When Reunion residents Jeane and Matt Herfurth offered to open her magnificent home for our annual Madison Magazine Holiday issue and allowed Chef David Raines, The Flora Butcher, to create a menu of unbelievable delicacies, we couldn’t help but further explore Jeane’s family reunion memories.
“In earlier years, our family would always look forward to the traditional Christmas Eve Christmas Service,” Jeane recalls. “That evening we had Christmas Eve dinner with my Mother’s family not far from the Missouri River. My grandparents were there, where they would share stories from years gone by. It was always a fantastic occasion as everyone was invited, including over 50 family guests, grandchildren and significant others.”
She continues, “We would have a time-honored meal every year that included a very large turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, broccoli rice casserole, and of course, Aunt Shirley’s salad. Dessert included gooseberry and blackberry cobbler, I can still taste it! Everything was homemade from scratch and more often than not, came from my grandparents’ oversized garden. After dinner, our family celebrated with a small gift exchange where Christmas paper covered every square inch of flooring! The evenings were long and festive and filled with wonderful memories of our families life’s happenings. On Christmas day, we would wake to the patter of little feet, hurried to discover what Santa had left behind. We would grab a cup of coffee, unwrap gifts and have warm and toasty Christmas breakfast casserole, along with fresh fruit and rolls around a roaring crackling fire.”
When Jeane and her family relocated to Madison and chose to build a home at Reunion, they decided they must have a wood-burning fireplace because it reminded them of family traditions.
“We have fond memories playing games, watching movies and getting cozy by a blazing fire,” she says. “We enjoy spending our evenings together as a family around our fireplace, and there was always plenty to smile about, lots to laugh about, and more than we could count, to be thankful for.”
For Thanksgiving, the family enjoys a traditional meal and loves to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an event they have actually seen first-hand before.
“We would rise early in the morning and claim our spot at a viewing restaurant where we could enjoy the revelry and grab a bite to eat,” Jeane says. “We love seeing all the floats, listening to the high school bands and watching the Rockettes perform. It’s always a fun and celebratory trip to the cold weather of NYC to see all the lights.”
Christmas for the Herfurths begins with a Christmas Eve service followed by a dinner afterwards.
“This always includes prime rib cooked over the Big Green Egg, hash brown casserole, Aunt Shirley’s salad, cranberry sauce, green beans, rolls, pecan pie, and apple pie,” she says. “Matt says that pies are my area of expertise and are usually my highlight of the meal. Baking is a passion of mine, so my girls and I typically bake about 8 different Christmas cookie recipes that we love and look forward to sharing with friends and family.”
She adds, “Christmas is very important to us because of the celebration of our living God and Savior. It is a wonderful time for our family. Words cannot express the value that Matt and I place in having everyone at home, with time to share and catch up. Having close friends in Reunion adds to the Christmas magic and we are indeed thankful for all that we have been blessed with.”
Our Holiday issue traditionally encompasses both Thanksgiving and Christmas. With that in mind, we’ve asked Chef Raines to create a menu that would lend itself to both celebrations. We’ve added to that some of Jeane Herfurth’s personal recipes. We hope our recommendations make it to your Holiday table and are enjoyed by your family for years to come.
Suckling Pig
If you’ve ever tried suckling pig, you will agree with two things. That it’s delicious and that there is nothing else quite like it. It just doesn’t taste like pork in the same way that veal doesn’t taste like beef. I would see them offered in Europe and Asia, I have tried recipes for “Lechon” in other parts of the world like Cuba and South America but I haven’t come across it since we moved to Mississippi. It makes for a spectacular centerpiece and I usually cook two so that one can stay on the table. I thought this would be fun for you to try and keeps with the tradition of having pork on the menu for the holiday season. The wild boar lurking in the forest was a symbol of evil and my Italian friends would always pull off some grand presentation as the pork represented the triumph of good over evil.
The perfect size is 12 lbs but they can vary. You’ll need a large pot to brine the piggy and room in the refrigerator to let his sit in the brine for 24-36 hours. Butcher’s twine, nails and skewers for trussing and aluminum foil for the mouth and ears. A large roasting pan or large cookie sheet for cooking. A meat thermometer or a digital thermometer with an oven safe probe. A pastry brush or ladle for basting.
Roasted Suckling Pig
Brine your pig for 24-36 hours and then pat dry and allow to come to room temperature. Season the inside of the pig liberally with kosher salt and add the filing. Using about 5 or 6 long nails, pin the pig’s belly together and then tie it off with butcher’s twine to make the trussing easier.
Coat the outside of the pig very thoroughly with oil and sprinkle all over with kosher salt. Ball up some aluminum foil and place it in his mouth to keep it wide open during cooking so you can put an apple in it later for presentation. Make little foil tents to protect his ears and tail and to hold them in an upright position. Position the pig in a crouching position and use skewers to hold the legs in place. Use the twine to tie them off so that they hold the legs securely in place.
Place in a roasting pan with a rack at the bottom or a large sheet tray with a resting rack. Place the probe of your thermometer into the thickest part of the hip near the joint. Roast for 30 minutes at 450 degrees and then drop the temperature to 350 degrees for the rest of the cook. It should take about an hour and a half to bring the internal temperature up to 180 degrees but go by what your thermometer says as every oven is different. Turn the oven off when it is done and allow the pig so cool down slowly with the oven door ajar.
The glaze is optional and you will see that the skin will turn a golden brown without it. I still like to glaze for flavor and presentation though. I apply the glaze every ten minutes in the last 50 minutes. (5 times total) It gives the pig darker skin and a lacquered look. If you choose not to glaze, brush once with more oil after the first 15 minutes at 450 and then occasionally with chicken stock while it is at 350.
Suckling Pig Brine (make enough batches until the pig is covered)
7 cups Apple Cider
7 cups Water
1 cup Kosher salt
1 cup Light Brown Sugar
¼ cup Black Peppercorns
6 Bay Leaves
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Yellow Onion, quartered and broken up
8 large Garlic Cloves, smashed
Stuffing – The late, great Julia Child felt that the suckling pigs just needed some flavor and moisture from their stuffing. It wasn’t really meant to be eaten so she would sauté vegetables and place them inside the trussed pig. I agree, in a way. If I do one pig to be carved at the table, then she is right. If I do one for presentation and one to be carved in the kitchen, then I think it is a missed opportunity for some amazing fillings. My favorite, and most decadent option, is to fill the cavity with our house made boudin. Maybe I just like boudin but I think the two go hand in hand. The collagen is one of the things that makes the young pig so succulent and what may have been lost during the cooking process is absorbed by the rice.
For today, we’ll follow Julia’s lead and keep it simple.
Suckling Pig Filing
1 stick Unsalted Butter
1 large Yellow Onion, rough chopped
4 stalks Celery, rough chopped
Garlic Cloves, smashed
1 Red Apple, cut into 8th’s
1 bunch Thyme Sprigs
1 bunch Sage leaves
2 Bay Leaves
1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
4 Allspice Berries
Melt the Butter in a pot over medium high heat and add the onion, celery, garlic and apple. Cook until onions are soft and you can smell the garlic and apple in the air. Remove from the heat and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well and allow to come to room temperature.
Suckling Pig Glaze (Optional)
1/4 cup Dry Mustard
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Mississippi Honey
1/4 cup Mississippi Ribbon Cane Syrup
2 tablespoon Worcestershire
1-2 tablespoons of water to thin out the mixture
Whisk all of the ingredients together very thoroughly in a bowl, cover and set to the side until needed.
Tarragon Mayo
This time of year, my tarragon has taken over the herb garden and is in bloom so I make a simple herbed mayonnaise to accompany my suckling pig. This goes well with any meat as it has a béarnaise sort of flavor but without the temperamental nature of that sauce.
I usually make too much so that I can use it in place of mayonnaise for making sandwiches with the different leftovers.
2 cups Mayonnaise
2 tsp Turmeric
2 tablespoons fresh Tarragon, rough chopped
The juice from half a lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste
Taste as you mix. My wife loves lemon and would add more than this recipe calls for. The tarragon flavor and color from the turmeric comes out more and more as it sits so make it that morning or the day before.
Turducken Paupiette
Growing up, turducken for the holidays was just as important as King Cake for Mardi Gras. The problem comes when you have to make one from scratch. This method uses the breasts from the turkey, duck and chicken instead of “sleeve boning” the whole birds. It will save you hours of preparation time and will give you a less gargantuan finished product. The legs, thighs and wings are reserved for the dressing and we usually save the carcass for gumbo later on.
1 whole boneless Turkey breast
1 whole boneless Duck Breast
1 whole boneless Chicken Breast
1 to 1& 1/2 quart Stuffing
First, take your duck breast, brush it with a little oil and place it skin side down in a nonstick skillet on medium heat. The goal here is to render some of the fat from the skin so that you don’t have a layer of flabby skin in your finished roast. Once you get a nice brown skin you can assemble your turducken but save the rendered duck fat.
Lay the turkey breast, skin side down on your cutting board. Season lightly with some kosher salt and black pepper. Use the stuffing to make a thin even layer on the turkey breast. Place the duck breast, skin side down on the stuffing and do the same only a slightly thicker layer of stuffing. Last, place the chicken breast skin side down, season and make a little ball of stuffing to go in the middle.
Trussing a paupiette takes a little practice but be patient. Fold all of the sides together and roll the turducken over so that the turkey breast is facing up. Act like you are shaping bread dough and slowing rotate it to get the paupiette to tighten up. Using butcher’s twine, slide it under the paupiette until you reach the middle. Cross the stings and try to make an X on top of the turkey breast and go back under the paupiette. Keep the twine tight and slowly roll it over and tie a knot underneath. Repeat the process with another piece of twine, making sure that lines look symmetrical on the top of the turkey breast. Brush with a little oil and season the skin with kosher salt.
Turducken aren’t made to be assembled unless they are going to be cooked that day or frozen. The raw poultry and the stuffing are just too tempting for bacterial growth. Go ahead and have a roasting pan ready and your oven or smoker preheated to 350 degrees. Baste with melted butter or chicken stock occasionally to help get a darker skin. Insert a meat thermometer into the center and cook until you get a reading of 165 degrees internal temperature. Allow to rest at least 45 minutes before placing on your platter and cutting the strings. They should leave an appealing pattern across the top.
When carving, I like to cut it in half first to show off the layers and then work towards the outside. Your paupiette will not be perfectly round unless you are a master trusser so you should still be able to tell which end is the top of the breast. Cut across the breast instead of up the middle for presentation.
Turducken Stuffing
You can use any variety of stuffing but I usually use one that incorporates garlic, celery, onion, sausage, herbs and butter. Cornbread, sourdough, french bread, etc. all work but I only use sandwich bread if I am in a bind. If you use it, cube it up and allow it to dry out a little so that it doesn’t turn to mush while mixing.
2 pounds of Andouille Sausage, pulsed in a food processor
4 ounces of Unsalted Butter
1 large Yellow Onion, medium dice
2 stalks Celery, sliced thinly but not paper thin
1 Red Bell Pepper, medium dice
5 large cloves Garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Fresh Thyme, chopped
2 teaspoons Fresh Rosemary, minced
2 quarts day old Cornbread, crumbled
1 tablespoon Rubbed Sage
1- 2 cups Chicken Stock
2 cups Green Onion, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
Melt the butter over medium high heat in a large pan and add the andouille and onions. Once the andouille begins to brown a little, reduce to medium heat add the garlic, celery, fresh thyme, rosemary and rubbed sage. Cook for another 5 minutes and then stir in the cornbread. Once it is well mixed add the stock. The stock doesn’t all needed to be added at once. I would add half and then stir for a while to judge how wet the stuffing is. You can add more later if it seems dry once it cools
Stir in the green onions off of the heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Move into a bowl and refrigerate until cooled. Once cooled, stir in the eggs. If it seems too dry, add stock a little at a time until you get the desired texture.
Legs and wings
If you bought whole birds then you are left with the leg quarters and wings. I pack them in salt overnight(or 12 hours) and then rinse them and poach them in duck fat with thyme sprigs and garlic cloves. If you don’t have enough fat, then you can use vegetable or olive oil to make up the rest. Cover the pan and bake in a 250 degree oven for about 3 hours and the meat is fork tender. Allow the meat to cool in the fat. Once cooled, you can roast them skin side up in the oven to crisp the skin or you can just shred all of the meat to add to your dressing, gravies etc…. Save the strained fat for your next round of confit or use it as a cooking oil when doing poultry dishes.
