Chef Darian’s Blog

On the Eve of Christmas

December 23, 2008 on 5:57 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

One day left at the Castle! It has been an eventful four months and is coming to an end rather quickly. As it turns out, my last day will be Christmas Eve and it will be a 12 hour day. Turkey, ham, stuffing and the works are on call for the lunch and dinner that day. I should mention that when they cook turkeys and hams for a banquet, it isn’t just a few. There are two chefs that prepare and cook upwards of 20 turkeys and hams at a time. They lay them out on long counters and rub down the hams with mustard and the turkeys get seasoned with salt and pepper. Then they are wrapped in foil and placed in giant ovens or steamers. Huge vats of stuffing (I called it dressing and they all laughed) are made with fresh bread crumbs, dried cherries, apricots, celery, onion, carrots and lots of butter. It should be mentioned that every meal during the Christmas holiday ends with a Christmas Pudding (fruit cake type of sweet). Mince pies are also quite popular. I used to eat Mince(d) Meat Pie when I was a kid. I think it is a Yankee thing. Mom used to make the pie filling and let it sit in the frig for a while before making the pies. If you dont know what is in it, it might be best not to know!

I went to a Christmas party last night! Loads of Great Craic! Guinness and dancing were the stars of the night! I like the Guinness but can only end a night with three pints. It causes much grief the next day if I drink much more than that. The party was put on by the banqueting department as a way of thanking everyone for their hard work during the holiday season. Since I never worked in banqueting I was the party crasher! The best kind of party to attend.

One last thing, I promised pictures of the 300,000 Euro Christmas tree from France that adorns O’Connell street. Here it is in the four stages of color. It changes about every 30 seconds. Merry Christmas.