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!

@PickAChew I spied that- it sounded revolting!!

Just chowed down some party food seasame prawn toast and the salted caramel profiterole desert- both delicious

This used to me. I won't lie - ordering everything pre-made is not as nice as homemade, but I am so much calmer and less resentful of everyone! I also seem to waste less - I always used to over-cater when making everything from scratch.

Seafood sauce was awful completely ruined the prawn sandwich.Really odd taste.The lemon cheesecake is lovely.

The pigs in blankets were a fail, the second one I bit into contained a large piece of elastic band, so the lot went into the bin!

The baby sprouts, which I'd expected to pop straight into the microwave, actually needed trimming, which was a faff.

On the other hand the Posh Profiteroles, with salted caramel filling looked lovely and tasted delicious.

I got the slightly more expensive pigs in blankets. They were nice.

The chocolate log was lovely, as were the white lemon cheesecake balls (covered in white chocolate with a lemon curd-like centre). I had the chicken no bone joint for two (£7- really delicious) and the red cabbage with apple (sweet but lovely). I didn't buy the ridiculously-priced seafood platter for £100!!

@PickAChew I almost bought that but put it back.

To accompany my above post!

It might have gone down to £20 by 3.30pm on Xmas eve!

Turkey crown with stuffing and bacon was delicious. It did need an extra 10 minutes over the cooking instructions but it was moist and very flavourful.

Turkey gravy fresh pot was absolutely delish, would def get again.

Use their standard frozen roast potatoes (bought with sparks discount if you were in that thread you know!) but did them in the air fryer and they were fab.

Standard parsnips and red cabbage also good but parsnips really could have done with an extra 5/10 minutes to crisp up more. Wish I'd noticed before dishing up, was too late by then. I just added my own honey, yum.

Choc pine cones a big hit with teen DC.

I've enjoyed some of the cheese selection this evening.

I don't like Xmas pudding but DH has said it's very good and is going back for seconds as I'm typing this.

Our turkey crown was also good but took an extra hour longer than stayed on the box

Got a Sainsbury’s turkey due to the price difference.
M and S cauliflower cheese was good
As was - the ready made mash for the few that wanted mash
Made own pigs in blankets from local sausages and bacon
Made own roasties, stuffing and gravy.
Pine cones were delicious if very rich.
Cheeses delicious still working through( wokey hole, Brie, cheddar, Kinnerton Ash goats cheese and Camembert )
The Collection biscuits for cheese were eaten by Christmas Eve. Had to buy more in Coop for Christmas Day .
Cake made from the Marks and Spencer kit is delicious and I’d do that again.
Lovely fresh triple pack of grapes are worth it.
My squirty cream has lost its oomph.

Gosh how much was the stuffed turkey crown please I'm tempted to try it next year

We had the 2,5kg one, and I think it was 55 pounds,

Thanks

I got the festive chicken and everyone it was so much nicer than having turkey and it wasn’t course miles cheaper but still looked pretty and impressive on the table.
Also got a slow cooked beef on the bone which didn’t look very nice but the meat tasted good.

@Nutellaonall was that the £15 chicken? That's what I had and it was so good I've written myself a reminder to get it again next year.

I got the £7 stuffed chicken and it was really nice. But there wasn’t much else prepped and exciting left by the time I went.

oh had the bread sauce but didn’t like it. The normal dried pack one is nicer

The Sherry trifle , that none of us could taste had any sherry in so a disappointment .

The Trifle Cake Alaska - omg like something made by Angels! Amazing!

Shortbread houses - in the light up tin! Very moreish with an excellent crispy outer coating. Perfect for dunking!

Turkey crown - a bit dry and meh!

The Brussels with chestnuts … amazing but I am paying the price for eating too many today!

Gluten free chocolate log - lovely! Moist good flavour and huuuge!

Oakham turkey crown, cauli cheese, pigs in blankets, caramel sponge cake all great. I didn’t try the stuffing, but there was lots left and DH said it wasn’t great. The plant based loaf was disappointing for me, but can’t quite figure out why. Just didn’t enjoy it like I thought I would. Sausage roll wreath is in the freezer as we didn’t get round to cooking it.

I got the crackling gammon and wasn't happy. It had that weird greenish shine on one side that spoiled meat has and when cooked there was a grey streak through it. I only served the good bits but still, DSD said it tasted funny. Crackling didn't crisp up either.

We tried the turkey gravy mayo and I’m not even sure how to describe it. It’s more just a turkey sauce, no real mayo taste to it. It worked well as a sandwich spread for the leftover turkey/stuffing/cranberry sandwiches. The chocolate orange spread was lovely.

I found the stuffing and pigs in blankets ok but not anything special. We had some chestnut and caramelised onion stuffing balls from Morrisons which everyone seemed to prefer.

Their party range was a bit hit and miss.
Hits:

• Snowmen Bao Buns
• Korean Style Chicken Lollipops
• Middle Eastern Chicken Flatbreads
• Dirty Fries with Pulled Beef

Misses:

• Belly pork - did not crisp up at all and very disappointing.
• Prawn toast/Indian selection/spring rolls all a bit average.

Their festive chutney was a big hit and the entire jar was demolished in one evening. Their cheese selection was great as usual, the white Stilton with apricots, Brie de Meaux and doux de montagne all hits.

The slow cooked stuffed turkey crown was lovely- slightly salty but moist and nice.

The stuffing balls, pigs in blankets and tray of stuffing were all lovely.

We had a veggie (I think brie and mushroom) wellington, which was a nice side dish to the cherry smoked gammon (which was also nice).

Cauliflower cheese and snowmen bao buns were hits with us. The filling for the buns was delicious.