I dont like Christmas dinner!! (There, I said it)

Archeron

I'm beginning to think I am some sort of oddity, but I have to admit, I do not under any circumstances like the traditional Christmas dinner. Turkey is just not a good meat in my opinion. Always too dry, and always too ominous when you spot the vulture picked carcass in the kitchen later in the day. (we've tried just throwing it out, but kind of like the Evil Dead movies, it always seems to find its way back in again). Sprouts, I suppose goes without saying, are the spawn of satan himself. In fact, I've never been much of a roastie person either, and most of the green veggies would send me running out the door screaming. I do honestly believe that Christmas pudding is some sort of sick joke that was taken the wrong way and actually became traditional.

However, my family are the traditional type, and insist on the above being a very important part of Chrimbo, so my christmas dinner normally involves ham, tomatoes, lots and lots of mustard and a pile of bread to make nice festive sambos, complete with little snowmen pointy things to hold them together.(hey, its Christmas!!!)

Am I alone in this or does anyone else share my hatred of all things festive and edible? (festedible??). Anyone doing something more unusual or different for christmas dinner? I'd love to have a big hefty steak on Christmas day, but seeing as was out-voted and we are already cooking the whole traditional thing, I reckon if I asked for one, the only time I'd actually see it is when I hold it in frozen form up to my freshly blackened eye.

Where did the whole turkey, ham and sprouts for Christmas dinner thing come from anyway??

Ice_Box

This thread does be making my mouth water. I love Christmas dinner but my mom’s turkey is always moist and the cranberry is vital. Stuffing is yummmm. Sprouts are yummmm. Don’t really like Christmas pudding though. I prefer my own sherry trifle with custard and ice cream and cream.

I think the Turkey idea actually came from America. When Irish immigrants returned home they would have turkey to make up for the one they missed at thanksgiving. Goose is the traditional Irish Christmas dinner.

Alun

The combination of turkey and ham together seems to be a uniquely Irish thing though, isn't it? I had never come across it until I moved here certainly.

skye

I personally LOVE christmas dinner - but my husbands family do a choice of turkey or beef wellington, which I think is good. Did have it one year ( the wellington that is!! ) but to be honest it just wasn't the same. I eat brussells all year round - can't get enough of them....

Blub2k4

I pretty much hate the traditional one and do more of a German style variation on it with goose, red cabbage and apple sauerkraut, brussels with bacon and chestnuts and roast med veg.
Turkey is terrible stuff.

Alun

Blub2k4 wrote:

I pretty much hate the traditional one and do more of a German style variation on it with goose, red cabbage and apple sauerkraut, brussels with bacon and chestnuts and roast med veg.
Turkey is terrible stuff.

Hey, you've stolen my Christmas menu there almost to a tee !! Guess that's what comes of having lived in Germany for years.

daiixi

oh so yum! I grew up on cold turkey, ham and beef. Lots of salads and cold potatoes. I'm not a fan of pudding but we'd always have cake or apple pie as well! Although that said I did enjoy hot Christmas dinners when I first arrived over this side of the world. Last year though I just did cheese and biscuits which was fantastic.

taztastic

I think our Christmas dinner is a strong contender for the 8th wonder of the world. (Possibly supported by the fact that sprouts are banned from my home) However, I think that the evil purpetrated on mankind that was a "Christmas" dinner I had at a college night out should be dispatched in a controlled explosion by a trained professional :mad:

KerranJast

I'd agree with taztastic. Binning the sprouts is a great way to improve the Christmas dinner. It isn't the '80s any more and other more "exotic" vegs are available. My personal fave is roast peppers (not jalepenos :eek: , the ordinary €2 for 3 Lidl/Aldi ones are good). Halve a couple and bung em in with the roast spuds. They come out tasting sweet. Nice. As for the dry turkey, try going for a free range bird. They seem to be more juicy. I don't know why that is. Is Derek "Has his own centre of gravity" Davis still doing that radio show about how to do perfect Christmas dinner? That always made me starving if it came on in the car radio around this time of the year.

Xmorpheus

I have to be honest, I like the whole traditional meal. The thing about Turkey is that how you cook it - and the kind of turkey you get - has a massive bearing on whether you get something lovely and succulent or a dried up wizened thing that looks and tastes like it belongs in an Egyptian tomb!

The best way I've found of doing it is to get an organic turkey and get it boned and rolled. No bones, no problems with some bits cooking faster than others and no carcass. Allow 18 mins per lb plus 20 mins plus 20 mins rest time. Pop it in a roasting tin (on a trivet if you have one). Fill the base of the tin with white wine and stock - and a couple of onions if you're feeling creative. Put a tin foil tent over the tin and roast. Take the tin foil off 30 mins before it's to come out of the oven to brown the meat.

Lovely succulent turkey, no bones and bugger all wastage because it carves perfectly into sandwich size slices!

That being said, there are so many different tastes and dietary requirements with my lot that a couple of years ago, we ended up making Turkey, Ham, roast beef AND a veggie option!

If you really don't like the traditional stuff, why not do yourself a steak? Or a mini beef wellington? They're fairly easy to do and you can make a day ahead and just shove in the oven with the turkey for the necessary cooking time. It's an awful shame to have to sit through a dinner you don't like. Come to that, Marks & Spencer have a lot of nice main courses for one that are oven bakable. If the only thing that is involved with your main course choice is the putting it in the oven (which is on anyway) then you might be able to get away with it.....!

The Hill Billy

I have to say that my fave parts of the traditional seasonal fare are the plate of cold turkey & pickled onions for tea on Christmas evening, then the turkey-bone soup made from the carcass & giblets on St Stephen's Day. The former with a good sprinkling of salt & the latter with lashings of white pepper.

Needless to say with the brussles sprouts during dinner & the pickled onions for tea - Christmas evening tends to be a rather flatulent affair (as my in-laws are due to discover this year ).

Tree

Come to cork and get some spiced beef to go w/ your traditional christmas dinner!

bonkey

Tree wrote:

Come to cork and get some spiced beef to go w/ your traditional christmas dinner!

Pfah. Make your own.

I've a half-kilo of boar and the same of horse spicing away in the fridge. Did beef earlier in December.

As for the Chrimbo dinner....to each their own, I say. same as with all food.

Having said that, criticisms like "turkey is always dry" really make me wonder. Good turkey, properly cooked is most certainly not dry.

I'm looking forward to the trad meal. Since I moved to Switz, I've cooked it myself each year that I haven't gone home over Chrimbo. Doesn't have to be on the 25th for me....but it is definitely seasonal.

Then a nice fondue 'chinoise' for New Years. Ideally with game as well as the more traditional meats.

Damn...now I'm hungry.

tSubh Dearg

My family has two Christmas dinners.

We celebrate the Danish tradition of Christmas Eve, which involves a starter of rice porridge, then we usually have pheasant or something similar with red cabbage, roasties and some other veg.

Christmas Day we do the whole turkey and ham thing though we cook the ham the day before and have it cold with the hot turkey. I recommend the Magic Turkey Bags for combating dry poultry. They work wonders!

We also have the remains of the red cabbage, brussel sprouts (sautéd - see another thread for the recipe) and sausage meat stuffing which is my absolute favourite!

brianthebard

If the turkeys too dry you are cooking it wrong, turn it upside down in the roasting tin (lying on its breast), turkey is a very lean meat, but by doing that any excess juices(ok fat) will run down to the breast.

Although how you can't like pudding-your ma must be a crap cook!!:D

corblimey

I'm the same as the op. Like turkey okay, but it would be at the end of a very long list of meat dishes I like to eat. Not a big veg fan and any time I'm served roasties, I simply cut them open and scoop out the potato.

This year, I will be mostly eating ham and spiced beef on the day itself. I was going to go for some steak, but at the last minute I was finagled into inviting a friend around, so I've got to pretend at least to be a little bit 'festive'.

Diogenes

See I sympathise I am about (at the age of 29) to make my first christmas dinner, and I'm bricking it. My mum who's a decent cook has had to endure frankly since my dads retirement, a succession of wildly different birds. No really he keeps winning, seriously he wins so many ****ing tournaments pre christmas, several neighbours are begining to call him Scoorage for his ability to hand out ducks and turkeys in the weeks before christmas.

I sat down this evening with my fan assisted oven and my non fan assistanted single tray oven and tried to figure out how this will work. Lets be honest her kids one of the best things about chrimbo is leftovers, I want my ham with some applewood smoked cheddar and mustard on white bead. But jesus, how did my mum make this happy.

My two person (well six person but you need left overs) crown needs at least two hours cooking time and a shelf of my oven. Not to mention brining and basting. All this three hours plus half an hour settling time

My potatoes need to be brought to the boil and coated in goose fat.

And the veg,

And the sprouts.

When you get into this how did our mums sort this out. Iv'e spent half an hour with a ham a turkey and some potatoes trying to fix this

rubadub

brianthebard wrote:

If the turkeys too dry you are cooking it wrong, turn it upside down in the roasting tin (lying on its breast), turkey is a very lean meat, but by doing that any excess juices(ok fat) will run down to the breast.

Spot on! thats how I do my chicken too and turn it over for the last 30mins to get it brown & cripsy on top. It is only in the last few years I see tv chefs mention this. Nigella Lawson soaks the turkey in ice water to keep it moist.

One year we just got a butter basted "turkey crown", i.e. just 2 breasts on the bone. Means it cooks quickly, so less drying, easy to carve and lift, and plenty of room for other stuff. Less overall timing. But I know many will say it is "just no the same"

i71jskz5xu42pb

Archeron wrote:

Sprouts, I suppose goes without saying, are the spawn of satan himself.

If you haven't see it already
http://www.eyegas.com/xmas05/

You'll need sound to get the song ...

Owen

My other half is Polish, so we had a traditional Polish Christmas last year, which involved 12 people sitting down for 12 courses, on the 24th. No meat, no alcohol, just smelly, stinking, rotten fish, sour cabbage that was cooked for 3 days, and salty salty soup. By comparisson the Irish Traditional Dinner of Turkey, Stuffing, Roast Potatoes, some veg, some wine/beer is a joy!

I had a Christmas on my own 3 years ago for a number of reasons, and I decided to have a home cooked Chicken Tikka Masala with Pilau Rice, Naan Bread, and some serious dessert. Best Christmas Dinner ever!

metaoblivia

Usually, I don't like Christmas dinner because we have ham. I'm American, so our turkey dinner comes at Thanksgiving. But this year we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving, so we're having turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, the whole deal. And that makes me happy A well prepared turkey is a delicious thing indeed!
The only thing I don't like are the pies. I don't like pumpkin pie, and then thee's this custard pie my Mom makes, which is all sugar, butter, and cream. It's much too sweet for me.

cacio

my dinner yesterday was chicken kiev, mashed and roast potatoes and broccoli (which i love). thats only because i went home for dinner. if i cooked for myself i'd have byriani. cant stand most meat except chicken so tradition is out the window.