We do like turkey and all the trimmings.....but I also have a soft spot for goose and duck, (unfortunately my husband doesn't enjoy either) and a traditional roast ham - best enjoyed on Boxing Day as a cold cut I think.
The dessert often gets postponed for later in the day, but again, I like Christmas pudding (with brandy cream and custard please) 😜.
I actually enjoy the prep, usually with the radio in the background...
Home made cranberry sauce is already made, as are the cake and pudding...the turkey will be brined for 48 hours prior to cooking on Christmas morning....
I use Nigella's recipe (very pretty as she says!) & adapt according to what I have in - makes a very juicy turkey with subtle flavouring. Wouldn't do it any other way now.
We don’t have a fixed Christmas menu and often we don’t have roast meat of any kind on Christmas Day: we’re just as likely to make a Thai beef curry. For the last few Christmases I’ve really enjoyed baking from Luisa Weiss’s German Baking book. I must have made every apple based cake and dessert in there as well as many of the biscuits and small cakes. That’s probably the closest I come to a Christmas tradition: making her gedeckter Apfelkuchen but with gluten free flour in the pastry so that everyone can enjoy it
I also make the orange-pastry mince pies from Jocelyn Dimbleby. They are fabulous. But the Christmas recipes I cannot do without come from two very old books, my mother's copy of "Cooking with Elizabeth Craig" for the Yule Stuffing for Roast Turkey (we never have turkey but we always have the stuffing), and my dad's mother's "Das Praktische Neue Kochbuch" for red cabbage, and for a streusel cake that appear at breakfast time alongside the Stollen. Both books date from the early 1950s.
I'm sure I had that Elizabeth Craig book at one point but suspect I left it at our house in France when there were simply too many books to bring back. Love the idea for cake for breakfast too!
My daughter is cooking Christmas Dinner for us for the first time this year, and there will be four generations at the table. She has her schedule worked out already. I am providing the pudding, made from my grandmother's wartime recipe, and the mince pies. Any remaining mincemeat will go into Delia's quick Christmas cake recipe from her Christmas book for a fruit cake loving friend's February birthday.
Your grandmother's wartime Christmas pudding could well be like mine - a lighter one than the norm? Love the idea of using leftover mincemeat for a fruit cake!
When it's just my husband and me for Christmas, I make the braised lamb shanks with onion and cardamom from Curry Easy by Madhur Jaffrey (2010). It's rich and delicious and doesn't take a lot of prep, so more time for watching movies and reading together on the sofa! Steamed basmati rice and kachumbar with pomegranate seeds on the side, and a glass of red wine with big fruit and spice flavors to go with.
I’m currently baking from my favorite Christmas cookbook which was a truly thoughtful gift from my dad and step mom almost two decades ago. Gingerbread by Jennifer Lindner McGlinn. I’m making ginger cookies but I always infuse my rolling sugar with ginger to give them even more of a ginger punch.
Like many others, our Christmas Day recipe has a tradition and comes from a book we inherited. My grandmother in-law (is that a word?) was a brilliant cook and she and I got on brilliantly. When she was sadly no longer able to cook we were given this https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-river-cottage-year/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/9780340828212 and the roast goose recipe in there is brilliant. It’s a fair bit of work, but all of that has to happen before the big day, freeing up time to celebrate on the 25th, which is a trade off I’m always happy to make.
I’ve been making those orange pastry and cream cheese mince pies since the 70’s as well. Every year. Grown up family still ask for them.
Can't beat 'em!
We do like turkey and all the trimmings.....but I also have a soft spot for goose and duck, (unfortunately my husband doesn't enjoy either) and a traditional roast ham - best enjoyed on Boxing Day as a cold cut I think.
The dessert often gets postponed for later in the day, but again, I like Christmas pudding (with brandy cream and custard please) 😜.
I actually enjoy the prep, usually with the radio in the background...
Home made cranberry sauce is already made, as are the cake and pudding...the turkey will be brined for 48 hours prior to cooking on Christmas morning....
Confession time - I've never brined a turkey but know those who do swear by it!
I use Nigella's recipe (very pretty as she says!) & adapt according to what I have in - makes a very juicy turkey with subtle flavouring. Wouldn't do it any other way now.
It's encouraging to know how that people do still actually use well-thumbed cookbooks!!
They certainly do! The more splattered the better!
We don’t have a fixed Christmas menu and often we don’t have roast meat of any kind on Christmas Day: we’re just as likely to make a Thai beef curry. For the last few Christmases I’ve really enjoyed baking from Luisa Weiss’s German Baking book. I must have made every apple based cake and dessert in there as well as many of the biscuits and small cakes. That’s probably the closest I come to a Christmas tradition: making her gedeckter Apfelkuchen but with gluten free flour in the pastry so that everyone can enjoy it
Sounds a pretty good tradition to me! I like Anja Dunk's Advent too although it's only a couple of years old.
Advent is another exceptional German baking book but I don’t have any firm favourites from it yet. It’s only a matter of time.
I also make the orange-pastry mince pies from Jocelyn Dimbleby. They are fabulous. But the Christmas recipes I cannot do without come from two very old books, my mother's copy of "Cooking with Elizabeth Craig" for the Yule Stuffing for Roast Turkey (we never have turkey but we always have the stuffing), and my dad's mother's "Das Praktische Neue Kochbuch" for red cabbage, and for a streusel cake that appear at breakfast time alongside the Stollen. Both books date from the early 1950s.
I'm sure I had that Elizabeth Craig book at one point but suspect I left it at our house in France when there were simply too many books to bring back. Love the idea for cake for breakfast too!
My daughter is cooking Christmas Dinner for us for the first time this year, and there will be four generations at the table. She has her schedule worked out already. I am providing the pudding, made from my grandmother's wartime recipe, and the mince pies. Any remaining mincemeat will go into Delia's quick Christmas cake recipe from her Christmas book for a fruit cake loving friend's February birthday.
Your grandmother's wartime Christmas pudding could well be like mine - a lighter one than the norm? Love the idea of using leftover mincemeat for a fruit cake!
Yes, very little sugar, and lightness provided by grated carrot and apple.
When it's just my husband and me for Christmas, I make the braised lamb shanks with onion and cardamom from Curry Easy by Madhur Jaffrey (2010). It's rich and delicious and doesn't take a lot of prep, so more time for watching movies and reading together on the sofa! Steamed basmati rice and kachumbar with pomegranate seeds on the side, and a glass of red wine with big fruit and spice flavors to go with.
If I'm doing the big full on feast, I will always turn to this braised red cabbage recipe from Waitrose, which they published in their little Christmas cookbook in 2009 - I bought it on impulse as a grad student! https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/recipe/braised-red-cabbage-with-apple?srsltid=AfmBOoromFMbG2aR1GpcDD7Pc-Dge3rWBGBdDLex3tHlc7j20B3UsZvd
That looks a great recipe. I also tend to add a slosh of red wine to mine!
I’m currently baking from my favorite Christmas cookbook which was a truly thoughtful gift from my dad and step mom almost two decades ago. Gingerbread by Jennifer Lindner McGlinn. I’m making ginger cookies but I always infuse my rolling sugar with ginger to give them even more of a ginger punch.
Couldn't make your chat last night, Fiona. Sorry. Any thoughts on a good red to serve with hot ham on Boxing Day?
Like many others, our Christmas Day recipe has a tradition and comes from a book we inherited. My grandmother in-law (is that a word?) was a brilliant cook and she and I got on brilliantly. When she was sadly no longer able to cook we were given this https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-river-cottage-year/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/9780340828212 and the roast goose recipe in there is brilliant. It’s a fair bit of work, but all of that has to happen before the big day, freeing up time to celebrate on the 25th, which is a trade off I’m always happy to make.
But as a guide to preparing for and catering at Christmas more generally, and in case it’s not on your radar already, this is pretty good: https://www.waterstones.com/book/sarah-ravens-complete-christmas/sarah-raven/jonathan-buckley/9780747595106