73. How to cook an entire Christmas roast turkey dinner - on a narrowboat

hello welcome to the vlog and Merry Christmas today is a special Christmas vlog as I mentioned before on several occasions throughout the year people have asked me can you cook on a narrow boat how do you cook on a narrow boat what do you cook on a narrow boat and will you show us a video of you cooking on a narrow boat and the answer to those are yes you can do it and no I'm not going to show you not actually because I really don't cook however today I have a very special guest popping down the boat chimney to demonstrate cooking for you no not Santa Claus but a close-run thing its expert Gary from Yale Vertov he's bringing along his wife and also two friends of mine also from the albertov marina and gary is going to cook up the full Christmas turkey dinner with all the trimmings to show that even in a narrow boat you can do a full meal he says he can cook actually I have no proof of this whatsoever so this could be something of an experiment but let's see how we get on I've got the turkey all lined up and defrosting nicely after a night in the well deck that should be enough to get the process started Myra decanted all the supplies they'd brought out onto the dinette table and kitchen worktops all the usual veg potatoes sprouts parsnips onions peas carrots this will be a feast topped off with a bottle or two of good plonk and homemade mince pies will come later after the meal once we're onto the coffee stage my contribution was Christmas crackers so let's get started hey we are this is expert Gary as everyone will recall most notably seen poking boats with a stick usually usually by today culinary expert Gary yes culinary expert we're going to be doing the full Christmas dinner okay first of all how do we do that we cook it okay yes we get a turkey stick it in the oven but we have to check to see whether the oven is big enough the pans because Davy hasn't got any pans like Bing our own so we're going to do that now [Music] don't look at that no no Qatar Qatar Russia yep there you go so can we do it expert yes it's doable David it's doable I think it's going to be tight but I think we'd have to sort of move things around but it will be all right we'll do it it'll be great don't worry step one is to get the turkey out of the packaging and Pat it dry apparently using paper towels so how would you normally do this Turkey well I'd normally put a little bit of butter over it add a bit of pepper but I think in this instance because Myra is dairy free we'll just have to go with a pepper maybe it'll little sprinkle salt over the top of it and then I'll be fine and the noise crispy-skinned will be superb so we're going to let the oven warm up go up to temperature and then we'll stick it in we're going to just put a little bit of oil over the top just to give it a nice little base so give them to base with it dude we'll just give that a bit of it just a little bit of a massage in there okay yep that's fine yep so got a bill on that wash me Anders and we'll put a bit of pepper over there and we'll get it into the get into the oven we're going to get the turkey in give it a couple of hours and then get it out to rest cover it so in we go turkey is in what are we doing now we're going to make some gravy I'm going to get that ready so it started in fuses with the bay leaf we're going to put in there and that will give us a nice little flavored gravy we got some turkey Bisto other gravies are available but best okay put a little bit in there to make it nice and thick and then wash it down with some vegetables water and that sort of subtlety so there's a little bit of beef there the rocks I mean look I always find it easy to just crumbled easily in your thing I was before you were that won't turn out quite thick to start with but walk that down later just to get it going now just give a bit of flavor into it with the bay leaves and that sort of stuff to go a bit of a stir put a bit of pepper in there okay so we'll let that sit for a bit to get the flavors go and then we'll try that little bit later to see how we know whether we need to give it any more seasoning requisite to one side now and that dessert be ready to go in at this point I'm slightly out of breath because I had to run over to another boat to get some salt I don't have any salt on the boat apparently this is not normal expert Gary what are we doing okay we're going to make the Yorkshire pudding batter right so we need to that sort of settle and rest for a while so I need to go over to my bag of tricks to get the flow so ingredients plain flour then for the third Wow well I'm a couple of eggs in now put some pepper a little bit of salt let's consult those that's a good soul good song yep pinch of salt you're gonna put two eggs in there these two eggs and now the one a little bit of milk that's that right now give you a bit of nice little whisk with the balloon whisk your eggs on there you want a nice nice smooth batter then you really want that to be the consistency of ie thicker than double creaming up a little bit cold water in now just to get into the right consistency it's exactly the same batter if you're going to make a pancake just leave the pepper out and then just water it down slightly more one batter cause everything right they go that needs to sit rest some people reckon you don't need to but always find it better so that will go in 40 minutes before we eat with the preliminary bits out of the way it was time to start the veg and a suitably festive Myra stepped up to this task mr. chef before would clear up before so that we all had room to do the beige so I'm going to hand these back to mr. Carey to put away thank you very much miserable careless but as culinary expert Gary reclined in my saloon disaster what have you done to me chair well it would appear that I've sat on the chair and broke it much to the amusement of his wife Oh what I was gonna say I mean it's now officially broken and if we ever look down here David mmm we can quite clearly see I was come out of its socket though the welds burnt you got your welding gear no the world is doing welding good I didn't bring the welding gets burn this was low okay bring for Christmas lunch well I just thought I think we need the welder to cook the turkey but as it turns out we probably do meanwhile Myra was patiently getting on with things like peeling the potatoes ready for a roasting this is the potatoes done release the power boil I just explained at what a palm oil is is just bringing them to the boil and let them simmer for about quarter of an hour just to get the edges soft so that and they will cook better in the oven to leave them to be roasted this is parsnips which again need power boiling before they are rose keen to learn I asked Myra for tips my top tip an hour about cooking would be make sure you clear up as you go because otherwise you've got everything all over the place and you haven't got space to do anything what do you agree expert Gary do I agree no no I just suggest you use every pan you have right and then get the wife to wash it all up that's what happens on our boat you say so ah what you need to do is get all your pans out that you did you see and and you know have a few more and I'm over there with Myra you say could she'll get really annoyed at some point and he's only gonna slap me I don't know but I do like a bit of honey on the top and things like that you know totally cool okay are you annoyed yet no but I do like to remove all of those and wash them off before you put them away because they're covered in peanuts true to her tip Myra was sure to tip the waste peelings away from the parsnips before carrying on meanwhile her husband adrian was called in to show off his knife sharpening skills but what about those parsnips these need to go into water until we parable them to stop them from going brown they don't need as much powerful William as the potatoes they don't need us long in the oven given the amount of veg to be had a team effort was called for some of the chef's conversation was a bit suspect though when maggots eat protein yeah the critical item for Christmas of course is Brussels sprouts and a vigorous debate ensued about whether to cut a cross in the bottom of them or not expert Gary was now so into the filming he suddenly thought he was Steven Spielberg no no no get picture Myra yes chopping the onion yes waters okay are you ready now ready now okay good good go okay we're gonna got we're gonna get a turkey out we're gonna check it we're going to baste it and we're going to get the onions in okay okay so now that is looking absolutely gorgeous a nice little base on their dive and then well I'm going to use I'm going to use some of this to do the gravy okay okay give it a nice bit of flavor so a bit of turkey flavor on there that'll do lovely right we're now going to put the onions in this is a work of precision art in it and work of art me yep and then that'll give the the gravy a nice flavor as well right that dope right okay we can now put the turkey back in okay this time I'm going to change it around so it goes in that way because that's cooking a bit more is obviously atre the back in the oven than in the front so the turkey with its onions around went back in and the parsnips were added to the potato pan for their palm oil while they bubbled for a bit bubbles of another sort were being opened outside by Adrian who then dispensed them liberally while Myra had another top tip to save gas or electric use the steamer so we have the frozen peas in the top we have the sprouts in the next level and we have the carrots already in the bottom with some water on there's some water on and we boil that with these all on leave them for 20 minutes and it should all be cooked it should all they cooked good we don't really want hard sprouts doing what we're going to do now is strain the parsnips and potatoes I'm going to let them dry because as I said earlier the secret to a roast potato is to get them really dry or sting a bit let them sit there the steam will dry out yeah get em 5 minutes now and then I'll put them on a sheet just to really draw out with a bit of kitchen towel and they'll be lovely but now we're going to get the stuff in and pigs in blankets and put them in a pan ready just get in the prep sorted out and get everything ready so these are these are simple pre-bought stuffing and yeah nothing yeah it might just up just warm it up just my sure you take the bottom of that off there thank you in there like that and the sausages with pigs and bracelets will be the same amount of time cooking well they're very nice David hi oh yeah good that you can sit there now and it's always better to get things up to room temperature before you put them in the oven it just starts to cooking up a little bit better and gets a temperature nice right right that can stay there we're going to dry the potatoes a bit more and the parsec so on abba little bit of paper towel now some people say you should give them a bit of a shake and that source stuff but I just think you don't need to you don't need to yes people do but you don't you don't need to do it and a lot of the top chefs to amante it sold out and you shouldn't do it but anyway they go right so they're going to send a drive for a little bit you see the steam kind of thing I've been lovely when they go in we'll all put a bit of juice from the turkey round there and great we're now two hours in till has a little bit and we're going to have a look at the turkey to see whether it's cooked it should be so here we go take it out it's looking lovely golden that is and the key to it is to make sure that the juices run clear so we're going to put it into the post here there that juicy see those running clear coming out they're running clear we've got some nice crispy skin so that's now ready to come out and be wrapped and that will stay warm for a couple to two and a half hours with foil and a cloth over the top and that will be absolutely fine needs to rest you know you're making yourself in the in the oven in the heat your big ring and then he's glad you go back and then just got to relax and put some foil over it I even want to keep the moisture inside but also want to keep it going to have two or three sheets on this I'll get the white noise and tight round I mean let it juices go back into it that would stay warm for a good three hours at work a little bit they'll be nice and tender and then all we need to do then is put the wall gravy over the top just to warm that through slightly on the plate that can sit somewhere out way till we're ready to carve as Myra's already safe keeping on top of tidying is crucial in narrowboat cooking so the ever reliable Adrienne insisted on doing some washing up we're now going to put the roast potatoes in I put the very human we're going to put them in the oven okay yeah I love them cause the train just to warm the oil up a little bit because you want some hotter you can get it okay to start tell me your cooking you'd really want these when you put them into sizzle as you've got the meat inside oh okay alright so they're nice and dry let's get these get these in look at right so I'm just going to cover these a little bit of all right just little business isn't it yeah just putting it over the top or my super oh no no no no no no single salt single malt oil don't will I think we need to consign that to the bin I think that's probably the best that oil has served me well for at least 50 years yeah I think the best thing thrown out now no I think the best you can do is stick it in your engine may I should imagine yeah anything yeah just don't put anywhere near food anything that ancient cooking oil had done a darn fine job of those potatoes no matter how much chef mocked it what temperature is putting of put them in on a gas mark 5 which I put the to that but I am going to turn it up slightly to 6 just to get them going a little bit and so let's gas mark 6 for about 45 minutes detention I put on the top shelf just depends on David's oven pigs in blankets and on the bottom shelf so they they they can sit in there for a little bit longer as we've only got one shelf in the oven we're going to start the gravy off now and so what I'm doing I'm taking the fat from the turkey which was put in and you got all the juices from the turkey in there so there's very little actual oil in that it's basically all the meat juices so I'm going to start that in there and we'll just add to that a little bit of flour in there just to so at the end we get a nice luscious thick sauce or gravy so we get that going like that so I turn it down slightly and that's down I gave this taste s and it is fine we're going to put a bit of this in and I will use some of the water from the vegetables so I add a little bit of time just to mix at it so don't go lumpy nose like those lumps there we'll cook through and cook out and just just just disappear trust me they will they go right now you see let that come up to a simmer when I want to boil it we're not gonna overcook it at all we just want that to simmer not consider got a bit of vegetable water we can add that to it get it to the right consistency that will thicken up now and then we can add a little bit water later just to bring it down to consistency want recheck the seasoning and it is all about seasoning flavor salt pepper which David didn't have on the boat and Daddy go out to go and get some but anyway you know that's fine that's fine we'll forgive me for that well you yeah we will yeah just this one yes right that's it okay so I can now just sit there bubble away a little bit and then um roast potatoes are in pigs in blankets stuffing I think we're really on course now for a lovely Christmas how long to go I reckon I reckon we will have about an hour and 10 minutes roughly despite Myra and Adrian's best efforts the galley was by now somewhat crowded but everything had a reason to be where it was and it was all doing something useful the cushion by the way is helping to keep the turkey warm of course now we're going to get the parsnips in so a little bit of oil in the in the tray there not too much and as always we put it in to warm up first before we put the passage in so in the ugly girls in there five minutes to warm up parsnips in and then when they're cooked little bit of honey glaze on them they'll be perfect gravies doing look in there I've added some water while then you away got my fingers in yeah so yeah we're pretty much on course York shears are going to go in so as soon as the roast is a more or less sorted I'll put the Yorkshire puddings in hopefully they're good rise on those okay let's have a status update a half an hour to go the veggies going on the pans in for the York shears will take about 30 minutes I've turned the oven right up to full whack to get a nice and risen and crispy so the veggies now going to go on but I've got the onions to do and then it's a dish up time ray a yes so it was now time to set the table my guests having brought a Christmassy tablecloth the plates were also out and ready for the food to be dished up but there was so much steam I'd had to turn the fan on so apologies for the noise at this point I realize I only have five plates for the five of us that sounds ok in theory but the turkey is on one of them so we're going to have to shuffle the turkey around in order to get all the plates out to do the dish just a couple more bits to get ready the first of which is that batter mix going into the tray to make the Yorkshire puddings fring of it and the honey glaze going onto the parsnips to give them that extra bit of deliciousness lovely right keys going on now for reasons I don't fully understand the crew here think it'll be hilarious to see me carving up the turkey so that's what I'm about have a go at I have never tried this before there may be blood mine but in fact like so many other things it turns out I'm a bit of a natural at it these slices of perfectly cooked turkey coming away with neat precision and no fuss then it was on to the plates and the vegetables to dish up Davies now carved so hacked no carve the turkey very well I have to say we're now gonna ditch the rest of it up so we've got this the rest of it here's the rest of it coming out we've got our pigs in blankets so let me move it over to the other other hand [Music] did you know that is what they are quality was potatoes mocha ha lead legs honey glazed parsnips oh it's gonna haunt us it's a little Turner but we'll get nicely coated little slathering yeah they will be yummy soon enough it was all on the plate and we all sat down to pull a cracker what a meal look at this luscious plateful so we ate and we talked and we laughed and we ate some more there was just one matter left the Christmas pudding set alight with a good dollop of cheap brandy flaming marvelous Merry Christmas [Music]

Channel: CruisingTheCut

Views: 126,688

Keywords: narrowboat, canalboat, barge, narrow, canal, boat, the cut, widebeam, liveaboard, continuous cruising, continuous, cruiser, RV, motorhome, campervan, sailing

Id: 5YuTMvNnW3I

Length: 24min 31sec (1471 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 25 2016