to think starters with Christmas dinner are superfluous?

[thatsgotit]

Just what the thread title says, really. How does anyone manage to do full justice to a turkey dinner if they've had their appetite blunted by a starter beforehand? (I do realise not everyone has turkey or even a roast, obviously, but I'm mainly talking here about those who do.)

This might be partly a generational thing, but personally I'd much rather leave myself more room to enjoy the main (and some Christmas pudding afterwards, which again I realise not everyone has) and it wouldn't even occur to me to plan a starter for Christmas Day. It just feels entirely superfluous. Surely I'm not the only one?

Canapés with fizz darling 🍾

Only me and DP here, so we try and make it a special meal.
He has pate with toast triangles and I have melon and Parma ham.
We keep portions small and just have the Turkey meal whenever we’re ready. Nice and relaxed!

Pork pies at 9am!

It’s a midlands thing 🤣 Not a crappy supermarket porkpie - a proper one from the butcher the size of your dinner plate 🙈 everybody has a slice with bread and butter on the side. Best tradition!

Have never had starters with Christmas lunch. Probably only had dessert a handful of times, too. Just the large main course, thank you, around 2 pm. Piece of two of cheese and a mince pie around 7 pm.

And never have breakfast either.

I often have a mince pie for breakfast on Christmas morning. 😄

Starters at 12.00
Dinner at 3.00
Dessert at 6.00

YANBU to do Christmas dinner however you happen to like it. YABU to think it’s superfluous for everyone and to profess to be baffled that anyone can manage it.

Personally, I don’t bother with breakfast on Christmas Day; never have. I’m not a breakfast person, I hate getting up early and I’m likely to be eating a lot later in the day. But I don’t think it’s ’superfluous’ for other people if they want a fancy Christmas Day breakfast. People can and should just do what they want.

Sometimes I do a starter, sometimes not. If I don’t, I usually put out some salmon pâté and crackers or a plate of blini for people to graze on with a glass of something while they’re opening presents or whatever. When I do make a starter it’s always something really light and fresh, probably something like ceviche or a citrus winter salad.

We have light starters - usually smoked salmon and prawns then a break before the main course.

Although my memories of childhood Christmases are of the turkey being in cooking when we woke up - god knows how long the beast had been cooking for!! Then when we had dinner we had starters, lentil soup, main meal (turkey and all the trimmings) followed by pudding (Christmas pudding and trifle for all the adults, ice cream and sprinkles for us as we didn’t like the other choices) and a cheeseboard!!
Don’t know how my parents did it as they were skint! We hosted one year, my aunty the next and it was the same there. How the hell we ate all that I have no idea!!

Yes - I too remember my mum getting up at some ungodly hour to put the turkey in the oven - and we still didn’t eat till 3! That’s probably why I am not a fan to this day 🤣 Were ovens really crappy back then? And I’m only talking the 80s and early 90s

Yea we don’t do starters as too interested in the main and don’t want to blunt our appetites! We have brunch then Xmas meal about 4.30, later on leftovers.

Starters, no way.
Just myself and DH for Christmas lunch. Got him to agree to a 'normal' roast turkey dinner (to keep the calories and stress down) which he was happy with, however, over the past few days the following additional requests have been made:

Special turkey gravy
Chestnut stuffing
Red cabbage
Pigs in blankets
Cauliflower cheese
Parsnips

No doubt there are further additions to come!

Absolutely agree. Spoils the excitement of the top act!

🤣 your ‘normal’ roast turkey dinner is going to get more and more fancy as the days go by

I know, it is like a comedy sketch, every request proceeded by 'Oh shall we just have xxxxx as well for Christmas dinner'! 🤣

No need for breakfast and cheeseboard and sandwiches in the evening either!

Always did very simple starter - nice pâté and toast for mum and a lobster/prawn cocktail (M&S or Aldi for me). Usually around midday while other food was under control. We’d then have main meal around 4pm. No hassle or prep, was a relaxed way to do it.

That seems completely nuts to me.
Have a two course lunch a few hours before the biggest meal of the year which will be followed by multiple desserts 🤪

There is always a need for a cheeseboard 😜

I come from a culture where special meals such as Christmas lunch/ dinner last for most of the day; so you start around 1pm with starters with the meal concluding by 8-9pm so multiple courses are normal

We do canapés.

We split the cooking between several people so it’s no trouble to do several types of hot/cold canapé. Something like blinis with smoked salmon, mini puff pastries with Brie and cranberry, mini Yorkshire puds with rare roast beef.

The canapé cook is also in charge of getting wine ready and serving drinks to the guests and cooks.

However if we have leftover prawns from the night before seafood feast, we’ve been known to serve a sit down starter of prawn cocktails.

Well, obviously people should do what they want, and I haven't said any different. And I never said they were superfluous for 'everyone' - that would have been very prescriptive, not to mention arrogant. I asked the question simply because a starter feels superfluous for me personally, and I was interested to know what others thought about that.

But yes, I was curious as to how people manage a starter on Christmas Day/why people like doing them, because personally it wouldn't work for me, and the responses to that question have helped me get a feel for what people who do starters enjoy about doing them, and the kinds of things that are served.

But yes, I was curious as to how people manage a starter on Christmas Day

Surely you could have managed to come up with the answer to that yourself 😂. They either eat less at other meals/courses than you do, or they have bigger appetites. It’s not rocket science!

I would consider cauliflower cheese, stuffing (although probably not fancy stuffing) and parsnips to be part of a normal roast tbh. The differences for us tend to be the pigs in blankets and red cabbage :)

Bloody hell - it’s just a nice Christmas thread about starters 🤣

I for one like reading about other people’s food choices and traditions