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 ?

@CalliopePlantain Romantica! I loved those!

White rolls halved and spread with grated cheese or tinned salmon/tuna in salad cream.
Those packs split into 4 with different little crackers and pretzels (which I still get every year)
Iced fairy cakes with a glace cherry on top.

I'm really enjoying reading this thread and I'm definitely stealing this idea myself.
Love the comment about only using tinned salmon for very special occasions - exactly the same in our house. Such rare occasions were when the 'best' front room was used. That was maybe 2 or 3 times a year. The rest of the time it remained empty and gathering dust. Same with using the 'best' crockery. I could never get my head round that!

I've bought some jellied orange and lemon slices this year - DS loves anything fruity/jellyish. Might go for a marzipan fruit, too. Feck it, they're yum and it's Christmas!

My Nan used to make a dessert with tinned mandarins, sponge fingers and dream topping - all added to my Ocado basket.

Totally up for a retro Xmas!

(Apart from the beef yule log [which I really hope still had the little plastic robin sitting on the top of it,] obvs! 😂)

Still do prawn cocktails as xmas dinner starters !! Yummy

Tunis Cake recipe (Mary Berry 🙂)

Thank you!

😎😎

Sherry trifle

Ooh! Prawn primula and celery was the best.

One year we had large chocolate bears filled with the same stuff they put in creme eggs. Heaven!

Party drums of Twiglets! I'd eat an entire one in a single sitting given the chance 😁

Cheese & pineapple sticks, curried eggs and tomatoes and carrots cut into the shape of flowers on top of everything!

I really miss Neopolitan chocolates. I've only seen them in F&M in years, and they're ridiculously expensive.

Babycham

Port and lemon

Those little Cadbury bars for the vending machine toy

My nana used to do a Boxing Day buffet every year and it always included a Swiss roll dressed up like Dougal from the Magic Roundabout, with a big marshmallow face.

Phileas Fogg snacks - especially 'Punjab Puri' and 'Mignons Morceaux".

My mum used to make a mixture of tomato ketchup with butter, and spread that on Ritz crackers. No idea if it was something she made up or if it was from a recipe! Surprisingly delicious though.

Boxes of After Eight mints by the trifle. Some bugger would pinch a handful and not the wrappers.
So you’d put your hand in and come up
empty.
All this talk of buffets reminds me of Christmas with the Royle Family, when Anthony brought his vegetarian girlfriend Emma.
And poor Nana asked could she have ham? Wafer thin?
I have to say mushroom vol-u-vants were gorgeous.
And remember those huge tins of beer that had about 15 pints in them? My dad would head straight for them. They were usually Tetley.

@allyouneedisloveand

Jewel jelly. Three [or more different colours/"flavours" chopped up with a fork into little pieces and served with evaporated milk?

White blancmange in a rabbit mould [optional "insides" made of red jams and so on].

Clearly I had an interesting childhood ...

going back to the 1960's ! sugar mice, white ones & pink ones , kids sweets, brilliant!!

My nana's famous sherry trifle..hic!. with real egg custard, what a treat!😋

Oh yes to the disappointment of finding half the after eight sleeves were empty 😅
I also remember the yearly box of Terry's All Gold being passed round at my grandparents' house and holding my breathe that no one took the chocolate sack filled with caramel before it got to me.

I've wondered the same about Snowballs and I think it's the sweetener in lemonade. We always made them with full sugar lemonade, but even that has sweeteners in these days.

We used to have cocktail sized mini frankfurter sausages on sticks. Don't remember the cocktail sausages that are used these days for pigs in blankets etc
Mum used to line fairy cake cases with melted dark chocolate, leave them to set them peel off the cake case. Add a few tinned mandarin orange segments in the base, followed by a trifle sponge broken up, a bit of sherry poured over the sponge then a big dollop of fresh cream on top and dark grated chocolate. Absolutely delicious.

Gosh, I still present a boozy trifle, twiglets, cheese balls, vol au vents, After 8s and many others on this thread. Gosh.

@BIWI my best friend's mum used to use ketchup and butter in egg sandwiches instead of mayo. I was a bit until I tried one!

Party Ring Biscuits
Those thin long crisps, not sure if they are called chipsticks or something else.