each hotel has a significant item on its menu that I adore.
#1 Vouk Hotel Suites
Many visitors to Penang love to wine and dine in the city’s beautifully restored heritage mansion, the Hardwick House built at the turn of the twentieth century.
Christmas dinner in the elegant Hardwick House puts everyone in a celebratory mood.
# 2 Eastin Hotel Penang
I would gladly give Christmas Turkey a miss for a hearty Beef Wellington, and Yorkshire Pudding did right.
The Chefs at Eastin Hotel Penang win me over with their warm, flavorful, incredibly indulgent, and luxurious Beef Wellington.
#3 The Royale Chulan Penang
A five-course Christmas Eve and Christmas Day set dinner is the perfect way to celebrate in privacy.
Some of us are not made for the maddening crowds.
The Spice Restaurant serves fusion cuisine, combining Asian and Western specialties.
It is an oasis of peace in the evenings.
#4 The Wembley – A St Giles Hotel
Seafood fiends will love the big shellfish feast on Christmas Eve. St Giles’s Wembley Café on Jalan Magazine has a dinner buffet promotion where you can enjoy their seafood on ice to the max.
The choice has yabbies, spanner crab, snow crab, crayfish, flower crab, tiger prawn prawns, scallop with roe, oysters, and mussels.
If you fancy sushi and sashimi for Christmas, this is an excellent stopover for a feast.
Well, that’s a wrap for us at SmartDory. Happy feasting and Merry Christmas.
Smart DoryRemember the words of a wise old Grandma Fish!
Don’t Drink and Drive! Else Grandma Fish will gum (bite) you!
