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I'm trying to decide if I can be ar5ed to cook Christmas dinner again this year. Since moving to Oz we've done one BBQ Christmas but every other year I've done a full English Christmas dinner - the works. From sprouts, gravy, stuffing balls, meat balls, turkey, roast port, mash and roasties, leeks in cheese sauce. It's HOT as it's usually 40c. The air con wont be on as people are coming in and out of the garden. Last year I cooked for 14 people. May have had a few beers to stay hydrated.
What are you doing for dinner? Be interesting to hear.
Beef brisket, pigs in blankets, stuffing, roast spuds and parsnips, Yorkshire puds, sprouts, carrot and parsnip mash.
Beef, gammon, pigs in blankets, roast tatties and carrots, sprouts, Yorkshire pudding. Trifle.
lambchop Full Member
Beef brisket
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Meat fondue here.
Minimal prep, no food blowout, minimal washing up.
Will be up on Sylt, Danish German border...
My sister is hosting us all this year, she does an excellent Beef Wellington.
We did either duck or venison for many years which came about because my very traditional grandparents had always done the usual (massive) turkey, complete with sprouts put on to boil a week before and we'd end up eating turkey for the next week.
So once they'd died, the turkey thing died with them and we've never had it since!
If there are a lot to cater for, like this Christmas, we usually do Turkey. But apparently this year it will have to he Tűrkiye instead.
Just me, Mrs Noise and the dog this year, so it will be a Julbord to graze on.
Ooh pass the surstromming! mmm!
Home made pizza. The kids love making the dough and there's no massive clean up afterwards.
Rolled rib of beef with the usual things but no way I would do all you have done if it was 40 degrees. Sod that! Had a couple of Christmases in oZ with the rellies and we had a huge fish and BBQ with loads of side salads. Much more suitable to the climate.
I remember my first year here. I was unfortunate enough to be rostered on for an AM shift so I get back at 3pm and (veggie) wife has been cooking up a storm. The works (before kids). I sat down on the balcony, in my jocks. It was 44c. There was no chance in hell I was gonna eat a full Christmas roast!!!
But.... going to the beach on Chrissy morning is bloody great.
It will be turkey but as there are just three of us, I'm trying to convince MrsF that we should just get a small turkey joint rather than a full bird and be eating it forever. Bought a frozen joint last week and it still did 2 meals for four and meat for sandwiches.
Turkey and all of the trimmings - we have family coming over from Australia and they are looking forward to having a traditional Christmas meal as they have only had BBQs since moving there ten years ago. We'll also be doing homemade pizza at some point for them (as someone else above is doing).
nothing. I have a wife for that.
Toasted cheese with english mustard, topped with sliced tomatoes and raw onions with a liberal sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.
Goose. Costs more than turkey (so obviously luxurious) but not too many left overs. Also tastes lush if you use a meat thermometer and don't overcook it. Normally start with smoked salmon or gravlax on home made rye bread with cream cheese and shampoo. Wine with the the goose (all the trimmings particularly bread sauce). Sauternes with the Christmas pudding.
Turkey or a large roastbiff chicken, with roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, boiled lightly Brussels. Because its easy
Gazpacho soup, rainbow trout cerviche, scallop with pear and Jerusalem artichoke, chicken breast with cream and morel mushroom sauce plus braised leaks. Mrs then does pudding. That's this year anyway.
Goose. Costs more than turkey (so obviously luxurious) but not too many left overs.
Going back a while here...
I worked at Sainsbury's for a bit during my A-levels - put some money aside for uni etc. Anyway, I was working Christmas Eve. It was one of those years where Delia (or some other well known chef of the day) had said about roasting your potatoes in goose fat and as a result goose fat was available in jars.
There were fights breaking out all over the supermarket. People running round at 3.58pm on Christmas Eve fighting over the last scraps of turkey in the freezer, the last jars of goose fat on the shelves. Someone in a line at the checkout accused the woman behind her of stealing the jar of goose fat from her trolley, that caused a full-on screaming rage, both women accusing each other of all sorts of heinous crimes.
So yeah, goose. **** that!
Smoked salmon and prawn terrine, tomahawk steak with lobster mac 'n' cheese maybe other sides, finish with fresh fruit and chocolate cremuex.
We do a different meat each year. This year, we've been fortunate enough to source some Wild Ennerdale beef in time. Last year it was local pork from Mansergh, year before a turkey from a mate at Nibthwaite. All the usual trimmings with it.
Turkey Crown, Big chips, gravy, cranberry sauce, some sort of frozen vegetables that can be microwaved - more pigs in blankets than you know what to do with.
Christmas pudding bought this year or last post yuletide - they are a bargain just after the big day..
Full bifter here, prawn cocktail, Turkey, pork, roast, dolphin spuds, stuffing, braised red cabbage, Brussels, pigs in blankets, parsnips, yorkshires. Makes for about 5 days of focussed, relentless eating (supplemented by cheeses and buffet nibbles of course)
Full Christmas dinner but swap the turkey out for a Porchetta that gets cooked really slowly from very early in the morning. There was not a single bit left last year.
Dunno. UK Christmas this year, presumably at my dad's girlfriend's place. My sister will probably have been involved in the planning. I've made it clear I will be helping out, it's not all their job. I've also volunteered my kids' help 🙂 So guessing a traditional UK dinner, turkey + all the trimmings. Hopefully sprouts will make a showing.
Sauternes with the Christmas pudding.
I know it's not cooking OP, but try blue cheeses (Stilton, Gorgonzolas, et al,) with the Sauternes as well. Tis good 🙂
Reading all this, if it was up to me I'd go full veggie. But I don't think the in-laws would be best pleased
We plan a bit wider than Christmas dinner
shellfish on Christmas Eve. Homemade pizza on Christmas Day, the day goes so fast so cooking and washing dishes all day is a waste. There doesn’t get much better than pizza and a good red wine.
If we do a formal meal it is on Boxing Day.
Pies on New Year’s Day
Fried sprout fajitas.
every other year I’ve done a full English Christmas dinner
One of the best things about moving away from England is that you don't have to go through that shit 12 times every December.
We don't do anything special for Xmas. Before kids I can remember sleeping in the car so we could set off up Frenchman's Cap at dawn - it actually snowed on us that day too.
Often, we're driving back from wherever we've been camping so have sandwiches or leftovers in a park. One year we found an Asian cafe open in Toowoomba on our way through and had cheese and ham croissant.
Our family tradition since having kids is to have whatever we fancy when we do the last shop and not worry about it being fancy or special. In the past we've found putting xmas on a pedestal is a bit too stressful for us so we just make sure we have something we enjoy and mark the occasion a bit with some crackers.
mark the occasion a bit with some crackers.
Just plain... or do you add cheese? 😉
I don’t. I’ll be buying something I can stick in the microwave or oven.
Reading the above comments, I’ll probably get a large pizza from Iceland, and a load of extra bits and pieces like mushrooms, extra pepperoni, olives , red onion and cheese, piled on the top, and munch my way through it while watching Wallis and Gromit with a bottle of Shiraz and some spirits to follow.
Oh, and some Marshfield Farm ice cream for afters.
Hopefully cheese & steak fondue
For the last four years we've hosted for the family as it's the first time I've a) had the space and b) had a family. This year though we're visiting other people(*), my partner works from home and doesn't want to spend Christmas at 'work'.
(* - I think, plans change with the wind so who knows.)
One of the best things about moving away from England is that you don’t have to go through that shit 12 times every December.
+1! Pre-Covid, a friend and I started going away at Christmas to Gran Canaria.
We'd do the Festive 500 in the sunshine on warm dry roads, have tapas & wine and just cook whatever was easy in whichever Airbnb we were staying in. I made a big chicken curry one year when there were 4 of us out there.
Turkey here, tried goose once and although it's nice you don't get much meat on it and can cause a bit of a mess in the oven. The only specifics are Albert Barlett Rooster potatoes, they're just consistently excellent for roasting (although sometimes need to buy an extra bag as they have the occasional batch with a fair amount of bad bits in) and Gordon Rhodes' Drop Dead Gorgeous bread sauce mix (pretentious name but it's good and importantly also gluten free as required by one of the family...)
If it were me I'd not bother with Turkey (or ham either) I'd have beef or pork and I'd have fewer vegetables - but my other half and FinL are bigger foodies than me so I don't argue 🙂
If I lived in Australia there would be absolutely no way I'd do a british style xmas dinner - the whole point of living on another continent is to get away from all the weird expectations and behaviours but hey that's just me
And anyone planning on cooking turkey – get a self-basting bag. They cook much more quickly, evenly and with much less fuss as you can just bung it in and leave it.
Settled into a routine now at Christmas where its just me, Mrs DBW and the two mini DBWs. No extra family etc to deal with which is nice! I suspect we won't deviate from the usual which is to skip starters and get straight into chicken, gravy, roasties, stuffing, cauliflower cheese, red cabbage (with stewed apple stirred through it), pigs in blankets, few carrots and peas. Washed down with a nice bottle or three of real old mans beer like Black Sheep... Don't generally do pudding either at lunchtime as we're stuffed from the main. Late tea usually consists of bread, cheese, cold meat, pickles, dips, pork pie, sausage rolls etc. Yummy...
Which reminds me of something I saw the other day:
During the Covid lockdown, if you had family round on Christmas Day the police could force entry to your home and make them go home.
Does anyone know if this is a service thats still available and if you have to book?