What are ‘all the trimmings’?

[HurricaneZeldaAndToto]

After a slightly disappointing Christmas dinner at a relative’s house, I wondered if my idea of ‘all the trimmings’ was massively out of whack with the rest of the world?

If you did turkey dinner ‘with all the trimmings’ what did you serve?

AIBU to suspect this means very different things to different people?

I loved Christmas food as a child, why would “kids” eat anything different? Why wouldn’t a child like roast potatoes?

One of my favourite Christmas meals in childhood was Pheasant Normande with Jerusalem artichokes!

I'd rather spend the time celebrating the day than elevating the dinner. You can do what you like but dreaming big does not mean spending all day on my own in an apron in my book!

Talking of puddings - and only because a couple of people have mentioned it - but Christmas Pudding for afters, is absolutely horrible.

I eat the only sensible, traditional, Christmas classic........Viennetta.

Turkey
Pigs in blankets
Stuffing (1 x meat + 1 x sage & onion)
Roast potatoes (extra crispy extra roast obvs)
Yorkshire puddings
Fuck tons of gravy
Broccoli cauliflower cheese
Brussels
Mashed Swede
Corn

Everything in bold is necessity, veg below it is whatever is preferred.

Well, I didn't do turkey, we had our usual Sunday dinner with chicken breasts. We had 3 courses which is unusual, Christmas crackers to pull and tins of sweets about to eat - well, at my mum's, anyway, nobody bought us any.

Damn right, that’s what Cook is for.

But - avoid their Christmas pudding it’s pants.

Also - Parmesan has no place on parsnips.

Our Cook Christmas dinner was a disappointment. The green side dish was barely enough for one and Parmesan definitely doesn’t belong on parsnips. It needed at least two more sides. The vegan Christmas dinner for two was consumed in its entirety by one person.

Roast meat
Roast potatoes
Mash
2 or 3 different veg.
Stuffing and cocktail sausages if meat is poultry.
Yorkies
Gravy

@Mirabai

My kids also enjoy roast potatoes, but their favourite is mash with loads of gravy. As it’s Christmas, why should they not be allowed their favourite? They love mash and black eyed peas casserole with turkey on top. So, why not?
My favourite potatoes are dauphinois, so I make those for me. Why not? It’s Christmas. Should be your favourite type of roast stuff.

I used to dread Sunday lunch as a child - I hated roast meat apart from chicken, and roast potatoes made me gag. The day I left home nearly 50 years ago, I swore I would never eat another roast potato again or roast meat apart from chicken or Turkey, and I've kept to thst. I've always cooked a Sunday roast for my husband and daughter, and a separate meal for me 😆😆

You have to be selective. Their stuffed turkey is great - much better than M&S or Waitrose, and their roast carrots are ace. They also do a fab salmon Wellington with beetroot and dill which we had on Christmas Eve. Their lemon possets are great as is the chocolate and hazelnut meringue parfait and I think they do a good sticky toffee pudding. I stick to what I know they can do. For parsnips I do my own or Aunt Bessie’s.

Turkey and ham. Christmas must include ham.

The trimmings for me MUST include:

Roast potatoes
Pigs in blankets
At least two types of stuffing, one including chestnut. I usually do three types.
Roast parsnips & carrots
Braised red cabbage
Brussels sprouts
At least one other type of green veg (I like peas & either leeks or broccoli)
Yorkshire puddings
Gravy
Cranberry sauce

I also do carrot & swede mash (I love it) and croquettes and cauliflower cheese (kids love them), but wouldn’t expect these.

Bread sauce isn’t something I grew up eating and only discovered it was a thing in adulthood.

Mash is mash to me, at Christmas I eat Christmas food. No way am I making more than one kind of potato!

Turkey and ham. Christmas must include ham
We have the ham on Christmas Eve

The minimum for "all" would be:stuffing, cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets plus something else such as bread sauce or red cabbage and some extra veg not included in my standard christmas dinner list.

I'd expect roast potatoes, roast parsnips and Brussel sprouts and veg such as carrots as standard and not trimmings.

A relative made turkey, 2 stuffing, pigs in blankets, Brussels,carrots, red cabbage ,bread sauce, parsnips, cranberry, gravy, roast, mash. That seemed to be all the trimmings to me.

Main: Apart from whatever meat:

• Pigs in blankets or pork chipolatas
• Red kidney beans cooked gently until a little more than Al dente in its own rich sauce
• Red cabbage shredded and cooked in pressed apple juice (no added sugar), with dried sour cherries stirred throughout and a little fresh chopped sweet apple
• cauliflower cheese (home made) with a good cheddar
• sprouts lightly steamed, with or without chopped chestnuts and light salad dressing
• crunchy roast potatoes
• roasted parsnips

Dessert: I love a crumble, either gooseberry or dark cherry or rhubarb with vanilla icecream or a good natural yoghurt or an exotic ripe fruit salad (mango, papaya, pineapple, blueberries) with ice cream or thick natural yoghurt and/or good cheeseboard to include Comte cheese and a sharpish quince jelly. 🌹

Plus:
Home made pork, apple, sage & onion stuffing 🌹

Easy to make, stick some cloves into an onion (I usually cut mine in half so it cooks quicker), put in milk and simmer gently until tender, take out the onion and cloves and add enough fresh breadcrumbs to give the texture you want.

I'm sure everyone else has their own recipe...

Easy to make, stick some cloves into an onion (I usually cut mine in half so it cooks quicker), put in milk and simmer gently until tender, take out the onion and cloves and add enough fresh breadcrumbs to give the texture you want.

I'd add to this a bay leaf, some salt and pepper, and a pinch of mace. When mixed with breadcrumbs and still warm, add a little knob of butter and a dash of cream. Bloody delicious!

we had:

turkey
ham
vegan turkey for me
stuffing
pigs in blankets (and vegan ones too!)
red cabbage
roast pots
mash
honey carrots
roasted parsnips
broccoli
Cauliflower cheese
sprouts
cranberry sauce
mountains of gravy

We had:

turkey
new baby potatoes
roasties in duck fat
honey and mustard parsnips
pigs in blankets
stuffing wrapped in bacon
peas
carrots
cauliflower
broccoli
cabbage
green beans
sprouts
sweet potato mash
turkey gravy
yorkshire pud
cranberry sauce

basically the same as every Sunday lunch, except a different meat and with pigs in blankets (although I do make them occasionally if I have some cocktail sausages in the freezer).

I agree though rest of family have Christmas pudding while I have viennetta.

@Itslegitimatesalvage I agree with you. Why not have what we like. Also it's hardly much extra to make mash and dauphinois.

Reading this I should not have.chestnuts or cauliflower cheese as random don't like it. Well I love both and I AM having it with the Christmas Dinner I cook and pay for. (No Yorkshire for us though)

I also quite enjoy mash and peas btw..

I love love Christmas pudding - with nuts! Brandy cream.

I do a different desert for those who don’t like Christmas pudding