M&S food - what was good and what wasn’t?

[Oppositioblue]

Beef Wellington overall was good. The duxelle was a bit strong but the beef was delicious. Wouldn’t buy again though. Very expensive. It was £70 and only fed 3 of us with just pastry leftover.

We also had the prawn and lobster cocktail to start. The fish was delicious but the cocktail sauce M& used wasn’t nice. We had a bottle of cocktail sauce in the cupboard thankfully so we scrapped off the sauce and added our own which was much better. The tomato balls in the starter weren’t nice. This is a definite no as a repurchase next year.

We also bought a Christmas colin to have over the coming days. He’s good!

I normally make a trifle as I'm the only one that likes Christmas pudding in our house. However we have less fridge space than normal so bought a chocolate melt in the middle pudding. It was pretty awful.Dry exterior and whilst melt in the middle works for individual puddings when it's for multiple
people it is very hard to make sure that everyone gets a fair share of the sauce.

Oh and the sugar baked ham was also really good.

Stuffed turkey crown was gorgeous. Not a fan of turkey gravy so had it with a pot of beef gravy - lovely . Best trifle was delicious too .

Turkey gravy (used for a large cockerel) was lovely, veg good, goose fat roast potato's- actually prefer their normal ones- Xmas pudding (made without wheat) lovely- smoked salmon and prawns- all good.

We had the oakham stuffed turkey crown on the bone with bacon and would get it again. Opted for the pricier pigs in blankets with the cranberry stuffing wrapped in bacon- ok but probs on a par with what I usually get cheaper from butcher (although I appreciated not having to wrap them myself with bacon etc).
Roast potatoes weren’t as good as homemade but parsnips, sprouts & red cabbage were all good.
We picked up a reduced to clear chocolate yule log when collecting our order (reduced from £7 to £2 something) and it was good.

Stuffed crown - delicious
Cauli cheese - delicious
Smoked salmon terrine - delicious
White chocolate and raspberry panna cotta - delicious

Beef dripping porkies- a bit lack lustre with odd taste
Stuffing balls - mushy and sad

Gluten free Christmas pudding was good.

M&S turkey crown was nice but took longer to cook than the instructions suggested (this could just be my oven)

so did mine, I had the Oakham select farms stuffed crown. And my oven runs hot, I ended up giving it an extra 20 mins, and I left it to rest for an hour, it was fab though.

The triple chocolate log is divine

Thought the same about their PIB, very disappointing ...

Glad the panna cottas were good as I also bought these for my sister to have today. She's en route and has already mentioned how much she's looking forward to them!

We had our Christmas meal on Xmas Eve this year, and got lots of the ingredients from M&S.

Christmas pudding was great.

I forgot that their braised red cabbage and swede & carrot mash aren’t nice. Distinct taste of artificial sweeteners and both very sloppy. I made the same mistake a few years ago, but forgot this year <duh!>

The free from Yule Log was absolutely superb- everyone wanted it for pudding on the day. It’s just took me 3 different M&S stores to find it before the big day

'Collection' Oakham chicken with 'festive herb sprinkle' was absolutely delicious.

Pork and red onion stuffing balls were also lovely.

Red cabbage was revolting, not sure if I just had a bad batch as it's usually fine if a bit bland, but this was awful.

The cooking times for turkey crowns seem to be all over the place. Mine had 2 hours 50 minutes printed on it, which seemed long to me. I used the usual 20min per kilo + 70 mins rule which gave a total cooking time of 2 hours 5 minutes and it was done to perfection. It would have been dry and over cooked if I had followed the instructions.

Was also disappointed with the pigs in blankets and stuffing balls. Thought the braised red cabbage was too sloppy.

Crackling gammon joint, potato dauphinois, cauliflower cheese all lovely.

We had these! It was lush.

Tomahawk steak surf and turf with garlic and bone marrow butter was very disappointing. Hugely fatty (maybe it’s meant to be?) with golf balls of fat inside when carved. Came with 4 lobster tails which were nice but you really only get a couple of mouthfuls of meat on them. £75!! Wouldn’t buy again.

I got the Christmas dinner in a box and it was very good. The roast potatoes didn't appear to crisp up but we made our own anyway as ds loves them and we wanted enough ( there would have been, the portion was generous but we didn't check before we got on with our own)

Yes, that’s what the formula they must have used for mine, was 2 hr 15 on label. I think maybe as they said cook at 160, it took 20 mins longer. Ended up whacking it up to get it to brown.

Turkey crown lovely
Beef gorgeous but very rare with their cooking instructions which was fine for some but too rare for others
Roasties needed longer
Stuffing balls and pigs were done in the air fryer and were lovely
Red cabbage delicious
Cauliflower cheese really really tasty
I was told the sprouts were delicious
Carrot mash very watery
Choc pine cones over priced and too sickly

We had the slow cooked turkey crown thing which was amazing (timing on the box was spot on). Also enjoyed the cauli gratin and the sprout gratin, both very tasty.

Oh and parsnips with honey and mustard were gorgeous, looking forward to leftovers today!

M&S cranberry sauce in a jar was noticeably different from others and very fruity and tasty.

Their pheasant was excellent and second time we’ve opted for it. Red cabbage and the quality of the veg too.

Mini mince pies were also great with their brandy butter.

Cranberry and sausage stuffing , there is no rival to it!

I get the Oakham crown, that too was sublime

Xmas pudding was Harvey Nichols, that was v good too