| traditional Christmas cooking? Well, that depends on | | | | for the last 15 minutes of cooking. As a "proper" cook I |
| you and your family. Tradition is something you make | | | | was appalled, but it seemed to work, so every year I |
| up as you go along. A traditional Christmas is what is | | | | poured a pot of apricot jam over my turkey and, I |
| traditional in your home. It may be a recipe handed | | | | have to confess, it was delicious. |
| down from your great grandmother or it may be | | | | When my mother-in-law died I saw the opportunity to |
| something you thought of in a desperate hurry last | | | | change our family's traditional Christmas cooking |
| Christmas Eve. Anything can become a tradition. What | | | | routine. At last my culinary skills would find true |
| makes something traditional depends on how we feel | | | | expression in a Christmas dinner that would be original |
| about it. | | | | and exciting. No more apricot jam for me. I would |
| That said, once something becomes traditional then | | | | amaze family and friends with my creations. For more |
| you change it at your peril. If your children expect to | | | | detailBut no matter what I tried in subsequent years |
| come home to stir the Christmas pudding and put in | | | | nothing was quite as good as the old turkey recipe |
| the family favors then you had better not change it. | | | | with its apricot jam. It had become part of our family's |
| For more details They may be away at college or | | | | traditional Christmas cooking. So I gave in and |
| carving out a big career for themselves in the city but | | | | everyone was much happier, even me. |
| they will still expect Christmas to be the Christmas | | | | However good a cook you are and whatever new |
| they remember. Christmas cooking is a big part, | | | | recipes you may attempt in the rest of the year |
| maybe the biggest part, of the way we remember | | | | Christmas is a time to come back to traditional |
| Christmas. | | | | Christmas cooking whatever that might be for you and |
| Every part of Christmas is accompanied by food of | | | | your family. There is a profound wisdom in that which |
| one sort or another. The tastes and smells of that | | | | cooks too easily forget. When we cook we are |
| food fixes the memory of Christmas in our minds. That | | | | engaging in one of the great acts of social ritual. We |
| smell of cinnamon or hot sugar. If we catch a hint of it | | | | are not just cooking for ourselves we are cooking for |
| anywhere at anytime we are transported instantly | | | | other people. Our Christmas dinner table expresses |
| back in time to a Christmas kitchen of our childhood. | | | | not just our skill but our human relationships. Traditional |
| That is the power of traditional Christmas cooking. | | | | Christmas cooking encapsulates all those relationships, |
| I remember how when my mother-in-law was alive | | | | gathered over the years, with people still living and |
| and would come to us for Christmas dinner, I had to | | | | people long since dead that go into making us what |
| cook a big traditional turkey dinner with all the | | | | we are. At Christmas ghosts sit down at out tables. |
| trimmings. Turkey seemed a very dry meat to me so I | | | | Traditional Christmas cooking makes sure they are |
| looked through one of my cookery books and found a | | | | happy ones. |
| recipe that involved glazing the turkey with apricot jam | | | | |