Am I doing christmas dinner wrong?

[PizzaPasta]

I'm hosting for the first time this year. (For 12 )

Mil asked what the menu was and was shocked that I wasn't having mash potatoe or Yorkshire puddings.

I'm quite tempted by cheese and crackers. No wine sadly due to work
Could raid booths cheese counter
There's too much choice, I like food!

A selection of naice cheeses and cold meats/fish with added relishes/sauces/pickles is my ideal decadent lazy meal. :)

Can you all stop calling them roasties, yorkies and veggies please. It's bringing out a nervous twitch in me.

This year we've decided to have roast gammon instead of turkey....DM wasn't happy but gammon is much tastier than turkey and she's only cooked 1 Christmas dinner in the last 13 years

So our plates will have:

Roast gammon
Stuffing
Chipolata sausages wrapped in bacon
Roast potatoes
Roast parsnips
Mashed swede
Carrots
Broccoli
Sprouts
Yorkshire puddings
Lots of gravy

We don't bother with starters and only my brother and I like Christmas pudding and he won't be at ours this year so we will have something chocolatey for pudding with ice-cream.

We usually have Christmas dinner at lunchtime, then have the leftovers with cheese and crackers and mince pies.

Can't wait

You can't feed 5 people, let alone 6, from one duck, even if two are kids. And especially not for Christmas dinner. Your portions would be minute.

I agree with that - we have had goose a couple of times and it only does one meal for 3 adults and 1 small child. Geese are bigger than ducks! Duck will feed 2 adults and 2 small children, and have nothing but bones left to pick over, IME.

Agree, 2 ducks are needed and will fit nicely side by side in a big tin. I bet sister will want to try too.

I'm Yorkshire born and bred and have NEVER had puddings with Christmas dinner. Yorkshire pudding should only be served as a starter and "thems that had maste pudding can have maste meat. "
Incidentally we have in the past made sage ones for chicken.
Always mash and roast. I love a roast potato with a bit of mash on top..

Anyway, it's your Christmas, you serve what you like. That saying, whenever we have Christmas at IL's MIL always makes bread sauce just for me

Yes live alone. No alcohol can be consumed due to work but I can eat whatever I want
I love the idea of the bread, drooling now!

Plus I agree with itsfab about "yorkies"

a yorkie is, at a push, a small dog.

No yorkshires or mash in Casa Wordfactory.

Roast potatoes and potato gratin here, as carbohydrates of choice.

I must say, I find it odd that guests should have any say in the matter whatever!

Oh I fancy those ready to cook pain au chocolat things for breakfast maybe.
There will be food at work but that's later on plus it's usually an overdose of chocolate rather than actual food

I think that if you are doing dauphinoise you don't need to do mash, and yorkshires are for roast beef.

I always do mash with a roast dinner as well as roasties because my oven isn't that large and I will not risk serving uncrispy roast potatoes by overcrowding. 17 of us this year:

Turkey (done the JO way with cream cheese, butter and herbs under the skin: so moist i don't even have to baste it)
Gammon
Goosefat roasties
Mash
red cabbage
roast parsnips
brussel sprouts with almonds
broccoli
swede and carrot (cubed or mashed depending on how I feel on the day)
chipolatas (no bacon)
chestnut stuffing
sage and onion stuffing
cranberry and port sauce
bread sauce
gravy
parsley or cheese sauce (for the gammon/greens)

We don't have a starter but a big/late breakfast. Christmas pud, fruit salad/something chocolatey for dessert at least an hour after mains (usually much later).

We have:

Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Roast potatoes (actually, I deep fry them)
Carrots
Sprouts
Parsnips
Bacon-wrapped chipolatas
Stuffing
Bread sauce
Cranberry sauce
Giblet gravy.

We also celebrate Thanksgiving and have a different set of sides.

Math I am slightly taken aback that you manage to get 10 pounds of potatoes and parsnips around your turkey for roasting. Do you have an enormous tin and an enormous oven? I find my roast potatoes are much better when spaced out a bit in a separate tin.

Yes, I am a bit anal about parboiling the potatoes, roughing them up, separating off the meat fat into another tin, giving the potatoes a good coating of fat, and then carefully spacing them.

Merrily lobbing them around the bird seems terribly decadent.

We have:

Turkey
Stuffing
Pigs in blankets
Roast potatoes
Roasted parsnips
Yorkshire puddings
Cauliflower & cheese sauce
Carrots
Broccoli
Gravy
Cranberry sauce

(No mash, no sprouts)

As you are hosting it is entirely your choice of what to serve, I think mil should keep her nose out of it!

Yep, roast potatoes need space so they can crisp up evenly. Whenever I've cooked potatoes with meat, the juices stop the potatoes from crisping properly.

I follow the recipe in Nigella Christmas (same one I use for Sunday roasts). Cut potatoes into three "triangles" by cutting each potato like this --> ( /\ ) see my wonderful diagram

Then parboil for 5 mins, drain and put them back in the pan. Sprinkle with semolina. Then put the lid on and shake the pan like crazy to rough up the potatoes. Put the potatoes onto a tray of hot goosefat and roast on 220c for 25 mins each side. They come out amazing every time. Super crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle.

Personally I would add both to the dinner as it basically a rule in my xmas.
My dinner has always consisted of:
Turkey
Carrots
Roasties
Yorkies
Mash
Cabbage
Roasted Honey Parsnips
Peas
Cauli
Broccoli
Sprouts
Lots of Gravy
Plenty of Mint sauce

Caught, I always have mint sauce too.

My family never have mash or Yorkshire pudding with Christmas dinner, the in-laws always do.

Nope no mash here. That's served with COLD meat not hot at Xmas.

Yorkies with beef at new year.

Dauphin? Possibly but collie cheese?! Never no no way in hell.