Christmas is so close we can almost taste the gammon!
The trimmings are up, Boney M, Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé Christmas albums are playing in stores and of course, we are all in full Christmas shopping mode.
I walked into a supermarket over the weekend and realised that I had not stocked up on my Christmas vleis yet.
So while the gammon, tongue and corned beef hampers were still volop, I grabbed a box and now it’s chilling in my fridge where hopefully it will last until Christmas Day met al die load shedding.
I love sticking to tradition, especially when it comes to Christmas kos, so not even Eskom and its Stage 6 load shedding will deter me (or more accurately my mom) from making and enjoying my favourite meaty mains.
What’s a Christmas lunch without the usual suspects on the table: gammon, ox tongue, soutvleis, boud or and even turkey if you really want to splurge a little.
I don’t care how long it takes or how it’s made, I want to see at least two of these mains on the table, else it’s just a regular Sunday lunch mos.
I mean, we can skimp on vleis throughout the year, but not on 25 December through to 1 January (because that’s when the festive feasting officially ends and we go back to eating pot kos again).
There’s something about the smell of leg of lamb, tongue, gammon and even chicken around Christmas time that I absolutely love
It brings back great childhood memories of tasting stukkies vleis as it comes out of the oven.
It’s a habit that I gladly passed down to my own child as we wait for my mom to leave the kitchen so we can do a “taste test”.
Cooking at this time becomes a family affair and everyone is excited to try out a new recipe which they saw on Facebook, TV, in a magazine or even right here in your favourite koerant.
This week’s recipes include some of our favourite Christmas meaty mains, some of which will definitely be featured on my Christmas table this year and for many years to come.
Roast lamb
Roasted pork belly stuffed with caramelized peaches
Roasted pork belly stuffed with caramelized peaches
Cooked Silverside