Advent 2014

A Holiday Feast

Apples

            “Apples!” Bilbo told himself.  “We will first need apples.”  Then louder, he called, “Frodo, my boy—please go to the old cold room and bring me a bushel of apples!  The russets, perhaps.”

            “But why so many, Uncle Bilbo?” Frodo asked.

            “There must be tarts, lad—trays and trays of tarts.  It won’t be a proper feast to welcome the Turning of the Year without apple tarts, you know.”

            Smiling, Frodo headed off to fetch the apples his beloved kinsman had requested.  No one, he knew, could begin to match Bilbo Baggins for preparing a Yule feast to remember!

Barrels of Beer

            “Beer!” exclaimed Hamfast Gamgee.  “Master Bilbo’s just sent out orders for the Yule celebration, and he’s ordered up the best beers and ales from all over the Shire!  There’s to be porter from Long Cleeve, stout from Hardbottle, a light lager from the Leaping Hare in Tuckborough and the best dark ale from Michel Delving, a sweet lager from the Golden Perch out Stock-way, the harvest ale from Waymeet, and who knows what else from other famous inns about the Shire.  And there’s to be brandywine and Old Winyards as well.  None shall want for a good half, I’d say!”

Cherries—and More!

            “Ah, cherries!”  Bilbo’s eyes gleamed as he examined crocks, bottles, and bags.  “In syrup to garnish hams, candied to go atop small cakes, and dried for use in fruitcakes and mince pies.  Oh!”

            He’d spied a small tin behind one of the crocks.  Smiling with anticipation, he reached for it, then shook it by his ear.  His smile widened as he opened it and peered inside.  “Oh, yes, just enough chocolate, once the party’s over, for my dear lad and me.  And with just a dab of cherry syrup—what a treat with which to welcome the new year!”

Dumplings

            “Dumplings?” asked Bilbo of the two Hobbitesses upon his doorstep.

            “Well,” began Missus Twofoot, “Hamfast told us as you’d run out of flour for the moment, so we thought as you’d want some dumplin’s t’cook with stewed chicken.  Only Miz Rumble here thought as it was apple dumplin’s as was needed, so you have a tray of each, apparently.”

            “How thoughtful of the two of you,” Bilbo said.  “Sandyman’s to bring up a couple hundredweight of flour tomorrow morning, but these can certainly go into the cold room for a day or two before they’re needed.”

            He ushered them inside.

Enough Eggs?

            “Enough eggs?” enquired Bilbo over his shoulder of his beloved Frodo.

            Frodo, who’d shelled and sliced five dozen boiled eggs so far and was now mixing the yolks with powdered mustard, garlic salt, and the mayonnaise his uncle had put together the previous day, looked up.  “Perhaps enough, as long as the Bolgers don’t come, too.  Fredegar himself could put away at least half this many and still eye the rest.”

            Bilbo gave a decisive nod.  “At least three dozen more, then,” he decided, heading back into the cold room.  “Thank the stars we have a cousin who raises chickens!”

Fruit Salad

            “Fruit salad?  But do we have a bowl large enough to hold it all?”

            Bilbo huffed.  “I promise I won’t make as large a one as last year.”

            Frodo shook his head.  “You always say that, and you always end up with enough to feed the entire Great Smial during Took-moot with a fair amount left over.  You start out with two apples and some blueberries and cherries, and by the time you add the grapes you’re switching to a larger bowl.”

            “We’ll use the basin we bring out for Gandalf.” 

            “And that just might satisfy Freddy if he comes!”

Garlands of Grapes

            Garlands of grapes dripped from the shelves in the cold room.  Bags of raisins and sultanas filled the second larder, waiting to be baked into buns, biscuits, and fruitcakes or to be placed with roasted nuts in bowls for each table to be set up in the party field.  And in the old cold room bottles and three casks of wine sat, waiting to be tapped once the Yule fire was lit and the dancing began as First Yule ended and Second Yule began.

            “The vines at Old Winyards have been so fruitful this past year,” Bilbo said with satisfaction.

Hams

            Bilbo removed the large ham from the oven and set it in front of Frodo.  He picked up a bowl of honey glaze and brushed the meat with it, then indicated that Frodo should take over.  Smiling, Frodo carefully stuck cloves into the ham in a honeycomb pattern, at last pinning a single preserved cherry in the center of each cell with a single toothpick.

            “Beautiful work, my lad!” Bilbo praised.  “Now, fifteen more minutes in the oven, and it will be ready for the table.  A feast for the eye as much as for the stomach, wouldn’t you say?”

An Eye for Icing

            Icing a cake, in Frodo’s clever hands, became an art form!  In a trice the rim of the cake would be encircled by a perfectly formed ring of rosettes, and then a winter rose, its creamy petals delicately blushing coral at the tips, would bloom in the center.  Finally a spray of leaves would encircle the sides, complete with sugary thorns and buds that looked as if they’d open at any moment.

            Watching him, Sam’s eyes would grow larger and rounder with admiration and awe.

            Bilbo smiled.  “My blessed lad, when it comes to beauty, you have the perfect eye!”

Jellies

            So many from Hobbiton brought Bilbo jellies to serve at the feast.  “You have the largest cool room within the region of the Hill,” confided Missus Twofoot.  “Only you could store them all.”

            Sam’s father unearthed his wife’s favorite jelly molds, and the lasses had been experimenting with several of their late mum’s receipts.  One flavored with raspberries had been made in the shape of a rose, while one that smelled like lingonberries stood in a tall dome. 

            Lobelia Sackville-Baggins had sent her own jelly, one that was plainly of mint.

            “Even I’m tempted to taste that one,” Frodo admitted.

Krumcache

            “Krumcache is a treat that Beorn introduced to me, the time Gandalf and I stayed at his house over Yule after Erebor was restored,” explained Bilbo, bringing out the special iron for the treat that Dori had sent him a few years after his return to the Shire.  “You pour the batter into this and bake it over the fire until it is a great golden brown wafer, and then you curl the wafer around this form to make a cone.  You fill it with preserves and cream cheese sweetened with honey, and it is a delicacy to swoon over.”

Leg of Lamb

            “You’ve done a leg of lamb?” Frodo asked.

            “And Tookland pudding,” Bilbo answered proudly, pointing to the bread set to catch the fat as it dripped from the haunch of meat.

            Frodo hadn’t eaten lamb for years, not since the motherless lamb he’d once raised had been returned to the flock, only to be singled out by the Brandybuck shepherd to become the next Highday’s meal.  But he had to admit that the succulent scent of the roasting leg caused his mouth to water.  He shook his head.  “You just may convince me to eat lamb once more,” he sighed.

Meatballs

            The Gaffer stiffens his meatballs with oatmeal; Old Noakes uses bread crumbs.  The Proudfoots usually cook theirs in a tomato sauce while the Boffins prefer apple cider vinegar and honey.  The Sackvilles serve large, meaty meatballs; those made by the Bagginses tend to be modest but spicy.  Most work minced onions into their mixtures, while the Cottons are known to prefer to use finely sliced shallots. 

            “I do think that everyone will find at least one tureen of meatballs to enjoy,” Bilbo commented as he and Frodo imagined how many examples were likely to be offered at the Yule feast.

Nuts

            Nuts are in plenty this year, there having been more than sufficient for Hobbits, squirrels, and other creatures as well.  Chestnuts are being roasted, and walnuts and hazelnuts are being hulled.  Pine nuts and sunflower seeds in profusion are being placed in ovens with butter and salt.  Nuts will be added to biscuits, salads, cakes, and breads, as well as being placed in bowls with raisins, sultanas, dried cranberries, and cherries to be eaten by the handful.  Some may even end up in a jelly or two.

            No Hobbit will go unsatisfied tonight for the taste and crunch of nuts!

Olives and Onions

            “Olive?” asked Bilbo, holding out the crock he’d just opened to Frodo.  “Nori sent these from Laketown.”

            Curious, Frodo accepted one of the strange little fruits and took a bite.  With a grimace, he spat it out.  “It’s terribly sour,” he said.  “How can you eat them?”

            Bilbo took a second one.  “It’s an acquired taste, I admit.  Rather like pickled onions, and you love those.  That green crock over there is full of pickled onions I’ll set out with these for the feast.  Not everything served should be sweet, after all.”

            Frodo smiled wryly and fetched the green crock.

Pea Soup

            “Pea soup,” declared old Mr. Underhill, “is a lucky thing to eat as the year turns.  And mine,” with the wooden paddle in his hands he tapped the huge iron kettle in which his wife had always boiled their clothes but that now blurped thickly, “is the best in the whole of the Shire!”

            It certainly smelled good to Frodo and young Sam.

            “I ‘ve three hambones in there, and nigh a bushel o’ sweet carrots as I got from your dad,” the old Hobbit advised the younger of his guests.  He leaned forward to whisper, “And some fine mushrooms!”

Quick Breads

            Quick breads filled every shelf of the third larder.  There were scones, seed cakes, applesauce muffins, nut-breads, three varieties of coffeecake, and pasties galore.  For days Bilbo had worked feverishly to see his own baking and the donations brought by fellow villagers stored away.  Bilbo was grateful that Frodo wasn’t apt to raid the cupboards in which treats for the Yule Feast were kept.  He stood in the middle of the floor and took deep sniffs of appreciation.  How he looked forward to the evening of First Yule, when all would gather in the Party Field to share such bounty!

Roasts and Root Vegetables

            Roasted meats were being prepared in every kitchen throughout the Shire—beef brisket here, lamb there, and pork shoulder across the Water, while chickens and geese were sizzling on spits in between.  The Master of Buckland was preparing his famous roast duck, whilst the Thain had an entire deer cooking in the largest fireplace in the Great Smial.

            Meanwhile, Hamfast Gamgee was down in his root cellar, fetching up rutabagas and radishes and other root vegetables to be served with the meats to be offered at the Yule Feast.  Cooked or raw, none, he knew, would go to waste.

Sausage

            Sausages festooned the old cold room, hanging from hooks in the ceiling and lying on shelves, some in ropes and some singly.  Those from the Cotton farm in Bywater were of pork seasoned with sage and other herbs.  Those made by the Strawflowers were of beef and were huge, smoked over smoldering cherry wood.  Cousin Wisteria mixed dried tomatoes, peppers, and onions into her sausage.  But Frodo’s favorites were those made by his cousin Daisy and her husband Griffo Boffin, with bits of apple in them. 

            Frodo stood in the center of the room and took a deep, appreciative sniff.

Taters

            “Taters,” insists Hamfast Gamgee, “makes the best ballast for the belly!  Boil’em, mash’em, put’em in a stew—you can do about aught with’em as you’d wish.”

            But for the Turning of the Year, most will bring their taters and bury them in the ashes of the Yule fire for them to cook whilst those who live in the region of the Hill dance and leap about the flames.  Only when at last the fire begins to die down and the energy of the dancers flags, they will dig for the bounty under their feet and fill their stomachs anew.

Upside-down Cake

            “Upside-down cake?” asked Frodo, watching Bilbo with interest.

            “Uncle Isengar brought the recipe back from his voyages,” the older Hobbit explained as he covered the skillet in which he’d baked his cake with a plate, inverted it, and gently tapped on the bottom of the pan to release it.  “He says it is popular on an island off of Gondor, a land far south of here.  They make it with a fruit that we can’t get here, but he found he could use spiced apple rings and cherries preserved in syrup to make something similar.  Ah, but it worked beautifully!”

Violets in the Midst of Winter

            Violets grow in profusion east of Brandy Hall, and Aunt Esmeralda has sent trays of them, candied and crystallized, as well as a bottle of violet water, for Frodo to use in his baking.

            Frodo smiles as he looks on such bounty, remembering days spent intoxicated with their beauty.  “I shall use them to make and decorate biscuits for the children,” he tells Bilbo.  “A taste of the promise of spring, now in the heart of winter.  A sign that the Sun will now spend more time with us each day.”

            Bilbo smiles to see their dear lad made glad.

Wassail

            “Wassail,” declaimed Auntie Dora, “is more an Art than merely the Results of following a Recipe!  You must first use a melon baller in order to scoop out the core of an apple, but without piercing through the bottom of the apple.  One fills that with raw sugar, you see.  Now, stud the sides of each apple with cloves.  The rest of the spices?  Oh, they go into an infusion bag wrought of fine muslin tied with cotton thread….”

            Frodo followed her instructions, and soon was inhaling the heady aroma of the wassail warming slowly in Bilbo’s largest kitchen cauldron.

Ingredients

• 6 small Fuji apples, cored
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 72 ounces ale
• 750 ml Madeira
• 10 whole cloves
• 10 whole allspice berries
• 1 cinnamon stick, 2-inches long
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 6 large eggs, separated

Directions

·         Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

·         Put the apples into an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish. Spoon the brown sugar into the center of each apple, dividing the sugar evenly among them. Pour the water into the bottom of the dish and bake until tender, about 45 minutes.

·         Pour the ale and Madeira into a large slow cooker. Put the cloves, allspice, and cinnamon into a small muslin bag or cheesecloth, tied with kitchen twine, and add to the slow cooker along with the ginger and nutmeg. Set the slow cooker to medium heat and bring the mixture to at least 120 degrees F. Do not boil.

·         Add the egg whites to a medium bowl and using a hand mixer, beat until stiff peaks form. Put the egg yolks into a separate bowl and beat until lightened in color and frothy, approximately 2 minutes. Add the egg whites to the yolks and using the hand mixer, beat, just until combined. Slowly add 4 to 6 ounces of the alcohol mixture from the slow cooker to the egg mixture, beating with the hand mixer on low speed. Return this mixture to the slow cooker and whisk to combine.

·         Add the apples and the liquid from the baking dish to the wassail and stir to combine. Ladle into cups and serve.

·         Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2009

from the FoodNetwork.com/recipes site

Extras

            “Extras are always important,” Bilbo explained.  “Extra plates?”

            Frodo answered, “On the extras tray, with extra mugs and bowls, and extra forks, knives, and spoons.”

            “Extra napkins?”

            “In this basket, with extra butter servers.”

            “And extra small mugs for the bairns?  They always seem to drop theirs.”

            “I have them here, too, along with the extra bibs.”

            As he headed out the door to take these down to the serving table, Frodo stopped short.

            “Extra guests?” guessed Bilbo.

            “Yes, and we’d best get out the platter of extra eggs.  It’s the Bolgers, and Fredegar has that look in his eye!”

Yule Blessings

            The Yule feast was a success, with each family from the region of the Hill and the Water taking part as well as relatives from elsewhere in the Shire who’d come, certain that food, drink, and good company would be enjoyed by all.  The New Fire was kindled swiftly, and Frodo danced about it with joyous abandon, which in turn filled Bilbo with delight.

            Polo Proudfoot was the first to approach the green door of Bag End as First-footer, and received a suitable reward.

            When Bilbo fell into bed, it was with assurance that all was right with his world.

Zero?

            “Zero?  You expect me to believe that you and Folco Boffin first-footed at five homes, and you drank no ale at all?”

            Frodo squinted up at Bilbo, sheltering his eyes with his quilt.  He croaked, “Well, old Mr. Underhill gave us brandy, Old Noakes had dandelion wine, Granny Strawflower had brambleberry cordial, Aunt Dora gave us each some sherry, but ‘Only a Taste, Mind You!’  But then she sent us to Ponto and Iris’s----”

            Bilbo shuddered.  “Oh, no!  Not Ponto’s infamous home brew, then?  It’s a wonder the two of you could walk back here after some of that!”