Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: You Ask The Questions

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, 39, was born in London and raised in Gloucestershire. Educated at Eton and Oxford University, he joined the River Café in London as a sous chef in 1989. After being sacked, partly due to his untidiness, he became a familiar face on TV with his series Cook on the Wild Side and TV Dinners. Since 1997, he has presented four series for Channel 4 detailing life on his smallholding in Dorset, the latest of which is Beyond River Cottage, and written three cookbooks. He lives with his wife Marie and their sons Oscar and Freddie.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, 39, was born in London and raised in Gloucestershire. Educated at Eton and Oxford University, he joined the River Café in London as a sous chef in 1989. After being sacked, partly due to his untidiness, he became a familiar face on TV with his series Cook on the Wild Side and TV Dinners. Since 1997, he has presented four series for Channel 4 detailing life on his smallholding in Dorset, the latest of which is Beyond River Cottage, and written three cookbooks. He lives with his wife Marie and their sons Oscar and Freddie.

I am having my parents and two brothers over for Christmas. Traditionally, we have turkey, but I would like to try something different this year. Do you have any suggestions for an alternative?
Tom Duxbury, Stoke St Gregory, Somerset

I'm a big fan of goose. It's a more interesting and tasty meat than turkey. Turkey is a very bland white meat on the whole, and I think Christmas calls for something more special. Goose is darker and richer. But since there are just four of you, you might prefer an Aylesbury duck. They are easy to get hold of in Somerset - just start calling around your local butchers now.

To cook the duck, prick the surface of the breast all over with a sharp fork, and rub it well with a little rough salt and pepper. It can be served ever so slightly pink, which is best achieved by roasting fast in a hot oven (220C) for about 50 minutes. Let it rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Do you think it's possible to cook well for people you don't really like?
Adrian Webber, East Grinstead

It's always a struggle. One is naturally moved to cook well for people one likes, and even more for the people one loves. Food has always played an important role in my romantic life. Cooking is a very effective form of seduction. My wife loves good food, and even though we've been together a long time, I still feel anxious to please her with what I've cooked. And, in a slightly soppy way, I'm looking for a bit of praise every mealtime.

Forget technical advice. Can I just come to yours for Christmas?
Niki Kirke, by e-mail

It depends on who you are, but the answer is probably no. It's going to be busy at my house over Christmas. I've got my in-laws coming for the whole of Christmas, and my parents and sister coming on Boxing Day. Not that I mind - I enjoy cooking for all of them. And I see the Christmas period as a chance to honour the animals we've raised during the year. We'll have one of our own geese, a ham from one of our own pigs, perhaps a lamb and, on Boxing Day, we're having a four-rib of our beef on the bone.

My favourite meal is Boxing Day lunch: cold turkey/chicken, cold chipolatas, cold stuffing, cold bread sauce with bubble-and-squeak, crinkle-cut chips and Branston pickle. Am I an irredeemable pleb?
David McMillan, by e-mail

I know what you mean. I enjoy all the cold cuts as much as I do eating the animal the first time around. But it sounds like your feast is missing something: fried Christmas pudding with a blob of vanilla ice cream on top. Just fry it gently in butter and mash it into the ice cream.

What do you consume on an average Christmas day? In chronological order, please!
Jessica Gregory, Southampton

It's never quite the same, but this year I have some ducks who are laying particularly well so I think I'll start with boiled duck eggs and toast soldiers for breakfast. Then, we usually have a drink and some nibbles before lunch. I quite like having a champagne and rhubarb cocktail. You cook the rhubarb in fresh orange juice and sugar until it's tender. Then you fill a quarter of a glass with the rhubarb syrup and top it up with champagne. We have a lightish lunch of winter salad, smoked fish and patés. I might smoke an eel. I've caught a few in Bridport harbour recently. And then, for dinner, we have goose.

I'm veggie and cannot face another nut roast on Christmas Day. What would you serve me? Would I be welcome?
Beatrice Barber, by e-mail

People often assume that I'm rabidly anti-vegetarian, which is not true at all. I've got a lot more time for vegetarians than I have for unthinking carnivores. The biggest treat you could give a vegetarian at this time of year would be white truffles and home-made pasta with goat's and parmesan cheese.

I can't stand Christmas pudding. What would you suggest as an alternative?
Tim Ryder, Coventry

Chocolate and chestnut cake. There can't be many people who dislike both Christmas pudding and chocolate.

Melt 250g dark chocolate and 250g unsalted butter together in a pan over a very gentle heat. In another pan, heat 250g peeled, cooked chestnuts (tinned if you like) with 250ml milk until just boiling, then mash thoroughly with a potato masher (or process to a rough purée in a machine).

Separate four eggs and mix the yolks with 125g of caster sugar, then blend this mixture with the chocolate and chestnut mixtures until you have a smooth batter.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff, and fold carefully into the batter. Pile into a greased, lined cake tin (the spring-form type is good) and bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C for about half an hour.

If you want to serve it warm, leave to cool for a minute or two, then release the tin and slice carefully - it will be very soft and moussey. Or leave it to go cold, when it will have set firm. I like to serve the cake with a trickle of double cream, especially when warm, but it is also delicious unadulterated.

Do you ever worry that your brilliant advocacy of self-sufficiency could put a strain on the stocks of some of the wild foods you champion?
Paul Tout, Duino, Trieste, NE Italy

Not really. If everyone is gathering just enough for their own personal use, then there's plenty of wild food to go round. I know that foraging for mushrooms has become problematic in some areas, but that's not because of a shortage of mushrooms - it's because of people's irresponsible trampling of other plants.

What are your favourite cookbooks?
Ruth Manning, Bedford

I really like the Constance Spry book that I learnt a lot of my skills from when I was young. I still use it as a reference. I also really like Harold McGee's book, On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen, which has just come out in a new edition. It's a great Christmas present. It's all about what's happening at the molecular level when you cook. And, of the new recipe books, I like Nigella Lawson's Feast. It's a return to form.

Why is your pet dog's life evidently far more important than the lives of your livestock? They are all just animals, surely?
Chris Wilson, Hythe

Well, it's an interesting question. Of course, it's all about cultural relativity. It would be easy to swap the roles of dogs and pigs. They are both fairly intelligent, gregarious creatures who can form bonds with people quite readily and can be trained to do things. There's really no reason why you couldn't have a pet pig and be fattening your dog for Christmas, except that your bacon wouldn't be up to much.

What foodie gadget are you hoping Santa will bring you?
Rebecca Brown, Hove

Well, I've probably got most of the ones I really like. But one I give quite often, which seems to go down well, is a potato ricer. It's like a giant garlic press and it makes the best mashed potato.

Sad but true, I will be having Christmas dinner on my own. What shall I cook to cheer myself up?
Tina Letts, Eastbourne

If you want something quite special and not too difficult to prepare you could get one of the smaller game birds - that would just about do one person. A woodcock would be good if you like a dark meat. Or, if you want something milder, a partridge. Then do a miniature version of the Christmas meal with all the trimmings. If that makes you feel suicidal, just have a cheese sandwich.

Should we all fatten our own turkeys for Christmas? And how many of us would become vegetarians if we did?
Bill Patterson, Manchester

I think a lot of you would become vegetarians if you had to kill them as well. Most people aren't up to it. But it's a superb exercise for everyone to rear meat of their own at some point. It makes you think twice about what's been done to the meat you buy.

What do you use to cure the annual Boxing Day hangover?
Susie Gower, Blandford

I'm partial to a bloody Mary. I made one last weekend with a mixture of good tomato juice from a carton, to which I added some sieved roast tomatoes from my own summer crop. That gave a real sweetness to it.

MAKE MINCEMEAT OUT OF BAKING

How does one cook a mean mince pie?
Will Cook, by e-mail

By making a mean mincemeat with real meat. It doesn't taste like it's got beef in it; it's just less sickly. You need to make it at least a week before Christmas.

The quality of the beef is important: it should be lean and free of tough sinews. I like to buy braising or chuck steak and trim and mince it myself. Make the mincemeat at least a week, ideally a month, before you use it.

To make five to six jamjars of mincemeat, combine:

500g finely minced lean beef; 250g beef suet; 250g currents; 250g raisins; 250g tart eating apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped; 125g soft brown sugar; 125g ground almonds; 100g preserved ginger in syrup, plus four tablespoons of syrup from the jar; 100g mixed candied peel; grated zest of and juice of a lemon; grated zest and juice of an orange; ¹/ ₂ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg; two teaspoons mixed spice; 250ml rum, brandy or calvados

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly in a large bowl, ideally with your hands. Keep in a sealed jar in a cool place for up to a month before using.

Make up the pies using sweet pastry, and serve with brandy butter, or an egg custard laced with calvados, rum or brandy.

For more tips, visit www.rivercottage.net