Retro Christmas Food

[allyouneedisloveand]

I went to M&S earlier and picked up a pack of mushroom vol au vents . They do reminded me of Christmas parties from my childhood.
I thought it would be fun to do a retro Christmas buffet this year . What things do you remember having for n Christmas buffets as a child ?

You can still buy Quick Jel from Greens.
I made a fruit flan for my husband's birthday as he was waxing nostalgic about them.

Pigs in blankets 😆 Oh and cheese cubes!

Babycham
Lambrusco
Black Beer and lemonade
Baked Alaska
Cheese cubes and pickled onions on sticks
Black magic chocolates

I love babycham and was lucky to get proper glasses I had 4 but now only 3 also my mum used to make snowballs from advocaat and lemonade and port and lemon(ade)

I had a Babycham glass once upon à time. I probably still have it somewhere, but wouldn't know where to start looking!

Danish butter biscuits in the tin
Liebfraumilch
Trifle made from the Birds packet in a box

Blue Nun and Mateus Rose to drink. Cherry B as well as Babycham.

Droste chocolate only used to be around at Christmas. I see it's still available, but not the chocolate apples (predecessor to Terry's oranges!) https://www.geraldos.co.uk/products/droste-pastilles?srsltid=AfmBOoof3r_Hu2Z969QDiHFdZMIp5ddN3_3gMeGonVdjkMn7hz_taD1H

Brandy snaps, remember making them at school

Jars of pickles with a special pickle fork.

Potato salad. My mum always used tinned potatoes!

Melon balls.

After eight mints.

Nuts and raisins.

Snowballs. I don’t know why but they just don’t taste the same anymore.

also, a whole side of salmon with a dozen lemon slices on top. A classic.

Galia melon slices wrapped in Parma ham as a starter.

mains would be boeuf bourguignon or coq-au-vin, or a piece of ham.

Port with the cheese board: brie, camembert, strong Gouda/cheddar, stilton. With melba toast (shop bought) and baguette.

sides would be green beans, boiled, then tossed in butter and garlic, then with bacon lardons.

And there would be fruit bowl/punch in a huge bowl with a ladle: bottle of wine, tinned fruit (no banana, but must have cherry) and a good glug of Grand Marnier.

Tiny glass of orange juice as a starter. Ritz crackers with pate on them.

Devils on horseback aren’t retro though they are an all time classic!

Oh yes, pate. With different chutneys on offer.

Great thread! Yum!

My Mum used to do something similar. Swiss Roll slices, tinned strawberries (an abomination!), drizzled liberally with Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry, topped with Rowntrees strawberry jelly made using the “juice” from the tin of strawbs, Ambrosia Devon Custard from a tin, then Dream Topping….although that gave way to whipped fresh cream in the mid 80s. It’s my number one food memory from childhood. Tastes change….mine certainly have….but I’d scoff a whole bowl if only she was still here to make it.

Vol au vents with chicken filling, or prawns and cream cheese.
Devilled eggs, with anchovy garnish.
Liptauer cheese on ritz crackers, compulsory at any sherry party.
Halved tomatoes filled with prawn cocktail (looked fab, but lethal to eat).
Turkey stuffing - sliced cold sausagemeat with onions & herbs.
A platter of fishy things...Rollmops in sour cream, mashed sardines & mayonnaise, cod roe, anchovies in vinaigrette.

I’ve never heard of Tunis cake!

We had M&S chunky chicken in our voluvents.

Hedgehogs with cheese and pineapple, cheese and pickle and or cheese and cocktail sausages.

Mini sausage rolls and mini pork pies.

Bowl of plain crisps and either cheese puffs or those vinegar long thin crisps.

Bowl of salted peanuts.

Ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches or if pushing the boat out red tinned salmon.

Jacobs crackers and cheese or crackers with rum butter.

Dessert sherry trifle, black forest gateau or artic roll.

Fruit flan was my dad's favourite dessert when I lived at home, think she still makes it occasionally but quick gel is harder to find now (and quite expensive)

Nan was a fruit flan afficionado: always mandarins and orange QuikJel.

I used to have a Tunis cake as my birthday cake, and therefore would get all three marzipan fruits. I'd be game to have a go at making it. It's basically madeira cake, with chocolate topping and those marzipan fruits. For the person who has the recipe (sorry can't look back as on phone), what else did the chocolate topping contain? The texture was wrong for it to be chocolate alone.

In other memories, my mum's big treat at Christmas was a luxury box of Terry's chocolates (called 1767 or similar?). It came in a cream three tier chest and included langues de chat, mini bars and a top layer of chocolates. That chocolate layer included my mum's favourite piece (after the dark chocolate langue de chat), which I always avoided when she offered me one. It was a chocolate sack with champagne 🍾 which I think was one of the few alcoholic things she ever had.

Tesco - 55p
Morrisons - 45p
Amazon

Dates, nuts (with nut crackers), orange and lemon slices, mini sausages on sticks, cheese and pineapple on sticks, jelly with tinned mandarins in plus evaporated milk. birds trifle with added canned strawberries, vol au vents, tinned salmon and cucumber sandwiches.

Would you mind sharing the recipe please for me and @CrepuscularCritter ?

For the person who has the recipe (sorry can't look back as on phone), what else did the chocolate topping contain? The texture was wrong for it to be chocolate alone.

Marks & Spencer are selling Tunis cake, it looks lovely, complete with three marzipan fruits.