What should be on my Boxing Day buffet?

[GameOfJones]

We are hosting a buffet for Boxing Day, with around 18 people coming. A few children but they aren't particularly fussy. I really don't want to be stuck in the kitchen cooking but I still want to make it nice for everyone. No allergies, but a couple of vegetarians and one pescatarian.

So far I'm thinking:

A cheeseboard
Crackers and chutneys
Pate
Smoked salmon
Nice bread and butter
Salami/sliced cold meats

Then maybe a couple of salads? But I'd appreciate ideas for that.

DH will be responsible for drinks and keeping everyone's glasses topped up.

For dessert I was thinking just mince pies, stollen bites, a yule log etc.

What would you put on a buffet if you wanted it to be kept easy but still nice?

What you have written sounds perfect for Boxing Day.

A couple of possible additions:

I've made a lovely mushroom & cream cheese pate in the past for non-meat eaters. I cannot remember which recipe I used but am sure lots available on Google.

Are you having turkey on Christmas Day? If so, you could make Coronation Turkey with the leftovers (Google recipe for coronation chicken); then use the same sauce for chickpeas for the non meat eaters.

Then a chopped mixed salad and I think you are sorted

Sounds lovely. One of my favourite buffet additions would be mini yorkshire puddings with beef and horseradish sauce

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/miniyorkshirepudding_11253/amp

Quiche. A buffet is not complete without it! M&S have some lovely mini ones in their party food range this year.

Christmas coleslaw https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/sides/jewelled-winter-slaw

Constructive criticism:

There isn’t much for the vegetarians.

It would be nice to have something hot on offer on a cold winter day, even if it is just one thing.

Salad, or anything that requires cutlery, is a pain if it isn’t a sit down buffet. Balancing a plate and drink while stabbing at slippery salad or trying to cut a giant lettuce leaf or balance couscous on a fork when you are 4 people sitting on a 3 seater sofa with no elbow room or standing up with nowhere to put your drink is a nightmare. Even worse if paper plates or plastic cutlery are involved 😂 Crudités or things like cherry tomatoes are easier.

Probably just me:

363 days of the year I would love that! It doesn’t feel especially Christmassy to me though. Boxing Day is all about cold turkey and ham. I want indulgent nibbles, fancy canapés, plenty of pastry and lots of choice rather than salad at Christmas 😂

Do you have plenty of freezer space and fridge space? I preprepare some canapés and freeze them, then put them trays in the fridge to defrost ready to go straight in the oven. Could you do 1 “ovenful” of simple prepared nibbles that just need throwing in the oven? Maybe a sausage roll wreath, some veggie and non veggie pigs in blankets, brie and cranberry parcels, and some mini quiches? Nigella’s Parmesan shortbreads and sticky honey and soy sauce sausages are Christmas favourites here. You could always buy preprepared party food! 😮 Cook more turkey and ham than you need so you have leftovers. Some unhealthy stuff like Christmas flavoured or shaped crisps or retro snacks like cheese footballs or twiglets are fun. Christmas should be cheesy in every sense of the word!

Your pudding ideas are great. Maybe some lebkuchen too and some plainer things for DC eg gingerbread, some kind of chocolate cookies. We also do chocolate Rice Krispie bites with Christmas sprinkles for the little ones who might not like spiced Christmas cookies or marzipan. Trifle is always popular too.

It does sound like it’s going to look beautiful, but I think I’d be tempted to add a bit more, just so it’s a bit more substantial. Maybe some sliced baguette, mini pork pies, hot sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, cheese scones, chicken goujons etc. I know that would make it teeter over into beige food, which is probably not the effect you’re going for, but I’d want more than a ham sandwich and a bit of cheese from a Boxing Day buffet.

Are all of your cheeses ok for vegetarians? I think it’s rennet that is the animal bit. Or it always used to be. I think I’d add some quorn party bits if I were you, otherwise it could be a bit light for your vegetarians if they can’t eat the cheese. Ten minutes in the oven and they’re done. Sainsbury’s have a good selection.

I’m a big fan of potato salad with a very, very small amount of French mustard mixed in with it. Enough to give it a subtle flavour but not enough to upset anyone who prefers the blander end of the food spectrum.

For puddings, I like to have something fruity and something chocolate, so it sounds like you have a good selection.

To me a buffet should always have sausage rolls/cheese and onion rolls and crisps (get posh ones).

Sounds nice to me
Flatbreads cut into strips
houmous or baba ganoush and olives
Baked Camembert (but you are already cheese heavy)

A buffet isn’t a buffet without crisps! I also like pickled onions at Christmas, only time of the year I eat them.
Grapes and sliced melon go nice with a cheeseboard too.
Some hot foods like pizza, vegetable spring rolls and warm sausage rolls.

These are great, thank you!

Pickled onions! How could I forget those 😱

I will most definitely have plenty of bowls of crisps available for snacking so everyone isn't starving waiting for me to get food ready. DH can be in charge of restocking them!

I'm planning on cooking plenty of turkey and gammon on Christmas Day so I could have extra sliced up.

Hot food and more options for veggies are very fair points! Maybe some vegetarian party food that all cooks at the same time that I can just cook in the oven? Spring rolls, samosas, mini quiches, cheese bites etc?

Difficulty eating salad definitely needs thinking about. I wanted something fresh on there but the PP is right that it'll likely be paper plates and lots of people squished onto sofas.

For dessert. What about if I added meringue nests, berries and some thick cream so people could make their own mini pavlovas. Or is that a bit naff?

Will anyone be pregnant as they won't have much to eat?

Add baked potatoes.

Yes! One of the meat eaters is pregnant.

I do have plenty of fridge and freezer space so perhaps I should stock up on lots of oven cook party food.

@Rowen32 what exactly can someone pregnant not eat out of that lot ?
(the pate 🤔)

Eton mess is easier than assembling pavlovas. You don’t want lots of things on the buffet that people have to stand assembling at the table, causing a traffic jam and dropping bits on the floor and in the food 😂. You already have a cheese board and pate, which need people to faff around cutting and spreading.

Add cornichons to the list! Charcuterie and cheese have to have cornichons and pickled onions with them, it’s the law 😂

I feel like sausage rolls and/or PiBs ought to be compulsory for a Christmas buffet too.
We also have extra stuffing balls at Christmas buffets. A veggie chestnut stuffing could be nice.

A fruit board is also nice and looks pretty. Things like figs and grapes go well with cheese and feel like Christmassy fruits to me 😂, ditto satsumas and pomegranates.

Pate, smoked salmon, salami, some of the cheeses, possibly the salads.

That's quite a lot of the OP's original list!

A big dish of bubble and squeak. You can do it ahead of time and just reheat

Oh wow! That would be amazing! I would love that. Tricky to eat one handed on a paper plate sitting on the arm of the sofa though. You would totally be finding stray bits of cabbage under sofa cushions and behind furniture and end up with mashed potato ground into the carpet. It would be worth it IMO 😂

What about oven chips or wedges for something hot but easy to eat. With a selection of ketchups/mayonnaise.

@AddieLoggins2 really? I remember being told not to eat blue cheese but no one ever said I shouldn't eat any of that other stuff.
(Although I wouldn't touch pate anyway so I genuinely don't know about that).
Salad? What salad can't you eat when pregnant?

Agree re pregnant lady, it's hard looking at all the lovely foods you're advised not to eat. Any shop bought pate or homemade liver/smoked fish pate is out but the homemade mushroom pate suggested up thread sounds good. Any hard cheeses including Stilton are fine but soft and mouldy cheeses are advised against so make sure you have a varied selection. Again salamis are higher risk but a nice baked gammon would be fab. Can you tell I was pregnant and sorely deprived last Christmas

I think the key to a buffet that doesn't involve too much faffing is fewer but larger dishes. Avoid little bits of party food that are constantly in and out of the oven at different times taking up loads of baking tray space.

I'd go for:
Cheeses, crackers, charcuterie, pate and breads
Sticky glazed sausages/veggie sausages/halloumi.
Gammon or leftover turkey.
Potato salad
Quiches or big puff pastry tarts cut into squares.
Dips, crisps and crudités
Maybe one or two big puddings such as trifle, cheesecake or pavlova and then a selection of nibbly bits like mince pies, rocky road, biscuits etc.

Difficulty eating salad definitely needs thinking about. I wanted something fresh on there but the PP is right that it'll likely be paper plates and lots of people squished onto sofas.

That's why I suggested a chopped salad, like this - nice and fresh but easy to eat with just a fork.

It's all pretty easy to find under the pregnancy section of the NHS website. And it was in a booklet given to me by my midwife in both my pregnancies 🤷‍♀️

Pre-prepared salads are a higher risk for listeria and there have been several recalls relating to this.
Technically, I think the advice is to make sure they are stored properly and eaten within date etc. (which I'm sure the OP would, and the salad in this instance may be fresh anyway) but I guess it's up to the pregnant woman to make the call (hence I said possibly the salad) - personally I didn't like to risk it when pregnant.