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Christmas Meat?

noblehead

noblehead

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My wife always buys a turkey and a joint of beef for our Christmas dinner, what other meats do folk eat on the day?

Nigel
 
We have turkey too but for me the highlight of the meal is Christmas pud with brandy
and cream :wink:
 
We cannot abide turkey but we do enjoy a massive hunk of beef and some pork, with a descent cut of lamb for when the beef has become boring. We are lucky with a good local butcher who only buys from local Sussex/Hampshire livestock farms and can trace every animal back to birth, so we always get flavoursome and trusted meat.
We even get our butter from the butcher ... his pork & leek sausages are really scrummy!
 
We have a dressed turkey crown (breast/legs) smothered in bacon, with a chestnut/sage/pork stuffing and surrounded by pigs in blankets, its not cheap, but its nice, I dont think I could cook a whole turkey, it would come out raw.

Also have a Gammon for Christmas Eve, no point in doing other meats for the big day as there are only 2 of us, although my dogs and parrots usually get most of the food anyway :roll:
 
I'm with Daisy on this one (not literally I hasten to add Hobs! :D :wink: ) so it just has to be Turkey Crown and all the trimmings.......Dickinson & Morris Pork PIe :D no other ! Maybe a couple of my Butchers Pork Sausage with dinner. Sounds a lot BUT it is very small portions of everything.

Probably have a joint of Beef or Pork to ring the changes over the festive week. Loads of Garners Pickles for snacks with cold meats. That's about it.
 
daisy1 said:
We have turkey too but for me the highlight of the meal is Christmas pud with brandy
and cream :wink:
Click to expand...

I couldn't handle a pud even if I fancied one, we have our dinner around 2pm and after that I wait until around 9pm at which point the crackers come out with a nice cheese selection (blue stilton a must) all washed down with a few glasses of red wine! :D

Nigel
 
Hi daisy1

After you've had the Xmas pudding what are your readings 1 hour/2 hours after, and how much do you have?

Joely. :)
 
Hi Joely, I have half of a one portion Xmas pud (sorry don't know the weight). (I am type 2 by the way on Metformin no insulin.) Forgot to mention the brandy butter too which as you know contains sugar. Did have half a bottle of red wine with the meal which will have had a lowering effect. Meal included roast potatoes and peas. At 1 hour I was 7.6, after 1.5 hours 7.7, 6.6 2 hours after, 7.3 3 hours after, 6.3 4 hours after - as you can see I was really looking at what it would do to me! But to me that was satisfactory and will do the same this year. :) Also did the same for New Year's day but didn't do BGs.

Time counted from beginning of meal.
 
daisy1 said:
Hi Joely, I have half of a one portion Xmas pud (sorry don't know the weight). (I am type 2 by the way on Metformin no insulin.) Forgot to mention the brandy butter too which as you know contains sugar. Did have half a bottle of red wine with the meal which will have had a lowering effect. Meal included roast potatoes and peas. At 1 hour I was 7.6, after 1.5 hours 7.7, 6.6 2 hours after, 7.3 3 hours after, 6.3 4 hours after - as you can see I was really looking at what it would do to me! But to me that was satisfactory and will do the same this year. :) Also did the same for New Year's day but didn't do BGs.

Time counted from beginning of meal.
Click to expand...

All things considered they are really good numbers daisy! :)

Nigel
 
I keep the Czech Christmas Eve that I was brought up to. For us that means fish and potato salad [I have a green salad]
The fish traditionally should be carp, but I hate it so I just have a couple of little china ones on the table. Christmas Day we have turkey and pork sausages. for the English parts of my famly and Boxing day it's usually Beef. I have a good local butcher and get the best quality meat. Fish has to come from Waitrose.
Hana
 
This is just making me hungry...and I am a vegi (well, not really vegi, but I don't eat meat) so it is usually salmon for me on christmas day...only 33 days to go now. Refuse to start doing teh Christmas thing until December....but this thread has started me longing for christmas dinner!
 
I have just had my cravings wake up for pannetone - anyone know this? Its an Italian cake and very fattening for me. Eaten over the Christmas period. Bad for BG levels too. 8)
 
My father in law isn't adventurous and doesn't like poultry, so we have a nice big leg roast, lamb or pork, with a home-made Christmas pud, and home made vanilla custard - not as difficult to make as some folk think. The pud this year is a Mary Berry recipe which I've had for more years than anyone likes to remember. Last year we tried the Hairy Bikers recipe which came out quite well, but could have done with maturing longer, it was just a bit too moist. I'd tried their spiced raisin panacotta on Christmas eve, but the quantity of gelatin was way too much, the puds bounced their way to the table!! I know I will need more insulin (Type 2, insulin needed because of steroid treatment for somat else), but it's only once a year, and I'll just have to reduce the calories even more than usual come January. I love cooking, and Christmas is MY time to indulge my fancies. I seem to have acquired a large collection of Christmas recipe books, including one today that my aunt gave me. My favourites are Nigella Lawsons, Hairy Bikers, Delia's Happy Christmas and a little German book called Wehnachtliches Backbuch by Alfons Schubecks, Germany's answer to Gordon Ramsay without the swearing.

Thea
 
daisy1 said:
I have just had my cravings wake up for pannetone - anyone know this? Its an Italian cake and very fattening for me. Eaten over the Christmas period. Bad for BG levels too. 8)
Click to expand...

But oh so goooooood. It makes a great base for bread and butter pudding as well. A couple of weeks ago I found one left over from last Christmas, and though it was a little well matured, it still tasted fine and went into the pudding nicely, though the crusts needed to come off. I'm not sure I'd call it cake, it's somewhere in between cake and a brioche type loaf. But oh so gooooooooooood.

Thea :D
 
DazG said:
We have a dressed turkey crown (breast/legs) smothered in bacon, with a chestnut/sage/pork stuffing and surrounded by pigs in blankets, its not cheap, but its nice, I dont think I could cook a whole turkey, it would come out raw.

Also have a Gammon for Christmas Eve, no point in doing other meats for the big day as there are only 2 of us, although my dogs and parrots usually get most of the food anyway
Click to expand...

Your dog eats better than me! I'm coming round yours for Christmas! :wink:
 
I'm not a big fan of turkey, so this year, because I'm on my own, I'm gonna push the boat out a bit and have roast duck!


(I've never cooked it before so just hope I don't over do it :?)

One good thing though... At least there'll be plenty of rendered fat to cook my root veggies in! Yay!

K
 
Roast Duck sounds really good to me.......served up with a 'cherry picked' sauce.....straight from the tree and carefully selected for consistency :wink: :D
 
Have to say that I've never been keen on the sweet sauces usually served with duck, be it orange, plum, cherry or even rhubarb and ginger (which was suggested on a well known cookery web-site).

I might add a little redcurrant jelly and a dash of port to the gravy, however.

I think that may be a nice compromise.

K
 
Squadron Leader said:
I'm not a big fan of turkey, so this year, because I'm on my own, I'm gonna push the boat out a bit and have roast duck!


(I've never cooked it before so just hope I don't over do it :?)

One good thing though... At least there'll be plenty of rendered fat to cook my root veggies in! Yay!

K
Click to expand...

Many Christmases ago we bought a duck for our dinner and I have to say I was disappointed! :( The meat is rather strong and wished we had stuck with the turkey on the day, but as you obviously like duck I hope you enjoy your meal! :)

Nigel
 
The problem with duck is that the breasts don't need nearly as much cooking as the legs cook one and the other is overcooked. They eat a lot of duck where I live as every farmer's wife raises a flock for foie gras, the sale of which contributes a lot to the household income. There are also industrial units with large flocks so duck is relatively cheap.
Locals almost never eat a whole roasted bird. Magrets are cooked quickly, fairly rare, sauces are likely to be roquefort, poivre or forestiere (mushrooms). Legs are preserved in the fat for confit de carnard. Wings and other bits on the carcass are roasted crisply for fritons ...a bit like pork crackling... goes well with a kir as an aperitif, gizzards (gésiers) used for salads and the necks are often stuffed and roasted.
 
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