We sat on the couch, waiting for Samuel to have his nap, oblivious that was past 12 pm and not a present had been opened. Don’t get me wrong, presents are nice – especially when it includes a cookware set from Paderno – but for me the best part of Christmas Day is lazily lounging at the in-laws… and the FOOD!

The day starts with a hardy family breakfast for 6 and ends with 8 more family members, Newfoundland turkey dinner, and Christmas pudding with butter or rum sauce (yum!). This year was particularly exceptional since we tried to make our meal as local as possible. The tasty and juicy turkey was from Oliver’s Farm, salt beef from Ferryland, homemade cranberry sauce, chutney and mustard pickles, and for breakfast we cured our own bacon!

We have been doing gravlax (cured salmon) for a while so we were interested in trying to cure meat. We talked to Del from Oliver’s Farm and she specifically got us a full, uncut pork belly. Chris cut the pork belly in 4 pieces, rubbed them with significant amounts of kosher salt, and gave each piece a particular flavour (coffee-molasses, honey garlic-sage, and maple). After 7 days in the fridge, they were ready to be cut, soaked in water (to remove the excess salt) and cooked. The bacon was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s and I am happy that we have a stash frozen for later days.

Interested in trying to make bacon? There are a lot of resources online that will help you with the curing process. For the meat, if you live on the Avalon Peninsula, check the meat producers’ list at the Buy Local! Buy Fresh! site.

Happy Holidays!