View Full Version : Christmas Dinner
leowyatt
22-12-2007, 18:37
So the time is approaching for us all to stuff ourselves silly. I thought I might as well start a thread for us to share ideas for what to cook and how to cook :)
Been watching the jamie at home Christmas special today and there is some cracking stuff in there. Though some of the stuff depends on what bird you're cooking I can post recipes from the show if people want.
As I only have a combo microwave, it is very hard for me to cook proper joints or birds so I generally buy small cuts or breasts.
Where we go out on crimbo day I've never had to cook a full christmas meal as yet so what meat I do cook off is generally for the cold meat and mash and sandwiches for the days after
Stan_Lite
22-12-2007, 19:10
No idea what we'll be getting on the rig this year but it's usually a pretty lavish spread - I'll try to get some piccys on Tuesday.
Justsomebloke
22-12-2007, 19:12
If i go to my Sisters for dinner I'll get a moby pic. It'll just be a mountain of fodder with lots of Large people steaming it.
Kell_ee001
22-12-2007, 19:59
Mum cooked the honey roast ham yesterday and the beef today although we'll be having pork on Tues :)
I don't know what I'm having for dinner or lunch on Christmas as I'll be going round to Piali's house - curried turkey perhaps?! :p
I don't like cooking a big turkey, it's a bit dull, I prefer goose or duck.
I never tend to have meat with my Christmas dinner :p I just stick with the rest because I enjoy that much more :D Parents have got beef and a turkey though.
We usually have goose or beef, but Mum's bought a turkey crown from a local farm shop this year. She's trying to cut back on Christmas spending and the Goose used to cost a ruddy fortune. She reckons everyone much more interested in the roast potatoes and pigs in blankets anyway, lol. She does have a point!
Been doing lots of Christmas cooking this year, which has been great because I didn't do much last year. I think the shock of becoming homeowners was about as much as I could handle :D
I've made the Christmas Cake.. EEK!!! It's a honey and saffron Christmas Cake. Never made one before, but it looks right and smells gorgeous. I've been feeding it with brandy & honey so it's really heavy. Covered it with the marzipan yesterday and I'll ice it tomorrow ready for Christmas Day. Hope it's alright... Mum normally makes it and everyone loves it. I'm not a fan of Christmas Cake though.
We're having my parents/grandparents over tomorrow and I'm doing boeuf bourguignonne... well... I've already done it. You're supposed to cook it a day or two in advance so that the flavours have time to develop. It smells lovely and I'll be serving it with mash and some buttered or oven roast veg. I've also come up with a Rasperry Mess for dessert, inspired by something I had at an Italian restaurant the other week. It's a bit like Eaton Mess with the meringue and berries, but I'm doing a raspberry coulis and substituting the cream for a mascapone and cream mixture. Should be nice and light after a pretty heavy meal.
Also made a lemon cheesecake with cottage cheese. It was devoured at my Parents' about 2 hours ago :D It was very lemony and not too sweet. Quite pleased with the outcome... I really didn't think that you could make a cheesecake out of cottage cheese, so I was plesantly suprised :)
Ooooh this reminds me, I need to get the Christmas pud out of storage - I prepare it a year or so in advance. Mmmm it's going to be goooooood.
My Christmas food shopping is DONE! WOOOT! Shame the pressies arent all bought yet.
This year I have a ham, pork, beef and a turkey crown to cook. I think it'll be some kind of roast beef concotion tomorrow (plus the ham and pork will be cooked tomorrow too) then traditional turkey Tuesday, Then it'll be cold meats/sandwiches/stews/pies/soups/curries until about February! Yay!!!! :D
Any recipes will be gratefully received Matt :D
Not sure what I'm having. Probably turkey on Christmas day, would much prefer a nice chunk of silverside, but oh well :) Can't complain, it's not like I have to cook it!
leowyatt
24-12-2007, 23:07
My Christmas food shopping is DONE! WOOOT! Shame the pressies arent all bought yet.
This year I have a ham, pork, beef and a turkey crown to cook. I think it'll be some kind of roast beef concotion tomorrow (plus the ham and pork will be cooked tomorrow too) then traditional turkey Tuesday, Then it'll be cold meats/sandwiches/stews/pies/soups/curries until about February! Yay!!!! :D
Any recipes will be gratefully received Matt :D
Well then for roasties, it's suggested to par-boil tatties, parsnips and carrots for 10 minutes then drain and leave to steam dry for a couple of minutes. Whilst a roasting tin is heating in the oven shake the veg so the corners are nice and rough and remove the tin from the oven.
In the tin stick some oil/fat enough to coat the bottom and add a few whole cloves of garlic and rosmary. Put your veg in the tin and turn over so it is coated and stick in the oven for 45 minutes on 200C/400F checking after 35.
I've just put the finishing touches to my cake and I have to say I'm quite proud of it as a first attempt. Hope it tastes as good. And before he says it, I know this has nothing on DRZ's Mum's works of art, but I'm bloody chuffed with it. Not one tree fell over :p
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/christmascake.jpg
And my meal for the family went extremely well tonight. Everything was timed to perfection, the bourguignonne tasted great and everyone really enjoyed it. Even the mash got compliments. Then my made up dessert came out. It was absolutely gorgeous even if I do say so myself and everyone devoured the whole lot! Here's a pic of it without the raspberry coulis drizzled all over it. I prepared them like this at about 5pm and then just left them in the fridge until I was ready to serve, then I drizzled the coulis over the top and on the place in a circle. YUM!!!!
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/raspberrymess.jpg
Excellent looking cake :D
Cool cake!
I will take some photos of the meal tomorrow (and the preparation of it!) for you all :)
Having "been there and done that" I think that at any level other than master chef would completely ruin any love of cooking. Its unbelievably stressful and demanding :(
I hope you aren't suggesting I worked in McDonalds! I worked as a proper chef in a proper kitchen tyvm! :p
My mum was also a chef 30 years - long enough to make it into the good food guide and all sorts!
The stress is astonishing, the hours are long and IMO its like doing any hobby as a job, its alright for a bit but eventually it drags you down.
Wow thats an awesome looking cake Lostkat.
:D
Working in McDonalds isnt cheffing though, which is what I meant! :)
I can imagine working at a top-flight restaurant is exceptionally fun, which is exactly why I said "at any level other than master chef". I think if you get to that level its much less stressful and far more enjoyable :)
Stan_Lite
25-12-2007, 19:02
Well, I've had mine :cool:
We had turkey and mash and veg and gravy and Yorkshire puddings for lunch, followed by chocolate ice cream cake (this was at 12:00 local time = 10:00 GMT - when some of you were getting up, I was eating my turkey dinner :D).
The evening meal was where the excitement was. This was a feast of extraordinary magnitude.
Didn't take any piccies as the spread was pretty much decimated by the time I got there - they started serving at 16:45 and my shift didn't finish until 18:00. It looked like it would have been an excellent display when complete.
Let me see what I can remember. I started with some hot seafood from the servery consisting of fried fish, grilled "shrimp" (I'd call them king prawns) wrapped in pancetta (6 of these), deep fried shrimp in spicy batter (6 of these too) and half a squid stuffed with tasty couscous. I missed out on the lobster as that was all gone by 17:15 :( (pity, I love lobster).
Then, on to the buffet. There were three 10ft tables groaning with food of all descriptions, including; turkey, ham, beef, lamb, sliced cold meat which looked and tasted a lot like haslett, veal chops, cold shrimp and crab, sliced roast beef with a zingy sort of stuffing and sliced roast turkey with a herby stuffing.
On to the pudding table. There was a 3 tiered cream cake, a large rectangular chocolate cake, pastry pyramids covered in white chocolate, a massive yule log, chocolate mousse, profiteroles covered in hard toffee and another, smaller, chocolate cake.
I believe there may have been some salad somewhere but I had no room on any of my plates for that :p
I don't think I missed anything, I'm pretty sure I managed to get a bit of everything. I sat down at 18:05 and struggled out of my chair at 18:55 to waddle to the lift to get to the 19:00 operations meeting. I am officially stuffed :cool:
The catering staff did us proud today and received my hearty thanks for the splendid repast laid before us this evening.
I hope you all enjoy(ed) your meals as much as I enjoyed mine :)
He wasn't the master chef :)
My point was your experience isn't everyones. Pete takes pictures for a living and doesn't love doing it any less. Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean everyone else will react the same. So if Kate wants to do it I'm sure she will.
You've not answered the question, does your mum not enjoy making cakes/cooking anymore? She seems to take great pride in the ones I've seen.
She doesn't enjoy baking the cakes per se, she enjoys decorating them in ever more complex ways. Cooking is now something she has to do and that she does very well but she doesn't really love it I dont think. She enjoys eating the food but she enjoys it more when she wasn't the one that cooked it :p
Its not exclusively based on my personal experience, its just one of those things I have noticed over the years that people who get a job in something they really enjoy (I think I will have to exclude working for yourself, because thats different) lose their love for it after a while. I think if you work for yourself its an entirely different kettle of fish by its very nature.
I'm a bit baffled as to why this has turned into a debate! I really think people misread the tone of my posts sometimes!
Obviously everyone is different and there are exceptions and whatever, I suppose I have quite strong feelings about people giving up careers to turn hobbies into jobs etc :)
How many of those that suceeded and enjoyed themselves are people who work for themselves? Freelancing or otherwise? Im willing to bet most of them!
Can you be a journalist as a hobby? All just semantics really, I stick by my experiences :) (and accept yours are different)
Thanks for the nice comments all :)
Christ, Kitten was only making a remark. Chill out guys :p Thank you for your very kind comment Tracy :) I think turning back the clock it might have been something I would have maybe gone in to, but it's too late for all that now. I just enjoy cooking for the people around me and am SO glad that my family aren't fussy in the slightest because it means I have a wide scope of things I can make. I'd like to have more opportunities to cook for a (small) group of people though. Watch out Double D!!! :p
Anyway, the family were very impressed with the cake, even if my Mum immediately broke the top off one of the trees. GRR!!!
I got a lovely cast iron caserole dish for Christmas as well as 2 cook books, a book on knife skillz, a Pasta Maker and a Microplane grater. So in 2008 I will be mainly impressing everyone with my leet knifing skillz, learning how to make fresh pasta, cooking casseroles and grating zest, ginger and nutmeg :p I know the pasta maker is a novelty, but I'd really love to at least have a go at home made ravioli and stuff :D It's dead easy/cheap to make too so I can haz lots of practice!!
Justsomebloke
25-12-2007, 20:13
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/christmascake.jpg
YUM!!!!
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/raspberrymess.jpg
YUM ! YUM ! :p
I've had Nowt :'( Woe is me, call me Oliver, Orphan boy, Billy no mates, Sad old Git :)
I could've gone to my sisters for dinner but couldn't be arsed to leave my nice little warm house. I went out twice to walk my dog & both times i missed visitors ;D
My life is completely virtual, I haven't seen a living soul all kin day. Walking the dog was like being in 24 hours :shocked:
For food I've had Bacons Sanger's & loads of biscuits & tea finished off with a Terry's chocolate Orange.
FakeSnake
25-12-2007, 20:51
YUM ! YUM ! :p
I've had Nowt :'( Woe is me, call me Oliver, Orphan boy, Billy no mates, Sad old Git :)
I could've gone to my sisters for dinner but couldn't be arsed to leave my nice little warm house. I went out twice to walk my dog & both times i missed visitors ;D
My life is completely virtual, I haven't seen a living soul all kin day. Walking the dog was like being in 24 hours :shocked:
For food I've had Bacons Sanger's & loads of biscuits & tea finished off with a Terry's chocolate Orange.
Fk me Malc, you could have come here for dinner!
We had more food that could ever be consumed by a normal human :D
I stared cooking about 8am, culminating in a 3pm feast.
I have to say dinner today was a bloody triumph! Totally relaxed effort starting at about 10am and we sat down to eat at 2pm. Perfect juicy turkey, pigs in blankets, homemade chestnut stuffing, sage and onion stuffing, roasties, parsnips, swede/carrot mash, sprouts. peas, home made bread sauce & cranberry. Didnt bother with pudding as we were all so stuffed, after dinner the kids get a free rein on the sweets so they rather did that than eat more pudding :)
I'm never buying a whole turkey again either, the crown I got was incredible!!
Tomorrow will be cold meats (home cooked pork, ham and beef plus todays turkey) more stuffing, pickles and mash. Home made fruit salad, xmas pudding and something else which Ive forgotten. Then a big Xmas tea with loads of goodies :D
Dymetrie
26-12-2007, 14:33
Well dinner yesterday was pretty damn impressive! Started at about half three and finished about half ten :D
First course was Butternut Squash soup, which was yummy.
Followed by toasted steak sandwiches with onion marmalade.
Then there were Thai fish cakes (I did not partake of this course :p).
The main course! Roast chicken and pork, roast tatties, brussels, fried cabbage, carrots, yorkshires, chestnut stuffing, apple stuffing, pigs in blankets...
Then there was a bit of a break as we digested and tidied up.
Dessert was home made chocolate pudding accompanied by double cream with irish liquer in it.
Then there was cheese and port :D
The entire meal was accomapnied with a variety of drinks... Lager, ale, sherry, wine, G&T, JD&Coke, more wine, port then some more wine :p
Just made some toasted sausage sarnies for me and Kate, they were yummy too :D
Wowee Kate! They look spankticiously sexy!! How incredibly superb!
Everyones meals sound superbly yurmy! We didn't cook at all this year as we were at my Brothers and then Pickys Parents and they were cheffing it! My bro did some rather scrumptious carrots though - caramalised with sesame seeds! Never had them before and was super impressed!
Plus, first time I've experienced anchovies properly this year (other than the anchovies on my pizza in italy!)! They were in a pack and were in some kind of garlic marinade... truly devine and plump and meaty! Very impressed! Couldn't eat them by the tonne but certainly would enjoy a few with a mix of goodies! Nom nom!
As for all this chef talk malarky, I did work experience as a Chef with the Royal Marines and enjoyed it so much carried on - voluntarily - for at least 6 months afterwards. The only reason I stopped was because I had to study hard for my exams. Was the best thing ever - and one of the hardest too! With only 30mins warning of "we have an extra 200 paratroopers for lunch I expect they'll be food for them yes?" pressure was supreme! Some of it was monotonous and things (peeling carrots, chopping, making white sauce bases etc) but most rewarding in the end (well... serving up to hunky military men in tight white tops... who wouldn't enjoy that?! ;))!
I think it's all down to the each individual as well as the location, people they work with and challenges presented which would then thus determine whether they would enjoy and continue to enjoy being a chef or not! I can tell you something though, I have known a good handful of chefs in a range of catering positions (hotels, cake decorating, pubs, marines etc) and a high preportion of them had been in their jobs for years but had started them as a hobby... and they were still loving it :) Others were bored and wanted out... but most hearted it :) It's all swings and roundabouts isn't it :D
I'm now going to eat my fifth All Gold Chocolate ;D
YAAAAAAAY for FOOOOOOOOOOOD!
By the way - NEED MORE FOOD PICS IN THIS THREAD! I heart food too much. One day, I'm going to wake up and be the size of Lisa Riley. Just *POP* in the night and *WUMP*... big fatty me escapes my medium-sized-slightly-flubby-bits-body and envelopes the world! ;D
That looked fab Kate! Lovely!
My Mummy was in Canada for Christmas, so I ended up cooking :(
Our crimble dinner was quite nice even if I do say so myself.
We had... Turkey, roast potatoes, mashed poatato, roast parsnips, carrots, sprouts, yorkshire puds, sausages wrapped in bacon, cheese wrapped in bacon, bread sauce (as tradition dictates, the bread sauce was home made, and it kicked ass!), stuffing, and of course gravy (although the gravy was asda extra special and it wasnt very nice)
And on new years day, I did roast beef. The butchers local to my mum sell excellent local beef, and the slab we had was about £40 worth. I cooked it to perfection (haha, Mark thought I'd ruin it!), and we had roast potatoes (which Mark said were excellent), carrots, sprouts, stuffing, sausages in bacon, cheese in bacon, yorkshire puds, and good old bisto beef gravy.
And now my parents have been back for a few weeks, we'll be having crimble dinner here in a few weeks when Mark is next here. No-one in the entire world could outdo my Mum when it comes to crimble dinner, it's the best meal ever imho.
We will be having.... turkey, beef, honey roast ham, roast pots and parsnips, mash, bread sauce, stuffing, sprouts, carrots, mushy peas (tradition in our house), cauliflower, broccoli, yorkshire puds, leeks, peas, swede, cheese in bacon, sausages in bacon, I have to stop now, I'm drooling. But we will be having probably 12 different types/cooking style veg, and all the trimmings.
It'll be self service as always, Mum has one of those hostess trolley things with all the dishes in and stuff. And of course, I'll eat too much as always, but it wouldnt be crimble dinner without falling asleep infront of the telly afterwards!
And of course, we'll be having bubble and squeak the next day. I cant wait!
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