Jig's Dinner - A Newfoundland Tradition

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all!!! Ummmm....this calls for some quality time in the kitchen, quality time with family and friends, and my traditional holiday dinner - Jig's Dinner!


Jig's dinner is a traditional meal still commonly served on Sundays and holidays in many regions around my home province of Newfoundland, and in the homes of Newfies abroad like myself!! :)

Jig's dinner is quite a large production, and is typically comprised of a combination of Roasted stuffed turkey or chicken, or roast beef, and boiled dinner.

I just love preparing Jig's Dinner. There's something about donning one of the many homemade aprons from my mom, being home working in the kitchen all day, following in the footsteps laid by my mother, grandmothers, great grandmothers etc. over the decades, enjoying quality time with my family, and enjoying the warm atmosphere of my home as the aromas of the turkey roasting in the oven and the jig's dinner on the stove fill the air. It warms the cockles of my heart and fills me with joy! :)

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Phase 1: Roasted Stuffed Turkey:

1 5-10 kg turkey (1 - 1 1/2 lbs per person)
1 chopped onion
2 McCormick's Chicken Boullion cubes
Salt and Pepper


Make Dressing: (referred to as stuffing by "mainlanders")

6+ cups of breadcrumbs (done in a food processor using old bread or rolls, I usually accumulate bread over the year by keeping the heels of loaves, and I use any unused burger and dog buns leftover from the summer bbq season)
1 large finely chopped onion
1 cup melted butter/margarine
Water as needed to moisten so that stuffing can just be formed into a ball with little crumbling
4-6 tbsp Savory*

*The savoury is unique to eastern Canada. In Newfoundland, it's grown at Mt. Scio farm in St. John's. Other farms on the east coast also grow it. I cannot find the same type of savoury anywhere outside the east coast (except at NF stores). I've purchased savoury in ON at supermarkets and at the Bulk Barn, but it doesn't have the same taste or texture as the east coast savoury at all, so I stock up on this whenever I go home, or else I have someone back east send me some in the mail :) thanks mom ;)

Spray a roasting pan with cooking spray (this will really help with the clean up later)



Sprinkle the chopped onions and crumbled boullion cubes around the outer perimeter of the pan



Remove the wrapping from the turkey and rinse the inside and outside of the turkey

Remove the bag of organ meats from the inside of the turkey (or it may be hidden under the pope's nose lol - I once forgot to look here for the sack, and cooked the turkey with it left in, it was pretty funny to find the little bag of organs left inside when I was carving the bird)

Place turkey in the pan

Stuff the turkey with the dressing, cover opening with a piece of foil tucking edges inside the opening

Bind the legs with twine

Sprinkle top of turkey with salt and black pepper

Add water to pan so that 1/4 - 1/3 of the turkey is submerged



Cover the roasting pan



Roast at 350F until a meat thermometer registers 180F in the breast

(Baste turkey and check water level periodically throughout cooking to ensure it doesn't go dry)

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Phase 2: Boiled Dinner:

Ingredients:

Salt Meat**
1 large head of cabbage quartered
2-3 turnips peeled and cut in semi-circles (I didn't do turnips today)
Carrots peeled (# as necessary)
Russett potatoes peeled (# as necessary)
Sweet potatoes (optional in addition to or instead of turnip - my husband hates turnip, my family loves it so I usually do both)
Turnip greens {the tops of the turnips-can be purchased frozen at NF stores, but we're out of luck if we want fresh turnip greens outside NF :( I couldn't get any for today}
Peas Pudding***
Lassy Duff**** (or blueberry duff) (optional - I did lassy duff today)

**Salt meat (pickled beef or salt riblets) can be purchased at Loblaws supermarkets. I commonly use the Naval beef which comes in a bucket of brine, and has a picture of NF on it








Condiments usually served with Jig's Dinner:
Sweet mustard pickles
Pickled Red Beets
Bread and Butter Pickles
Gerkin Pickles
Jellied Cranberry Sauce


Trim as much of the fat from the salt meat as possible


In a large boiler filled approx. halfway with water, boil the salt meat for an hour or so, then pour off about 2/3 of the water, top up with fresh water (to remove some but not all of the salt)

While desalting the salt meat, prepare peas pudding and duff.

***Peas Pudding

The night before, place approx. 1 1/2 cups of split yellow peas in room temp. water and let soak overnight. Transfer the soaked peas into a pudding bag (cheesecloth bag open at one end like a pillowcase). Tie top of bag tightly with string, leaving room in the bag for peas to expand. The pudding must cook with salt meat for approx. 4-6+ hours. The salt meat water infuses the pudding, and makes a BEAUTIFUL flavor.


****Lassy Duff

Ingredients:


1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp all spice
1 cup Crosby's Fancy Molasses




Mix by hand (do not use electric mixer for duff batter)

Dissolve 1 tsp baking soda in 1/2 cup HOT water

Add to ingredients and mix

Add 1/2 cup melted butter and mix





Add 3 cups flour and mix



Add 1 cup chopped dates and 1/4 cup raisins and mix



Transfer batter into a pudding bag and tie at the top with string leaving room for duff to expand.



Once the water has been changed on the salt meat, add the pudding bags and bring to a boil again, let boil for approx. 3 hours to give the puddings a head start as they take longer than the veggies to cook. Top up the pot with water as necessary....let the AROMA production begin UMMMMMMMM!!!!

Add carrots  and turnip to pot at least 90 minutes before turkey will be finished

Add cabbage and sweet potatoes about 45 minutes before turkey is ready


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TIME TO SERVE!!

When turkey is cooked, set on serving platter, remove foil that had been covering the dressing, place back in oven on low heat to keep warm while preparing the boiled dinner, cover with foil so it doesn't dry out

Make Gravy: Pour the drippings into a tall slender vessel and skim as much fat from the top as possible. Transfer into a sauce pan, bring to a boil, add 2-3 dashes of gravy browning, bring to a boil and thicken with flour thickener (in a container with a tight lid, add 1/2 cup cold water, 1/2 cup white all purpose flour, shake aggressively to ensure there are no lumps, pour gradually into boiling drippings stirring constantly until desired thickness is reached), reduce heat




Before thickening give gravy base a taste test, adding the thickener may dilute the flavor, so you may need to add some dry chicken stock for flavor (the gravy base should be quite flavorful because again, the thickener dilutes it a bit)

Remove boiler from stove (by now it shuld have been boiling for approx. 6 hours)

Fish out salt meat, and all vegetables and pudding bags, and place each in their own serving bowl/platter

Place cabbage in a collander sitting in a bowl and let drain. Chop the cabbage and place in a serving bowl

Mash turnip and sweet potato (not together) with butter, smooth with a spoon and sprinkle top with black pepper

Mash russett potatoes with butter and milk, then whip at high speed with mixer, smooth top over with a spoon for presentation

Peel back the peas pudding bag, dumping peas pudding into a bowl, mash peas and stir in approx. 1/3 cup of butter, smooth top with spoon and sprinkle with black pepper.




Peel back the lassy duff pudding bag taking care not to break the duff. Place the duff on a serving plate, and slice into 1/2" slices. The duff is not a dessert for most people, it is served on the dinner plate and eaten with gravy along with the meat and vegetables

Present the spread, and ENJOY!!!!




I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
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