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 ?

The only food I actively wanted at the wedding was cheese and pineapple on sticks. It is genuinely the food of the Gods!

Thanks both. Off to look it up, then update my shopping order.

We have all forgotten one thing.

Watneys party 7

Tinned vegetable and potato salad
homemade Black Forest gateau which was a chocolate sponge with cherry pie filling and dream topping on the top. I still make it sometimes - delicious!

@sashh no, I mentioned the Wayne’s Party Seven!

I saw little star shaped pastry vol au vent cases in Lidl earlier. I think I may need to buy some and go a bit retro for my Christmas buffet too!

My parents' boxing day buffet (late 70s early 80s):
Vol au vents- choice of egg, mushroom, cheese or prawn
sausage rolls
'Danish open sandwiches' (basically one half of a bread roll cut horizontally, topped with egg, ham or cheese and a slither of cucumber)
Cucumber and onion slices in vinegar and salt
cocktail stick hedgehog- each stick had either a sausage, cheese and pickled onion or cheese and pineapple
Rice salad (basically cold rice with peas and sweetcorn)
Turkey curry- leftover turkey in a sauce made from onions, curry powder, cornflour, water and sultanas
Sherry trifle- very boozy but fine for kids to share because alcohol isn't the same if it's in food
Chocolate log
Mince pies- made using the one pasty recipe used for everything so not at all sweet (in fact slightly salty), rolled very thickly and brushed in egg before baking so that they very hard and dry. (Mum still makes them the same to this day and Dad insists they are the best). Served with cream or brandy butter

As well as the buffet table, there MUST be bowls of nuts to crack, quality street, chocolate mints and cheese balls on every surface in the room. Plus chocolate coins and chocolate Xmas tree decorations that are understood can only be eaten with specific permission

Sorry I missed that.

I noticed on catch up there is a show about 1970s Xmas - I might have to give it a watch.

You can watch Danny Craddock (70s TV cook) on YouTube that should give you some ideas.

Ahhh yes - I remember Fanny Craddock - and the Galloping Gourmet (a male TV chef from around about the same era).

Our 80s Boxing Day buffet would always consist of -
Vol-au-vents (mushroom and also that chicken in white sauce that you get in tins)
a few different sandwiches
sausages on sticks
cheese and pickled onions on sticks
quiche
prawn cocktail
salmon
cold meat from the day before
cheese and biscuits
fruit salad
trifle
mince pies
fairy cakes

@catlesslady Absolutely yes to cucumber and onion slices in vinegar. I still do it every Christmas Eve!

Graham Kerr.

A tinned peach (or fresh strawberry in summer) fruit flan made with quick jel was at most family gatherings in my childhood!

I found these in the loft. Any guesses as to the vintage? Think we’ll have them
on Christmas Day!

@WesolychSwiat oooo exciting! Is there a picture on the back showing the gifts?

Devilled eggs
Prawn cocktail

It's late but I'm now heavily invested in this. Well, do tell us what's on the back, @WesolychSwiat - is there a puzzle or at least a maze game of some sort? I'm getting that uncanny feeling of near-recognition, but can't even begin to guess what vintage those marvels are.

Baked Alaska
Brazil nuts coated in chocolate
After Eights
Tins of Jacob's biscuits

1990's...?

Newberry fruits-proper posh and only ever seen at Christmas. Stones ginger wine, which also gave the option of a whisky Mac-half stones, half whisky =half cut.

They look early to mid 90s to me too.

@lonelywater - I still bear a (possibly irrational) grudge towards Newberry Fruits. When I was a student nurse, on my first ward, the rule was that any boxes of chocolates etc given to the ward staff were given out in turn to each individual nurse - there was a list, and when your name came up on it, you got the next box of chocolates.

Everyone else on the ward, while I was there, got nice chocolates, but when it was my turn, I got a box of Newberry fruits - which 18 year old me thought was deeply unfair. When new student nurses arrived on the ward, they automatically went to the bottom of the list, so I had waited weeks for my turn to come up too.

but they are bloody lovely?

For those of you who want to know what’s on the back of the box of crackers - I don’t know, and I’m working overseas until the 20th! I can ask my husband to have a look?