This week I’m focusing on the main event, the centrepiece of the home cook’s culinary calendar! And no, as you can see, I am not cooking turkey or ham this year. You can find these recipes in my 2023 and 2024 seasonal menus.
In keeping with the focus of all our recipes, this is simple stuff. We are taking the best produce available, and doing very little to it. I’m also conscious that Christmas recipes are always bandied about as if we are all catering for 30 (I couldn’t think of anything worse from a standard home kitchen). While this is true of some, in many cases the number is far more manageable. For many readers of this column, there may be only two people dining, perhaps wishing to do something a little special or out of the ordinary. I’m looking forward to my own Christmas dinner this year, just the three of us, plus a four-legged friend.
The first recipe proposes some beautiful Irish beef. As prices have shot up this year, top-grade beef has moved toward the “delicacy” category. For the day that’s in it, I’ve splashed out on a heavily dry aged côte de boeuf. This is a bone-in fore rib of beef that benefits from slow, steady cooking. By cooking it in the bone, it retains moisture and offers the diner the pleasure of mercilessly gnawing at the leftovers in the most primitive fashion acceptable at your table. This is one of life’s great joys. I’m using the reverse sear method to cook this accurately. It may sound complicated, but it will make your Christmas cooking so much easier.
When you’re out doing your shopping, buy yourself a meat thermometer with a probe. This is a secret of the professional kitchen that avoids lots of drama. Place the tip of the probe in the thickest part of you beef near the bone, and set it to 48 degrees for a medium finish (the best way, in my opinion, as it allows the sinews to render). The whole thing goes on to a tray in your oven and all you have to do is let it slowly cook until it reaches the set temperature. The probe will survive the heat and the alarm will alert you when it’s ready.
Mark Moriarty’s turkey-free Christmas dinner: Special beef and bacon dishes to serve on the big day
Mark Moriarty’s Christmas recipe for charred côte de boeuf with home-made peppercorn and brandy sauce
Mark Moriarty’s Christmas recipe for honey-glazed loin of bacon with parsley and caper sauce
Mark Moriarty’s Christmas menu plan: two simple starters to prepare ahead
Next, sear it off in a pan of foaming butter and allow it to char on all sides. Once sliced, the reverse searing method will deliver pink meat from edge to edge. A classic peppercorn and whiskey sauce on the side sets you up for a very special supper. This is how you treat top-quality Irish beef: fancy without the fuss.
Even more traditional is my second dish. Still just meat and sauce, this is my kind of cooking. I’ve used the best quality loin of bacon I could find and just roasted it in the oven before finishing it with a simple glaze of honey and toasted seeds.
The magic of this dish is that it works perfectly for two to eight people, depending on what length of loin you choose. In any case, get the biggest possible because the leftover sandwiches are off the charts. On the side is the classic parsley sauce, packed with capers, mustard and white wine vinegar to cut through the salty fat of the bacon. If you want to go all out, serve it up with some cabbage and roast potatoes and have yourself a very Irish Christmas.
