Christmas Dinner - are you doing something different?

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We've not had Turkey for a good few years, no one really likes it so we usually have roast beef and all the traditional sides.

I'm fed up with that now though and fancy something else. We'll be 4 adukts and 2 children.

I was thinking party food spread but with the traditional sides. But will that actually more hassle than doing a traditional roast. Take away delivery on the day? I don't know, does anyone have any interesting alternatives planned?

For the last couple of years we have had tartiflette. I love it as you can prepare in advance so it is less work but is also delicious.

DH pointed out we didn't spend Christmas together as either I was cooking or he was washing up.

So we switched to steak. Whole meal made in under 30 minutes and no massive clear up either.

Kind of missed not still having the leftovers for weeks though.

We're having roast duck but with pancakes, hoi sin cucumber etc. I'm looking for some inspiration for some more sides to go with it.

I love turkey. Only have it once a year. But if I wanted an easy change, I'd do a whole leg of lamb marinated in Middle-Eastern spices and honey. Or a whole salmon stuffed with lemon and dill, baked in the oven.

The change I want to make is to have sticky toffee pudding instead of Christmas pudding. But it's such a tradition, bringing the flaming pudding to the table, no one else wants to change it. Might have to make sticky toffee pudding for Christmas Eve.

Hopefully lobster if I can source some! Dd's dad, my ex (who is an amazing cook) is coming over for the morning/lunch, and has offered to cook, so I may as well make the most of it! He has undertaken to recreate the pasta dish that is served with lobster in the restaurant all three of us absolutely love! DD tells me she has tried to reproduce it before but failed, but we are all backing him to achieve it.

If I can't find any lobsters, God alone knows what we will have. A toasted cheese sandwich, maybe.....

We are going out for an Indian this year. 5 course banquet for £27.99 each 😊 never been out for Christmas dinner before so will be a nice change.

Usually have a joint of venison and lots of sides. My OH likes to graze so we get in party food and try a selection. In the past if it was just for me used to make Peking duck with the pancakes, cucumber, spring onions & hosin sauce. One memorable year it was scampi & chips, which went down well.

I have lived in my own home for 36 years. I have never had turkey at Christmas in that time, because we don't like traditional "Christmas dinner". So, for us, turkey, spuds, sprouts etc would be different 😂
Just have whatever you enjoy - what's wrong with pizza, for a start?

Goose

Venison - it cooks in about 20 minutes then leave to rest. Roast potatoes take longer!

Not sure about venison, It just doesn’t seem right to eat (rein)deer at Christmas.

We’ve not had just turkey since the 1980s, there’s always been another meat as well. Actually I’ve probably not had turkey at all for a decade or two.

We've had pizza for the last few years.

Can't be arsed for a roast for 3 people.

Christmas day is just me, husband and son and it's so relaxed and fun. We sit around eating, watching crap movies and enjoying our prezzies.

We do a more traditional roast on boxing day when we have guests and alternate meat each year. This year I think we're having lamb.

Lifelong vegetarian, so I've never had the full 'traditional' turkey/beef/goose dinner.

I do like roast vegetables and roast spuds - which taste better if done the day before, as well as being less hassle on the day (and it transpires it actually makes the spuds healthier!). So always lots of those. Often with a Wellington of some sort, sometimes with a veggie haggis, sometimes a layered stuffing bake (2 or 3 layers of different types of fancy stuffing baked in a dish with some sort of sauce between each layer), sometimes Yorkshire puds, or toad-in-the-hole with veggie sausages. Baked brie often used to feature until I had to give up dairy.

Do you brine the turkey? That makes all the difference, and you don’t end up with a lump of dry meat. Like to do so with fruit and spices.

Or I would do duck or venison individual pieces with a fruity sauce of some kind. Had this previously, it was lovely.

Or a Wellington.

My daughter usually does the roast vegetables, the Yorkshire puddings and a veggie roast with her delicious gravy. I get the Irish soda bread with the salmon for later in the evening. It's not Christmas without my parsley and onion stuffing. I have bacon and sausage rolls with prunes because it's just once a year.

We love profiteroles for dessert.

I escaped the tyranny of the roast dinner several years ago and never regretted it. We're having Moroccan lamb (baharat, apricots and shallots) with jewelled cous cous. Sticky toffee pudding (always called Picky stoffee pudding in our family). The pigs in blankets will form part of a party food buffet for Boxing Day.

DH and I usually have fillet steak or T-bone steak with all the usual turkey trimmings.

Generally no starter or pudding though as we prefer to graze on cheese and biscuits later in the day.

A few years ago I had my large extended family for Christmas Day and rather than stress I put a large gazebo up in the garden with long tables with salad, baked potatoes and picky bits and very large slow cooker with soup - had a large gas bbq set up which the males in the family enjoyed lording over with steak, chicken/ kebabs and burgers , everyone helped themselves to a plate and then came into the dining room to eat - everyone fed and no stress on the day

We tend to do a large chicken and a honey and mustard glazed ham rather than turkey. Sometime also a beef joint depending on how many people we have that year (between 3 and 12 usually).

Then use the leftover stock to make leek and potato soup topped with some of the leftover meat for boxing day.

We’ve had gammon for years but for the last couple homemade beef wellington has snuck in there too, everyone loves both so not many leftovers,!we do loads of veg sides too, all of them family favourites-I love doing Xmas dinner

One of my mum's friends has shepherds pie because that is her favourite food.

We do lamb chops/salmon/duck for the holidays now. It's Thanksgiving here this weekend and I'm roasting a duck and baking salmon. Will also have sautéed garlic prawns, roasted acorn squash and carrots and scalloped potatoes. Dessert will be an apple cranberry pie and brownies and ice cream.

I got bored of turkey.

Wagyu beef for us this year!

Some years it was only me and my adult youngest. We'd spend out on steaks and plan cocktails, while watching Christmas horror films. Other years it was a running buffet. I love turkey on seeded rolls, so would still cook a turkey crown. There'd be Tesco, Iceland and Aldi party food, after bacon and sausages on Toast for breakfast.
While with my DP, we'd have the M&S marrow bone pie, which they no longer do. I'd put in a M&S and Sainsbury's order. Some years one of them would be doing a venison stew or fancy beef bourguignon and fancy potatoes. I'd order three days of food, for ease. I go to the panto and fair on Christmas eve with my GC. We do have traditional roasts at family members and sometimes out.

We have a theme every year. I’m thinking Chinese this year. Mexican was fun as well all drew moustaches on, for Australian year we had a bbq and wore cork hats etc.