Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Food & Drink => Topic started by: bobb on 13 December, 2017, 12:09:15 pm
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I could do without it.
First up - Turkey. Now I know many people are veggie or vegan, but bear with me. Turkey is the shittiest of all the traditional roasts. Just go with roast beef and yorkshire pudding. There's no need to go with something that you would never normally eat just because it's christmas.
Christmas pudding. It's OK - I don't mind it, but I'd never bother with it otherwise.
There are many other Chrimbo foods, so I'll leave it to you....
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIcnqgHHlUg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIcnqgHHlUg)
:thumbsup:
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I quite like turkey. It goes in the slow cooker Christmas morning (we don't eat till the evening) with salt and herbs, a splash of olive oil and white wine and that's it. We did admittedly have to run out on Christmas eve and get a larger slow cooker last year (we got the turkey from a local butcher and it was bigger than usual). My dad once bought (or nicked, otherwise acquired) a turkey so large that he had to chop it half with an axe to fit it in the oven. Maybe it wasn't a turkey, it was possibly an emu or something that had 'wandered off' from a zoo. He once bought an entire pig home from the pub. Seriously (he had to steal a supermarket trolley). At least it was dead.
Anyway, that means I don't have to faff with oven temperatures and stuff for the rest. It's all a bit of a ritual, though with less bloodletting, orgies, and human sacrifice. It's about the only time I have a roast dinner, as meals go it's a bit of a chore to do often. If I really want one I'll go to the pub.
Christmas pud seems a great idea but I'm always too full so I've stopped bothering with buying it. I'm not a dessert person anyway. A slice of christmas cake is fine though, especially after a long, chilly walk. Marzipan is my vicodin.
Those bacony-date things though? Fucking barfworthy. I ate one once because I thought it was pig-in-blanket. WTF?
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Yeah, but would you do a turkey at any other time of year?
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Sure, though I don't often see it (and we only eat happy, free-roaming stuff). It's just a big chicken though. I think I'd eat an emu. Probably best to kill them before they kill you (we all know what really happened to Rod).
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I would have turkey more often if it was cheaper for free range. I prefer beef but its nice to have turkey sometimes and why not at Christmas. When it was just me and Mrs Pcolbeck we would have pheasant instead of turkey. You can't have bread sauce with beef but it goes well with pheasant.
I like all the other Christmas foods really even the sprouts. I'm even branching out into foreign Christmas foods such as lebkuchen.
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I'm not over-keen on turkey. Best xmas dinner I had was a really, really good roast chicken, covered in bacon and with butter stuffed under the skin.
Love the rest, including sprouts.
Particularly fond of christmas cake.
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I like Christmas cake. Well, I like most cake. But I do love marzipan.
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I love sprouts. Fortunately my dad has an allotment, so we get them throughout the sprout season. Ironically, my dad doesn't really like them, but grows them just so we can have some at Christmas.
I'll eat a mince pie or two, but generally they can fuck off.....
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Oh yes, sprouts are gorgeous and much maligned.
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I like sprouts and cabbage any time. There is that dread, foetid pall on a christmas morn when all the local old people (and this is Surrey, death's waiting room) decide to boil them for a couple of hours.
I don't like it when people try to 'moisten their turkey' (that really should be a euphemism) by putting butter in, under the skin, and on top of it. Until it's basically under an entire butter mountain. They're terrified it might be 'dry.' That's why God invented gravy. Honestly, you'd think some people had never read the Bible to the end where he talks about that kind of thing.
Barbecued turkey is good, though I mostly can't be bothered, plus I'm usually pretty flammable by Christmas evening so shouldn't be near flames.
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I am not fond of turkey and our household is too small to justify a big bird.
We like the trimmings that are traditionally served and they are too greasy for us to eat with a fatty meat so it will be a chicken again this year.
David doesn't like Christmas cake or pudding much. He's not to keen on mince pies either.
Lots of other Nice Stuffs are available and we will indulge.
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I like roast dinners, but in the modern context of food on hand at all times I really don't see the point of feasting.
Pud and brandy butter are great. Once a year.
I'll do the cooking this year, and M-i-L is in for a nasty shock if she thinks she's going to railroad us into filling our fridge with Turkey and all the accoutrements so that she can stuff herself stupid but leave more food waste than food consumed.
We'll have 5 courses. But they will be nouvelle cuisine size. By the end of the meal we will be only just not hungry.
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Turkey is shit. We do pork belly, it's the shit. You can't cock it up, it's always delicious and tender. My MIL did goose one year. It had the texture of old-person-rosbif. I have no idea how that happened.
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pretty much all but the turkey, planning a very slow roasted shoulder of lamb this year.
Sprouts, yes please, I once lived down the road from a sprout farm a sack of them for £2. Made more than that portioning them up and becoming the office sprout dealer ;D
Christmas pud and cake, could eat them all year, but these days generally restrict myself to a small helping and a single slice of cake.
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I would very happily have something (anything) other than turkey, but my wife and son insist on it, plus we're having my parents and sister over for Christmas this year and they will be expecting it.
We usually just have a crown rather than a full bird. I was tasked with buying one when I was in Waitrose the other day and they only had medium sized ones in, no large ones. It looks like more than enough to feed six people to me so I got it. My wife wasn't so sure, but that's because she likes to have plenty left over to ensure we go through the rigmarole of having turkey for every bloody meal for the following week. WHY???
I just hope she doesn't insist on using the carcass to make soup again like she has done before. It stinks really badly during cooking and the results don't taste great either.
I like mince pies but, as noted elsewhere, only good ones made with decent pastry. Most shop-bought mince pies are very disappointing.
Christmas pudding is fantastic, but again can be disappointing - sometimes very stodgy and heavy.
Sprouts are great. Boiling them is insane though. Surest way to kill them. I find braising them the best cooking method, to ensure they retain some colour and crispness. Can't be doing with all the frippery that some people insist on. Sprouts with bacon and chestnuts is a meal in itself, not a side dish. Sprouts should be celebrated for their sproutiness, not buried under other flavours.
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We had turkey for the last 25 years, for the Inlaw Paw. Had one last year through sheer inertia but didn't enjoy it, so it's goose this year, with red cabbage, chestnuts, sprouts, knödel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kn%C3%B6del) and roast spuds.
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We'll have 5 courses. But they will be nouvelle cuisine size.
Ponce :P
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No to goose. It tastes like a chicken that's gone a bit off. Oh it's so moist they claim, but then so is wet tarmac.
And anything with goat cheese. I was a vegetarian for years, and it was goat cheese that really ended my run. At some point in the early 2000s every fucking veggie alternative started to feature the festering capricious curd.
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Yes, but not bought food. Only that made by Mrs R!
Actually what we like best are the extras, the trimmings!
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Fortunately neither my parents, my wife nor me are keen on turkey. I got a (small) crown last year after Xmas, and it confirmed that we won't be doing that again - dry, tasteless, and the leftovers hung around for ages.
Wing rib of beef, rack of venison and rack of lamb are ordered for delivery on Monday, and we'll decide what to eat on Xmas day later (probably the beef, I'd say) - my parents are staying for 9 days, so we'll have plenty of time to make up our minds.
Other stuff - I like Xmas pud and mince pies (though having them occasionally is *just* fine), but was never keen on sprouts.
Then I had some that weren't overcooked. Finely chopped, lightly sautéed with a sprinkling of black pudding - mmmmn.
Goose - it's nice, but always seems staggeringly poor value to me. Goat's cheese - mmmmn. An essential for any cheeseboard. Probably two or three varieties.
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festering capricious curd
That sounds like a particularly ripe Shakespearean insult. And is a truly wonderful way to describe goats cheese.
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Yes, I like Christmas food thank you Bobbers.
Not so, Christmas Pud and Cake. You can stuff those up your bottom. If that's alright?
In the past two years, I've only started to like Mince Pies.
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Eight years ago, Sainsbury's cancelled our 21 December delivery because SNO.
We had a lamb joint with redcurrant glaze from the freezer.
We did not suffer.
I do not like feeling stuffed and HATE wasting food.
Most of our Christmas food will come in small portions or be kept for later. I minimise the very perishable.
David dislikes sprouts so they won't feature.
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Oh yes.
We are going to my parents this year. Mum likes to buy a bigish turkey so that we can get two meals out of it. And someone (me or Mum) will boil up the bones and make soup. Nom. Actually I think I agreed I would do the stripping of the bones. It is a messy job, but I quite like it.
Bread sauce? Nom.
Sprouts? Nom.
Parsnips? Nom.
Whole onions cooked in the oven with all the other roast veg? Someone else can have mine. I'll swap with my sister who doesn't like parsnips.
Christmas pudding (made to my grandmother's recipe)? Nom. And cake and mince pies and shortbread. Nom nom nom.
Mr fimm is half Austrian. They always have Wiener Schnitzel on Christmas Eve, so now we do that for my parents too. My mother in law is British, so when we go out there we have all the Christmas Eve traditions (which is when the Austrians celebrate) and then we have to take stuffing mix and Christmas pudding out with us so we can have a British-style dinner on the 25th.
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We’ve never liked turkey, and capons are just big chickens since the castration of cockerels was banned. Ian’s version might be moist, but I can’t conceive of having a kitchen big enough to have a slow cooker that would accommodate a turkey!
We’ve tended to have beef or pork (sole roast organic shoulder). I like roast lamb but not leftover lamb. I’ve had, and enjoyed goose, but expensive for the amount of meat and even one for 4 would struggle to fit in our oven without some preparatory surgery, so I’ve ordered a breast and leg portion for the two of us this year.
I don’t do Christmas pudding, and maybe one or two mince pies if my wife makes them. We’ll be doing a cake at the weekend.
We both enjoy sprouts, plain boiled, or jazzed up by being braised in stock with added bacon and chestnuts.
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Mince pies, Christmas pudding, Christmas cake - no thank you. I can't stand raisins so those are all out. Also not keen on blue cheese or parsnips unless drowned in honey.
Everything else is nice. Brandy butter on toast (healthy, yes?)! I like sprouts but Mr M doesn't. He has to eat ONE, it is traditional.
I prefer a turkey sandwich (Boxing Day style) than the actual Christmas meal itself.
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Turkey's fine (it's way better than pork). Sprouts are the devil's vegetable. The only appeal of Christmas pudding is pyromania, and mince pies are disappointing as well as badly named.
OTOH, licence to nibble cheese. :thumbsup:
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Cheese (of any type) isn't really purely Christamssy though, is it? I reckon I eat cheese at least 300 days a year, whereas I only eat Turkey 1 day a year*
*Actually - probably 3 days a year due to all the leftovers
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We'll have 5 courses. But they will be nouvelle cuisine size.
Ponce :P
(http://digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/13/13/768x1151/gallery_pa-16123545.jpg)
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All the sweet stuff - yes! I always have seconds (or thirds...) of Christmas pudding, cake, mince pies, and I eat brandy butter by the spoonful (tablespoon, preferably).
I don't do the traditional Christmas dinner - I've been veggie for >30 years, so I just have something else - normally some sort of veg/cheese bake type thing.
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Last week we had a tryout of a Tesco turkey & gammon joint. We cooked it exactly to the instructions, the turkey was dry and tasteless, the gammon was inedible - even the cats stuck their tails in the air and strutted haughtily away.
So it's likely we will either have a roast chicken or a nice brisket with roast veggies, sprouts and all the trimmings. Then sleep for 24 hours...
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Christmas ramps up the capricious curds, I think because of the odd and peculiar belief that it goes with cranberry sauce. In fact this – breaded and deep fried goat cheese and cranberry sauce – seemed at one point to be the only bloody alt-veg christmas meal at any do.
I don't like parsnips. I don't know what they are. Are they supposed to be vegetables or discarded body parts? Oddly sweet and then people roast them in honey like that's a normal thing. It obviously isn't.
I usually try to buy enough turkey for the day itself, the cats get the leftovers and it's game over before Boxing day comes a knocking. I still recall the grim procession of turkey leftovers throughout January (and sometimes it seemed like beyond) – that slow trudge of sandwiches which sullied my childhood (and given the salmonella risk, probably came perilously close to ending my childhood). I did have a thing for two week old mushed up trifle though. My dad would put two entire bottles of non-duty-paid Harvey's Bristol Cream in it. Just the thing to blot out the familial cacophony once the Blue Nun ran dry.
I don't really get the turkey is dry thing. Honest, you can import gravy from the north these days. It won't actually make you northern, none of that eebygum business. You'd have to eat gravy for days before that set in (so obviously don't do it).
As for pork, that is dry. It's the pig's revenge. The sahara of meats. Stick with bacon (America's universal seasoning) or sausages. I do love some stuffing, I do.
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My mum used to go mad and do turkey, a ham and beef. I'd have bern happy with a plate full of roast taters, gravy and some sprouts.
Now I do xmas at home it's that plus duck breast & cherries cooked in kriek. :P
And xmas pud :sick:
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I expect there will be a goose at Fort Larrington. This is a Good Thing.
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I love almost all aspects of Christmas food (but I love almost all aspects of most food).
Not terribly bothered about turkey. I've had some very dull ones in the past.
We have goose and have done since we started to celebrate Christmas at our house as opposed to being based with relatives (so since 1995). I love goose and we've not had a bad one. It is expensive, but it's the centrepiece of our celebrations. We don't go much on presents these days. Don't go out that much over the season either. MrsC will also cook her spiced salt beef (which is salting away in the spare bedroom as I type), and a turkey crown. She usually does gammon as well but has already done a smallish piece which is cut into sensible sized pieces and in the freezer.
There will be the usual roast veggies and pigs in blankets. And bread sauce.
There are also sausage rolls and meat patties (look like mince pies but only contain minced beef and a little onion). There are three puddings, to a new recipe we've not tried before. It the pudding works, the spares will probably stay in the freezer for next year.
Did I mention there were just the two of us?
No cake this year.
And I love sprouts!
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Only 2 of us so turkey would be a bit much. This year I'll be concocting some variation on a beef hotpot + roast parsnips, braised red cabbage. OH may do sprouts for herself, she'll have to hurry they should have been started days ago😀. I is wanting a Dundee CAEK , (all for ourselfs ? Yes all for ourselfs Precious)
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Typical Danish Christmas dinner:
Roast pork
Roast duck
Gravy
Boiled potatoes
Caramelised potatoes
Crisps
warm Red cabbage
All very yummy in no so large amounts.
And for dessert Risalamande http://nordicfoodliving.com/risalamande-danish-rice-dessert/ (http://nordicfoodliving.com/risalamande-danish-rice-dessert/)
I love it but only once a year, because it's so rich
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My mum used to go mad and do turkey, a ham and beef. I'd have bern happy with a plate full of roast taters, gravy and some sprouts.
Now I do xmas at home it's that plus duck breast & cherries cooked in kriek. :P
And xmas pud :sick:
You won't like my Sacred Christmas pud gin then. (We have the Boutique-y Gin advent this year, been very good so far, all off-piste gins).
I used to just eat the trimmings and veggie sausages when I was a veggie (I still had to the cook the turkey, mind). But still, I quite like turkey and won't be dissuaded.
Ours usually fits in a large slow cooker (until last year it fitted in the medium). It's enough for four and two cats. To be honest, the cats would probably eat the entire thing if I didn't stop them.
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My daughter and granddaughter do their meal. They are into beef wellington. Bloody expensive but they love it and it does 3 meals.
I think turkeys are over-rated. I quite fancy swan but I haven't seen one for sale. I might just have to nip down the park in the dead of night. There are six full-sized cygnets there beginning to get white feathers. I reckon they would be pretty tasty. I doubt that our oven is big enough though.
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Typical Danish Christmas dinner:
Roast pork
Roast duck
Gravy
Boiled potatoes
Caramelised potatoes
Crisps
warm Red cabbage
All very yummy in no so large amounts.
And for dessert Risalamande http://nordicfoodliving.com/risalamande-danish-rice-dessert/ (http://nordicfoodliving.com/risalamande-danish-rice-dessert/)
I love it but only once a year, because it's so rich
Sugar browned? That might possibly be the thing I miss most about my ex. His mum - Bedstemor - always made loads and loads of sugar-browned spuds for our Christmas meal with her (which wasn't always at Christmas) so that there'd be leftovers for the next day too, 'specially for me. Absolute God food.
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I think turkeys are over-rated. I quite fancy swan but I haven't seen one for sale. I might just have to nip down the park in the dead of night. There are six full-sized cygnets there begging to get white feathers. I reckon they would be pretty tasty. I doubt that our oven is big enough though.
Dr Annie Grey, food historian, (BBC R4 The Kitchen Cabinet, amongst many others) has said that neither swan nor peacock actually taste as good as turkey. One of the main reasons for turkey becoming popular (from the sixteenth century onwards) was that it looked big and impressive plus it actually tasted better.
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I don't think I've ever eaten turkey. My mum doesn't like it, so we never had it, and I've been veggie since I left home.
Sprouts - yes please. Preferably done with garlic and nuts, but boiled or steamed will do.
ALL the roast potatoes - yes please.
All the other trimmings - yes please but not the parsnips because they're horrid.
Christmas pudding - yes please, preferably made by my mum.
Mince pies - yes please, preferably made by my mum with homemade mincemeat.
Trifle - god yes, preferably made by my mum.
The only Christmas food I don't really like or eat is the meat bit and the parsnip bit.
Work arsed around so long this year before authorising the Christmas leave (requests were in by end of September, not authorised until 2 weeks ago) that the train fares to get home were £200+, and there's no way I'm paying that, plus another £50 for a cat sitter, for three days. So Pete and I will be spending Christmas together alone and I'm actually quite looking forward to it, apart from not having any of the made-by-my-mum delicacies. Although I have a jar of her mincemeat in the fridge so I might make some mince pies. Haven't decided what to have for Christmas dinner. Possibly just an oven-full of roast potatoes!
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Turkey's fine (it's way better than pork). Sprouts are the devil's vegetable. The only appeal of Christmas pudding is pyromania, and mince pies are disappointing as well as badly named.
OTOH, licence to nibble cheese. :thumbsup:
I agree on the sprouts and the cheese....
Oh yes.
We are going to my parents this year. Mum likes to buy a bigish turkey so that we can get two meals out of it. And someone (me or Mum) will boil up the bones and make soup. Nom. Actually I think I agreed I would do the stripping of the bones. It is a messy job, but I quite like it.
Bread sauce? Nom.
Sprouts? Nom.
Parsnips? Nom.
Whole onions cooked in the oven with all the other roast veg? Someone else can have mine. I'll swap with my sister who doesn't like parsnips.
Christmas pudding (made to my grandmother's recipe)? Nom. And cake and mince pies and shortbread. Nom nom nom.
Mr fimm is half Austrian. They always have Wiener Schnitzel on Christmas Eve, so now we do that for my parents too. My mother in law is British, so when we go out there we have all the Christmas Eve traditions (which is when the Austrians celebrate) and then we have to take stuffing mix and Christmas pudding out with us so we can have a British-style dinner on the 25th.
I do like a schnitzel.
We used to have Lasagna, and schnitzelled turkey. Salt cod on christmas eve and new years.
Pandoro and panetone.
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Typical Danish Christmas dinner:
Roast pork
Roast duck
Gravy
Boiled potatoes
Caramelised potatoes
Crisps
warm Red cabbage
All very yummy in no so large amounts.
And for dessert Risalamande http://nordicfoodliving.com/risalamande-danish-rice-dessert/ (http://nordicfoodliving.com/risalamande-danish-rice-dessert/)
I love it but only once a year, because it's so rich
Sugar browned? That might possibly be the thing I miss most about my ex. His mum - Bedstemor - always made loads and loads of sugar-browned spuds for our Christmas meal with her (which wasn't always at Christmas) so that there'd be leftovers for the next day too, 'specially for me. Absolute God food.
yes sugar browned and they are very very good and addictive :smug:
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Typical Danish Christmas dinner:
Roast pork
Roast duckf
Gravy
Boiled potatoes
Caramelised potatoes
Crisps
warm Red cabbage
All very yummy in no so large amounts.
And for dessert Risalamande http://nordicfoodliving.com/risalamande-danish-rice-dessert/ (http://nordicfoodliving.com/risalamande-danish-rice-dessert/)
I love it but only once a year, because it's so rich
Sugar browned? That might possibly be the thing I miss most about my ex. His mum - Bedstemor - always made loads and loads of sugar-browned spuds for our Christmas meal with her (which wasn't always at Christmas) so that there'd be leftovers for the next day too, 'specially for me. Absolute God food.
yes sugar browned and they are very very good and addictive :smug:
Toffee potatoes!
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That sounds grotesque. I didn't even know it was a thing and I liked the ignorance.
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I think parsnips are the most marvellous of the root vegetables. I recall, when I was still teaching in a secondary school, there was a very good article in the Graun about the virtues of growing and eating parsnips. There was one evocative phrase describing the parsnip which equally applied to me and a select band of my colleagues. The author of the article described that moment that the parsnip is dug out of frozen soil and sees the light of da "gross, whiskered and reeking".
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It the pudding works, the spares will probably stay in the freezer for next year.
Do you need to freeze them? I just keep mine in the larder, and dose them occasionally with brandy. The one we had last Christmas was two years old and had matured beautifully!
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It the pudding works, the spares will probably stay in the freezer for next year.
Do you need to freeze them? I just keep mine in the larder, and dose them occasionally with brandy. The one we had last Christmas was two years old and had matured beautifully!
We have had ones that Mrs Pcolbeck made that were a couple of years old. Just kept in a dark cupboard. They were fine didnt even feed them (well they had been well fed coming up to Christmas the year they were made).
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Mixing sweet and savoury does not appeal to all, but caramelised food is a Thing in several kinds of cuisine.
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Mixing sweet and savoury does not appeal to all, but caramelised food is a Thing in several kinds of cuisine.
Mustard and sugar glazed grilled chops. Om nom nom...
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It the pudding works, the spares will probably stay in the freezer for next year.
Do you need to freeze them? I just keep mine in the larder, and dose them occasionally with brandy. The one we had last Christmas was two years old and had matured beautifully!
We have had ones that Mrs Pcolbeck made that were a couple of years old. Just kept in a dark cupboard. They were fine didnt even feed them (well they had been well fed coming up to Christmas the year they were made).
My mother never froze hers and I've kept ones I've made for a year but MrsC freezes them. There are some things one doesn't argue with.
To be fair, it probably doesn't do them any harm, and they stay out of the way. There's not that much room in our kitchen.
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Mixing sweet and savoury does not appeal to all.
This would appear to be a fairly modern western thing. Most cultures are more enthusiastic about the sweet & savoury thing than we are.
(But see: pork and apple sauce, ham and pineapple, cheese and pineapple on sticks, redcurrant jelly/Cumberland sauce, chutney, tomato ketchup...)
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Mixing sweet and savoury does not appeal to all.
This would appear to be a fairly modern western thing. Most cultures are more enthusiastic about the sweet & savoury thing than we are.
(But see: pork and apple sauce, ham and pineapple, cheese and pineapple on sticks, redcurrant jelly/Cumberland sauce, chutney, tomato ketchup...)
Indeed and the sugar content of many ketchups, condiments and most chutneys is very high.
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Yep. :thumbsup: well cooked turkey, sprouts, roasties, p-i-blkts, bread sauce, christmas pudd n custard, and turkey, leek & gammon pie on boxing day, and... subsequent cold meats with pickles... :)
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I'd prefer goose to turkey, but about half the weight comes out as fat when you roast a goose so it's expendsive per unit of cooked weight and its a struggle to get enough meat off for a big family gathering (especially our brood of gannets)
Turkey OTH, there's always plenty for seconds, a second meal of some description, soup etc. But we do go to a very well established traditional butcher to get ours.
Love all the trimmings
Christmas pud - but only MrsS' secret recipe. Keeps well although have had one go mouldy over a year, so now spares kept in freezer.
Mince pies - shop bought = :sick:
Mince pies - Home made, wholemeal pastry, filling also home made = deep joy
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English Christmas food yes.
Polak Christmas food, not so much.
Turkey -I love it in any way shape or form and generally have some once every week or two (not roasted, as Ian has intimated, roasting is a bit of a faff best left to a.n.other).
Stuffing - yes please.
Sprouts - yes please.
Roast veg - yum.
Christmas pud - no thanks, but I'm not big on pud generally.
The alternative is 12 meat-free courses - one for each of the apostles (don't ask me to list them - the courses or the apostles)
But here's an incomplete list of what I've been weaned on.
Oplatek - unleavend bread, or host - if you participate in Holy Communion you'll know what I mean - It's a ritual thing, where you exchange it with good wishes with your nearest and dearest (which is nice). I actually quite like the taste. I think it is no different (and might even be) rice paper. So not the most nourishing of options.
Rollmops - Pickled herring - I can deal with these only if they are followed with a shot of decent vodka. Which has been kept on ice.
Carp - F*ck that. That's a bottom feeder and a beast which for years intimidated me when on the family xmas table. And it was full of fucking bones. Had Salmon not been invented?
Herring in tomato sauce. - Err.... Didn't we have herring earlier?
Pierogi - Ravioli with cheese or mushroom filling. Covered in melted butter. My veins cannot handle this.
Cod fillets in breadcrumbs - there's a theme going here.
Mushrooms, fish, anything else in aspic. Aspic? Are you serious?
Aspic is the population paste of Satan.
Polak cakes - Now these can be seriously good. But the amount of effort which goes into making some of the outweighs the value of the end product.
I have 100% admiration for my gran who used to bake these.
I tried to do so once.
It resulted in a missed birthday party of a close friend because the fucking thing was still being proved / proved again / etc/ 12 hrs after I was due at the party.
Gimme an Angielski Xmas dinner any day of the week and I'll be happy.
ETA
Tradition has is that you don't start eating until the sprogs have spotted the first star in the sky on the night of the 24th.
I like that, but you'd be stuffed and hungry on a cloudy night.
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Rollmops - Pickled herring
When I was a kid, we used to have Rollmops every Saturday lunch time! I love them. I think I might have to go and buy some tomorrow, because it's been a while....
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Mushrooms, fish, anything else in aspic. Aspic? Are you serious?
Aspic is the population paste of Satan.
...
Word. ;D
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Mushrooms, fish, anything else in aspic. Aspic? Are you serious?
Aspic is the population paste of Satan.
...
Word. ;D
:sick:
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Haven't decided what to have for Christmas dinner. Possibly just an oven-full of roast potatoes!
Prepares to go to EG's for xmas :P
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English Christmas food yes.
Polak Christmas food, not so much.
Turkey -I love it in any way shape or form and generally have some once every week or two (not roasted, as Ian has intimated, roasting is a bit of a faff best left to a.n.other).
Stuffing - yes please.
Sprouts - yes please.
Roast veg - yum.
Christmas pud - no thanks, but I'm not big on pud generally.
The alternative is 12 meat-free courses - one for each of the apostles (don't ask me to list them - the courses or the apostles)
But here's an incomplete list of what I've been weaned on.
Oplatek - unleavend bread, or host - if you participate in Holy Communion you'll know what I mean - It's a ritual thing, where you exchange it with good wishes with your nearest and dearest (which is nice). I actually quite like the taste. I think it is no different (and might even be) rice paper. So not the most nourishing of options.
Rollmops - Pickled herring - I can deal with these only if they are followed with a shot of decent vodka. Which has been kept on ice.
Carp - F*ck that. That's a bottom feeder and a beast which for years intimidated me when on the family xmas table. And it was full of fucking bones. Had Salmon not been invented?
Herring in tomato sauce. - Err.... Didn't we have herring earlier?
Pierogi - Ravioli with cheese or mushroom filling. Covered in melted butter. My veins cannot handle this.
Cod fillets in breadcrumbs - there's a theme going here.
Mushrooms, fish, anything else in aspic. Aspic? Are you serious?
Aspic is the population paste of Satan.
Polak cakes - Now these can be seriously good. But the amount of effort which goes into making some of the outweighs the value of the end product.
I have 100% admiration for my gran who used to bake these.
I tried to do so once.
It resulted in a missed birthday party of a close friend because the fucking thing was still being proved / proved again / etc/ 12 hrs after I was due at the party.
Gimme an Angielski Xmas dinner any day of the week and I'll be happy.
ETA
Tradition has is that you don't start eating until the sprogs have spotted the first star in the sky on the night of the 24th.
I like that, but you'd be stuffed and hungry on a cloudy night.
It is a think about no meat on eve's but carp can be nice.
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Mixing sweet and savoury does not appeal to all.
This would appear to be a fairly modern western thing. Most cultures are more enthusiastic about the sweet & savoury thing than we are.
(But see: pork and apple sauce, ham and pineapple, cheese and pineapple on sticks, redcurrant jelly/Cumberland sauce, chutney, tomato ketchup...)
Indeed and the sugar content of many ketchups, condiments and most chutneys is very high.
That's Western chutney. In India it's a sort of coconut dip.
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Carp does taste like river bottoms. Like any kind of bottom, that's not a good taste.
Anything in jelly or aspic is foulness. I have to surgically extract it from pork pies.
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The thing about carp is you're supposed to buy it live, keep it in the bath all day (Christmas dinner is eaten on the evening of 24th, supposedly when the first star can be seen) and then chop off its head. This makes it fresh mud.
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I quite like carp, which my late grandmother used to cook.
I don't think my Mum likes it as she never serves it.
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I've enjoyed reading this thread but the tradition in our family is to eat out. We are not a big family so will meet up at a pub not too far away. This year we are having a four meat roast which could be good.
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I like that approach.
Making it someone else's problem inevitably relieves the pressure from nearest and dearest.
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I don't like stress over Christmas food and think it very sad that people get so worked up about these things.
I suppose there's only the two of us and I like to KISS1.
But I managed unassisted to assemble 10 items for our dinner's main course last year and The Boss didn't moan.
It can't be that difficult. There's always a huge choice of things and sufficient Other Stuffs so you won't starve if you skip whatever you dislike.
1) KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!
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Carp does taste like river bottoms. Like any kind of bottom, that's not a good taste.
Anything in jelly or aspic is foulness. I have to surgically extract it from pork pies.
That, m'lud, is a large, scarcely-inhabited island to the east of Sarfend-on-Mudd.
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Weren't there plans for an airport there, once upon a time?
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Weren't there plans for an airport there, once upon a time?
"London Foulness" doesn't quite have the right ring to it, thobut.
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Weren't there plans for an airport there, once upon a time?
"London Foulness" doesn't quite have the right ring to it, thobut.
Wasn't that what Joseph Bazalgette was brought in to deal with?
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Weren't there plans for an airport there, once upon a time?
"London Foulness" doesn't quite have the right ring to it, thobut.
I'm sure it would have been badged as 'Maplin', 'Maplin Sands' or similar.
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It seems that
Stilton
Xmas cake, puddings & mince pies
Yeast dough
Macadamia nuts
Chocolate & coffee
Milk
Onions & garlic
are all variably harmful for pets.
More fo me!
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It seems that
Stilton
Xmas cake, puddings & mince pies
Yeast dough
Macadamia nuts
Chocolate & coffee
Milk
Onions & garlic
are all variably harmful for pets.
More fo me!
Dried fruit & dairy in general too.
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Cats are mostly sensible[1] about what food they'll steal. It's usually dairy that you have to keep them away from. And any meat that you might want to eat yourself, obviously. Also (cat owner top tip) tins of fat that you've left to congeal on the window sill before binning, rather than pouring down the drain. Didn't do the cat any long-term harm, but the carpet was traumatised.
Dogs, of course, will eat anything irrespective of whether it's harmful, or even food. And can be more dangerously subtle about it (even if that just means eating all the evidence).
[1] "Mostly sensible" is a good description of cats generally.
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It seems that
Stilton
Xmas cake, puddings & mince pies
Yeast dough
Macadamia nuts
Chocolate & coffee
Milk
Onions & garlic
are all variably harmful for pets.
More fo me!
Dried fruit & dairy in general too.
Well yes, the Xmas puds & cake meant dried fruit and the milk & Stilton meant dairy...
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Had some mince pies yesterday. Home-made, of course. Christmas has finally started. :thumbsup:
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Cats are mostly sensible[1] about what food they'll steal. It's usually dairy that you have to keep them away from. And any meat that you might want to eat yourself, obviously. Also (cat owner top tip) tins of fat that you've left to congeal on the window sill before binning, rather than pouring down the drain. Didn't do the cat any long-term harm, but the carpet was traumatised.
Dogs, of course, will eat anything irrespective of whether it's harmful, or even food. And can be more dangerously subtle about it (even if that just means eating all the evidence).
[1] "Mostly sensible" is a good description of cats generally.
Pete has an expression of perfect indignation for when I'm eating dairy he isn't allowed. I sometimes give him teeny crumbs of cheese, but he's really miffed he's not allowed chocolate mousse. He loves red pesto - probably the oil, and he likes the tomato sauce off Heinz beans.
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It the pudding works, the spares will probably stay in the freezer for next year.
Do you need to freeze them? I just keep mine in the larder, and dose them occasionally with brandy. The one we had last Christmas was two years old and had matured beautifully!
We have had ones that Mrs Pcolbeck made that were a couple of years old. Just kept in a dark cupboard. They were fine didnt even feed them (well they had been well fed coming up to Christmas the year they were made).
My mother never froze hers and I've kept ones I've made for a year but MrsC freezes them. There are some things one doesn't argue with.
To be fair, it probably doesn't do them any harm, and they stay out of the way. There's not that much room in our kitchen.
My mother used to keep hers on top of a wardrobe.
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Cats are mostly sensible[1] about what food they'll steal. It's usually dairy that you have to keep them away from. And any meat that you might want to eat yourself, obviously. Also (cat owner top tip) tins of fat that you've left to congeal on the window sill before binning, rather than pouring down the drain. Didn't do the cat any long-term harm, but the carpet was traumatised.
Dogs, of course, will eat anything irrespective of whether it's harmful, or even food. And can be more dangerously subtle about it (even if that just means eating all the evidence).
[1] "Mostly sensible" is a good description of cats generally.
Is that a bit like Earth being described as Mostly Harmless?
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Having got an estimate on a goose and not wanting to take out a mortgage, we're having a fish dartois on the day and a civet of venison on Boxing Day when half the kids will here.
The secret of a good civet is to start marinating the meat three or four days after the eat-by date, or longer if you have the courage.
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I am about to set off to the dressed poultry auction at the local cattle market. Mts Pcolbeck has left strict instruction that I should come back with a Turkey of 14 to 16lbs and NOTHING ELSE !
Its amazing how she can talk in caps.
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I am about to set off to the dressed poultry auction at the local cattle market. Mts Pcolbeck has left strict instruction that I should come back with a Turkey of 14 to 16lbs and NOTHING ELSE !
Its amazing how she can talk in caps.
Doesn't go by the name of Ysabell by any chance?
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Home-made sherry trifle. I'm only allowed to have it at Christmas and on my birthday, as otherwise I'd eat it with (or instead of...) every meal.
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I just ate a huge bowl of trifle. I can't say there's any other time I would eat it, but it brings back childhood memories of the the QC sherry hit and run (I swear my dad use to put in at least two bottles). It used to put the merry into my juvenile christmases.
A lot of turkey left here. I don't know how much turkey the average person eats, but it seems our local butcher doesn't either. Or we're not average. Anyway, I think I'm making a mega-xmas dinner reprise hash shortly. Throw it in the pan with some stuffing balls, quartered sprouts, and parboiled potatoes and fry it all up until it's crispy.
That cats appreciate the turkey surplus though. They know it's in the fridge. Bad Cat actually climbed up my last night. Which, as I was wearing just my PJs, really bloody hurt. Fortunately the festive can of Even More Jesus imperial stout took away the pain (and also caused me to misplace my arms and legs for a while).
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We know we can't finish a turkey so we eat a chicken.
Trimmings went down well.
Cooked too much veg yesterday so had that for lunch.
Trifle: there's a thought! Haven't had any yet but have most of the ingredients to make one. Not had a trifle for YEARS and I'm sure David would love it!
Maybe I should wait till there's a bit more fridge space as we'd never finish it all in one sitting.
Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and several mince pies are still unloved and awaiting attention.
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I just ate a huge bowl of trifle. I can't say there's any other time I would eat it, but it brings back childhood memories of the the QC sherry hit and run (I swear my dad use to put in at least two bottles). It used to put the merry into my juvenile christmases.
Reminds me of the time when my mother, heavily influenced by the Galloping Gourmet, put most of a bottle of rum into her trifle. I was really upset as it spoilt it for me (I was probably about 8 or 9 at the time--I liked the sherry in trifle but this was far too strong). My uncle however seemed to spent most of the afternoon helping himself to the remains.
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I've just finished up 'squaring off the corners' of our large tiramisu.
It had a proper dose of freshly made coffeve in it, and was mighty fine.
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Lt. Col. Larrington (retd.) has just finished dismembering the goose remain and shoving it into
a hole under the patio the pressure cooker.
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We ate wot I mentioned above and It Was Good.
And for afters had vanilla ice-cream with toasted gingerbread, which was scrumptious even if it did caramelise the toaster. Then a stiff walk to drive down the blood sugar again.
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We’ll be starting on the leftovers today. Coulibiac and salad tonight, goose salad with re-fried roasties tomorrow.
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Christmas food is unutterably shite.
With the sole exception of Butterfly's lentil savoury.
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I love Christmas food, but this year it hasn't returned the compliment. Mainlining Gavascon and a phone call to the doctor today. :(
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Christmas food is unutterably shite.
With the sole exception of Butterfly's lentil savoury.
I made a red onion tart tatin with thyme & cheddar pastry, and had it with roast tatties, broccoli and sprouts roasted with chestnuts, and cauliflower cheese, and it was not shite at all.
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Our leftovers might have gone down better if Idiot Boy here han't cremated the stuffing and pigs-in-blankies :facepalm:
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Re: trifle... My wife makes a most excellent trifle based on raspberries, and using large quantities of Crème de Framboise rather than sherry. We've not had it on this year's menu though, and tbh, I've not missed it - it's not like we've been short of food.
We usually just have a crown rather than a full bird. I was tasked with buying one when I was in Waitrose the other day and they only had medium sized ones in, no large ones. It looks like more than enough to feed six people to me so I got it. My wife wasn't so sure, but that's because she likes to have plenty left over to ensure we go through the rigmarole of having turkey for every bloody meal for the following week. WHY???
Unsurprisingly, the "serves six" label was an understatement and the six of us* ate handsomely with plenty of meat left over for subsequent enforced turkey consumption. I actually found the damn thing surprisingly edible, largely thanks to a) the fact that our oven never achieves the stated temperature, so it got a nice, slow cooking; b) use of the Thermapen to ensure we removed it from the oven the moment it was done all the way through rather than left in there until it had well and truly dried out as usual; and c) about an hour's resting while we finished off the accompaniments - being such a dense lump of protein, it was still hot by the time we served it.
*seven, if you include the dog - and he has certainly had his fair share of the meat.
The only appeal of Christmas pudding is pyromania
My family are always impressed by my ability to generate significant flames on the pud. The trick, as any fule kno, is to zap the brandy for 20 seconds in the microwave before ignition. I find that a good flambéeing genuinely improves the flavour of a Christmas pud - gives it a nice hint of caramel/toffee. And I like Christmas pud anyway - as long as it's not too stodgy.
We also started a new family Christmas tradition this year: Oysters Rockefeller. My brother and his family came down just before Christmas, so we had a pre-Christmas Christmas dinner on Saturday 23rc at my parents'. They brought a big box of oysters, half of which we had raw, the other half Rockefeller style - cooked with spinach and Pernod with a crispy breadcrumb topping. Never had it before but turns out it's a really nice way to have oysters. So I posted on facebook that eating oysters Rockefeller was the traditional start to Christmas festivities for our family, thereby making it a historical fact. Will definitely be doing that again.
Unfortunately, by Sunday night, I was struck down with norovirus, and discovered later that my dad, my brother and his wife had been similarly afflicted. We worked out that it must have been the raw oysters - and indeed, I remember while we were opening them thinking that perhaps we should have been keeping them on ice until it was time to serve them... That's definitely not becoming a family tradition if I can help it.
For Christmas Day itself (which we postponed until the 26th, by which time we were mostly over the norovirus), we indulged in a genuinely longstanding family Christmas tradition, with quails' egg and smoked salmon tartlets, as per an old Michel Roux recipe. We've been having these every Christmas for probably the best part of 30 years - bitesize shortcrust pastry cases filled with chopped smoked salmon, topped with a lightly boiled quail's egg and smothered in a 'thousand island' type sauce (basically a mix of ketchup, mayonnaise and brandy). We have them late morning/lunchtime to keep us going until the main event and they are sublime. For me, it wouldn't be Christmas without them.
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We usually just have a crown rather than a full bird. I was tasked with buying one when I was in Waitrose the other day and they only had medium sized ones in, no large ones. It looks like more than enough to feed six people to me so I got it. My wife wasn't so sure, but that's because she likes to have plenty left over to ensure we go through the rigmarole of having turkey for every bloody meal for the following week. WHY???
When I was in my second year at uni, my mother was given a 32lb turkey for our Christmas lunch. Do the maths: 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes. We put it on when we got in from midnight mass. It only just fitted in the oven and everything else had to be done after it had finished cooking.
I remember it as being the best tasting turkey I've ever had.
When I got back from uni for the Easter vacation, I jokingly said I was expecting turkey for dinner. My younger brother growled at me 'don't mention turkey, we've been eating it two or three times a week since you left'.
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I don't like turkey, so cook something different every christmas ...(normally a BBQ)
last year was Duck
this year was smoked Pork ribs (St Louis cut) .... plus all the extras (roast tats, creamed spinach, salds, trifle, etc etc)
cooked for 9 hrs at 110-120 degrees C on a Weber Charcoal BBQ using Mesquinite wood chunks (I'm pretty good at BBQ and have done ribs several times before)
started the fire at 9am and by the time the meat and all the extras was done (6pm) , I had polished off 8 stella pints, a bottle of wine, 1/2 of a bottle of Chivas Regal and had a few puffs of a spliff from my neighbour's lad
so.... I can't remember eating, but everyone else said it was very good :-[
next year I might take the family to the local pub for Christmas lunch
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No one in this thread can like Christmas food as much as this man:
Andy Park has eaten 135,000 sprouts, 107,000 mince pies and drank 6,000 bottles of champagne since 1994.[3]
...
He claims that each day he eats breakfast (turkey sandwich and mince pies), then goes to work, until returning around at lunchtime to eat a full roast turkey dinner before watching a recording of the Queen's Christmas speech, sherry in hand. In 2006, it was reported that the Queen had politely declined an invitation to broadcast her speech from his house.
In an interview published in 2006, Mr. Park was quoted as saying that, over the previous 13 years, he had consumed 4,380 turkeys (one a day), 87,600 mince pies (20 a day), 2,190 pints of gravy (half a pint a day), 26,280 roast potatoes (six a day), 30,660 stuffing balls, 219,000 mushy peas, 4,380 bottles of champagne, 4,380 bottles of sherry and 5,000 bottles of wine. However, in 2001, he was warned by his doctor that the diet was affecting his health after his weight increased to 19 stone (270 lb; 120 kg).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Park_(Mr._Christmas)
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https://theulsterfry.com/featured/everyone-now-living-on-tinfoil-parcels-from-the-fridge-say-reports/
Everything we got in for New Year expires today or tomorrow. Looks like I'll be putting on a kilo and we'll have some very happy dogs.
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We are having a second Christmas dinner tonight. Pcolbeck Juniors's girlfriend was away with her parents for Christmas and they don't really do Christmas (she's from Hong Kong so Chinese new year is the thing). Luckily we aren't having another 15lb turkey but a instead a turkey breast stuffed with chicken breast then duck breast then stuffing.
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I don't think Christmas pudding gives enough pleasure per Calorie.
I am quite happy to indulge in some festive excesses. But they must be fun. I don't think we'll get a traditional pudding next year.
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Every year our in-laws bring up a Christmas pud, and every year they take it home with them. It might have been the same one for the last several years, it should get miles. The also took home 3/4 of a giant trifle and a virginal Christmas cake.
I actually don't mind Christmas pudding but I'm too stuffed over Christmas and thereafter I'm not an habitual dessert eater. I wish I'd kept a slice of cake though because I really fancied one after a walk on Monday.
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I love a good Christmas pudding but a rich, heavy dessert is generally the last thing you want at the end of a rich, heavy meal. One small one was just right to serve six of us at the end of Christmas dinner this year - a little Christmas pudding goes a long way.
If you've got leftover pudding, one of the best things you can do with it is mix it up with leftover custard and freeze it to make ice cream.
My wife made our leftover turkey into a turkey and ham pie. Most excellent it was too. Almost makes it worth having leftover turkey.
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We din't have our Christmas pudding until many hour after dinner; almost any dessert would be too much if dinner had anything approaching 'the full works'.
Think I'll do a trifle next year but fancy Eve's Pudding & custard at some point in the festivities.