Tesi Johnson, Gleaner Writer

And for the golden touch, Canadian High Commissioner Denis Kingsley pours maple syrup over his scored ham, before placing it into the oven to bake, where the syrup will thicken to form a delightful glaze. The High Commissioner entertained Food at his residence where he demonstrated the preparation of a traditional French-Canadian Christmas meal. - photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

"Christmas day isn't much of an event," explains Canadian High Commissioner Denis Kingsley, who hosted Food in his upper St. Andrew residence, where he showed off his Christmas cooking skills.

Christmas Eve is a day for revelry, as the French-Canadians start celebrating the holiday at midnight, first with mass, then with Christmas dinner in the wee hours of the morning.

This is called reveillon, derived from the French word reveil, which means 'waking', because it usually involves staying awake past midnight and into the wee hours of the morning. "Then we have a feast, and we don't usually get to bed until five or six in the morning," explains HC Kingsley. Thus, they have to be home on Christmas Eve by 5:00 p.m. to get a little sleep and be up in time to go to midnight mass, with enough energy to celebrate and dine after.

A number of the dishes take hours of slow cooking, so the preparation begins before reveillon. "It is so cold, and this usually keeps the house warm," says the High Commissioner.

They eat hearty helpings of traditional French-Canadian dishes like tourtiere, which is a meat pie made of beef, pork, venison, ragout de pate, a stew made with meatballs and pig's knuckles, and ham glazed with maple syrup, all served up with sides like mashed potatoes, and sautéed turnips. Yum!

Dinner is often accompanied by Canadian wines, one such being Chateau des Charmes, a cabernet-merlot from the Niagara region.

A selection of Canadian sweet treats follows, including snowballs, Christmas cookies, and pecan squares (the High Commissioner's favourite).

Christmas day is reserved for sleeping off the late night, for the children to play with their toys, and enjoy the leftovers from the early morning's festivities, much like Jamaicans do after Christmas day.

Preparing the ham

Their Christmas menu would not be complete without a maple-syrup based dish.

High Commissioner Kingsley donned an apron and chef's hat to brave the kitchen to prepare a Canadian Christmas favourite - maple syrup glazed ham.

Method

1. Their hams are saltier than the ones we get in Jamaica, so they are boiled to release much of the salt. This would take approximately 20 minutes for every pound of ham.

2. Remove the ham, and save the stock because it will be used later to make peas soup.

3. Score the ham, so that there is a diamond-shaped pattern on the outside, and at each intersection insert a clove.

4. Transfer the ham to the pot for baking.

5. Pour the 'liquid gold', as the High Commissioner calls it, which is Canadian maple syrup, over the ham and allow to seep into the crevices.

6. Insert into an oven preheated at 375 degrees Fahrenheit to bake from 20 minutes to an hour.

7. Intermittently pour more syrup over the ham, as it will evaporate. Eventually, the maple syrup will thicken to form a delightful glaze.

"It's that simple!" exclaims HC Kingsley. "Things don't have to be tough to be good. It just has to be good."

The maple syrup glazed ham is now good enough to be eaten warm or cold.

But don't eat it all though.

It is traditional to leave a bit of meat on the bone, which will be used along with the stock to make peas soup - just like Jamaicans.