M&S Christmas Food hit and misses

[gbpaln]

I'm always taking notes for next year so interested in thoughts on M&S Christmas food hits and misses. Ours were:

Hits
Chateaubriand beef with peppercorn source
Sticky toffee trifle (was sceptical but delicious)
Christmas sourdough (made the most amazing Boxing Day sandwiches)

Misses
Dancing through the Snow dessert (it was fine and looked amazing when on the table but very.expensive for a couple of spoonfuls of mousse)
Pigs in Blankets Mac 'n' Cheese

Appreciate it is all down to personal taste but always wonder what delights I have missed.

The festive brownie wreath wasn’t that nice and neither were the Christmas festive chocolates- tastes very waxy. The maple hot popcorn was lovely as was the festive turkey dip.

Turkey dip 👍
Will be sticking Big Mic instead of Qualify St going forward too.

Watching with interest as I have people coming for drinks on NY and was planning on buying nibbles and champagne in M&S instead of my usual Tesco

I didn't like the Rodney reindeer cakes, the sponge seemed really tough. We really enjoyed the French cheeseboard and the chocolate pine cones. The pine cones were simple but very effective! Not sure they were worth £17.50 mind you.

I always order my meat from M&S - never anything else - and we're usually very happy with it.

The two items this year were...

Outdoor Bred Heritage Gold Gammon with a Sugar Baked Glaze
This was delicious and a really good buy.

Slow Cooked Oakham Turkey Joint
Not impressed. We usually buy a turkey crown that has always been excellent but ordered slightly later this year and this was one of the only boneless options left. Cooked it for the required time (fraction less if anything) but it came out dry and crumbly. I couldn't get any nice slices as it just fell apart.

We didn’t get much from M&S this year as Waitrose deliver and they don’t…

Hit:
shallot tart tatin from plant kitchen range - so delicious I’ve bought another for the freezer because I don’t know if it’ll disappear after this or just go back to normal packaging

turkey gravy in the bag -
always a winner

christmas frozen Colin was very nice but I still can’t get my head around the price

Miss:
Popping down the Chimney dessert- looked adorable but was way too sickly even with the addition of berries and some squirty cream. The popcorn base was really weird too and not in a good way.

Hits:
Slow cooked turkey joint - delicious!
Brussels with bacon and chestnuts - sprout hating DH had seconds
Truffle Brie - helped me gain a stone in weight
Chicken liver parfait - a classic that always delivers
Luxury Belgian chocolate biscuits - in a beautiful box and went down a treat with family

Misses:
Topside of beef joint - very disappointing and tasteless
Pork and chestnut stuffing - too sweet for me

Yet to try:
Chocolate cherry roulade
Mini Dosas

Overall, more hit than miss!

I got some picky bits from M&S and was sorely disappointed! We had the snowmen bao buns, hand wrapped prawns, salmon on a little hash brown and the bacon pancake stacks. All tasted like the same beige shite you get from Iceland or Farmfoods just quadruple the price.

hit
aged Comte bake
thanks to mn for the suggestion of Comte cheese
sainsbury's mushroom wellington, i didnt get a taste but it was a huge hit with dds

miss
too many mince pies, one packet is out of date on 27th december
dd made mince pies with a home made mince meat jar given to me about 10 years ago, it tasted very odd, but nobody else seemed to mind/care
my roast potatoes were too pale

This will be my last year getting stuff from
M&S. I waited an hour to pick up my order. The staff in my local branch were doing their best and run off their feet. Apparently Head Office had only provided two additional tills, and allowed way too many people to pick up per half hour. I was late for work, and it was just way too much hassle shortly before Christmas. I'll try somewhere else next year. Our turkey was fine, nothing special and very expensive. The side of salmon was lovely but smaller than in previous years for the same price. diagnostic

Hot honey ham was lovely.

I bought the alcohol free strawberry trifle and it was nice. I did think the other desserts looked dry or everpriced which was a shame.

i have just read the title fully,
didnt realise it was M & S Food,

feel free to ignore

We had the white chocolate and passion fruit pine cones as our only miss. Weird grainy texture and very meh will stick to the usual brown ones next year.

@EleanorReally you can eat mince pies after their best before date! Makes no difference especially if you heat them up.

We enjoyed the mini cheese scone canapés, and agree with @Anxietyspiral that the mini bacon pancakes were underwhelming.

The ultimate Yule chocolate log was excellent, and so was their stollen (the slices).

Also:

Brandy butter mince pies
Rodney Reindeer gingerbread cookie cup pies

Miss:

The Wild garlic and butter and herb crumb stuffing wasn’t as flavourful as I’d hoped and was too dry

All reduced now to half price 😉

Mince pies crumbled up in vanilla ice cream make quite a yummy dessert if you need to use them up.

Free-range stuffed turkey crown was excellent, as was this pudding

M&S Collection Old Fashioned Jewelled Christmas Pudding Wreath - Ocado

They currently half price - so if I see one instore I'll get for a later date!

I hated the turkey dip

The full side of smoked salmon - with knife and board - was delicious.

Madagascan vanilla mini cheesecake was Devine

We didn’t get much from M&S this year but the cranberry sauce was lovely…we had beef for Xmas, it was meant to go with a gammon joint we’re having this evening but it’s already all been eaten with cheese.

My main beef with M&S is that it's harder to get hold of it than Tesco. Can't get it delivered and can't even reserve most of it for store pick up, it just tells me its in stock or isn't. So if I were relying on something being available for a party or special occasion, well, I wouldn't because it might not be available and I have to schlep down there for a wasted journey. When I actually wanted to get some of the Christmas stuff years ago, when I went to look for it in store nothing that was advertised on TV was in stock. So if I could risk it or be more casual then I would, but the lack of certainty defeats any convenience for me.

Hit:

Roasties Obviously. Drool.

Tiny Turkey joint with chestnut stuffing: moist, delicious hot and cold. Zero waste and pretty inside.

Cheese and ham baby scones: very flavourful, very cosy, very sweet.

salmon terrine: only a tenner, delicious and served 4 plentifully.

Miss: Turkey lattice Yule log. £17.50, small! didn’t deliver mega flavour except for fruity stuffing even hot. Needed to be a touch crunchier on the chestnuts. Still nicer than other shops’ version, however.

Champion 🏆 : tiny chocolate tarts in the posh black label box. Perfect.

I do wish M&S would sell the overstock flowers and plants off cheap rather than binning/charitying them.

The store must do something, anything, to avoid those acres of waste they’re creating - would be a nice gesture given they’re raising price on welfare and envtal product grounds.

Yes, customers see the waste before they’ve even got into the shop. We know it’s a Bad Thing and we know we’re paying for it.

Do you have Ocado in your area - they deliver M&S food

Hits
Slow cooked turkey with pork and chestnut stuffing was a big hit. I’m usually happy to have a mouthful of turkey on Christmas Day and nothing more, but found myself scarfing the leftovers.
Colin the caterpillar Christmas log - kids loved it, especially chunky white chocolate decorations. I assume it tasted good - I didn’t get a look in.

Misses
Roast potatoes. Tasted good, but would not go brown, even having cooked them way beyond cooking time. Got some ones from Tesco with confit garlic in for less than £2 (Clubcard price) and these were much better.

Fine, but expected more
Potato dauphinois - mine is better, but the cost is fairly good for the amount of faff involved in making your own.
Sticky toffee trifle - even the kids felt this was too sweet.