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

@factis

PP is right, you should have posted in the Scotsnet section, then you wouldn't have had all these posts about the waste of time that is bread sauce!

I'm from England and I don't get the bread sauce thing either!! Horrible stuff. Same re cauliflower cheese. Never would consider having that at Christmas.

Tbf OP you did ask people to critique....

I wouldn't give a rats personally, serve and eat what you and yours want and enjoy and be happy !

I'd replace some of your 'weekday utility' veg with 'celebration' veg so ditch the peas and sweetcorn and have braised red cabbage and cauli cheese instead

No Yorkies or cauliflower cheese?!

How it is a Christmas dinner without them?

The reason I do more then one meat, more than one type of potatoes and lots of vegetables is because not everyone likes the same things.

I would ditch the mash and if you wanted another potato fo Dauphinois

Christmas pudding and cream, or white custard made with cornflour. And no sweetcorn. It's not Thanksgiving. No starter.

@MorrisZapp

Until adulthood I had no experience of:

Yorkshire pudding
Bread sauce
Christmas pudding
Brandy butter
Anything with mint served with meat
Anything that looks like jam served with meat
Pigs in blankets
Stuffing made with meat

I'm not sure how much of this is because I'm Scottish and how much is just my own family traditions. We have oatmeal stuffing and thin gravy too, which were both new to my Scottish DP.

My mum always made a trifle, as did both my grannies but this might my family rather than a Scottish thing.

What's thin gravy, @MorrisZapp? Is it unthickened cooking juices?

I make gravy the way my Mum taught me. Start with what's left in the roasting tin after the bird/joint is cooked. Add giblet stock/other stock/vegetable cooking water. Thicken with Bisto powder (not granules), mixed to a paste with a little cold water, whisked into the hot liquid to stop it going into lumps. Wait until it thickens a bit, whisking occasionally. It should still be a good pouring consistency. Taste for seasoning. Serve very hot.

Bisto powder is just cornflour with caramel for colour, salt and probably a couple of other things. I tried the granules once and found the result a bit greasy.

Meant to add, we had oatmeal stuffing too! Delicious.

We have sweetcorn, although I think if we didn't have kids, we wouldn't bother. It's one of the few veg they eat.

Oh no to the sweet corn,

Mushy peas, honey roast carrots and parsnips, stuffing, brussel sprouts with bacon bits. Couldnt do Christmas without them.

Starter we always have something light, a small portion of camberbert with some side salad and chutney, or some mini vol au vents.

So 12 people and no vegetarians or vegans? You're so lucky!

@PegasusReturns Is it meant to be lumpy or smooth?

In some images it looks really whipped and creamy, that sounds nice. But a lot of them it just looks like a lumpy white mush, it's a bit off-putting.

Far to heavy, can you swap the soup for a salad? I’d do a lighter dessert too but I know lots of people like sickly puddings and I’m the odd one out. I’d definitely rule out soup for something much lighter.

Are you doing a roll with the soup? If so I would personally swap them for croutons to save room for the main meal.
I would remove the gammon and broccoli (purely personal taste as I don't like them) and add another dessert option (we always have trifle) but apart from that, it looks good to me.

Also, ignore the sweetcorn haters - I bloody love sweetcorn on a roast

MorrisZapp I'm from the Midlands orginially and we like a good "thin" gravy (has to be packed with flavour though) made with beef bones or for Christmas, a broiler chicken with bones, giblets and all.

What is oatmeal stuffing? I like the sound of that?
(We make a delicious stuffing with good bloomer loaf, lemon rind, thyme and butter, and a bit of chicken stock, but it would be nice to ring the changes).

Apologies for thread hi-jack!

Oh I forgot about cauliflower cheese - I would definitely add that, and braised red cabbage if you think people would eat it - I'd probably lose the peas to make space though

I'm a bit late to dinner but where is my prawn cocktail - 70's style with cheap white buttered bread?

This is eaten about 12 with some crackers n jokes, before the main which usually ends up at about 3pm (with more crackers n shit jokes).

Everyone is suitably sherried up and has plenty of room for the main by then and all go to sleep in front of the film that everyone has seen at least 4 times.

Pudding then at 6... Jobs a good un

We have always done the entire xmas dinner /food shebang home made from scratch every year for over half a century.

Last Christmas, for lockdown sheltering and family reasons, we did a last-minute entire Xmas food shop from Marks and Spencer., ordered online, click and collected on xmas eve. Shoved it in the oven on xmas day.

It was delicious and almost effortless. We'll be doing the same this year and ever after.

Oh also - dinner - def leeks or cauli in cheese sauce (leeks for me).

Yorkies... ditch the sweetcorn, broccoli (and the parsnips for me).

Cranberry sauce, red sauce, mustard - english, dijon and the grainy one, horseradish, bread sauce - whole hog for my kids - mint sauce!

@ShrikeAttack

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?

Shocking. One of our favourite activities xmas morning is assembling the lovely 94% pork chipolatas with streaky bacon... They also bigger too and taste far better than the ready made.

I agree re different meats, we shall only do one meat - hence listing all the diff condiments in my previous post.

We'e actually going to the curry house this year - I've had enough

@Tinacollada yes, I did and I've had some good tips. Not sure I understand what you mean?

The starter I'd look at lighter and easier to serve options. I'd be tempted to do creamy potatoes instead of mash. Roast the parsnips in honey. Red cabbage, Mary Berry's one with cherry jam & cider is good. Definitely add Yorkshire's! I'd maybe serve the sticky toffee with a salted caramel ice cream. With some sort of butterscotch sauce to dress it.

@Hdhdjejdj

I love the idea of a wandering canapé*

*What is a wandering canapé?

I got a little carried away! 🤣 I just meant something that was passed round rather than having to be seated at the table, to limit the amount of time the children have to be contained 😀. And it's amuse bouche not amuse Boucher, whatever the hack that is!

@ODFOx I love the way you said it and I’m using it in future!