Christmas! The Joy Of Giving And Receiving!

• A Memorable Menu Sure to Become a Family Tradition
• Quebec Traditions: A Living Heritage
• Traditional Stuffed Roast Turkey
• A Word to the Wise
• Turkey without Cranberries just Isn't Christmas!
• Real Tourtière Any Way You Like It!
• There's More than One Way to Enjoy a Yule Log!
• Fruitcake and the Spirits of Christmas

Christmas is one holiday that is observed all over the world. It is no longer just a religious feast day, but a holiday where friends and family gather in peace and love. In olden days, Christmas Eve was an intimate family celebration while Christmas dinner was enjoyed with relatives and friends. Preparations would begin in November and finally, just a few days before Christmas, all the goodies would be ready: cookies, doughnuts, fudge, candy, marzipan figures, jams, jellies and painted nuts. These tasty treats made well-appreciated gifts and lovely decorations for both tree and table. Nowadays, children leave a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa Claus to enjoy when he drops off gifts. Traditions are handed down from one generation to the next along with the secret to a truly memorable meal... good planning!

  Dates Stuffed with Blue Cheese and Smoked Almonds

 Sir Laurier d'Arthabaska Au Gratin Onion Soup

 Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with California Walnuts & Apricots, with Maple Glaze

 Chocolate Pears

Quebec has numerous traditions from many different countries. A groaning board, where the dishes are varied and abundant, is the rule in entertaining and reflects these traditions that have been handed down from generation to generation.

• The traditional Christmas menu has featured turkey for centuries. Once upon a time, wild turkey roamed areas of Ontario and Quebec and many American states. The turkey was domesticated by the Indians and introduced in Spain, France and England. It was greatly appreciated as a banquet meat and came to replace goose.
• For small gatherings, a boneless breast roast can replace the traditional whole turkey.
• Turkey leftovers can be used in a thousand and one ways: soups, pâtés, quiches, casseroles, salads or sandwiches.
• Stuffing recipes are many and varied: with or without meat, with potatoes, rice or bread or flavoured with apples, raisins, dried apricots or nuts.

• Figure on ½ - ¾ cup of stuffing per pound (250 mL to 375 mL per kg).
• Let stuffing cool before stuffing the bird.
• Do not pack stuffing tight as it expands during cooking.

• Cranberry jelly, preserves or sauce is the perfect accompaniment to the Christmas turkey.
• Early English settlers called this fruit cranberry or bearberry because it was a favourite food of these animals. Indians harvested cranberries just before the first snow and believed that they countered the effects of eating too much meat. We know now that cranberries are good for the vascular and digestive systems and against urinary tract disorders.
• This tiny red pearl is a good source of vitamin C and potassium and contains acids that make it tart.
• Cranberries can be frozen and used in many recipes. They make a saucy accompaniment to meat, fowl or game on their own with a little maple syrup, in an orange sauce with Grand Marnier or in a simple cranberry-blueberry coulis. They are also great for baking, adding zip to cookies, muffins, buns, sweet loaves and other Christmas treats.

• The name of this traditional French-Canadian meat pie originally referred to the pan in which tourtes, meat or fish pies were baked. In the first part of the 17th century, the name was transferred from the pan to the pie.
• Various regions have different versions of the tourtière and each family its own secret recipe handed down from one generation to the next. Should the meat be cooked first or simply baked in the pie? What goes into it-potatoes, beef, pork, veal or game? What seasonings-garlic, thyme, sage, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg? Is cipaille, the famous dish from the Lac St-Jean area, a tourtière? Wherever you go, people will tell you that their version is the original, the best!

• Burning the Yule log is a time-honoured custom. The head of the family bless the log, sprinkling it with a oil, salt and mulled wine then lighting it with the previous Yule's coals. The ashes are said to protect the house from lightning and the devil.
• Nowadays, the Yule log is a rolled cake covered with creamy coffee or chocolate icing.
• The Yule log can be decorated with sprigs of holly, little meringue mushrooms dusted with cocoa, tiny snow-covered pines, candy roses or a miniature axe wedged in the knot.
• The Yule log can be kept refrigerated for up to 24 hours. For maximum flavour, let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

• Fruitcake is a simplified version of plum pudding and is loaded, like that quintessential English dessert, with candied fruit, raisins, nuts and dates.
• It is made well ahead of time, giving the flavours time to develop.
• When baked, the cake is pricked and doused with hot spirits. The cooled cake is wrapped, sealed in an airtight container and stored in a cool, dry place. The cake is left to imbibe for at least one week or up to two months, with more spirits being added if the cake shows signs of drying out.

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