To think serving a starter with Christmas dinner is unnecessary. And weird.

[Kavalier]

Am hosting DH's family for Xmas dinner for the first time this year. MIL always does a prawn cocktail starter and they will miss a starter if I don't serve one, so I will. I think it's very odd though. AIBU?

LittleBairn, it was somewhat ironic that all three of us were insistent on doing Christmas Dinner 'properly' in the sweltering heat of December in Queensland.
But my God we did it, two types of parsnips and all. We showed those bloody barbecue funtimes heathen Australians how it's done.

Parsnips are horrible however you cook them.

IckleBones - my go-to pudding is so easy, and everyone who has tried it, loves it - and you can make it in minutes. It is a lime or lemon cheesecake-type thingybob, but with no cheese.

Blitz up ginger biscuits and add softened butter. Line a flan tin with this, pressing it in firmly. I line up the sides as well - I think that makes it easier to get it out. Chill in the fridge (the biscuit base, not you - you get to chill on the couch with a glass of wine).

In a bowl combine one large tin of condensed milk and the same amount of double cream, and whisk. Add the juice and zest of a couple of lemons or 3-4 limes, to taste. The citrus juice will thicken the cream and condensed milk mixture. Pour it into the chilled biscuit base, smooth out, and chill again.

To serve - remove from flan dish. Serve with pouring cream, if you want. I once made a syrup with julienned strips of citrus peel, some of the juice, sugar and water, cooked slowly to a syrup and then chilled - that was very nice, but extra work that, frankly you don't need on Christmas day.

You could make this dessert on Christmas Eve, and it would keep fine in the fridge.

The baby Jesus is sad if you don't eat parsnips on his birthday

YANBU. I don't like anything which creates more washing up, and which might interfere with the amount of roast potatoes I plan to shove down my gob. And prawn cocktail involves lettuce, which is nice enough at the right time, but which has no place in the carb-fest of a christmas dinner. Boxing day, maybe.

.

It's thread like these that make me feel like a fussy eater, I don't normally think I am but Christmas seems to bring together all the things I don't like (sweet vegetables, fruit and meat combinations, ginger, alcohol in puddings). I do like a bit of cranberry sauce with my turkey, but all other sweet substances are banned from my Christmas plate.

Parsnips are satans work.

And sprouts.

The baby Jesus is sad if you don't eat parsnips on his birthday

Love that

Growing up, the starter was always Heinz Cream of Tomato soup. Always. I thought everyone did.

The nicest Christmas tradition, tho, was the toast to mum at the end of the meal, for all the lovely food she'd cooked for us. Ahhhh!

Christmas lunch should feel special and different from an ordinary Sunday roast, so we always have a first course. This is also the bit which can be varied; but is always something simple and cold, so that it can be prepared in advance, plated before people sit down and eaten while the turkey is resting- gravadlax, salmon mousse, salady things, prawny things, etc.

I only do turkey, sausages, bacon, bread sauce, gravy, roast potatoes and two vegetables (sprouts plus one other) for the main course because I hate huge random mountains of mixed food and it ensures that everyone will have room for pudding, which is Christmas pudding and/or chocolate log and/or cheese and/or fruit and/or mince pies

In between courses there are crackers and indoor fireworks (which are inherently crap but nostalgically necessary).

Lunch is at about 2, with present opening afterwards (stockings in the morning). If anyone is hungry later they help themselves to turkey sandwiches etc.

No right or wrong; but I do enjoy it my way!

I do think it makes the meal too big. A main course of turkey and stuffing and pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, green veg....
Then Christmas pudding.
Then chocolates.
That's more than enough for me.
And kids find it boring to sit for that long.

My mum makes melon with parma ham and coriander or prawn cocktail with brown bread and butter and iceberg. Sounds weird but I love coriander. I used to hate parsnips but now love them. They are great mashed with carrot with some creme fraiche added and a touch of chili. Or just roasted with a wee bit of honey. I make sprouts by par-boiling then cut in half then sauté in a pan with onions, garlic, smoked bacon and a dash of cream they taste brilliant. I love Christmas dinner.

HaroldLloyd
Parsnips are satans work
And sprouts

Harold, I've often thought you were a wise and reasonable poster (i.e. your opinions usually match mine), but this is just pure evil talk. Possibly the worst thing I have ever read on MN.

I never do one. I'd never eat my Christmas dinner.

My Christmas would be ruined if there was coriander involved.

I haven't read the whole thread. Apologies.
Smoked Mackerel Pate with melba toast for starters - this is LAW
Parsnips, I love them. Parmesan Parsnips on Christmas Day are also LAW

You need at least 3 courses... but then eating is a big deal in our house, I've done 5 courses for no other reason than celebrating Thursday before! (and no we're not loaded, we're pretty low income I'm just really good at shopping, lol)

"The baby Jesus is sad if you don't eat parsnips on his birthday"

I am so glad you said that, Slubberdegullion - I had completely forgotten about parsnips!!

slubber when DH once suggested we consider emigrating to Australia my first though was no fucking way was I having Sun on Christmas day!

buttercup that is a really lovely tradition of toasting your mum.

MrsKoala - ginger trifle sounds gorgeous - I have never heard of it before!! Please, please, please can I have the recipe? Or is it a Family Secret?

Christmas dinner without a starter? What craziness is this??

I'm sure there are bylaws ensuring its sanctity, and if there aren't there should be.

It's MN craziness squoosh - the craziest craziness there is

I am reluctant to admit this, in the face of such definitive statements by two such highly respected posters as SirChenjin and squoosh - but we usually don't have a starter on Christmas day.

I have done one - or on one memorable occasion, two - in the past, when MIL and BIL were with us for Christmas, and I was a little worried that the goose wouldn't stretch to 7 people. I had a three bird roast too - but that didn't stop the worry (I am Never Knowingly Undercatered), so I made chicken liver pate, and blue cheese and pear pate fool that I am.

BIL may well be coming to us this year (if MIL has passed on by then, as is expected - though she keeps confounding the medical profession, who thought she wouldn't still be here now - but she is), so I might consider doing a starter this year.

I confess I don't understand serving a soup made of turkey bits and veg at all. That to me says "eeking out the last bits of food to avoid waste" not "delicious celebration meal".

I say this as someone who happily eeks out the roast remnants over the next few days. But eeking at the main event? Just no.

If we are addressing the subject of craziest craznyess then I fear the subject of Yorkshire pudding with turkey, nay, anything other than beef should really rear its ugly head.

I would not just be shocked if someone gave me a Yorkie along side the bit-o-bird, I would be thrust into a state of white hot indignation and fury. We'd probably just up and leave, but not before my husband had done some serious blasphemy and I had shat on your cloakroom floor.

It's an issue that really brings out the worst in people I find.