Critique my Christmas dinner menu

[shouldistop]

We'll be feeding 8 adults & 4 children aged 1-7.

Starter: sweet potato & butternut squash soup (people can add chilli flakes or crème fraîche)

Mains:

2lbs Roast beef
2lbs Gammon cooked in cider
2lbs Turkey joint

Pigs in blankets
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Roast potatoes

Broccoli
Carrots
Parsnips
Sweetcorn
Peas
Sprouts

Dessert: sticky toffee pudding with either custard or ice cream

Looks like a nice menu to me. I'd ditch the turkey too. I think Its massively overrated, we haven't had Christmas turkey in about 15 years. I'd think about maybe adding a little yule log for more easy dessert options too.

Lose the mash, sweet corn and maybe the peas. Add Yorkshire puddings. Where are your desserts? Lose the soup starter and replace with something nicer ... lobster or Brie parcels

I would ditch at least one of the meats , the mash, and 2 or 3 of the vegetables. Do more of a few things to make life easier and less stressful.

well no @HarebrightCedarmoon obviously cold meat is not the point if you don't eat meat. But to be fair, the OP clearly does eat meat.

No trifle?? Won’t somebody think of the children???

I wouldn't do soup, it' too filling. You need bread sauce and braised cabbage in my opinion. Plus Christmas pudding! You could do a cheese course but in reality I think everyone will be stuffed after main and dessert.

Can’t believe how many people are insisting on the abomination that is bread sauce < not envy

Sounds delicious 😋

We don’t have starters as we have eggs Benedict for breakfast and it’s just too much otherwise.

For Christmas dinner we’re having

Roast chicken
Roast pork belly
Pigs in blankets
Stuffing
Yorkshire’s
Roast potatoes
Mashed potatoes
Cauliflower cheese
Broccoli
Honey roast parsnips
Carrot and swede mash
Red cabbage
Sprouts with bacon

Dessert will be sticky toffee pudding with cream/custard and profiteroles

I’m hungry now thinking about it! 😋

Sweet corn on a Christmas dinner? Tell me, do you put ketchup out on the Christmas table too? 🤭

No, I don't even have ketchup in the house 🤷🏼‍♀️ but oh what a hilarious attempt at being a snob on a Christmas food thread. I suppose you've got to get your kicks somewhere.

Oh and sauces will be bread sauce, apple sauce and cranberry sauce and obviously gravy.

Marking my place. Great thread and lots of useful suggestions!

I've never understood the multiple meats at Christmas thing. Different meats are best served with different accompaniments, it's all a bit Toby Carvery for me!

Re pigs in blankets, I'm the commensurate 'cook from scratch' woman, but there is absolutely no difference to me buying quality sausages and bacon and then fannying about putting them together to buying them already assembled. None. So why bother?

I forgot bread sauce!

I don’t think the amount of meat you have is nearly enough - especially not if everyone decides they want a slice of beef for example.

For me part of the joy of Christmas is the wide selection and the ability to live off the leftovers for a week.

All you Yorkshire puddings with Christmas Dinner gang are mistaken! Yorkshire puddings are for roast beef only (and I'm from Yorkshire so feel as though I have some authority on the matter).

@BatFinksWings

Lose the mash, sweet corn and maybe the peas. Add Yorkshire puddings. Where are your desserts? Lose the soup starter and replace with something nicer ... lobster or Brie parcels

Lose the peas? They're (one of the) best bit(s)!

I've just googled bread sauce (I'm not British) and all I can say is good luck trying to convince someone to have it if they've never eaten it before (sorry!)

but there is absolutely no difference to me buying quality sausages and bacon and then fannying about putting them together to buying them already assembled. None. So why bother?

Agreed. A few years ago I did sausages wrapped in pancetta with sage and honey as a grown up pigs in blankets. They were nice but didn’t go down nearly as well as the trays of pigs in blankets from M&S.

I have no involvement in Christmas lunch, nor any cooking for that matter.

But my husband does every trimming known to man. He even picks his own sweet chestnuts for the chestnut stuffing (one of 3 types). He also makes his own cranberry sauce and bread sauce. 🤷‍♀️

Because of this, I feel a Christmas lunch should be all about the trimmings.

@TuftyMarmoset

Can’t believe how many people are insisting on the abomination that is bread sauce

Well made, it's not an abomination and it's also easy to make. It's very like a good bechamel sauce. Milk flavoured with onion, nutmeg, cloves, bayleaf, salt, pepper; breadcrumbs, butter, cream. That's all it is. Don't know what goes into the instant packet sauces, which are probably not very nice.

@shouldistop

Sweet corn on a Christmas dinner? Tell me, do you put ketchup out on the Christmas table too? 🤭

No, I don't even have ketchup in the house 🤷🏼‍♀️ but oh what a hilarious attempt at being a snob on a Christmas food thread. I suppose you've got to get your kicks somewhere.

As long as your dining room can comfortably sit 12 and you have a matching porcelain and silverware set to accommodate all 12 I’ll let the sweet corn pass if you say you don’t have ketchup in your home.

I’d still ditch the soup and lone dessert.

@dreamingbohemian

Bread sauce is an unexpected marvel. If you make it yourself with the correct quantities of butter and cream it’s amazing. Even more surprisingly it’s delicious in sandwiches with left over ham post Boxing Day.

Personally I would ditch the soup, I would add mashed swede because it's lovely, add roasted sweet potatoes (cook with ordinary potatoes, and maybe red cabbage slow cooked because it's lovely too. I would also stick to 2 meats, the beef is hard to get right with so much going on, just do ham and Turkey and I would allow 8oz meat per person (4 for kids) as a guide.

@Hdhdjejdj

Why do people order pigs in blankets? They are so easy to make.

I make my own as well.

Why does the porcelain and silverware have to match? Not many of us have room for all of that. You certainly wouldn't get it in this house. I'd have to cobble together the bits of various sets we've accumulated over the years. The food would taste exactly the same.

I think the pigs in blankets thing could apply to any argument when talking about cooking. I prefer homemade because I can buy better quality meat and because it cuts down on packaging. The dc in our family have all contributed to helping make food for Christmas including pigs in blankets and they are all pretty good cooks now. They have grown up being able to cook for a crowd. I like the ritual of making food for Christmas though because it makes me in control and takes my mind off the general sense of panic. I know that not everyone feels the same though.