Last Updated on Monday, 17 December 2012 20:31

Special Reports - Christmas And New Year

Contents
Restaurants Open Christmas Eve
Restaurants Open Christmas Day
Reveillon Restaurants And Menus (Beginning December 1)
Christmas Recipes From Tom Fitzmorris

Eating Out During The Holidays, 2012

Dining out on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is a challenge. The best plan is to avoid doing so if you possibly can. There is a reason most restaurants are closed both days. If you were one of the best chefs, waiters, and managers, would you work on Christmas?

Many restaurants are open, however, for various reasons. The most reliable among them are the hotel restaurants, which must be open. A very small percentage of the independent restaurants also swing into action. In most cases, despite their best intentions, these can't keep pace with the crush of customers. There are exceptions, but not many.

To try to streamline things, the restaurants almost always depart from their standard menus on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Regular customers are surprised and dismayed by this. Sometimes the prices rise, too: that dismays everybody.

But sometimes dinner in a restaurant on Christmas is essential. It can be done reasonably well, with reservations made well in advance and reasonable expectations.

Here's a list of all the restaurants I've found so far that will be open for those days. It doesn't include fast food, pizza, and the like. Nor does it include the Asian restaurant community, many members of which will open for dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Because restaurants have a way of making plans at the last minute, this list will change as the season jingles all the way. I'll update the list almost daily; check back if you're still looking.

The ratings are not specifically for the holiday, but for the rest of the year. They are on our usual five-star system. Restaurants without stars are not zero-star-rated, but unreviewed. Click on the name of the restaurant to go to a detailed review.

Note To Restaurants: If you will be open on Christmas Eve or Christmas but are not included in the lists below, send specifics to us at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . There is no charge for your listing, although I don't guarantee inclusion.


Open Christmas Eve

5Fifty5. CBD. Marriott Hotel, 555 Canal. 504-553-5638. Contemporary Creole.

7 On Fulton. Warehouse District. 700 Fulton (Wyndham Riverfront Hotel). 504-681-1034. Contemporary Creole.

8 Block Kitchen & Bar. CBD. 601 Loyola Ave. (Hyatt Regency Hotel). 504-613-3850. American.

Albertine's Tea Room (Columns Hotel). Uptown. 3811 St Charles Ave. 504-899-9308. Creole.

American Sector. Warehouse District. 945 Magazine St. 504-528-1940. American.

Andrea's. Metairie. 3100 19th St. 504-834-8583. Italian.

Antoine's. French Quarter. 713 St Louis. 504-581-4422. Creole French.

Arnaud's. French Quarter. 813 Bienville. 504-523-5433. Creole French.

Bayona. French Quarter. 430 Dauphine. 504-525-4455. Eclectic.

Bombay Club. French Quarter. 830 Conti. 504-586-0972. Contemporary Creole.

Borgne. CBD. 601 Loyola Ave (Hyatt Regency Hotel). 504-613-3860. Seafood.

Bourbon House. French Quarter. 144 Bourbon. 504-522-0111. Seafood.

Brennan's. French Quarter. 417 Royal. 504-525-9711. Creole French.

Broussard's. French Quarter. 819 Conti. 504-581-3866. Creole French.

Cafe Adelaide. CBD. 300 Poydras St. 504-595-3305. Contemporary Creole.

Cafe Degas. Mid-City. 3127 Esplanade Ave. 504-945-5635. French.

Cafe Giovanni. French Quarter. 117 Decatur. 504-529-2154. Creole Italian.

Carmelo. Mandeville. 1901 US Hwy 190. 985-624-4844. Italian.

Carmo. Warehouse District. 527 Julia. 504-861-7763. Caribbean.

Chad's Bistro. Metairie. 3216 W Esplanade Ave. 504-838-9935. Seafood.

Charlie's Steak House. Uptown. 4510 Dryades. 504-895-9705. Steak.

Commander's Palace. Garden District. 1403 Washington Ave. 504-899-8221. Contemporary Creole.

Court of Two Sisters. French Quarter. 613 Royal. 504-522-7273. Creole French.

Crescent City Brewhouse. French Quarter. 527 Decatur. 504-522-0571. Tavern Kitchen.

Criollo. French Quarter. 214 Royal. 504-523-3341. Eclectic.

Crystal Room. CBD. Le Pavillon Hotel, 901 Poydras. 504-581-3111. Creole.

Dakota. Covington. 629 N US 190. 985-892-3712. Contemporary Creole.

Domenica. CBD. 123 Baronne (Roosevelt Hotel). 504-648-6020. Italian.

Drago's. CBD. 2 Poydras. 504-584-3911. Seafood.

Flaming Torch. Uptown. 737 Octavia. 504-895-0900. French.

Gallagher's Grill. Covington. 509 S Tyler. 985-892-9992. Contemporary Creole.

Galvez. French Quarter. 914 N Peters. 504-595-3400. Spanish.

Gumbo Shop. French Quarter. 630 St Peter. 504-525-1486. Creole.

Johnny V's Grill By The Hill. Uptown. 6106 Magazine St. 504-899-4880. Contemporary Creole.

Le Meritage. French Quarter. 1001 Toulouse. 504-522-8800. Contemporary Creole.

Lüke. CBD. 333 St Charles Ave. 504-378-2840. French.

M Bistro. French Quarter. 921 Canal. 504-524-1331. Contemporary Creole.

Maple Street Cafe. Riverbend. 7623 Maple. 504-314-9003. Creole Italian.

Martinique. Uptown. 5908 Magazine. 504-891-8495. French.

Maximo's Italian Grill. French Quarter. 1117 Decatur. 504-586-8883. Italian.

Mike's On The Avenue. CBD. 628 St Charles Ave. 504-523-7600. Eclectic.

MiLa. CBD. 817 Common. 504-412-2580. Eclectic.

Morton's The Steakhouse. CBD. 365 Canal (Canal Place Mall). 504-566-0221. Steak.

N'Tini's. Mandeville. 2891 US 190. 985-626-5566. Creole.

Olivier's Creole Restaurant. French Quarter. 204 Decatur. 504-525-7734. Creole.

Palace Cafe. French Quarter. 605 Canal. 504-523-1661. Contemporary Creole.

Pat O'Brien's. French Quarter. 624 Bourbon. 504-525-4823. Creole.

Pelican Club. French Quarter. 615 Bienville. 504-523-1504. Contemporary Creole.

R'evolution. French Quarter. 777 Bienville (in the Royal Sonesta Hotel). 504-553-2277. Creole French.

Red Maple. Gretna. 1036 Lafayette. 504-367-0935. Creole.

Rene Bistrot. Warehouse District. 700 Tchoupitoulas. 504-613-2350. Creole French.

Restaurant August. CBD. 301 Tchoupitoulas. 504-299-9777. Eclectic.

Rib Room. French Quarter. 621 St Louis St. 504-529-7045. American.

Roux On Orleans. French Quarter. 717 Orleans (Bourbon Orleans Hotel). 504-571-4604. Contemporary Creole.

Royal House. French Quarter. 441 Royal. 504-528-2601. Seafood.

Ruth's Chris Steak House. CBD. 525 Fulton St. 504-587-7099. Steak.

Sazerac. CBD. 123 Baronne, Roosevelt Hotel. 504-648-1200. American Gourmet.

SoBou. French Quarter. 310 Chartres St. 504-581-1200. Contemporary Creole.

Ste. Marie. CBD. 930 Poydras St. 504-304-6988. French.

The Besh Steakhouse. CBD. Harrah's New Orleans Casino, 8 Canal. 504-533-6111. Steak.

Tomas Bistro. Warehouse District. 755 Tchoupitoulas. 504-527-0942. Creole French.

Tommy's Cuisine. Warehouse District. 746 Tchoupitoulas. 504-581-1103. Creole Italian.

Tujague's. French Quarter. 823 Decatur. 504-525-8676. Creole.

Vacherie. French Quarter. 827 1/2 Toulouse St. 504-207-4532. Creole Homestyle.

Vega Tapas Cafe. Old Metairie. 2051 Metairie Rd. 504-836-2007. Mediterranean.

Veranda. CBD. 444 St Charles Ave. 504-585-4383. American.

Windsor Court Grill Room. CBD. 300 Gravier. 504-522-1994. American.

Wolfe's in the Warehouse. Warehouse District. 859 Convention Center Blvd. 504-613-2882. Contemporary Creole.

Zoë. CBD. In the W Hotel, 333 Poydras Street. 504-207-5018. Eclectic.

Open Christmas Day

5Fifty5. CBD. Marriott Hotel, 555 Canal. 504-553-5638. Contemporary Creole.

7 On Fulton. Warehouse District. 700 Fulton (Wyndham Riverfront Hotel). 504-681-1034. Contemporary Creole.

8 Block Kitchen & Bar. CBD. 601 Loyola Ave. (Hyatt Regency Hotel). 504-613-3850. American.

Albertine's Tea Room (Columns Hotel). Uptown. 3811 St Charles Ave. 504-899-9308. Creole.

Andrea's. Metairie. 3100 19th St. 504-834-8583. Italian.

Bombay Club. French Quarter. 830 Conti. 504-586-0972. Contemporary Creole.

Borgne. CBD. 601 Loyola Ave (Hyatt Regency Hotel). 504-613-3860. Seafood.

Cafe Adelaide. CBD. 300 Poydras St. 504-595-3305. Contemporary Creole.

Charlie's Steak House. Uptown. 4510 Dryades. 504-895-9705. Steak.

Criollo. French Quarter. 214 Royal. 504-523-3341. Eclectic.

Crystal Room. CBD. Le Pavillon Hotel, 901 Poydras. 504-581-3111. Creole.

Domenica. CBD. 123 Baronne (Roosevelt Hotel). 504-648-6020. Italian.

Flaming Torch. Uptown. 737 Octavia. 504-895-0900. French.

Galvez. French Quarter. 914 N Peters. 504-595-3400. Spanish.

Lüke. CBD. 333 St Charles Ave. 504-378-2840. French.

M Bistro. French Quarter. 921 Canal. 504-524-1331. Contemporary Creole.

Maple Street Cafe. Riverbend. 7623 Maple. 504-314-9003. Creole Italian.

MiLa. CBD. 817 Common. 504-412-2580. Eclectic.

Olivier's Creole Restaurant. French Quarter. 204 Decatur. 504-525-7734. Creole.

Rene Bistrot. Warehouse District. 700 Tchoupitoulas. 504-613-2350. Creole French.

Rib Room. French Quarter. 621 St Louis St. 504-529-7045. American.

Roux On Orleans. French Quarter. 717 Orleans (Bourbon Orleans Hotel). 504-571-4604. Contemporary Creole.

Royal House. French Quarter. 441 Royal. 504-528-2601. Seafood.

Sazerac. CBD. 123 Baronne, Roosevelt Hotel. 504-648-1200. American Gourmet.

SoBou. French Quarter. 310 Chartres St. 504-581-1200. Contemporary Creole.

The Besh Steakhouse. CBD. Harrah's New Orleans Casino, 8 Canal. 504-533-6111. Steak.

Tujague's. French Quarter. 823 Decatur. 504-525-8676. Creole.

Vacherie. French Quarter. 827 1/2 Toulouse St. 504-207-4532. Creole Homestyle.

Veranda. CBD. 444 St Charles Ave. 504-585-4383. American.

Windsor Court Grill Room. CBD. 300 Gravier. 504-522-1994. American.

Wolfe's in the Warehouse. Warehouse District. 859 Convention Center Blvd. 504-613-2882. Contemporary Creole.

Zoë. CBD. In the W Hotel, 333 Poydras Street. 504-207-5018. Eclectic.

Christmas And New Year's Recipes

Here are the holiday recipes everybody always asks me for. (And which I cook for my own family every year.) Now get that turkey thawed and get started! Click on the dish name to go to the recipe.

Daube Glace
Christmas Oysters
Prime Rib of Roast Beef
Roast Goose with Pecan Rice Stuffing
Brined and Sugar-Cane Smoked Turkey
Turkey Giblet Gravy
Root Beer-Glazed Ham
Oyster And Pecan Stuffing
Mushroom and Gruyere Bread Pudding
Pureed Sweet Potatoes.
Cranberry Cheesecake
Egg Nog
Chocolate Egg Nog
Pecan Pralines

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Daube Glace

The beef answer to hogshead cheese (sort of), daube glace is a cold dish associated with the holiday season. It's also one of those dishes that everybody talks about as being wonderful, but relatively few people eat. The explanation is that this is a lot of work to prepare. Indeed, I personally think you're better off buying in already done from Langenstein's or the like.

I failed to take that advice a couple of years ago and tried making my own. I researched the recipe in a bunch of local cookbooks, most of which had more or less the same ancient recipe from century-old Picayune Creole Cook Book. That source differed from the others in using pig's feet to get the gelatin required to create the glace effect.

I thought about the gelatin, and oxtails came to mind. When you make a stock with them, they give an amazing amount of gelatin. The shreds of beef that come from it are very nice, too. So I thought I'd use that as the only meat in the mix.

This recipe takes two days to prepare, but most of the time it doesn't need much direct attention.

• 6 lbs. oxtails
• 2 Tbs. oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1 Tbs. mixed peppercorns (or black)
• 4 cloves, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 1/2 tsp. marjoram

• 6 small carrots, finely diced
• 1 large rutabagas, finely diced
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 very ripe (reddening) green bell peppers, chopped
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. dill
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup chili sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 bunch chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• 3 Tbs. salt
• 1 Tbs. black pepper
• 1/2 cup tawny port (or ruby port that's been sitting around open)
• 3 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin
• 2 Tbs. Tabasco Caribbean-style steak sauce, or Pickapeppa

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy kettle or Dutch oven. Sear the oxtails in batches on all sides until they're lightly browned. Remove the oxtails as you finish browning them.

2. Return the oxtails to the pot and add all the ingredients in the first part of the list above, up to the marjoram. Add enough water to barely cover everything. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for three to four hours, uncovered.

3. Remove the oxtails to a bowl. Strain the stock into another bowl and discard all the vegetables. Pull all the lean beef off the oxtails and set aside. Add all the juices that come out as you do this to the stock. Discard the bones and fat. Slice or shreds any big chunks the beef into pieces no bigger than about an inch long. Cover the beef and refrigerate.

4. Cover the bowl of stock and refrigerate four hours or overnight. The fat will rise to the surface and form a solid cap. Remove this and discard. The stock will have set into a jelly, from all the natural gelatin in the bones.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5. Bring to a boil one cup of water in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrots, rutabagas, and lemon slice. Cook until the vegetables just begin to turn soft. Remove the lemon, and strain out the water. Leave the vegetables in the saucepan, and add the garlic, onions, celery, bell pepper, thyme, and dill. Add the wine, vinegar, and chili sauce. Bring to a boil for a minute.

6. Add the stock and the beef to the pot and stir until the mixture is well blended. Cover the pot and put it in a preheated 350-degree oven for three hours. Remove and cool.

7. Skim any fat from the pot and discard. Add the parsley, port, and steak sauce. Dissolve the gelatin in a cup of water and stir in thoroughly.

8. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to your taste. (This should be on the spicy side.) Pour the mixture into rectangular glass baking dishes (or terrine molds or whatever strikes your fancy). Refrigerate overnight (at least).

9. Before unmolding, scrape off any fat that may have risen to the surface. To remove the daube glace from the pan, running a knife all the way around the sides, and set the baking dish in a bigger pan of hot water for a minute. You can slice the daube glace before serving, or serve as is with a wide-bladed knife for guests to use to serve themselves. Serve with crackers or toasted French bread.

Serves a party of about 20, or appetizers for about 10.

Christmas Oysters

It's a tradition at Antoine's to order an appetizer of combining two of the restaurant's baked oyster dishes. Both are baked on their shells, one with a green sauce (their famous oysters Rockefeller), the other with a red sauce. The latter is called oysters thermidor at Antoine's and oysters casino at Brennan's--the only two restaurants I know that serves the dish. The names are misleading, because other dishes that have nothing in common with this one have both those names.

The Rockefellers take longer in the oven, so put them in first. Serve four to six of each to each guest as an appetizer, alternating the green and red ones.

Oysters Rockefeller
Oysters Rockefeller have always been among my favorite Creole-French dishes, and one that creates its own special occasion when you make it.

• Water from oysters, plus enough more water to make one cups
• 1 cups chopped celery
• 3/4 cup chopped green onion tops
• 1 cups chopped parsley, stems removed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel
• 1/2 cup chopped watercress
• 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh garlic
• 2 anchovy fillets
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 2 Tbs. ketchup
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. white pepper
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 2 drops green food coloring (optional but authentic)
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 cup  fine bread crumbs
• Two dozen oysters on the shells

1. Combine the vegetables and the anchovies  in small batches and chop to a near-puree in a food processor, using the oyster water to help things along.

2. Combine this green slurry and the rest of the oyster water in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring every now and then, until the excess water is gone but the greens remain very moist. Add sugar, catsup, salt, cayenne, Worcestershire  sauce, bitters and food coloring.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

3. Make a blond roux with the butter and flour. Blend well into the greens, until the sauce takes on a different, lighter texture. Then mix in the bread crumbs.

4. Place large, fresh oysters into oyster shells, small ovenproof ramekins, or small au gratin dishes. Top each oyster with a generous tablespoon of sauce (or more, if you like). Bake 15 minutes in a preheated 450-degree oven, or until the top of the sauce has barely begun to brown. Serve immediately.

Oysters Thermidor (or Casino)
These are much easier to make than the Rockefellers, fortunately. All you need to do is fry some bacon and mix a few sauce ingredients, then bake on the half-shells.

• 6 strips thick-sliced bacon
• 1 cup chili sauce (in bottles next to the ketchup)
• 1 Tbs. prepared horseradish
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. Tabasco
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 2 dozen oysters on the half shells

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

1. Cut the bacon slices into four pieces. Fry or broil until just beginning to turn crisp.

2. Mix all the other ingredients except the oysters in a bowl.

3. Place a piece of bacon atop each oyster. Spoon a generous tablespoon of the sauce on top. Bake six minutes in a preheated 450-degree oven, or until the sauce begins to bubble. Serve immediately.

Serves eight.

 

Prime Rib (Standing Rib Roast)

One Christmas our plans changed suddenly, and we found ourselves at home cooking for a group that grew from just the four of us to eighteen people. I went ahead with my plan to roast prime rib, and went to the store and bought three more standing rib roasts.

I've spoken with a number of chefs lately who said that they think the only way to get that soft, very juicy prime rib texture is to roast the beef at a very low temperature. Although cookbooks are all over the spectrum of roasting temperatures, those who specify low oven temperatures seem to be quite adamant about it. I have been hesitant about trying to roast at, say, 200 degrees, because of food safety issues. Then I read in a magazine that if you eat rare beef, as I do, you're already in violation of the main food safety rule. So I thought I'd try roasting prime ribs at 250, to see what happened.

Knowing that no crust could possibly form on the outside at that temperature, I started by using the grill (on which I was smoking a pork shoulder) to sear the prime ribs. This is how I've always cooked ribs in the past, so I knew what to expect: lots of fat rendering out from the notoriously fatty racks, falling into the charcoal fire and flaming up, sometimes setting the exterior of the ribs on fire. This does not seem to produce any burned-grease flavor, however, so I just let it happen for about six minutes, turning once.

Then I moved them to a preheated (as if it made much difference) 250-degree oven, with a slotted rack over a pan with about a cup of water in it. After three hours, the internal temperature was 120 degrees, which is on the cusp of rare. Another half-hour and it is was at 130. Since my crowd was given to eating well-done meat, I let three of the racks get up to 145 (another 20 minutes) and took them out. After letting them rest for five minutes, I started carving. They were just right: very juicy and tender, with crusty parts for fans of end cuts.

The only disappointment was that I got very little in the way of dripping from the beef, and so didn't make a gravy. However, the beef was so juicy that nobody complained.

The kind of rib roast to look for are those with one very large eye of lean, rather than a smaller eye and bigger crescents of meat surrounding it with fat in between. It's worth asking the customer butcher to cut some for you that way if you don't like what you see in the case.

• 1 rack of prime rib roast of beef, 3-4 ribs across
• Coarse-ground black pepper
• Kosher salt: 1 Tbs. per rib
• 1 small, fresh horseradish root

1. If there is an extravagant amount of fat on the outside of the roast, trim it off. Or not, as you wish.

2. Preheat an outdoor grill, or a black iron skillet over medium-high heat on the stove. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

3. Season the roast with pepper and what will seem like too much salt. Put it cut side down on the grill or in the skillet, and sear for about three minutes, until it's browned and you can see fat running out of the roast at the bottom. Turn and brown the other side.

4. Place the roast on a broiler rack set above a broiler pan to catch the drippings. Add about a cup of water to the pan to create some steam, as well as it keep the drippings from drying out.

5. Turn the oven down to 250 degrees. Roast until the desired doneness is reached, according to the readings on your meat thermometer, inserted into the center of the beef:

• 125--Rare
• 130--Medium rare
• 140--Medium
• 145--Medium well
• 150--Well done

This will take about 30 minutes per pound. However, let the internal temperature be your guide, not the time in the oven. The roast will cook a little more after you remove it from the oven, and that those who like their beef done more can have the outside cuts.

6. Remove the roast from the pan and allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes before carving. You may carve it into chops with the bone on, or carve away the bone and slice it thinner. Garnish with fresh horseradish grated over the beef at the table.

Serves four to six.

Roast Goose with Pecan Rice Stuffing

No dish is more traditional for Christmas than a roast goose. It's a dark-meat bird, like a  duck, and very flavorful. You will not have much trouble finding a goose in the store (it will be a frozen bird, likely). However, you must get started on it four or five days ahead, and that's why I'm telling you about it now. It's a bit of work to get it on the table, but its flavor is impressive. What's more, most people at the table will never have had it before. And it goes with all the traditional side dishes.

• 1 goose, 10 to 14 pounds, neck and giblets removed
• 1 rib celery, cut up
• 1/2 onion, cut up
• 2 cups Konriko Wild Pecan Rice
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1 cup crushed pecans
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. Tabasco

1. This step needs to be done two days before your dinner. After thawing in the refrigerator, the goose needs to be par-boiled. Fill a pot large enough to hold the bird half full with water, and bring it to a rolling boil. Carefully lower the goose into the water, and cook until the water returns to a boil. Even more carefully remove the goose from the water and place on a pan. With needlenose pliers, pull out any feather stubble. Then put it uncovered into your refrigerator for two days. This will make the skin crisp. If you don't have time for this step, it will not ruin the bird, but it's a desirable touch.

2. The morning of the dinner, make a stock by boiling the neck, celery, and onion in one quart of water for about an hour. Strain, skim off the fat, and reserve the stock.

3. For the stuffing, heat the butter in a saucepan and saute the  green onions and the coarsely-chopped giblets. Remove the solid contents and add the uncooked rice to the remaining butter. Stir to coat well. Then add three cups of the stock. Cover and cook over very low heat for 30 minutes. Stir the giblet mixture, the pecans, salt, and Tabasco in. Cook uncovered for another five minutes, stirring once.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

4. Stuff as much of the rice stuffing as will fit inside the goose. Tie the legs across the cavity to hold the stuffing in place. With the point of a knife, prick the skin all over.

5. Put the goose breast side down on a rack in a broiling pan, and into the preheated oven. Lower the heat to 375 immediately. Let the goose roast for 45 minutes at that temperature, then turn the oven down to 300 and let it keep going until you register a temperature of 180 degrees with the meat thermometer in the thigh (not touching bone, nor poking into the cavity). for between an hour and a half and two hours.

You will not need to turn the goose, nor will you need to baste it. However, it may be necessary to spoon some of the fat from the pan (you'll be astonished how much there will be!).

6. Remove the goose from the pan and place, with the rack, on a clean pan. Return to the oven and increase the heat to 450 to crisp the skin for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, pour the drippings into a gravy separator and remove the fat. Use the juices and browned bits to make a gravy, just as you would for a turkey.

7. A goose is a little hard to carve, so show everybody the whole thing then take it back to the kitchen for the inevitable wrestling match. Those joints do not come apart as easily as they do for a turkey. Serve with gravy and stuffing on the side.

Serves about eight.

Brined and Sugar-Cane Smoked Turkey

I cook my turkey in a big barbecue pit. It gets hotter than a smoker, but because I keep the turkey away from direct heat, it cooks slowly and absorbs a lot of smoky flavor. It comes out with a crisp skin with a beautiful orange-bronze color. It also smells wonderful, and retains more moisture than it would if it were cooked any other way. I get the sugar cane that I use with the charcoal from a friend's sugar plantation. It's worth the trip upriver to St. James Parish for that. During the harvest (which takes place right before Thanksgiving most years), most growers will let you take as much of their scrap as you want. If you can't get sugar cane, standard smoking woods like pecan, oak, hickory, or mesquite will do the job.

• 1  turkey, about 12-15 pounds
• Salt and pepper
• 2 ribs celery, cut up
• 1 onion, cut up
• 1 orange, cut into eighths
• 1 lemon, cut into quarters
• A shake of tarragon
• A stem of fresh rosemary

1. Thaw the turkey if frozen. This takes at least four days, and should be done in the refrigerator. Put it into the pan you'll roast it in to catch any leaks. After it thaws, remove that metal or plastic thing holding the legs together (a pair of pliers is essential, I find). Remove the giblets and neck from the cavity, and clip off the wing tips. (You can use these parts for making stock for the gravy.)

2. The day before, marinate the turkey in a brine. The standard proportion is one cup of salt to one gallon of water. Make enough of this to completely cover the turkey in an ice chest with an unopened (so as not to dilute the brine)  bag of ice to keep everything cold. The brining process takes twelve to eighteen hours for a fifteen-pound turkey. Another method is to put the turkey and the brine solution inside a leakproof plastic bag, and put it into the refrigerator.

3. The morning of the day you want to serve the turkey, dump the brine and rinse the bird very well inside and out with cold water. Season it with salt (yes!) and pepper. Stuff the cavity with all the other ingredients, and tie the legs just tightly enough to keep everything inside.

4. Fire up the grill with charcoal and sugar cane or smoking wood, soaked in water and then shaken dry. Put the turkey into an aluminum pan with a loose tent of foil over the top. Place the turkeys as far as possible away from the fire, and hang a curtain of foil down to ward off direct heat. Any heat that gets to the turkey should arrive in smoke.

5. Close the cover. Add coals and cane at intervals to maintain a temperature of 200 to 250 degrees inside the pit. It takes six to seven hours for the internal temperature of the turkey to reach about 180 degrees. Use a meat thermometer for this; the useless pop-up plastic indicator will pop only when the turkey is overcooked.

6. Take the turkey out and put it on the table to rest and cool before carving. Although it may be tempting, don't use the drippings for the gravy. They reduce so much during the long cooking time that they become impossibly salty.

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Turkey Giblet Gravy

• Turkey neck and wing tips
• Giblets other than liver
• 1 onion, cut up
• 1 rib celery, cut up
• Stems from a bunch of parsley
• 1 small carrot, cut up
• 1/4 tsp. leaf thyme
• 1/4 tsp. marjoram
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• Pan juices and drippings from turkey
• 1/4 cup flour

1. Bring two quarts of water to a boil and add the turkey necks, the giblets, onion, celery, parsley, and carrot. Put the thyme, marjoram, peppercorns, and bay leaf into an herb infuser or cheesecloth pouch and add to the pot. Keep at a low boil for two hours, or long enough to reduce the liquid by about half.

2. Strain the stock and chill until the turkey's ready.

3. After removing the turkey from the roasting pan, pour the drippings into a gravy separator or small bowl and let stand to allow the fat to rise to the top. Meanwhile, add a little water to the pan and scrape up the browned bits on the inside bottom. Add this to the drippings.

4. Remove all the fat you can from the drippings, but save about one-fourth of a cup of the fat. Use this with the flour to make a light roux in a separate pan.

5. Combine the stock, the defatted drippings and the roux in a saucepan over low heat. Whisk as it comes to a boil to get a smooth texture. Add salt and pepper, if needed, to taste.

Root Beer-Glazed Ham

Above, before and after the three- to four-hour baking. You will have a hard time holding back those who want to cut off the crusty glazed outer quarter-inch and munch on it as a snack. In New Orleans, we use the superb, locally-produced Chisesi ham for this. Otherwise, a top-quality, lean, naturally-smoked boneless ham is what you want. The drippings get so crusty that you'll want to use a disposable pan to bake the ham. The stuff is impossible to dislodge.

• Glaze:
• 24 oz. (two cans) Barq's root beer
• 1 1/2 Tbs. pepper jelly
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 Tbs. Tabasco Caribbean style steak sauce (or Pickapeppa)
• 6 cloves
• 1 stick cinnamon
• Peel and juice of one-half an orange
• Peel of half a lemon

• 1 cured, smoked ham, about 10-14 pounds
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1. I usually make the glaze the  night before, so I can get the ham right into the oven in the morning. Combine all the glaze ingredients in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower to a simmer, and cook for about a half-hour. Strain the pan contents and discard the solids. Reduce the liquid to about a half-cup. Refrigerate if you do this in advance.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place the ham on a rack in a disposable aluminum pan. Cut shallow gashes in a criss-cross pattern across the top half. Spoon the glaze over the ham to completely wet the surface.

3. Combine the brown sugar and the dry mustard and pat it all over the ham. Pour a half-cup of water into the pan. Put the ham in the oven at 350 degrees.

4. Spoon some of the glaze over the top of the ham at 15-minute intervals until it's all used up. Try to get some glaze on all parts of the ham. Add more water to the pan when it dries up.

5. Continue baking until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees on a meat thermometer. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for a half-hour before carving.

Serves twenty to thirty.

Oyster And Pecan Stuffing

I am no fan of oyster dressing. However, everybody asks me about it, so I messed around with a new version into which I added pecans to add some flavor and texture contrast. I must say I liked it, although not everyone was unanimous about this. (The dissenters felt that the standard oyster dressing is a sacrament that should not be changed.) Although you might want to stuff this into a bird, it's better baked separately.

• 1 stick butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 green onions, tender green parts only, finely snipped
• 1/4 tsp. oregano
• 1/4 tsp. thyme
• Pinch cayenne
• 1/4 cup dry (white) vermouth
• 24 oysters, chopped (save the water)
• 10 inches of a stale poor boy French bread loaf, cut into cubes
• 10 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter until it bubbles. Add the onion, green onion, thyme, oregano, and cayenne. Cook until the onions turn translucent.

2. Add the vermouth and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat a little and add the oysters. Poach for about three minutes, or until the oysters curl at the edges. Lower the heat to the lowest setting.

3. Add the oyster water (up to 1/2 cup) and the French bread cubes. Stir to soak the bread cubes with liquid. If the oysters break up a bit as you do this, that's okay. Let the mixture return to a simmer and hold there for about three minutes.

4. Add the parsley and the chopped pecans. Toss to evenly distribute them in the mixture. It should be fairly loose and wet; tighten it up to a stiff mixture with the bread crumbs, and transfer it to a baking dish.

5. Just before serving, bake, covered, in a 350-degree oven until warm all the way through. Then bake another few minutes uncovered to get a bit of a crust on top.

Serves six to eight.

Pureed Sweet Potatoes

I’m not calling them mashed, because they come out a lot better if you run them through a food mill or something similar. That takes out all those little strings and funny lumps in sweet potatoes. You could mash them if you don’t have a mill without a loss in flavor, however. It’s mostly a texture thing.

Absolutely the best way to cook sweet potatoes for this recipe is to microwave them.

• 5 medium sweet potatoes, all about the same size
• 2/3 stick butter
• 1/4 cup half-and-half, warmed
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• Zest from two oranges
• Pinch ground ginger
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• Pinch nutmeg
• 1 Tbs. Bourbon whiskey
• 3 Tbs. cane syrup
• 1/8 tsp. salt

1. Prick the sweet potatoes about six times with a kitchen fork. Place the sweet potatoes on the turntable of the microwave oven like the spokes of a wheel, atop a layer of paper towels.

2. Microwave on high for seven minutes, then turn them over (careful--they may be very hot). Microwave another seven minutes. Let them stand in the microwave for about seven more minutes, then check to see if they’re soft. If not, microwave in two-minute bursts until the potatoes are fully soft.

3. As soon as the potatoes have cooled enough to safely handle, scoop them into the food mill and crank them through into a bowl. Add the butter and the cream, and whisk until blended. Add all the other ingredients, and whisk until smooth.

If you want to add an extra layer of fanciness, you can load the sweet potatoes into a shallow glass baking dish, sprinkle a little brown sugar over the top, and bake it again until a crust forms. (You could also add miniature marshmallows if your taste runs to high camp.)

Serves eight.

Savory Bread Pudding with Mushrooms

This is at its best with meaty, wild-tasting mushrooms: portobellos, criminis, shiitakes, chanterelles, porcinis, etc. The best cheeses are the ones that melt well and have an interesting tang: Gruyere, Fontina, Swiss, Provolone, mozzarella. (If you use the latter two, use a little Parmesan, too.)

• 3 cups half-and-half
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire
• 1/4 tsp. Tabasco
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbs. butter
• 18 inches of a loaf of stale French bread
• 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere, Fontina, or other easy-melting white cheese

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

1. Combine the half-and-half, eggs, Worcestershire, Tabasco, and salt in a bowl and blend well.

2. Slice the bread into thin (about 1/4 inch) slices. Butter the inside of a 9"x5"x4" baking dish or casserole. Place a layer of bread along the bottom. Sprinkle one-third each of the cheese, mushrooms, and green onions over the bread. Pour one-fourth of the milk-egg mixture over this, enough to soak it well. Push down gently until the bread is soaked.

3. Repeat the layers in the same order as above, following with a dousing of liquid. Finish with a layer of bread and the last of the liquid.

4. Place the baking dish in a pan of warm water and put the entire assembly into the preheated oven. Bake for an hour and 15 minutes at 300 degrees. Let it cool for at least a half-hour before serving. It can be sliced, but it’s perfectly fine to spoon it right out of the dish at the table.

Serves eight.

Popovers

Popovers are so wonderful to eat and so simple to make that, if you were the eater, you'd wonder why the baker didn't make them more often. The answer is that you need a few items that are uncommonly used in baking:

1. A popover tin, which has deeper wells than a muffin tin (although muffin tins can work). This is one of the few utensils in your kitchen that is preferably made with a non-stick coating.

2. Faith, hope and prayer. You have to follow the recipe exactly, and restrain yourself from opening the oven to check the baking progress of the popovers.

3. The ability to get everybody into the kitchen when they're ready, because they're at their best right out of the oven and go downhill quickly.

4. The persistence to keep trying this recipe until you finally get it perfect. As you will.

These may sound like great breakfast items, and they are. But they're also marvelous at the beginning of dinner.

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 generous tablespoon butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 prayer of your choice

Preheat the oven with a rack in the center to 450 degrees.

1. Remove and measure all the ingredients about a half-hour before you begin, so they can come to room temperature.

2. While waiting,  coat the inside of the tins (one large tin or two small ones) with a thin film of shortening, then dust with flour.

3. Melt the butter. Combine the milk, butter, and flour in a bowl and whisk just until the flour is blended uniformly.

4. Whisk in half the beaten egg, then the other half after the first is blended in completely.

5. Pour the batter into the tins, filling each pocket about two-thirds full. Put the tins in the middle of the oven and set the timer to 17 minutes. Say the prayer.

6. When the timer goes off, lower the heat to 325 degrees and set the timer to 18 minutes. Do not open the oven to check! When the timer goes off again, reset it to two minutes and get everybody into the kitchen.

7. When the timer sounds a third time, open the oven, remove the tins, and poke a slit in the tops of all the popovers. Which, if all went well, popped over. Eat greedily and quickly.

Makes eight to twelve popovers.

Cranberry Cheesecake

Who ever came up with the idea of serving cranberry sauce with turkey and chicken? As a result, lots of people think of that as the only use for cranberries, a fine American fruit with many other possibilities. I've made cheesecakes with cranberries for years, and they're delicious. Making it gets you along the way to making the fresh cranberry sauce for the turkey, and uses up some of it (we always have leftover cranberry sauce, no matter how many people we serve. Make the cheesecake a little sweeter than usual to offset the tartness of the cranberries.

The most time-consuming part of making a cheesecake is cooling it. This must be done slowly and gently, or you'll have cracks in the top.

• Cranberry sauce:
• 1 bag fresh cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice

• Crust:
• 2 packages (out of the standard three in the standard box)
• cinnamon graham crackers
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter, melted

• 4 8-oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 pint whipping cream
• 1 Tbs. vanilla
• Zest (grated peel) of one orange

1. Dump the cranberries onto the counter and select 24 nice-looking ones.

2. Bring 1/2 cup of water to a simmer in a small enamel saucepan. Dissolve the sugar into it. Add the 24 selected cranberries and cook for three minutes, until a little soft but not bursting open. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3. Add the rest of the cranberries to the pan and cook for ten to twelve minutes, until most of the berries have popped. Stir every minute or so.

4. Remove half a cup of the cranberry sauce. (Save the rest for serving with the turkey.) Combine the half-cup of cranberry sauce with the orange juice in a food processor. Process until smooth, and strain through a medium sieve. (Or run through a food mill, if you have one.) Set aside.

5. On to the cheesecake itself. Put the cream cheese and the sugar into the bowl of a mixer and blend on medium-slow speed until completely blended and fluffy--about 10 minutes.

6. While that's going on, make the crust. Grind the graham crackers into small crumbs in a food processor. Add the sugar and the butter and process until the butter has soaked all the crumbs.

7. Line the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Dump the crust mixture in and press a wedge of crumbs into the bottom corner all the way around. Then make a bottom crust, and finally press the remaining crumbs up the sides of the pan. It is not necessary for the crust to come all the way to the top of the pan. Set aside.

8. Add the sour cream to the mixer bowl. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl after this and each other ingredient addition throughout the recipe.

9. Add the eggs, one at a time, allowing them to blend in completely before adding the next one. (Break each egg into a cup first to make sure it's okay before you add it.)

10. Remove the beater and scrape it and the bottom of the bowl well. Remount the beater. Add the cream and the vanilla. Mix for another five minutes or so.

11. Pour the filling into the crust. Pour the strained cranberry-and-orange sauce around the top of the filling. With a dinner knife, swirl the sauce into the filling.

12. Place the springform pan in a shallow pan (i.e., a pizza pan), and place it in the center of the oven at 275 degrees (no convection). Pour warm water into the bottom pan. Bake for 90 minutes, until you see the cheesecake has just a hint of browning on top.

13. Turn the oven off, but leave the cheesecake inside. After an hour, open the door a crack and let the cheesecake cool in the oven another half-hour. Remove the cheesecake and let it finish cooling on a counter. After another hour, remove the sides of the springform pan and put the cheesecake into the refrigerator. Chill at least three hours before serving.

Makes one ten-inch cheesecake; serves twelve to sixteen.

Egg Nog

The best egg nog, frankly, is uncooked. But so many people are concerned about the possibility of problems from eating raw eggs that I've come up with an egg nog recipe cooked just long enough to eliminate most possible problems. It does produce a difficulty, through: you have to be very careful as you cook this to keep the mixture from setting. It's basically a custard, and that's not what you want.

• Six large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 Tbs. vanilla
• 1/2 pint whipping cream
• 1 pint half-and-half
• Generous pinch cream of tartar

1. Separate the eggs very carefully, making sure no yolk gets into the whites. Refrigerate the whites in a covered container.

2. In a pan off the fire, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until it becomes pale yellow and thicker. Add the nutmeg, vanilla, cream, and one cup of the half-and-half. Whisk until blended.

3. Heat the pan over a very low fire while stirring, with a meat thermometer in the mix. Watch for a temperature reading of 175. Don't overheat or cook longer than needed to reach this temperature.

4. Remove from the heat, and add the remaining half-and-half. Use a fine sieve to strain the mixture into the container you'll use to refrigerate it, and put it into the refrigerator.

5. When you're ready to serve the egg nog, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until it makes soft peaks. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir the beaten egg whites into the refrigerated egg nog until most (but not all) of the streaks are blended in.

6. If you'd like to add something interesting (i.e. brandy, Bourbon, or dark rum), a half-cup of the liquor is about right. Serve with some more nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible) over the top.

Serves eight.

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Chocolate Egg Nog

I was enjoying a cup of eggnog around the Christmas tree last weekend, with my family gathered around me. (I know it sounds corny, but we're a pretty corny family.) I offered some of it to my daughter, who took a look at it and turned away. The nutmeg aroma got her, I think.

"What would it take for you to try eggnog, Mary Leigh?" I asked. She said that about the only thing would be if it were chocolate. I scoffed, then thought about it. I dig around and came up with a few recipes, notably one from the hand of Sharon Tyler Herbst. She's the author of a number of food books, including Never Eat More Than You Can Lift, a book of food quotes. That, oddly enough, is where I found the recipe that I fooled around with to come up with my own.

• 4 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 Tbs. vanilla
• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 oz. Amaretto
• Pinch salt
• Pinch cream of tartar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• Grated semi-sweet chocolate

1. Beat the egg yolks, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla until thick and completely blended. Stir in the milk and the Amaretto until the mixture is uniform in color. Refrigerate until very cold.

2. Combine the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in a bowl and beat until soft peaks form. With a rubber spatula, fold into the chocolate mixture.

3. Beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add the 1 Tbs. sigar and beat until dissolved. Fold into the chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula.

4. Grate semi-sweet chocolate over the tops of each cup of eggnog and serve immediately.

Serves eight.

Pecan Pralines

The trend toward making pralines in flavors like chocolate and pina-colada is interesting, but my favorite flavor of pralines is praline-flavored. When pecans are falling from the trees, it's fun to make a million of them and keep them for the holiday season.

You will be melting sugar here. If that stuff splatters on your skin, it will burn all the way to the bone (or seem to). It helps to use a candy thermometer to make these. Also, although you will probably use a cookie sheet to cool the pralines, the best thing of all is a marble slab.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 3 Tbs. butter
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 Tbs. vanilla
• 1 to 1 1/2 cup pecan pieces, to taste

1. Combine everything except the vanilla and pecans in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon as you cook, being very careful not to splash. Scrape down the sides of the pan any sugar granules that may get up there.

2. When the mixture turns translucent, add the pecans and the vanilla. Continue to cook and stir. The mixture will begin to brown slowly. The whole trick to making good pralines--and it is tricky--is to get them off the heat at the right point. The reading you should see on the candy thermometer should be the "soft ball" temperature, about 235 degrees. It will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

3. With a large spoon, drop some of the praline mixture onto a cookie sheet, waxed paper, or a marble slab, making discs about two inches across. Allow to cool. Remove with a very thin spatula and wrap tightly.

Makes 16-20 pralines.

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