The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2025

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, it's that time of year again!

For anyone who has not already had the pleasure, the annual Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles read along is a real time annual MN tradition.

The Christmas Chronicles (Notes, stories and 100 essential recipes for midwinter) book begins on 1st November, however there are 25 pages of Introduction. That's why I start the thread one now; to allow time to prepare and fully appreciate Nigel in All His Splendour come 1st November.

Some regulars to the thread already have the book. For anyone new, it's a challenge to see of you can pick up a bargain. Vinted has come up trumps in the past, as has ebay. A rare and precious charity shop find is always a bonus. Don't forget, you can also listen along to Nigel's dulcet tones via Audible.

I shall post daily and we can share our thoughts and feelings on the days recipes, sentiments and indeed Dear Nigel himself. Observations of nature and the seasons are also very welcome.

So welcome to old friends and new, and don't forget that reading by candle light is particularly enjoyable. Cire Trudon may be one of Nige's candles of choice, but it's somewhat pricey. We don't discriminate against other less expensive brands - even if they are NVN (Not Very Nigel)

Pull up a chair, light a candle, grab a cosy blanket and join in!

There isn't a hope in hell I can make today's offering, just too much meditative kitchen delicate time and space for me right now.

I am going to make a slow beef curry, with dal mukhani (dark lentil celebration dal my favourite) as filling the house with smells of the orient on a grey wet november afternoon could be Nigel.

I am in receipt of mincemeat ingredients (vegetable suet mind hope it works) so will attempt to find and sterilize some jars with the intention of gifting half (making double the amount) to friends when we visit their posh new house weekend after this one.

We do as (I think it was) Delia suggests and use grated very cold butter instead of veggie suet.

I usually use beef suet, but used vegetable once, when making mince pies for a vegetarian. Didn't notice any difference.

Well in the good news column, Dodgy Roger the plasterer has come back to paint the kitchen ceiling and really cleared up after himself, the kitchen is a little echoey as I start to return stuff to its rightful place and I do a bit of urgently needed decluttering. Tonight after listening to Nigel, I am embroidering, snowflakes mostly and I have put on Annie Lennox's Christmas Cornucopia.

I love this album, because it takes me back to the 1970s when we used to have modern language carol concerts for Bernardine Cistercian nuns in Westcliff-on-Sea. I can share with you that I can still belt out Il est ne le Divin Enfant with great gusto, although her french may be Norman, rather than the Lyons accent used by our Convent! I find myself singing descant to the Holly and The Ivy and then doing a quick chorus of Gaudete... although I was scared witless of the Latin teacher, who had a plait wound around her head, just like a wreathed Roman Emperor.

I have the brussels, smoked salmon etc for the dish up thread and that will be for tea tomorrow... And I had a really good win on the PBs this month, I have spent it so many times in my head but currently it sits in my account... I am thinking it could buy some fabric to make more quilts for careleavers which is my quilt groups charity... if you have time for an uplifting listen, try this which explains how they are given away at Christmas - www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002jsbv

I don’t actually like potato much (due an incident with some mash and a nun in my convent nursery school), and I certainly don’t have the hands of an angel so no gnudi for me.
Instead I am making a huge mash for the chickens at work in an old storage box. They are in flock down officially now due to Avian flu, but Becuase they have been out in the last weeks we can’t sell any eggs for them until they have been under cover for 7 days (I think I’ve read the DEFRA guidance right). What that does mean is that as we aren’t selling the eggs they are for once allowed kitchen scraps so they are getting a lovely mash of oats, veg, layers pellets, ground up egg shells, rice and a bit of pepper tomorrow which they will love.
I rescued a very hen pecked cockerel earlier (he has a deformed leg so is always getting bullied but it had gotten so bad that I found him trying to tunnel under the chicken shed to escape), so he is in a stable on his own for a few days and he will be getting extra! Poor old ‘Leggy’- he is always getting pecked at. Chickens can be savage.

Glad your plastering is done @LatteLady. we need a room decorating in our house-I can’t find anyone to do it at the minute. For some reason the previous tenant painted both walls and ceiling charcoal grey and fitted a carpet the same colour. As a consequence it’s like being in a black hole and the room is unusable.

I've had a beast of a day at work. One of those days where I knew in advance it would be long, busy, and full of challenging issues - I've been dreading it all week. Left the house at 6.30am to get the early train, arriving at work at 7.15am and then left work at 6.45, getting home at 7.30pm. It was dark when I left the house, dark when I left the office and i've spent the entire day sitting in a windowless basement. This type of day really affects me - the lack of light, fresh air and exercise. I'm now simultaneously exhausted and full of pent up energy - the result is that I feel on the verge of a good cry.

Anyway, first thing I did when I got in (after shoving a very NVN freezer dinner in the oven) was light a candle and catch up with CC. It has calmed my mind a little.

I tried making the gnudi a few years ago. I am hot and heavy handed and it didn't work well for me. An Italian restaurant I used to love (sadly now closed down) used to have gnudi as a starter and I don't think any of my attempts will ever come close to those heavenly morsels. It's a lovely chapter though. I do love the way he describes gardening tasks.

I’m sure it’s been mentioned before but has anyone else listened to the interview with Nigel on the Homing In podcast? I found it by chance when searching his name and it’s really interesting. I love his voice, I find it so gentle and relaxing. Monty Don is similar, in fact i often wonder if they know each other as I think they’d get on!

Yes, it's such a lovely listen! There's a nice episode with him on a podcast called Fodder too.

No gnudi here either. Very warm hands - I am a liability with pastry (but I will try to make mince pies), and when I did a beekeeping course I couldn't get the wax sheets into the holders because they kept melting on me.

I have had gnocchi tonight - though not homemade - along with a very rich ragu, which I did make some time ago and found in the freezer.

I have exactly the same feeling about Monty and Nigel @ILoveLukeAlderton They do follow each other on Instagram - I always think Monty is the Nigel of gardening (and it’s no coincidence he called his dog Nigel). Either way they are both equally soothing both on and off the page.

@ILoveLukeAlderton you might like this: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/aug/24/foodanddrink

If I remember rightly it hadn't really occurred to NS that everything would have to come through the house.

Also: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/sep/16/gardens

I tried the gnudi a few years ago, quite enjoyed the process but it was fiddly and they tasted of absolutely nothing even with the sauce. Soz Nigel.

Also had an unpleasant day at work although I did manage to nip home for a nap in the middle of the day 🙃
I was also left to fend for myself for lunch (DH does 99% of the cooking) I didn't open the fridge (knowing DH would have left me a fully prepared plate) and dined on a bowl of doritos, a bowl of weetabix minis (chocolate), a slice of pumpkin pie, and a persimmon 😂, yes I am a more or less fully functioning adult.
Anyway back to Nigel stuff, I might try to make today's recipe this weekend if I have time as I LOVE potatoes (despite also going to a convent nursery with HORRIBLE nuns).
As a vegetarian a huge thanks to all the ideas on how to adapt the meaty recipes, in the past it's often been all the non-veggie recipes that have made me give up reading the whole book.

I wasn't looking forward to today, cooped up in the school lab, so got up early and went for a moonlit run.
The colour of the beech trees, with the Beaver Moon in the background, was magical.
I run usually a couple of times a week, but need to keep my km up this winter, as I'm running the local half marathon in early spring, to raise funds for the DC's school.

Felt so much better about the day once I'd been out. Heard a tawny owl too, from the trees in the churchyard.

Leek and potato soup for dinner, with ancient grain bread. Looking forward to tomorrow night, and the week being done

As a vegetarian a huge thanks to all the ideas on how to adapt the meaty recipes, in the past it's often been all the non-veggie recipes that have made me give up reading the whole book. It’s funny because in my opinion the recipes are almost the least interesting thing about the book. I’m much more interested in all the other snippets about his lifestyle, Christmas traditions and love of winter - the recipes are almost incidental. I love all the descriptions of his house and garden and memories of his childhood home and his travels and purchases and especially his extravagance and pernickety attention to detail. I think he must know there are readers like me because by the time you get to A Thousand Feasts he has dispensed with the recipes altogether and I don’t miss them.

7 November

A trip to the forest, and those gnudi.

(The one where Nigel goes to Norway to choose a tree for Trafalgar square. Aka Gnudi Part Two - The Revenge)

Totally agree with all of this. I make very little of the recipes; just a few tried and trusted favourites. It's definitely all about the writing for me (or listening in my case as I'm following on Audible)

Agree too, I'm enjoying reading the book more than doing the recipes. He has a beautiful style of writing, very calming.

Every year I look at this recipe and just think it sounds so bland. I've never had the urge to make it. Mind, I also don't like gnocchi.

Well, I made the gnudi. I used allspice instead of nutmeg. I could have eaten it off the spoons I used to make quennelles no way was I going to manage making the little balls.

I just need to cook them tonight. I’m not expecting wonders. I’ll have a yogurt, lemon and garlic sauce with them, and peas. I love garlic, lemon, pea, cream on pasta or chicken.

I’m impressed at all the interesting lives everyone else is living! I’ve wracked my brains to think of something interesting to share, but no joy 😁. I had a late night minuting a meeting for a group of churches, and a chat with a chap from General Synod. So perhaps a bit niche, but not exciting!

Good morning! Grateful for Friday this week.

Thank you for the Annie Lennox album- I was oblivious to it, but am now listening on YouTube. Absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you also for the start I got when I misread your ‘quilts for care leavers’ as ‘quilts for cadavers’. I’m now thoroughly awake.

Thinking about it, I am interested in the recipes for two reasons- firstly they are not at all the kind of thing I’d usually cook, so it really broadens my repertoire and I intrinsically interesting. Secondly, I have a short attention span and only read fiction and Mumsnet! The recipes break it up and make it a bit more practical for me.

I was going to get A Thousand Feasts then luckily realised there are no recipes. 😅

Day off today. I have a tree surgeon coming round to look at various things that need chopping/trimming in my garden, but it's not quite as grand or ceremonial as Nigel's Christmas tree-choosing trip! One of them is a huge holly though - I wonder if I can rescue some of it for decorations.

Thinking I'd like to stock up on some nice pine-like scents - I'm trying to get through a toiletries stash but might pick up some of my favourite soap (pictured - I know it's cypress not pine but it's generally evergreeny and refreshing). I used to buy an amazing pine incense too but haven't seen it for ages. Some days, I just really like my house to smell like a forest.