What do you have for Christmas dinner? My family would normally just do a Christmas BBQ, which consists of steak, pork chops, sausages, and prawns with a ham, and then it'd be salads and a fried rice. This year, because I am with Dan now, we are putting on Christmas dinner and doing a traditional English Christmas dinner. I think it'll be the first time a whole Turkey has been served up for my family since before I can remember. I can't wait. So what do you have for Christmas dinner? What is your favourite Christmas food?
My family always serves Italian Meatballs, Ham, Candied Yams, and other veggies...we always give an after dinner Christmas toast while drinking Amaretto and Cream. Absolutely, my most favorite thing is my mom's Carrot Souffle...she makes it for me every year and has since I was about 13. I love it!!!
Lemex, I had never tried Yorkshire Pudding till Dan's mom cooked us a Sunday roast while she was here (even though it wasn't Sunday when she cooked it) and I can't believe I've been missing out all these years on something that tastes so damn good! Chim, I've never had yams, will have to hit google so I know what a yam is. LOL
We will be having pernil, a lovely Cuban-style pork shoulder roast with a crispy chicharrón (crisped pork fat) surface. We had it last year, and everyone loved it. There will probably also be a cranberry-walnut relish, an apple and pineapple salad, baked sweet potatoes with maple and brown sugar, pearl onions in a cream sauce, and a couple kinds of pie.
Cognito, that looks absolutely delectable, I need to suggest this for Christmas dinner. We usually have the classic Christmas ham, which is kind of boring, yet never fails to taste good.
Every morning my mother makes a scrambled egg casserole and cinnamon breakfast rolls. In the evening, we usually go to my aunt's or uncle's, and we'll have a repeat of Thanksgiving (turkey, dinner rolls, asparagus for me, and pie). Yum!
For breakfast, we usually do something simple like muffins, or if I'm in the mood I make German pancakes. Then for lunch we have ham, mashed potatoes, and all kinds of good stuff. And then for dinner Joel and I go to his grandparents and have whatever epically delicious food they've decided to make...they always have the best food. Just thinking about it is making me hungry.
No one's mentioned Christmas Pudding...My mother makes one for me every summer when I pay her a visit and I bring it back here *suspicious looks from customs* We have a Christmas Dinner on New Year's Eve since we don't actually celebrate Chistmas, but I miss the celebration from my childhood. We have turkey with stuffing, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts and then lots of Turkish mezes as well for unexpected friends who drop by. And then the Pudding, with brandy butter. We also open presents on New Year's Eve and send the kids off early to bed--otherwise Father Christmas doesn't fill their stockings. Some of my friends married to Turkish men have adopted a similar mad compromise...
Turkey, bacon, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, roast parsnips, and gravy. Then, of course, christmas pudding with white sauce And I'm doing the starter this year, again. I'm thinking maybe a pate, or a terrine.
Actually, a real traditional English Christmas dinner includes a goose rather than a turkey. Wild turkeys were not native to England in the old days. We have had goose a few times, it is very tasty, but hasn't much meat on it. This year we'll probably have a ham. A few times we have had a roast beef. I make a Christmas pudding most years, and have it with hard sauce. It's lovely! Our Christmas dinner is served on my beautiful set of Christmas dishes, which I collected over many years when my kids were growing up. I have everything from wine glasses to butter dishes and gravy boats in the same pattern. It makes the table look so festive! The set includes a three-tiered candy dish which I keep filled with Christmas treats such as marzipan, butter mints and candied fruit slices. Oh, I'm getting hungry thinking about all the yummies!!
Usually for Christmas dinner, we'll have lamb shoulder, or, I don't know what's it's called, just a massive slab of lamb that we roast with mint and garlic and rosemary and lots of other things. Then with that, we just usually have rolls, Rice Pilaf, which my grandma makes the best of, then something like asparagus, and mint jelly to go with everything. Mint Jelly to Lamb is like Cranberry is to Turkey: a perfect match. I guess you could call the lamb and pilaf an American attempt at Armenian fare. EDIT: oh, and my mother's red velvet cake, which isan inconceivably unhealthy desert... but it's my favorite food.
Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in my family are the exact same. Same stuff, same places, same people. That means we have both turkey and ham, mashed potatoes, homemade jello, pie, rolls, etc.
Ooooh this has made me so hungry & excited about Christmas! My dad makes the best Christmas dinner ever. He does turkey, gammon and beef, mash potatoes with spring onions mixed in, honey glazed roast carrots & parsnips, broccoli, yorkshire puddings, and red wine gravy. Then for dessert he'll make Baked Alaska, & we'll have brandy snaps and fairy cakes coz nobody likes Christmas Pudding in my family lol. It is absolutely delicious. When my daughter was born, she was due on Christmas Day so I spent 9 months absolutely gutted coz I thought I was going to miss my Christmas dinner. When it came round & she still hadn't came, I enjoyed it so much more after thinking I was gonna miss out on it. She came a week later on New Years Day lol. I could actually talk about Christmas dinner all day haha. & Cog - you'll have to put a recipe on here for that pot roast thingy, it looks scrumptious! xxx xxx
Everyone on my mothers side of the family gathers at my aunts house and she cooks turkey, potatoes, veg, Yorkshire pudding, the whole roast dinner shebang. Unfortunately - and awkwardly for my aunt - the smell of all that makes me retch and I can't sit with them while they eat it or I will actually throw up. So I generally sit in the living room and consume vast quantities of plain crackers and dry toast. I don't like Christmas.
Oooh, Christmas dinner. We mostly start of with either mushroom soup or asperragus soup (very yummy), then vol-au-vents filled with a chicken and mushroom sauce, followed by turkey (of course), cooked salmon, croquettes and carrots and peas or broccoli. After that a fruit salad or something, then ice cream cake and Christmas pudding. I can't wait!
I'm starting a tradition this year of having lasagna and meatballs, and cheese trays and other Italian goodies.
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... i mean, there's other stuff, too. but it's really all about the pie.
This thread is making my stomach grumble. It all sounds very delicious and it seems you're going to have great time I was always jealous of those Christmas dinners.
It really depends on which family's Christmas I am attending. My mom usually does the whole ham and yams crap that I can't stand. For a while there we picked a different national cuisine and did that. One year was Polish, one Italian. My husband and I were invited to friends' family Christmas where they have prime rib every year. Being a vegetarian...I usually just eat the potatoes and veggies and breads. The meal isn't the big thing for me. It is the company.
The best part is the ham. I adore ham. And the rolls, particularly if they're my favorite whole-wheat rolls with just a smidgeon of "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" on them. I could just have ham, whole-wheat rolls and tall glasses of ice-cold white milk for all my life.
