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.

Hits:
Outdoor bred pork and chestnut stuffing (although how chestnuts could be anything other than outdoor bred is beyond me!).
Lemon swiss roll (not Christmas range but fab anyway).

Misses:
I did buy other things but have forgotten what they were.

Don't know if already mentioned but M&S have an aisle named "Picky Bits" which briefly ruined my Christmas spirit 🤢

I wish I had ordered from m&s. For reasons I won't bore you with, I ordered from waitrose this year. Partner turned up to collect and half the order was missing. Never again.

Hits:
Oakham turkey crown
Halloumi in blankets (these went down really well).
Lamb joint (I forget which one but came with a sprig of rosemary and some flavoured butter)
OK: the frozen roast potatoes, would have been better crisped up in the air fryer. Think I prefer home made.
Miss:
the berry pavlova, as a pp said, not enough cream.

Hits:
Brie with garlic bread wreath
Butternut squash and Brie wellington
Stuffed turkey crown

Misses:
Bubble and squeak cakes
Spinach dosas
Red cabbage

Much more mixed bag than usual - we’ve normally found them excellent

Seafood platter- both a hit and a miss- the lobster was meaty and good sized, the crab and prawns lovely, but too much calamari and the marinade was a bit oily
Harissa and paprika prawn medley was yum but really messy- would only have it in private, not with guests
Smoked salmon rosti bites were tasty

waiting to try the shallot tart tatin- we think we had this last year but cant remember- so if we did it must have been unremarkable lol

only had to collect our order but my goodness! the queue for the checkouts was ridiculous, going to give it a miss next year, and we are trying the Fish Society fruits de mer platter with some extras for New Year- less expensive than the M&S offering.

Frozen red cabbage - excellent, went back and bought more (did add some extra bramley apple and a splash of port).
Canapes - Mini yorkshires with roast beef and veggie tacos both delicious.

I still have our frozen Colin in the freezer.

Sirloin roast - cooked well and tasted lovely - again portions small and one would not generously serve 6 people. Will probably try butchers next year.

Potato Dauphinoise - tasty, portions seemed smaller (we had 3 between 7 people and 2 wouldn't have been enough), some potatoes were hard

Best Ever Yule Log - disappointing, just kept crumbling apart when sliced

Pine Cones - Didn't go down as well as previous years, there are 5 in the fridge one day out of date now and no one is interested in eating

Profiteroles - mousse nice but choux pastry was soggy

Everything was on balance ok, but its getting too expensive for just ok

Dashing through the snow was more like Disaster in the snow.
It started falling apart as soon as we collected it and by the time we got home 2 reindeer were decapitated and it was a complete mess.
Luckily the kids saw the funny side of it!

We have the beef wellington every year, was really good, I don’t even have a proper carving knife (used the bread knife) and it sliced through it like butter.

sprouts with chestnuts and bacon were excellent, as were the mustard and honey parsnips. We also went for beef dripping roast potatoes which were really good.

No turkey crown nut roast Yule log and prawn cocktail and sausage roll ring all big hits

We always order our Christmas food from M&S. This year the bacon wrapped loin of venison was absolutely delicious, we’ll be buying it again next year without a doubt. The nut roast was particularly tasty too. Our usual Brussels sprout gratin, cauliflower cheese and brie on croute were delicious as always.

I wasn’t impressed with the luxury veg selection. The roast potatoes were fine but everything else was underwhelming.

Hits

The parsnips with pecorino/glaze.
Brussels sprout and leek gratin.
Chocolate pine cones.

Miss

The slow cooked turkey crown with pork and Italian chestnut stuffing. It wasn't dry and people seemed to like it, but I wasn't a fan. The texture seemed strange and overcooked (I cooked it according to the instructions). Some of it felt like I was eating a paste and my eight year old daughter said it had the texture of tuna. Which was pretty spot on.

Next year I'll try another M&S crown, but one that isn't slow cooked and I'll buy a separate stuffing. And I'll be ordering all the hits again.

Ooh forgot to mention this! This was a massive hit

Haute fromagerie cheeseboard was good (have checked and not dure if its m&s or ocado)

Best ever berry trifle. Lovely, huge, good value

Frozen black forest gateau gets shitter every year. The cream was foamy this year and collapsed, like squirty cream does. I think they've added oil. Even less cherries. Will still have to buy it next year, at 15 quid a pop. Might even try making it as no one does a decent bf gateau.

Hit
Peppermint chocolate dunkers. Crisp, crumbly, choclately (but not overly sweet), lovely candy cane peppermint hit. Nicest biscuit of the season.
Also
Buttemilk soaked rolled turkey joint was succulent and flavoursome - made yummy sandwiches.

Hit: goose fat roasties.
Gammon joint
Sausage roll wreath. Tasty but expensive!

Misses:
turkey crown. Expensive and so not worth it
box of veg side dishes. Swede and carrot was baby food, red cabbage was weird.

Not bothering with Christmas dinner next year. DH cooked and we had it Boxing Day as I worked Christmas Day but despite it being prepared, he still struggled and it wasn’t great. Rather have party food bits and we can all relax.

Why are people saying M&S don’t deliver ? That’s what Ocado are for.

Big Miss - Shallot tarts - way too sweet you could have stuck icecream on them and had a a dessert !

Normally buy a few M&S nibbles for boxing day instead of cooking. This year bought some from Sains. My god, that was a mistake. We couldn't eat 3 different types, bloody awful and went into the bin. My partner ate his prawns, said was amazed that Sains could make something with prawns that had no prawn flav. Oh dear.

I did manage to get a packet of M&S mince pies and a packet of Sainsbury ones. The Sains were inedible, the M&S ones did seem ok, as packet pies go.

Misses:
M&S Profiterole Dessert Bowl, expensive, gloopy mix with soggy profiteroles on top.
Fresh Cranberry sauce, hardly any cranberries, more like red pureed apple.
Genoa Cake, dry, fell apart when cut, not nearly as nice as usual and much more expensive. I'm happy to stick with the cheap and cheerful thanks M&S.
Hits:
Oakham Slow Cooked Turkey Joint with Pork & Italian Chestnut Stuffing, bought to satisfy DH who loves turkey.

We had this. No-one really liked it much - the topping was the best bit!

Agree. Theres a big one by my house… food was either going to be out of date before Xmas, or the shelf was bare

Black Forest gateaux thing was decidedly average. But it was the only dessert left in the whole place!

I agree the Sainsbury’s mushroom wellington was delicious, much better than the Waitrose one. They were also reduced to £2 yesterday so I bought a couple more for our NYD meal.