Christmas dinner bores thread

[ItsGotBellsOn]

Go on then...tell me what you're having, what you're making from scratch and what you buy readymade and give me your tips on what to buy where and any great recipes, please!

Cooking for 5 adults and two kids. I usually do turkey and Nigella's ham in coke. Would like to try some different side dishes and maybe a new pud (nobody but me likes Xmas pud or sherry trifle).

Feel free to bore on! All contributions gratefully received.

My kids would LOVE me if I did lasagne

But the rest of my family would disown me

Goose is a PITA to be honest. It's lovely, but you're tending to it for hours and removing fat, for hours.

My tentative menu:

Starter
Sainsbury's easy-carve stuffed quails

Main course
Probably brined turkey but only because MIL will be there. I might see if I can get away with a nice brined chicken but I'm still umming over inviting more guests, in which case it really will be turkey.

Sweary chef's ham, which I'll make myself

Roast Potatoes (me)

Yorkshire puddings (me)

Brussels sprouts with chestnut & bacon butter (me)

Roast bushy top carrots with tarragon

Roast Parmesan parsnips

Gravy, probably Sainsbury's too

Stuffing (Paxo)

Pudding
Trifle (me)

If I only had to please myself I'd have a lobster starter and a huge side of poached salmon with sweary chef ham for the main course.

Ooo, and pigs in blankets from Sainsbury's

Menu is yet to be confirmed, but I will be doing two types of roast potatoes because I have officially mastered them! There was a fight for the last one today; if you knew me and my cooking ability, you would understand just how amazing this is!

usual menu:

xmas eve dinner - nigellas ham in coke, dauphinoise potatoes, veg

xmas day breakfast - smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, bagels

xmas day lunch - turkey, and left over ham thinly sliced and warmed, stuffing, roast pots, parsnips, pigs in blankets, chipolatas, yorkshires, cauliflower cheese, sprouts and carrots.

puddings - christmas pudding, mince pies, profiteroles, trifle

xmas day tea - buffet food

boxing day breakfast - bacon rolls

boxing day lunch - left over turkey, bubble & squeak, red cabbage with apple

puddings - as of xmas day

boxing day tea - left over buffet food.

All homemade with exceptions of profiteroles

27th - we always have pasta and hope it will just be for 4 of us and that all the guests will have gone!! :)

AndHarry I'm sure I've read a poster on here who has been cooking a big chicken for Christmas for YEARS and her family have never noticed it's not turkey

There will be 12 of us and we are having

Starter

We eat this around 12.30/1pm

Homemade Sushi

Dinner

We eat this around 3pm

Turkey
Roast potatoes and parsnips
Brussels sprouts, swede/carrot, red cabbage, broccolli
Kilted sausages ( hand crafted by ds1!)
Homemade bread sauce (Mum)
Homemade cranberry sauce (Mum)
Homemade Chestnut stuffing and sausage meat/sage/whatever stuffing (Dh)
Homemade Gravy (Bisto)

Pudding

We eat this around 8pm
Choice of
Homemade raspberry cheesecake
Homemade Christmas pud
Cheese and biscuits courtesy of the farm shop and Sainsbury's

Hoping to eat out on Christmas Eve but need to be back for church so it will be a late lunch.

Christmas Dinner for 5 - me, DH, 2xDDs and DS. We eat late afternoon and have pate/cheese for lunch with a selection box

No starters but have served melon or pate in the past.

Turkey crown wrapped in smoked bacon
Gammon glazed with dark brown sugar and mustard
Goose fat roast potatoes
Pigs in blankets
Sausage meat stuffing
Honey roast carrots and parsnips
Broccoli
Peas
Gravy
DD1 has cranberry sauce (jar) everything else is homemade. I'm also going to cook sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts this year for the first time.

DH has Christmas pudding and everyone else has this chocolate chestnut torte.

Boxing Day is pie made from the Christmas dinner leftovers and is by far the best meal of the festive season.

homemade sushi - wow!

Leftovers pie sounds lovely.

I made a trimmings pie one year and TBH it was all the best bits plus pie
timetocookonline.com/2012/11/18/trimmings-tart/

I'm pregnant, this thread is making me drool.

We have soup for starter, homemade the day before. Main course is

Turkey
Stuffing
Pigs in blankets (from the butcher)

Thanks for the tip on the gelatine. I don't know why I'm on this thread really as I won't think about things properly until about 10 Dec at least.

I have however bought a load of things from the Lidl deluxe range and am trying to forget they exist for now.

One of the best things I have done recently with leftovers is to fry up any leftover roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and pork and chestnut stuffing together for breakfast served with a poached egg. If there is no leftover meaty things, black pudding, bacon or chorizo works too. Bloody gorgeous.

I'm pregnant, this thread is making me drool.

We have soup for starter, homemade the day before. Main course is

Turkey
Stuffing (would be grateful for recipes!)
Pigs in blankets (from the butcher)
Sprouts in butter and bacon lardons
Red cabbage (made the day before)
Peas and broccoli (DD cannot live without them)
Maple roasted carrots and parsnips
Cranberry sauce (made the day before)
Bread sauce (from a packet as only I like it)
Jamie Oliver's make ahead gravy
Roast potatoes
Mashed potatoes

For dessert DH has an individual Christmas pudding and DD and I will have whatever we fancied while doing the shopping (usually toffee cheesecake!)

Methe Sun 26-Oct-14 17:10:30

sounds wonderful!
Every year I fancy beef wellington but will not try it.

Op I am going to mix it up this year I have been lured in by threads on M and S stuffing wreath so will get that, and maybe a goose.....what I will try and make for fun with dc is buche noel, and meat terrine.I may even buy the veg from m and s ....

:o Kundry. DH wouldn't notice but MIL would. If FIL was there he would suck his teeth and puff like the mechanic in the Kwik Fit ad.

OnIlkleyMoor have a look at jeweled couscous stuffing for something a bit different, pork (and meat)-free and totally gorgeous.

AndHarry, isn't stuffed quail a bit too like the main course?

I don't think DH and I have ever bought a turkey for Christmas dinner. Even the smallest are too big and expensive. Last year we had turkey joint thingy from M&S in the silver tray and the same but duck. I don't normally do two meats but one didn't look enough and I wanted duck. I do all the trimmings from scratch except cranberry sauce which we don't have as no one wants it. DS1 has mint sauce no matter the meat . I always make a Christmas pudding which we normally take to PIL and have there whether 25th or 26th Dec. If at home on the 25th - like last year as too poorly to go out - I made a chocolate log. Previous year I bought one from Sainsbury's but it was rubbish and all its decorations were missing.

I have already made the mince meat for mince pies and have some ready made pastry in the freezer for the days when we want a mince pie but I don't have the time, inclination or right ingredients left to home make some.

Christmas Eve is something fishy from M&S or Waitrose after the kids have gone to bed. Christmas day night or boxing day is picnic bits from M&S.

Yes it is but as I'm having to suffer turkey (probably), I'm having something I actually fancy as a starter. Could do it on Christmas Eve I suppose.

Just wanted to add there was a great thread on making home made gravy last week, some of you might want to check it out as there were some great ideas on it!

no starter here (who am I kidding - starter is half a box of ferrero rocher....)

turkey crown from M+S in its own tray
stuffing by paxo + walls sausage - mixed and balled up by me...
roast potatoes in goose fat and oil - never go wrong
carrots, sprouts, green beans all done in microwave in bags
pigs in blankets by Tesco finest - oven from freezer in its own tray
gravy - bisto best in a pyrex jug with water from the kettle and juices from the meat tray.
cranberry sauce by ocean spray from a jar.

Served with Asti for adults and appeltiser for kids.

Pudding - farmhouse sticky toffee pud from a foil tray with M&S Madagascan vanilla custard from a tub.

I emerge non flustered having done next to nothing to great praise - even from MIL who seems to think I have done it all myself... how DID she get that idea . And am always told it is the best Christmas dinner ever...

Here's the gravy thread!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/2213427-Right-I-want-to-know-how-many-of-you-make-your-own-gravy-when-you-cook-a-roast-dinner

pingpong, no major tips about stuffing, just that I began with good quality sausage meat and made loads, because it's one of those things which is lovely sliced up cold in sandwiches....

I think it also helps to just stick your hands into the bowl when you're making it and had a good manual mash...

justashopgirl out of all the menus I think I like yours the best - for ease of cooking & the key to a relaxed Xmas day it's so easy to feel pressured into making everything yourself and ending up hot, flustered & trapped in the kitchen. I know, I've been there...