Christmas dinner police

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Can’t sleep and endlessly reading MN. Oh how I loathe the Christmas dinner police. Policing what “should” be on a Christmas dinner, calling it Christmas lunch (urgh), all the formalities and “musts”. Reminds me of my ex DP who was aghast for about 4 years straight that no one in my family liked turkey so we had beef for Xmas. His mother called my mother to clarify it was true (after a drink) and I’d go round to theirs over the Christmas period and the whole (large) family would be saying things like “I can’t believe you don’t have turkey on Christmas dinner.” “It’s not Christmas dinner without” “without turkey it’s tasteless” (????) “you must buy a turkey and a ham for Xmas even if it doesn’t get ate its tradtition” from the same people who buy 3 turkeys (Xmas day, New Year’s Day redo, then another on Easter(!!!!))

anyway I digress, I loathe it!

Oh my god, yes!

As for me - yes to turkey, no to Yorkshires (on Christmas dinner at least) and I do separate sausages and bacon rolls, not wrapped around each other. No idea why - it's just the way my mum did it. And at least a gallon of bread sauce, which I was mildly surprised to realise when I started having Christmas dinners at other people's houses, not everyone has. But we always did growing up, so I carried on (and I love it!). But I'm not going to ring a big bell shouting "Shame, shame" at anyone who doesn't do bread sauce, or indeed doesn't have turkey.

I love it that everyone has their own little dos and don'ts that have evolved. I hope everyone has a top time and a delicious feast.

It's absolutely delicious if you make it in the right way - packet stuff or pre-made from supermarkets just isn't the same. My father used to like it with sausages too!

Northern here (yorkshire) and have always said breakfast lunch dinner. Grew up in a 'naice' area, maybe that's why?

What about Yorkshire puddings as pudding? My mum would do a massive Yorkshire pudding and serve it in slices, then do little ones and serve them with golden syrup. 😋

There is a guy I follow on TikTok who is a butcher and he’s been making halal pigs in blankets. A few years ago I got the nicest turkey from my halal butcher for a tenner. Genuinely it was amazing and free range etc I wish Eid would catch on for Christian’s as much as Christmas has for Muslims, I love the gifts of homemade food etc much more than a box of roses (which I also love, no hate to a box of any chocolate) but something magical about being given homemade food. I feel like ive made friends with nigella 😂

Oh, and I say breakfast, lunch and tea, but Sunday and Christmas dinner even tho it's at lunch time. (Oxfordshire lass.)

I think it's partly that and partly the increasing tendency, post industrial revolution, for the majority of people to be out of the house all day, working in their factory / office rather than in / around their home, so cooking big hot meals had to be in the evening. The advent of artificial means of lighting the home of an evening probably also came into it. You can see how a pre-industrial farm labourer or craftsperson would want to be up with the light and working (and they didn't really do breakfast usually), hungry by about noon and thinking about bed once darkness fell.

I have Northern relatives who can remember Yorkshires as starters - a big slab of the stuff with gravy, to fill you up a bit before they served the more expensive meat.

This.

Same. Yummy!

Strangely I’m not keen on the fresh stuff you can buy ready made - feels really sloppy - I actually prefer a colmans packet and made’quite stiff’

We used to have them with brown sugar when I was little! 😋

Obviously the U.K. Christmas Dinner tradition is in its variety! Enjoy your interpretation of it next week 🎄

I don't wish to be unduly pedantic either...but for large parts of the country (namely the north and the midlands) the mid day meal is called dinner.

Well I'm not English so not only do I not have turkey I have none of the typical british english christmas spread - including no potatoes. lock me up!

Yorkshire puddings belong on every roast dinner! People who limit it to just beef dinners are boring!!!

I actually love turkey but only home cooked. It’s shocking outside the home in restaurants or in the hands of someone who can’t cook. So good in sandwiches too. You do you is what I say for Christmas as long as I don’t have to eat beef or lamb or curry or party food or something else which isn’t a traditional Christmas dinner I am happy and that’s never going to happen hopefully. Bring on the bread sauce, can’t wait.

We like sprouts plain - just simmered for about 3 minutes, not boiled to a mush. I’ve always thought that all this buggering about with sprouts is because such people don’t actually like them.

True about taste buds differing though! Tea with milk tastes vile to me, so obviously I’m weird compared to the vast majority. Ditto goats’ cheese 🤢.

Me too. I actually eat some turkey the rest of the year as you can buy turkey breast strips - they make a good stir fry with roast cashews. At Christmas is freezing slices of leftover turkey with stuffing, handy for a nice lunch.

Christmas dinner to me is just a Sunday roast, with pile of veg and pigs in blankets.

Depending whats in the freezer that will be my dinner, I'm also painting my kitchen out on Xmas day.

I dont do Xmas at all way to much faff.

You make me want to stand up and cheer!

Me and DH are vegetarian so according to some posters should never eat yorkshire puddings!

We eat them with every roast we make as we both love them. I make my own as we don't like frozen ones. Jamie Oliver's recipe works every time and I make a large batch and freeze them

I always find it so strange when people are so impassioned by things that dont effect them...why do your inlaws care what you eat?! (Especially turkey which is the most boring/tasteless part imo) If your partner was so aghast he could have brought a turkey crown and cooked it himself. My partner mentioned our first Christmas i was cooking for that if would be strange that there would be no turkey as his dad is very traditional so i jokingly added turkey dinosaurs...and now its a tradition 😄

My Yorkshire student landlady, back in the Dark Ages of the late 1960s, used to serve Yorkshire pudding with sultanas in, and gravy, as a first course before her Sunday roast.
I found it strange at first but it was very nice.

@Nos4r2

I don't care what people have for Christmas dinner.

This

DH insists on turkey for Christmas, one year I did goose instead and he wasn't happy - no-one else is bothered as long as it's a bird. As long as you treat it right you can make turkey flavoursome and moist. We just get a frozen one after having a dry and tasteless organic bronze free range one from one of the big supermarkets. I went and bought a (much cheaper) frozen Lidl one a few days later and redid the Christmas meal and the turkey was do much nicer.