Food for December 27

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

Hi. We have family plus assorted partners coming to us for the day on the 28th. I’ll be ready to cook again by then, but what? There’ll be 18, possibly 20 😱 of us ranging from 3 up to 80yo. I’m thinking lots of bread, cheeses, salads, a veggie soup, then a centrepiece either a ham or salmon depending on which is easiest to do in advance. Lots of soft and non-soft drinks. Would that float your boat?? Too much/not enough/sounds yum/yuk??

title is meant to say 28 not that it probably makes a difference!

Sounds lovely. The soup in particular would be very welcome after feasting at Christmas. Do you need the ham/salmon? I'd be inclined to go for pate - one meat, one veggie, possibly one fish. Ready-made would be fine. If you were up to making one or more and have a food processor, I'd suggest chicken liver, mushroom and walnut, smoked mackerel.

This is the recipe I use for mushroom and walnut pate. Easy, fairly quick, delicious, won't break the bank. Ticks every box for me!

For smoked mackerel pate, I just remove the skins from smoked mackerel fillets (peppered for preference) and blend with cottage cheese or similar and plenty of lemon juice, and possibly some parsley too.

I guess removing the ham/salmon would save a lot of time and money… I wondered if people would still be expecting a “main” bit but maybe by then soup and fancy bits would be fine.

The pates sound really good 😊

Sounds great. When MIL or I do Boxing Day it's things like ham, pie, salad, bread, cheese, Christmas cake, fruit, mulled wine, and I think 27th is much the same.

Or otherwise turkey curry buffet, obviously!

We don't get leftovers with the turkey these days as I get a crown.

I use the slow cooker for ham. Takes about 2 minutes to pop it in and turn on. I use apple juice, an onion and cloves. I don’t bother glazing it. Then serve cold whenever.

I’d do:
Maple mustard pulled pork
Roast gammon
Bread rolls
Bramley apple sauce
Winter slaw
Potato salad
Chutney and relish

I'd hit the supermarket on 26th/27th and see what's reduced. There are always incredible bargains. I've bought a turkey for a fiver and a whole salmon for a fiver before now. The lovely cheese selections, pates, etc are often reduced too

Cooking a whole salmon is easy peasy. Just remove the gills, bung in a fish kettle, add a bunch of parsley, bottle of white wine, two bayleaves and 10 peppercorns, top with cold water. Bring to a simmer, simmer for 2/3 minutes, turn off the heat and allow to cool over night Skin it and bung on bed of watercress on an oval platter. I usually cover the "seam" with sliced cucumber. It's hardly any work at all. Neither is a ham.

Good bread, salads, steaming buttered new potatoes, cheese, pickles, cake and trifle.

Personally, I think soup is awkward for a buffet as it's difficult to eat standing or on one's knee.

Ham, cheeses, bread, wedges and avoid few salads.

As long as there is trifle it will be great.

A few salads sorry!

These are great ideas!! Thank you.

For that sort of thing I’ve often done cold turkey/ham/salad/coleslaw, jacket potatoes, and a big macaroni pie. Which is like macaroni cheese but with added eggs, and baked in the oven so that it sets and can be cut into squares.
Always v popular and goes v well with everything else.

I would go for a selection of breads (baguette/sourdough/ciabatta/seeded/multigrain) with various cheeses, different pates, ham and probably a potato element such as homemade oven chips with crisps, sausage rolls etc. That way everyone from old to young can pick at what they like and no one will go hungry.

Prawns must have prawns.

Sounds grand but I wouldn’t bother with the soup unless you have 28bowls 28 soup spoons and 28 places for people to sit at, see lots of spillage otherwise!

Cardboard cups for the soup? Easy clear up, no need for spoons.

I'm another who would avoid the soup. It's not a great thing to eat if you're not sitting at a table, and I don't think it's very special.

I'd go for a ham or salmon as you suggested, alongside breads, cheeseboard, salad, olives, maybe some quiches and then crisps, nuts etc. Probably a few sausage rolls or cocktail sausages. Basically a mixed buffet. It's the easiest way to cater for that many. You can have some reserve frozen bits and bobs in the freezer from Iceland or similar, if you find you need to top up with a bit more food on the day, as it's hard to get the quantities right with a big crowd. For puddings I'd do stuff like mince pies, trifle, Christmas cake and a gingerbread house, and put out any sweets etc you have left too.

I've got 17 on the 29th and doing slow cooker chicken thighs in honey/mustard/creamy sauce, jacket potatoes, warm quiches, home baked gammon and coleslaw and cooking of some sausages for the 2 young kids.
Then I'm doing a 'tea' of cheeseboard, smoked mackerel pate (just pinched that idea from above 😁), sausage rolls, bread & crackers, chutneys etc.

Soup is off the menu - I’ll do one just for us on Boxing Day. Thanks so much, I’ve now got my full menu plan 👍🏻And looks like quite a bit I can prep in advance too.

We have 20 for a casual dinner on 27th.

I'm doing tomato and pesto pasta bake ,
winter slaw ( coleslaw made with red cabbage,carrots,onions and chopped dried cranberries )
a mixed salad
and homemade garlic focaccia.

Banoffee pie
Mince pie cheesecake
Fruit platter

Cheese board with dried fruits and crackers etc