Culinary hits and misses this year?

[DazzlePaintedBattlePants]

Anyone got any culinary hits and misses this year? I got loads of pointers off a similar thread last year.

Hits for us this year:
M&S meat - completely idiot proof and very tasty, according to those who ate it
M&S raspberry pannacotta
Profiteroles - I use Delia’s recipe filled with crème patisserie
Red cabbage - Nigella’s this year which is better than Delia

Fails:
Bastard custard for trifle took 2 goes before it thickened
We had planned takeaway pizza for Christmas Eve but by the time we phoned to reserve a slot there were no slots left….
Desert wine was rank.

M+S cheese profiteroles and sticky chicken ball skewers....amazing!

Next year we are not having
Turkey
Parsnips

Star of the show was M&S roast potatoes in beef dripping, the cruchiest potatoes ever and no peeling. Will be getting them again next year

Waitrose gammon was good.

For veg DH I mixed paxo stuffing with grated onion, chestnut halves and dried apricots for stuffing balls and he said they were really good.

Tesco beef Wellington looked good but took longer than expected to cook and fell apart at the bottom. Tasted lovely though.

Also bastard custard here though I just added more cornflour til it thickened. Tasted nice though.

Grass fed meat from pipers farm ( they deliver frozen). Only got small amounts but was so worth it.

M&S honey roasted Duroc ham- not good. Rubbery and tasted cheap.

Oysters for lunch. Caned 10 of them with mignonette dressing and a bottle of cava. Fucking awesome.

I also brined my very expensive ginger pig chicken and actually it really was worth doing. Very tasty

Parsnips! How could I forget my parsnips fail. I have been reduced to using frozen ones because I can never cook fresh ones nicely and even the frozen ones were rank.

Hits:
Hot crab dip
M&S mini chocolate lava cakes
Mince pies from our local deli that seem to be mostly nuts in the mince and a lot of lemon
Roast Brussels sprouts - we didn't have enough because everyone wanted more!

Misses:
Cauli cheese where I was so worried about overcooking the cauliflower that I undercooked it instead and it was a bit too al dente
Ham in coke - I took the strings off and it deformed, so I couldn't do the nice neat crosses in the fat

Turkey from Coombe Farm Organic - no special recipe, just cooked slathered in butter and bacon and was absolutely amazing!

Expensive but well worth it for hung, organic bird.

In the past have tried bribing (Nigella), Jamie Oliver etc - all of them. So much faff and never worked as nice as this.

It's the quality of meat that matters and being brave enough to take it out just undercooked (as Coombe Farm recommend you do with this bird) to allow it to carry on cooking as it rests for an hour.

Feeing quite smug!!!

@Alwayssupportingdifference I’m chuckling at the thought of you bribing your dead turkey so it cooks nicely

The local organic turkey crown we had was the best wed ever had.

I bought Sainsbury's best bread sauce mix....tasted of nothing, will go back to making my own!
Plant pioneers chicken roast was not nice, the texture was weird.

Aldi no pigs in blankets were a hit here; the clementine stuffing balls less so.

All Sainsbury's:

Parsnips in honey and mustard, went down really well; I even liked them and I usually hate parsnips.

Also, Sainsbury's been brandy sauce, was asked for the recipe so I showed them the container!

I didn't like the turkey breast crown, it was quite dry despite adding additional liquid and basting. Quite annoying as I pride myself on being good cook of roasts. Glad I cooked a gammon joint.

Also tried roasted Brussels with chestnuts but should have just done the boiled (for hours) version my family seem to strangely like. I hate than so wasn't too upset!

Overall a success though!

M&S slow cook shin of beef - fantastic!
M&S Yule log - disgusting, taste of pure butter, went straight in bin and had to go though cupboard to find bits make up a dessert.