I Need Festive Holiday Recipes

Photography by Scott Semler, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Maggie DiMarco

ON THIS WEEK’S episode of Dinner SOS, test kitchen director and host Chris Morocco brings in test kitchen editors Kendra Vaculin and Jesse Szewczyk to discuss their favorite holiday recipes and tackle listener questions on how to spruce up their holiday menus.

Chris, Kendra, and Jesse discuss the importance of cooking in abundance for holiday gatherings and the dishes they are most excited about putting on their tables this year, like Jesse’s Apple-Cranberry Tarte Tatin. As the resident “King of Cookies”, Jesse takes us through the Five Stunningly Simple Cookies he developed for this year’s holiday issue. Questions emerge, like what do we do for cocktails when entertaining?? Or are they more trouble as a host than they are worth. Kendra gives us her take. Caller Sarah has an afternoon holiday party and needs easy recipe ideas she can make ahead and easily pop into the oven to reheat. Josh and Sarah are in need of a resilient cookie recipe that can withstand travel for their annual holiday gift boxes. Tired of stressing about overcooked beef, Kim is hosting Christmas dinner and needs inspiration for the centerpiece dish.

Kendra suggests her Chocolate Mouse for a Party recipe that is primed for entertaining a large crowd and guarantees everyone will get a scoop. She also recommends Christian Suzuki-Orellana’s Lipstick Memory as the perfect holiday cocktail, featuring cranberry juice, campari, and sparkling wine. For Sarah, Chris recommends she change up her menu with some boozy-braising that doesn’t require a thermometer or split-second timing, like Orange-Wine-Braised Chicken Thighs. For Josh and Sarah’s holiday box needs, Jesse recommends his Pomegranate-Glazed Shortbread Wedges for their durability and festive charm. For Kim’s centerpiece, Kendra recommends her Baked Ham With Brown Sugar Glaze for a guaranteed showstopper that’s fun, festive and party ready.

Listen now to hear how Chris, Kendra and Jesse help our callers put the fun, festive and delicious cheer back into their holiday menus.

Chris Morocco: Hey there, listeners, future callers and cooking enthusiasts. Welcome to Dinner SOS, the show where we help you save dinner or whatever you're cooking. I'm Chris Morocco, Food Director of Bon Appétit and Epicurious. The holiday season is upon us, so today we're going to be talking all things holiday, baking, feasting, eating and drinking, but I can't tackle all that alone. I'm joined in the studio by my wonderful colleagues, Kendra Vaculin and Jesse Szewczyk. Hi, Kendra.

Kendra Vaculin: Hello.

CM: Hi, Jesse.

Jesse Szewczyk: Hello.

CM: How are you guys feeling?

KV: I'm ready to talk holiday.

CM: Are you?

KV: I think the holiday time is just a time of parties and that is my favorite time to have, is parties. So, I'm happy anytime that the vibe is like you should have as many parties as possible with as many subsets of the people in your life. You have your work holiday party and your friend holiday party and your family holiday party and festive cheer from every angle in your life.

JS: I feel like to me it feels like aimless in a fun way. There's no meal times, there's no weeks, you know what I mean? And it slowly gets weirder as the weeks go by.

KV: Yeah, anytime is a time to eat. And also, that means that there's no delineation on what foods go when, like pie is equally well suited for 6:00 AM as 11:00 PM like mashed potatoes for breakfast kind of energy.

JS: Everything is a snack. Anything can be a snack.

KV: Everything can be a snack.

JS: And snacks are meals.

CM: Are you talking about the week between Christmas and New Year's where certainly there is a different rhythm to the days and maybe the normal rules don't apply?

KV: Yeah. One time I was in Europe during that period and I discovered that in England they call that week Crimbo Limbo.

JS: Crimbo Limbo.

CM: What? I have never heard this.

KV: Crimbo Limbo. Yeah, Crimbo is like Christmas. And so, the week between Christmas and New Year is where you're like anything goes is called the Crimbo Limbo.

JS: I like that.

CM: Wow. What are you both most excited about to bring to your own tables this year?

JS: Something made with Shilpa's pie crust. I don't know what that is.

CM: But what is it going to be?

JS: I don't know yet. I don't know.

CM: Come on, think about it.

JS: Maybe I'll actually make my apple tart to 10. And then...

CM: Oh.

JS: Yes. And then, swap Shilpa's crust on.

CM: What about you, Kendra?

KV: I...

CM: And just know that whatever you say, if you don't mention the bucket of mousse, I will be bringing up the bucket of mousse.

KV: No, I love the bucket of mousse. That's actually a good point. There's sort of like two lanes for me for holidaying. One is, I'm planning on having lots of friend gatherings and that is where the bucket of mousse is going to come into play. I developed this recipe that is mousse for many, and it's inspired by the French bistro tradition of making one big vat of mousse that they then dole out to all of the customers over the course of the night. So, this is just your biggest bowl full of mousse.

CM: Chocolate mousse.

KV: Chocolate mousse that you put in the corner of your home with a stack of bowls and a pile of spoons and a little bowl of whipped cream and some Luxardo cherries. And all of your friends can go over and serve themselves a little heaping spoonful of mousse. It's so chic. I love it.

So, the chocolate mousse is definitely. I am hosting. My parents are coming to New York City for Christmas, which has never happened. And so, I want to make a fried donut thing for Christmas morning. I want to make little jelly donuts with powdered sugar on it.

CM: Yeah, like little sauvignon.

KV: Yeah, something fun.

CM: Yeah. Cool.

KV: I don't know. That's been my dream is a little powdered sugar jelly donut.

CM: She's got that. I mean, that's very attainable dream.

KV: Yeah.

CM: But still a vision, nonetheless.

KV: Yes.

CM: Okay, let's talk about cookies.

JS: Everyone's looking at me, okay.

KV: The king of cookies has landed.

JS: Yeah. Sure. I'm here. I'm here.

CM: No. So, you developed an entire package of cookies for the December issue of Bon Appétit.

JS: I did.

CM: That was five different cookies.

JS: Yes.

CM: And these weren't just colorful, exciting cookies that add to the conversation around festive cookie making. These actually showcased a lot of new ideas and new thinking and ultimate simplicity. Talk more about them.

JS: Yeah, I developed five cookies and includes a five-spice crackle cookie, a peppermint bark cookie, a Tahini slice and bake, pomegranate glaze, shortbread wedges, and then what we're calling pistacharoos, which is a pistachio version of a Scotcheroos.

So, all five of them don't require a mixer or any specialty equipment, like no food processor, no blender or anything like that. So, baked with a bowl and a whisk or spatula. I feel like I wanted people to win the cookie swap and make really beautiful cookies that make people feel cool and with it, but people will actually make them. Because I feel like so often the cookies that make people feel cool or edgy or whatever are kind of inaccessible for various reasons.

CM: Do you have a favorite or two?

JS: I have a Tahini cookie. But I think was actually my hardest to develop, it's a...

KV: You made that so many times.

JS: Yeah, I kind of spiraled out on this. It's a shortbread and it's made with Tahini and it's split into a chocolate and a vanilla base, so then I also use just a 100% powdered sugar as the sugar source, which I think really helped tenderize it with the addition of starch in that and just how fine it is, but it probably is my favorite now.

CM: Interesting.

JS: Yeah.

CM: What about number two?

JS: Number two, there's a crackle cookie that…

KV: I was like, do I start the chant? Five-spice crackle cookie...

JS: It probably is my favorite, yeah. It's a molasses-based one, but its spices is just five spice powder. Obviously, I like the taste of it, but I was really set out to get the crackle to look a very specific way.

CM: It's a prodigious amount of crackle.

JS: Yeah, I really like the flavor of that one too, and it's a very soft cookie.

CM: Now, okay, question for you. Let's like real talk, okay?

JS: Mm-hmm.

CM: Because I feel like every year I have an existential crisis about whether or not we should do a big cookie package moment. Did we make the right call?

JS: We did. I was quite passionate about that as Kendra remembers and Kendra was there too.

KV: We were really fighting fight for cookies.

JS: Fight, fight, fight.

KV: We were like, we'll do absolutely anything to insist that cookies happen this year.

CM: Well, because sometimes we've had this conversation several times about Thanksgiving pies and how open to new ideas are people versus sticking to the classics.

KV: I would venture a guess that integrating a new holiday cookie into your arsenal is an easier ask for people than swapping out their maybe one or at maximum two Thanksgiving pies. That feels like something that if you do have a tradition, it's more set in stone. But the cookies, it's like, I don't know, why not throw a new one into the mix? And especially, if it doesn't require a mixer, why not? It's an easy ask.

JS: Also like with pies, I feel like it's tied to family, and you have to do what your family wants. And with cookies, it's like you have friends, you just make them...

KV: Colleagues.

JS: Yeah, for fun and to hand them out. So, it's like an extension of your personality for the year or whatever. So, it's like if this is the look of the year, the flavor of the year, you want to be with it kind of. So, I feel like there's more freedom there. Pies are we; cookies are me, Jesse Szewczyk. There you go. There you go.

KV: Interesting.

CM: Wow. Phenomenal. I love that take.

JS: Thank you. Thank you. And I've got to say that peppermint bark one, that soft baked chocolate cookie with just that whisper of mint is totally enthralling. From my personal style, I don't need the white chocolate at all. But gosh, that cookie is just heaven on its own.

KV: The white chocolate melts into this frosting almost like summer nights.

CM: It's like the texture changes, yeah.

JS: Yeah, it never fully sets snappy in a kind of a nice way.

CM: Yup.

JS: Yeah.

CM: And the Tahini shortbread just what a lovely kind of savory cookie, just really got some nuance in terms of just that savory edge to the flavor. And then, the shortbread is just lovely. The pomegranate with the orange mixed into the sanding sugar or sugar...

JS: Mm-hmm. It's like one of my party tricks.

CM: Yeah, that's like a textbook. I love that.

JS: Yeah, I like four tricks. That's one of them.

CM: And the other key feature I think that's going on all throughout December, like you said, Kendra, whether it's your work colleagues, your family, it's parties, parties all the time.

KV: Yeah.

CM: Kendra, hostess, extraordinaire. What are some of the things that you think are key to hosting around the holidays?

KV: I think my mentality is always abundance. I think having more than you think you might need is the key to a good party because absolutely no one wants to be looking at the last of something on a plate and being like, "Oh, God, I want it, I'm hungry, but I can't have it." Because then, there will be no more whatever, cookies or whatever have you.

So, I think have more snacks on hand than you think you might need. That probably, for me, means like keep a couple of wedges of random cheese in your cheese drawer in your refrigerator, those plus miscellaneous scoop of mustard, the last couple of cornichon from your jar. You can make a cheese board with pretty much anything in five minutes if you have the cheese on hand. So, just buy a couple of extra when you go to the grocery store and keep them in your fridge just in case.

Have an extra bottle of wine in your refrigerator just in case. Buy some sort of fun other booze just in case. I love to have a vermouth or a sherry or a dessert wine just in case, you never know. If you're going to serve it at your house, it makes a really easy thing to bring to somebody else's house if you are going to a different party. Just having stuff on hand, I think makes the holiday party season a little smoother because you know don't have to be running out to the grocery store all the time.

CM: And don't wait, as soon as you hear your first Christmas song...

KV: It's time.

CM: ... in any store, it's time to get the wine...

KV: Yes.

CM: ... it's time to start laying some of these things down.

KV: A 100%. So, you got to just set yourself up for success by stocking your fridge and pantry with stuff that's not going to go bad, but that will help you out and is happy making no matter what. Nobody is sad to see a box of Triscuits like absolutely no one ever. And Triscuits are so versatile, like just have Triscuits, just have them in your house. They will make your holiday party better, I promise.

I also think, figure out your vibe setting with your television. I think people forget that your TV is a giant screen in the middle of where you are ostensibly gathering with all of your people. And it can be a beautiful tone setting element.

CM: We're talking about the Yule Log channel, right?

KV: I'm saying, it could be the Yule Log. It could be a favorite Christmas movie played on mute while your beautiful soundtrack plays over, and you can play whatever music you want. There's a lot of options, and I think using that as an artistic tool is a very helpful tone setting for your gathering.

CM: Love it. Jesse, what about for you? Any advice for folks attending holiday parties? How are you a good guest in situations?

JS: You got to bring something. Bring a cookie from the cookie package or just bring a bottle of wine like something, you have to contribute something.

CM: What about holiday vibe, cocktails? Do you mess with cocktails when you're hosting? Is it more trouble and it's worth? What do we do?

KV: I think it depends. I love a champagne based cocktail. I think they're very festive, especially between Christmas and New Year's and on New Year's itself, that's a really easy thing, if there's just one or two other ingredients you want to add to it. I did develop one this year, which is Suze's and ginger simple syrup and champagne or any sparkling wine, which actually goes really nicely together. I love a bitter cocktail, so that's definitely my vibe.

But there's actually a really lovely festively colored cocktail on the Epicurious app called Lipstick Memory that I know hilarious name. But it's Campari based with a cranberry, rosemary sugar kind of syrup juice that you make. You use the RW Knudsen or other non-sweetened pure tart cranberry juice...

CM: The real stuff.

KV: ... that you sweeten with sugar and you cook in some sprigs of rosemary to really flavor that. And then, that goes with Campari and sparkling wine. I made it a couple of years ago for Christmas and it is quite good. And it is so deeply burgundy that it just looks really festive and nice.

CM: What about you, Jesse?

JS: I feel like batching is the way to go. Just something big you can make and pour out through the evening or let people serve themselves.

CM: Do you have a go-to?

JS: I did develop a big batch of cocktail this year. It was a maple cranberry mule.

CM: Oh, yeah.

JS: Yeah.

CM: That was great.

JS: And it's pretty concentrated in the sense that you could pour it over ice and leisurely drink it and it would be nice. It's like ages.

CM: But it's kind of low ABV?

JS: Yeah. And you can control how much you add, so that's also nice.

CM: Fantastic. All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break and when we get back, we'll tackle some listener questions. All right. Our first question is from Sarah. She writes, "I have a problem, I'm hoping you can help me solve. Every year, I host a big Christmas Eve open house in the afternoon, that usually wraps up around 5:00 or 6:00. I also host my family for dinner. I need ideas for easy but festive feeling dinners that I can make ahead of time and just pop in the oven and heat up after the party. I've done short ribs in the crock pot for the past couple of years, but looking to change it up, please help."

JS: I feel like any roast that is long cooking is ideal for this.

CM: As in a braise?

JS: Yeah.

CM: A braise is like the roast, you don't need to worry about temping or doing much of anything to?

JS: Yeah, and if you overcook, it's fine. Yeah, so like a braised chicken legs or any kind of tougher cut of beef is kind of ideal, which is what she's doing already. But just change up the cut or the meat...

KV: Right.

CM: Or the flavor. Oh...

KV: I was thinking of the Brisket Bourguignon...

JS: Yeah, something like that, yeah.

KV: ... which is a really fun twist on a traditional beef stew flavors. But with brisket, which I think is even better is really a nice cut for a crowd. And you can make the whole thing the day before, and it's even better for it just to be reheated. So, if you wanted to just get everything out of the way ahead of time, that would be a good way to do it.

JS: I was also thinking about boozy braising. Oh, yeah, I mean...

CM: I love the Brisket Bourguignon. Again, the ease in terms of even just portioning like slice reheat in the liquid, and then just set it out and you're good. Boozy braising, like the orange wine braised chicken.

JS: Yeah, you can make that forever ahead of time, yeah.

CM: Yeah, it could be made days ahead of time.

JS: Totally.

CM: Or the dark and stormy pot roast.

KV: I love the dark and stormy pot roast.

JS: Yeah, that could work. Totally.

CM: What you did with that ginger beer with the dark and stormy pot roast was just so unexpectedly bright and intriguing and not what you're expecting when you taste something that's been braised for hours.

KV: I would also say, my favorite, the sleeper hit I felt from that story was the orange wine chicken.

CM: Yeah.

JS: Mm-hmm.

KV: I loved that combination of the citrus flavors and orange wine. And, to me, that's so joyful.

CM: And there's none of that last-minute kerfuffling around the consistency of the sauce. I feel like you kind of dialed in the thickness, how much liquid, the roasting time, everything is calibrated so that at the end, you're basically ready to go.

JS: Yeah, within like a pot down.

CM: Yeah, you just put the pot down. There's no real margin of error just in terms of having something that's really festive and luscious, like a sauce that's just thick enough to want to cling to a spoon. But again, with bright flavors and the fact of it being orange wine and the recipe title, it doesn't matter one bit. White wine would be perfectly great there.

JS: Totally.

CM: We just happened to call out orange wine because you were putting oranges in with the chicken.

JS: Yeah, it was like cheeky.

CM: Yeah. But you could just being cheeky.

JS: Yeah.

CM: That's all. That's all it was.

JS: But you could do the short ribs and just follow the dark and stormy recipe and just use short ribs, but probably the same exact recipe otherwise.

KV: Yeah.

JS: Yeah.

CM: Any final thoughts for Sarah?

JS: Just change it up.

CM: Change it up.

KV: And yeah, and look for recipes that build make ahead into the recipes themselves. Because oftentimes, you could do it a full day ahead of time...

CM: Totally.

KV: ... and then you don't have to worry at all.

CM: Totally. All right. So, from Sarah and Josh, "For the last few years we've been mailing holiday cookie gift boxes to our friends and family. Do you have any recommendations for cookie recipes that, one, keep for several days. And two, would be resilient to being kind of banged around in a mail truck? We want our people to get boxes of cookies, not just crumbs."

JS: Honestly, anything that's shortbread based I feel like is probably your best bet for aging. They age very well.

CM: This year, so you had the Tahini shortbread cookie, and then you had another shortbread cookie with pomegranate glaze.

JS: Yes. They're like shortbread wedges and they're glazed with a pomegranate glaze, and then orange sprinkles. Something else I think is very resilient. That and the Tahini, I'd feel pretty confident could survive a lot.

CM: The Scotcheroos as well, they're pistacharoos I should say, it's not a traditional cookie. Will you describe what a Scotcheroos is?

JS: Sure.

CM: And then, what you did to adapt your cookies?

JS: So, a Scotcheroo is like a Midwest treat that is kind of like a rice crispy treat but no marshmallow. And the base is made with peanut butter is the primary flavoring and is corn syrup. So, it's like a chewy bottom and topped with melted butterscotch chips and chocolate. And that's traditionally what it is.

So, I got rid of the butterscotch chips and the peanut butter and I use pistachio paste and dark chocolate as the two flavoring elements. So, they're now these green kind of rice crispy-esque bars with a top layer of dark chocolate and pistachios on top, which yes, I do think they would last a long time because of the inclusion of corn syrup too. I think will keep them a very nice, chewy texture for quite a while.

CM: Pretty bump-proof.

JS: Yeah, I do think so, actually.

KV: I was going to say of last year's array of cookies, a couple that I think would probably stand up well to this would be Hannah's tiramisu snowballs. I think they're compact and cutely self-contained. So, they can roll around and not really be damaged for it. And the other is Inés's aklava cookie, which I love so much, flavor wise. It looks like it would be really tender and delicate, but it's actually quite sturdy. It's a sugar cookie on the outside stuffed with a nutty honey filling.

And I think that you would kind of want it to be the only thing in the box because it has a spiced sugarcoating on the outside that would definitely get on its neighbors if it had some other things in the box with it. But if you're picking one major cookie to send, that is a good option, I think.

JS: I think the filling also keeps it chewy and moist in a good way.

KV: Totally.

JS: Yeah.

KV: It's not going to dry out too much.

CM: Yeah. Interesting. Any other final thoughts in terms of, would you guys ever send a box of cookies?

KV: Like in the mail, mail?

CM: In the mail, mail.

JS: I think I'd drive myself crazy.

KV: I think... Oh, yeah, Jesse, we can't...

JS: I couldn't. I couldn't.

KV: We can't let Jesse do something like that.

JS: No.

KV: He would make individual sleeping bags for each cookie to protect them from each other.

JS: No. Yeah, I can't. I'm old enough to know what would cause me to absolutely go crazy.

CM: So, if you were food styling something outside of your home and you needed to prep at home, how would you transport your cookies?

JS: Oh, I've done this many times.

CM: I'm sure you have. So, what do you do?

JS: Okay, so I get a full sheet pan.

KV: The big one.

JS: Big one, and I put them just in the center. And then, I put four-quart containers on the edges and I put another sheet pan on top and I wrap the whole thing.

KV: Oh, my God.

CM:: Wait, hold on. So, the cookies are... They're not being held down by anything? There's no Saran wrap around them holding them to the center of the sheet.

JS: No, because I don't want anything to touch them. Kendra, I even have cloth gloves. Kendra has seen them.

KV: I have.

JS: And I walk around wearing them and I give people a stick. If they want to touch cookies, they can only scoot it with a stick.

KV: Jesse wears these gloves as if he's touching like the crown jewels of England or like…

JS: They are museum gloves.

KV: ... the Declaration of Independence. But it's literally one cookie that Jesse made.

JS: It's like, I like... I get to probably maybe, I don't know, October. I'm like, I can't make jokes about cookies anymore, if nothing is funny.

KV: It's so funny. I can't tell you how funny it is. Watching Jesse food-style, the cookies, he has a little brush and he's brushing the powdered sugarcoating is so perfect, but in one part it's slightly uneven, so then he'll just like, "Chi-chi-chi."

JS: I remember, I'll zoom in on other people's... I'm like, you see that there's a fingerprint there. If you zoom in, there's this trash.

KV: Look so good.

CM: It's funny because you bake a batch of cookies and you look at all of them and you think, "These look pretty good." And then, you put them all on camera...

JS: Taste so different, yeah.

CM: ... over a microscope, and suddenly each one has a tragic flaw.

KV: Totally.

JS: Always a fingerprint. Always a fingerprint.

KV: The regular people among which I count myself, we cannot discern. But Jesse has years of practice at this.

CM: Jesse sees.

KV: So, he will look at a sheet pan and he'll be... And I always want to eat the cookies before it's time for them to have their moment in the sun. So, I'll say, "Jesse, which one do you hate?" Because then, he'll let me eat it. And he knows immediately, "That one, that one's trash, that one's garbage, eat that one. That one's so ugly." To me, reader, it looks exactly the same as all the others, but he's like, "This is the worst one. You can eat that."

CM: Here, I was thinking that cookies are kind of chill. I think people don't get that stressed out about cookies aside from Jesse, maybe.

KV: Only Jesse.

CM: Only Jesse.

JS: It's all good. It's chill too.

CM:I don't know, Jesse.

KV: He's like, "I'm fine. This twitch is natural."

JS: You should make a death row.

CM: They're very easy to make.

JS: That's all I think.

CM: I always does that.

JS: I'm going to bake my whole break.

KV: Kendra Vaculin; To answer your question though, from long ago, I will say, I'm scarred from when I was very young. My parents took my sister and I to Europe. The first time we'd ever left the country, we went to Paris. And so, my mom bought a box of macarons and shipped them at some exorbitant cost to our house because she thought they'd get crushed for sure in her luggage. And when we got home, it had beaten us and was just beat to shit.

JS: No.

KV: Just like every single cookie smashed, nothing survived. And we all laughed about it and it was fine and we ate the crumbles. But after that, I was like, "You can't send a cookie in the mail. It just doesn't work."

JS: It's tough.

CM: All right. Well, best of luck, Sarah and Josh. Let us know how it goes. Send us a photo of the cookies before and after their voyage, okay? We're going to take one more break. When we're back, centerpiece mains and how to roast chestnuts. Open fire or no. All right. Our next question comes from Kim. She writes, "I always host Christmas and I'm looking for help with the centerpiece of my dinner. In the past, I've done prime rib or beef tenderloin and both have been a hit, but I feel like I haven't really loved them and I spend all Christmas worried I'll overcook the beef. Any suggestions for an excellent Christmas dinner centerpiece that would please my dinner guests? There are typically 10 of us ranging in age from 2 to 98. The only thing I'd say is off limits is fish or seafood."

JS: Kendra, your orange pork comes to my mind.

KV: Oh.

JS: And it is very showstopper-y, but I feel like low-risk.

KV: Yeah, definitely low-risk. That's a really fun one. It's a large piece of pork shoulder. I like using the picnic shoulder, which is one piece down from the butt just because the bone is like an emoji bone. It looks exactly like a bone, a dog would have rather than the flat piece bone that runs through the Boston butt. And you create this glaze using orange marmalade that you brush the finished product with.

So, it's really picking up those winter citrus flavors. And the juices that are left in the pot, it feels sad to take the pork out of that, and then glaze it separately with all these delicious juices behind. You can just strain those, put them in a bowl and put them on your table as well. And people can spoon those over the pork as they serve themselves. It's like the perfect thing that you want running into your mashed potatoes or to sop up with a roll or piece of bread.

CM: That's another great one, just in terms of when you're achieving that kind of braze texture, you have a certain amount of make head ability in terms of not relying on the split-second timing or carving at the very end. You can just tear pieces off of it, but it looks really festive and it's like what a ham gives you, but you've made it yourself and it's just like this shreddy, lacquered, gorgeous, burnished objet.

KV: Totally. If what your dinner needs is a big hunk of meat on the table, and for some people that's a non-negotiable for a holiday dinner, this is a really good option.

CM: One thing I'll also say, I did a roast beef tenderloin with rosemary and garlic. The thing is, there's an initial sear on the stovetop just to get a little bit of color, okay? But then, the roasting temperature is very low like 250 in the oven. And having such a low oven temperature just widens the window of a sweet spot in which you can pull that beef, and it's going to hit that really nice, rosy medium-to-medium rare. The higher an oven temperature environment you're working with, the more likely that you can overshoot that window, which is much more likely than undershooting it. Let's face it.

KV: I was going to say, a ham.

JS: Ham.

CM: Yeah.

KV: I think, you can't really screw up a ham in terms of cooking it, but we do have a recipe on the site called Spiced-Crusted Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze. That is so fun and festive and party-ready. You deeply score the skin of the ham, and then press in this fennel-y crust, which is, it's like cumin seeds, fennel seeds, smoked paprika. And as it roasts, it gets really dark and crusty and delightful.

And then, there's this orange honey dark brown sugar glaze that you brush over and spill over the top of that for the last little bit of roasting. That just makes it really crackly, shiny, gorgeous. And people love a ham like, I think 2 to 98, to me, I'm like, "Everybody loves ham."

CM: That's true. I think there have been hams. The hams I've loved. There's nothing wrong with supermarket ham just in terms of just delivering something that's pretty tasty just across the board, pretty predictably and reliably so. But I would say, if there was ever a time in the year to order something a little bit special like the D'Artagnan Applewood Smoked Bone and Ham, oh, my goodness. I mean, it is just delightful, just like a balanced application of smoke, but really wonderful, wonderful meat.

Snake River Farms has an amazing ham. So, point being like, it may be worth kind of ordering away for something. Ham, you're just heating it up. You're not cooking it, so fun.

KV: And think about ham à contre-mont is very party ready too. Get your little buns, get your little pickles, a fun mustard or two, delightful.

JS: Good leftovers too.

CM: Yeah, exactly.

JS: Like useful leftovers.

CM: Mm-hmm. Last question from Danny, "As it is getting more into the holiday season, I've been thinking about roasted chestnuts, but no matter how I try to prepare them, they're absolutely impossible to peel and I have to scoop them out with a spoon or eat the very unpleasant skin on them. I would love help with how to best cook them for an easy peel, and also receive recipes that are better than just me eating chestnuts alone as a snack since I'm not really sure how to incorporate them into a real meal."

KV: Wow.

CM: Okay. Truth? Who likes chestnuts?

JS: I was going to say, don't do it.

KV: I love roasted chestnuts, but to me they are like a street food. I lived in Spain for a little bit. And during the holidays, they were all over on the street. You could just get them wrapped in...

CM: Paper?

KV: In newspaper, yeah, in a little cone, and that was so delightful. But I have never done them myself. You are brave to do it that, Danny. I think the trick seems to be you just have to burn the shit out of them. They have to be cooked so much that the skin is like blistering off.

CM: I look into this sort of underdress because I think chestnuts, I just don't love them. There's something about the flavor that I find a bit of obtrusive and cloying. And maybe it's just the fact that they're still a bit unfamiliar to me. I think, you have to soak them, Danny, if you're not already. You have to soak them at least a couple of hours in water, which will allow the skins to sort of soften a little bit. So, they'll be more likely to separate, to your point, Kendra, during the roasting process.

But also, I mean, I'm assuming you are scoring them, Danny, like giving a big deep X and really gouged down in, just so that you have a starting point in terms of being able to separate the skin after the cooking process.

KV: As for like what to do with them after...

CM: Recipe, yeah.

KV: I think there's kind of so many things you could... I mean, as someone who likes the flavor, I can imagine them in a lot of capacities where you might put a different nut. I think they would be really nice with green beans. I keep thinking about them crunched up as a topping on green beans...

CM: That'd be nice.

KV: ... or in pasta or even grated, is that insane?

CM: Wow.

JS: It does have that texture.

KV: It has that kind of...

JS: Potato-y, waxy.

KV: Yeah, I am almost like that feels like it would be so delightful or in some sweet element with fruit. I don't know.

CM: I almost find it more believable with some source of sweetness around it, just because I think it wants some amount of that even in a savory preparation. I almost want sweetness as well for balance. I've seen them in stuffings like dressings.

JS: Oh, no, yeah, I've seen that.

CM: For sure. But it feels like your baseline technique, you need to apply to them is a kind of a soak, a score, a deep roast separating the skins, and then that brings you to the starting line.

KV: Yeah.

CM: Yeah. Any other thoughts?

KV: Good luck, Danny.

CM: Yeah, good luck, Danny, I know. I mean, it's a little bit of a labor of love. It's like the Faba bean of winter. Jesse, Kendra, thank you so much for being here. I hope you both have wonderful holidays. And I don't know, before too long, it'll probably be time to start thinking about the holidays all over again.

KV: Try to enjoy it while we're in it.

JS: See you back here. Yeah.

CM: Jesse, cookies can be chill. If you have a dinner emergency on your hands, write to us at dinnersos@bonappetit.com or leave us a voice message at 212-286-SOS-1. That's 212-286-707-1. We'd love to feature your question on the show. You can find the recipes mentioned on today's episode linked in our show notes and on the Epicurious app, brought to you by Condé Nast.

Just search Epicurious in the app store and download today. And if you're not yet a subscriber, you can sign up today for a 30-day free trial in the app or at bonappetit.com. If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a rating and review on your podcast app of choice and hit that follow button, so you never miss an episode.

Thanks for listening to Dinner SOS. I'm your host, Chris Morocco. My co-hosts this week are Kendra Vaculin and Jesse Szewczyk. Our Senior Producer is Michele O'Brien. Peyton Hayes is our Associate Producer. Cameron Foos is our Assistant Producer. Jake Lummus is our studio engineer. This episode was mixed by Amar Lal at Macro Sound. Jordan Bell is our Executive Producer. Chris Bannon is Condé Nast's, head of Global Audio. Next week, Brad has dreams of creating airy, beautiful loaves of Panettone, the Italian sweet bread. But every time he's tried...

Brad: I flipped them over. You take them out hot, flip them upside down, rest them on two chairs and walked away and one loaf collapsed onto the floor.

CM: Oh.

Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit