Saint Delias xmas book is it really the best????????????

[jenk1]

made her xmas cake yesterday and am impressed.

i bought nigellas xmas book and although its full of lovely pictures there arent many recipes i will make.

i want a good old fashioned-never-go-out-of-fashion family xmas cook book.

and im thinking that delia is the way to go,for those of you who have her book,would you agree??????/

Is it the green one with the red ribbon round it?
My mum bought this cookbook, blimey, must have been 15ish years ago..well I certainly remember it being pulled out every christmas. I nicked it about 4 years ago and she has bought a new one.
I use it every christmas. It was sooo helpful for the first few christmas's that I cooked as I followed it step by step. Each year I do a bit more, like make my own cranberry sauces etc. Last year I had a xmas party and I cooked lots of things from her canapes selcetion. Everything that I have cooked from there has been brilliant. I have Nigellas and I did cook her turkey with maple syrup and it was lovely, however I will always get out Delia, she is part of the Christmas traddition (the book is now a scatch and sniff eddition, you can tell what has been cooked by the stains!)

I love my Delia Christmases. She introduced me to bread sauce. Yum!

Am a big fan of Delia's Christmas, especially the pickled shallots and spiced apricot chutney.

Have used a different pudding recipe this year though - Tamsin Day-Lewis.

It really is very good. The turkey en croute in the leftover section is fab, I make her mulled wine, I love her chocolate torte, red cabbage, cranberry sauce and bread sauce!

oooh and the christmas chutney!

The pastry for the sausage rolls is wonderful - but make it with butter rather than margarine for the best flavour. Definitely many many times better than Greggs!

right,thanks i think i will buy it,i like the sound of sausage rolls on xmas eve with lots of wine hmmmm

another vote for the christmas chutney.

(last time i was given some i hid it in the cupboard and didn't share it with anyone ... have never made it though. might bite the bullet this yr!)

I've had it for at least 15 years like daisycat's Mum! My regular makes (she says leafing through the book) include her homemade mincemeat - will never buy mass produced version again; hot punch sauce; little mincemeat souffle puddings (do regularly for winter dinner parties, cos can make ahead & reheat); the vegetarian sausage rolls (and we're not vegetarian); red cabbage (but use a mulled wine sachet instead of the spices) and parmesan baked parsnips. I often make her pitta bread canape bases. But I haven't tried her chutney, will definitely do so after all the recommendations.

oh i cant wait for the book now,DH is going to buy it me for our anniversary which is in 9 days time.

has anyone made the ham,my cousin does and says its the best recipe ever.

i use delia and second the chutney votes...it's not terribly exciting but i dont think you necessarily want exciting at christmas: there's something comforting about it being the same as it always is (and i probably like it so much because my mum had delia's christmas book before me and that's what our family christmasses consisted of....)
it's reliable and the timings work and that's all you care about. if you want to tart things up a bit there is a christmas chapter in nigella's how to eat

Got it today

ive had a quick look through it as its my anniversary pressie and the kids want to wrap it up (they said im not allowed to look at it but i couldnt resist!!!)

it looks great and come tuesday i will be in delia xmas heaven.

Incidently, where do you buy the jars to keep the chutney in??