On 22 Dec 2010 at 12:31, Charani wrote: > How about this for a Christmas Dinner (or Lunch) that won't be > forgotten in a hurry? :)) > > www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2010/11/stefan-gates-golden-turkey.shtml > Gilding a turkey with gold leaf surely has to be the most crass, naffest idea of the year! It's the sort of thing that would only appeal to cretins fond of flaunting their wealth - Michael Winner, Simon Cowell and Victoria Beckham spring to mind. Turkey is the most boring meat imaginable, anyway, and I can never understand why so many people have it at Christmas. I blame our American friends for introducing it with their Thanksgiving tradition! Give me duck or a nice juicy steak any time. I almost choked on my breakfast toast when I read the bit about gold leaf being perfectly safe to eat because it passes straight through the system, and the subsequent comment by someone that it could be collected and re-cycled next year! Er, run that by me again, would you.....? -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

On 22 Dec 2010 at 13:03, Roy Stockdill wrote: > On 22 Dec 2010 at 12:31, Charani wrote: > > > How about this for a Christmas Dinner (or Lunch) that won't be > > forgotten in a hurry? :)) > > > > www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2010/11/stefan-gates-golden-turkey.shtml > > Snip..... > Turkey is the most boring meat imaginable, anyway, and I can never > understand why so many people have it at Christmas. I blame our > American friends for introducing it with their Thanksgiving tradition! > Does anyone remember that hilarious monologue by Bob Newhart (one of my all-time favourite comics) where he imagines Sir Walter Raleigh - described by his boss in London as "Nutty Walt" - phoning head office to report on the latest developments in the colonies? The sketch was called "Introducing Tobacco to Civilisation" and a line in it goes..... "Did we get the what, Walt? The boatload of turkeys? Oh, yeah, they arrived fine. As a matter of fact, they're running all over London right now. Ya' see, that's an AMERICAN holiday, Walt!" I have a double CD album containing all of Newhart's most famous monologues and, even though I must know every line off by heart, they still crease me up! Are there any comedians like Newhart around today? Can't think of one. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

Roy Stockdill wrote: > Gilding a turkey with gold leaf surely has to be the most crass, naffest idea of the year! > I almost choked on my breakfast toast when I read the bit about gold leaf being > perfectly safe to eat because it passes straight through the system, and the > subsequent comment by someone that it could be collected and re-cycled next year! > > Er, run that by me again, would you.....? Gold has a long history of being used in food and drink, albeit usually gourmet fodder as this bit in Wikipedia suggests: * Gold can be used in food and has the E number 175.[21] * Gold leaf, flake or dust is used on and in some gourmet foods, notably sweets and drinks as decorative ingredient.[22] Gold flake was used by the nobility in Medieval Europe as a decoration in food and drinks, in the form of leaf, flakes or dust, either to demonstrate the host's wealth or in the belief that something that valuable and rare must be beneficial for one's health. Gold foil along with silver is sometimes used in South Asian sweets such as barfi.[23] * Danziger Goldwasser (German: Gold water of Danzig) or Goldwasser (English: Goldwater) is a traditional German herbal liqueur[24] produced in what is today Gdańsk, Poland, and Schwabach, Germany, and contains flakes of gold leaf. There are also some expensive (~$1000) cocktails which contain flakes of gold leaf.[25] However, since metallic gold is inert to all body chemistry, it adds no taste nor has it any other nutritional effect and leaves the body unaltered.[26] #21 ^ "Current EU approved additives and their E Numbers". Food Standards Agency, UK. 27 July 2007. http://www.food.gov.uk/safereating/chemsafe/additivesbranch/enumberlist. #22 ^ "The Food Dictionary: Varak". Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995. http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/how_to/food_dictionary/entry?id=5061. Retrieved 2007-05-27. #23 ^ Indian Recipes #24 ^ Baedeker, Karl (1865). "Danzig" (in German). Deutschland nebst Theilen der angrenzenden Länder. Karl Baedeker. http://books.google.com/?id=tsUNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA101. #25 ^ Guiness Book of World Records 2008 #26 ^ "The Many Uses of Gold". http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-06. Not sure about the recycling bit though <VBG> We usually have duck instead of turkey because none of us really likes the latter. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/

Roy, I beg to differ on the turkey.  I can never eat too much.  There is so much you can do with turkey after Christmas Day and it is probably much healthier than beef or other red meat.  I make Turkey Divan and then Turkey Curry (as in Bridget Jones Turkey Curry Buffet).  Maybe turkey raised in North America has a different flavour.    Best Wishes, Susan Ontario, Canada ________________________________ From: Roy Stockdill <[email protected]> To: B+D List <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, December 22, 2010 8:03:41 AM Subject: Re: [B&D] An unforgettable Christmas Dinner :)) On 22 Dec 2010 at 12:31, Charani wrote: > How about this for a Christmas Dinner (or Lunch) that won't be > forgotten in a hurry?  :)) > > www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2010/11/stefan-gates-golden-turkey.shtml > Gilding a turkey with gold leaf surely has to be the most crass, naffest idea of the year! It's the sort of thing that would only appeal to cretins fond of flaunting their wealth - Michael Winner, Simon Cowell and Victoria Beckham spring to mind. Turkey is the most boring meat imaginable, anyway, and I can never understand why so many people have it at Christmas. I blame our American friends for introducing it with their Thanksgiving tradition! Give me duck or a nice juicy steak any time. I almost choked on my breakfast toast when I read the bit about gold leaf being perfectly safe to eat because it passes straight through the system, and the subsequent comment by someone that it could be collected and re-cycled next year! Er, run that by me again, would you.....? -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Susan Moziar wrote: > Roy, > > I beg to differ on the turkey. I can never eat too much. There is so much you > can do with turkey after Christmas Day and it is probably much healthier than > beef or other red meat. I make Turkey Divan and then Turkey Curry (as > in Bridget Jones Turkey Curry Buffet). Maybe turkey raised in North America has > a different flavour. I'm with Roy on this one. I don't know his reason/s for not liking it but in my case it was overkill. My mother would buy the largest turkey she could find and Twas the Night Before Christmas and nothing was stirring, not even a mouse, but the oven was in overdrive as my mother started cooking the turkey. We'd then have it for lunch for the 12 Days of Christmas - AND cold in turkey sandwiches on both Christmas night and Boxing Night whilst playing Monopoly for half the night! (see next message) :(( I don't mind a little bit of turkey now and then but essentially I've gone COld Turkey :)) -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/

On 22 Dec 2010 at 17:40, Susan Moziar wrote: > Roy, > > I beg to differ on the turkey.  I can never eat too much.  There is so > much you can do with turkey after Christmas Day and it is probably > much healthier than beef or other red meat.  I make Turkey Divan and > then Turkey Curry (as in Bridget Jones Turkey Curry Buffet).  > Maybe turkey raised in North America has a different flavour. > Thanks, Susan, but if there is one thing I can't stand it's political correctness in the shape of being told what is good and healthy for me! <b.g.> Surely you must have realised that when Bridget Jones says of her mother's turkey curry "My favourite!" she was being ironic and what she was actually thinking was "Yuk!" at the same time as she was almost throwing up at the appalling sweater with a giant bunny rabbit worn by Mark Darcy (aka Colin Firth). However, perhaps irony is a figure of speech not always fully understood on your side of the Atlantic! I don't recall ever having had turkey on my visits to America, since it's a meat I avoid like the plague, but perhaps it does taste different over there. To me, a turkey is just a large chicken and that is a very boring meat, too. No amount of being told what is healthy for me will make me give up a nice juicy sirloin or rump steak, cooked medium rare, washed down with a bottle of decent merlot, claret or Cote du Rhone. I also love duck and goose and I expect they're bad for me, too, but I've managed to survive seven decades by eating and drinking what I LIKE, rather than what is supposed to be good for me. Seriously, have a great Christmas and enjoy your turkey! My family will be having duck and steak and buckets of red wine. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE