Tom Bawcock's night, gottles of geer, gravlax and goose!

Traditionally, in this part of the world, the night before Christmas Eve is referred to as Tom Bawcock's and celebrated in and around Mousehole with fish suppers - Starry Gazey pie being the most well known incarnation and served every year in the Ship Inn, Mousehole - a huge pie crust dish with the heads of the fish therein sticking out of the pie edges. ......
Through the Gaps has given Tom's night a miss this year but nevertheless there's a fishy thing going on - made a few days before the big event, a fresh box of gravlax is on the go - fillet a side of salmon, use the mid cut and place skin side down, cover with a mixture of coarse sea salt (2tbsp), light brown sugar(1tbsp), ground white pepper(2tbsp) and a handful of fresh dill, cover with foil, place a heavy weight on top to press the fillets and turn every twelve hours - ready in a minimum of 24 but will keep for a week - especially in this weather....
one of the gems of west Penwith hidden away in the backstreets of St Just, Vivian Olds butchers....
have supplied the Christmas fayre for the festive period, open the bags and there's a diary and Christmas card with every order - nice touch! - the Christmas day meal was going to be the boned goose stuffed with the boned duck stuffed with the boned chicken - but master butcher Randall looked mortified at the thought - so the big bird may well end up being roasted individually to his slow cooking instructions - upside down for 1 1/2 hours at 150˚, turn and drain and then another 1 1/2 hours.