Meat alternatives to Turkey

[redpickle]

It's just us and in-laws this year and we've all admitted that none of us really likes Turkey. Does anyone have any tried and tested alternative recipes? Will need to feed 6-8 with some leftovers. Open to goose, lamb, duck, venison or whatever as long as it's a bit festive-feeling

Ham and beef make the best leftovers

We get a capon which is just a large chicken.

I do beef and ham.

3 bird roast, birds stuffed inside the other, think I got a frozen 5 bird roast from Aldi or lidl last year, tasty 😋

We do Mary Berry slow roast lamb shoulder. It's delicious! I add extra wine and just let it cook in the wine.
Could use leftovers (if there are any ) for wraps and kebabs.

I like the idea of Lamb as a Christmas alternative.

Chicken, beef, gammon, pork are all good alternatives and there are many others.

We're not fussed about turkey either. If you like poultry, a higher welfare chicken or capon is loads tastier. We usually do rib of beef but it is £££, so might have a look at lamb for a change.

Venison crown with red wine gravy

Rib of beef, or a rolled sirloin joint or beef wellington. Always go ham for
Boxing Day.

None of us like turkey.

I did goose one year and it was amazing.

We like to do a beef tenderloin.

That's not correct. A capon is neutered which is longer legal in the UK, so unless it's a French import the vendor is mislabeled. True capon is yummy and simple to prepare, we've done it for Christmas. You might want to check here although they seem to be out of stock: www.keevilandkeevil.co.uk/capon.

OP goose would definitely work for this number of people. Much tastier than Turkey. I've done goose for Christmas a few times. Might be an availability issue though as I think goose farms have been hit by avian flu so I'd look into ordering very soon. One tip if you do go for it - I use the Beijing duck treatment on mine as in, steam them over boiling water the day before for 45 minutes. This gets rid of some of the fat (put water residue in fridge afterwards to retrieve and use on fried potatoes!) It also cuts down on oven time on Christmas day which is a life saver.

Another vote for goose, so much better than turkey.

Lamb
Stuffed whole chicken
If you want lots of leftovers beef is the way to go

We have got a goose this year for a change. Anyone with tips for cooking I will greatly receive them!!

We have a choice of turkey or gammon or both on Christmas Day , and pork on Boxing Day .

We normally do either rib of beef of a whole fillet of beef. We tend to go for the fillet just due to ease of carving. We are lucky that our butcher does stamps if you spend more that €10 euros in a transaction so we save them all over the year and but it towards the fillets so it works out very cheap.

We also cook a spiced beef on Christmas eve for sandwiches over the next couple of days