BushWear's Alternative Christmas Dinner - Part 2

The bird is always the main event, the king of the table, and without it you couldn't really call it Christmas dinner! Following on from our previous blog post for alternative festive recipes, we have also tested and tried some new methods of cooking. Showing that juicy bird some love and care rather than the same old methods you do every year. 

Santa's Festive Drunk Duck

This festive holiday recipe works well with assorted game birds or poultry and we used a fresh duck when cooking. It's a simple seasonal dish, loaded with tasty herbs and spices, and the delicious fat is used to flavour the roasted vegetables.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Duck
  • 150ml Mulled Wine
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Grated Nutmeg
  • Pinch of Cloves
  • 1 tbsp Sea Salt
  • 1 Orange (zested and halved)


Method:

For the seasoning rub; Combine the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange zest and sea salt. Pierce the duck skin with a sharp knife in multiple locations, although make sure not to pierce through to the meat and rub the mixture all over the duck, inside and out. Squeeze the juice from the orange over the bird and remember to keep the orange halves for later. For best results cover with tinfoil and leave in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavours infuse. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C. Take the orange halves and stuff into the cavity, plug the duck neck opening with a shallot or potato, pour mulled wine into the Beer Roaster* and insert duck. Cooking times will vary depending on the size of the bird. Allow approx 2 hours for cooking and always check meat is thoroughly cooked before serving.

Recommended Drunk Duck Kit; The Bird Beer Roaster

The Beer Roaster is designed to simultaneously cook your vegetables in the fat and juices from the bird. For best results parboil the veg and add to the beer roaster for approximately 1 hour.

Fill the centre cylinder then insert your bird over the top, and roast. Not only will this add a new dimension of flavour but will also help to ensure a moist, tender, succulent, tasty bird every time.

Convection Rotisserie Oven

This beautifully constructed, motorized rotisserie is capable of cooking everything from pheasant to fish and then some. With a convenient timer the food can simply be left in the cooker to do its own thing.
Rotisserie cooking allows the meat to cook faster and with better results. The meat is always very moist as it is basted throughout the cooking process with its own juices. It's a large oven with rotating spit and hot air with a 28 ltr capacity. A tray is included to allow vegetables to be roasted in the juices of your meat. It comes supplied in a beautiful retail gift box which is sure to delight upon unwrapping (and saves you a bit of time!). 

Santa's Succulent Seasonal Smokin' Tips

There is no better way to prepare a Christmas turkey than to slow smoke it. The end result gives wonderfully complex and delicious flavours; better still with this style of cooking it is almost impossible to overcook it and dry it out! When you try it you may never put another one of these noble birds in a conventional oven again. To help you get the job done right, we’d like to serve up some turkey smoking* tips to you this festive season. 

Pick the right bird. Big is not always best and choose a realistic size. Smoking is a slow cooking process and the bigger the bird, the longer it will take. It takes about 6-8 hours to cook a 14lb turkey.

We recommend mixing together brown sugar, salt and rosemary with cream sherry to make a thin paste which can then be applied to the outside of the bird and between the skin and meat. This would be the time to add any other herbs or seasonings of your choice.

Important: Set the turkey in a greased, disposable cooking pan. Smoking with your usual pans will leave a smoke stain on them that cannot be removed.

Preheat your smoker to 100°C. We recommend pecan flavor bisquettes but the choice is yours. Keep an eye on your temperature gauge to make sure your heat is consistent. Every hour you should baste the turkey using the juices from inside the cavity and continue cooking and basting every hour until it’s done.

Total smoking time will run 3-4 hours or so with a 10lb turkey. Smoke until your meat thermometer reads 75°C. Check the temperature of the meat in a few different areas to make sure it’s completely done.

Recommended Santa's Succulent Smokin' Kit: Countertop Smoker

New from Bradley this year is a great development from their range which really does bring home smoking within the budget and scale of all households. This compact unit is absolutely perfect for domestic use. The smaller capacity is ideally suited to those who want to smoke fish, smaller cuts of meat, vegetables, nuts and cheeses. Oven time, oven temperature and smoke time are all programmable, a key advantage over any form of barbecue smoker or home made device.

Bradley Smokers

Bradley smokers are a range of natural draft smokers designed to make smoking food a simple, predictable, and repeatable process with perfect results on every occasion. Cold smoking is done at low temperatures, below 30°C. For this reason, not all days are ideal for cold smoking, so colder periods
of the year are best. Hot smoking is done at high temperatures, between 82°C and 121°C. These hot temperatures kill any microbes throughout the food.

All this talk of food is making our stomachs rumble. Christmas is typically day of over-indulgence and spending time with the family. Let us know what's on your plate come December 25th by leaving your comments below and stay tuned as we have plans for all those Turkey Leftovers come the 26th of December. 

 

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