Christmas Dinner - what yer havin?

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 subtle 17 Dec 2019

Christmas day is fast approaching, not many days left to get stuff from the shops, I'm guessing most Christmas Day meals will have now been planned - so what yer having?

For us it will be:

No starter - straight into mains

Main - Turkey Crown and Leg of Lamb, roasties and dauphinoise potatoes, sprouts, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, yorkshire puddings, gravy and home made  cranberry sauce

Pudding - ice cream or biscuits and cheese

All washed down with copious amounts of beverages, some alcoholic, some not

So, what you all having?

4
 Pullhard 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Agree no starter

Veggie curry with Christmas veggie 

lemon tart 

4
 Carless 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

As I'll be at my in-laws in France, it'll be a complete blowout

Aperitif: various snacks including caviar, champagne

Starters: oysters, smoked salmon, foie gras, dry and sweet white wine

Main: probably boeuf en croute, red wine

Salad & cheese course, red wine

Dessert: some sort of ice-cream buche glacee, champagne

We always tell them it's too much but it doesn't stop us eating it

Trouble is I'll have had a similar amount the evening of the 24th as well...

3
Gone for good 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Pullhard:

> Agree no starter

> Veggie curry with Christmas veggie 

> lemon tart 

You cant beat a good lemon tart!!

1
 girlymonkey 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

We are at the in-laws this year, so don't know. I do know it won't be turkey!

Previously there has been pheasant and ham on the table there. This year there are a few dairy free people, a vegan, a veggie and I'm avoiding sugar, so I'm sure there will be a bit of variety to choose from!

 nniff 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Breakfast - bagels with salmon, cream cheese and champagne

Lunch -

Fishy starter - salmon, mussels, mackerel etc with some salady bits

Turkey with lots of veg - roasties, parsnips, brussels sprouts, carrots, beans, peas, spring greens and/or broccoli, cauliflower cheese, swede.  Stuffing, gravy. Pigs in blankets.  

Christmas pud with brandy butter, brandy sauce and cream

Cheese and biscuits. Christmas cake.

Champagne, red and white wine and port.  And scotch to go with the Wensleydale and Christmas cake

15 of us for Christmas Day.

For Boxing Day, repeat but with 'dead veg soup' from the day before for the first course and gammon instead of turkey.  Gammon cooked in three litres of coke.

At least 10 for Boxing Day - not really counted yet.

cb294 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Starter - Pumpkin soup

Mains - Roast leg of deer with cranberry and mushroom sauce, plus as a fancy veggie option  Roast Wellington on a mushroom and nut basis. Side dish for both, handmade spätzle.

Pudding - ice cream with pears and chocolate sauce, cheese platter

Drinks - A nice Barbera d'Alba, Franconian beer (Lindenbräu Gräfenberg), nonalcoholic stuff.

 andyb211 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Gone for good:

> You cant beat a good lemon tart!!

In Christmas Stockings

 marsbar 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings.  

 Jenny C 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

No starter (need to save room for the main event).

Turkey, roast spuds (and hopefully parsnips), carrots and sprouts. Mum's homemade sage-n-onion and chestnut-sausagemeat stuffing. 

Then the main event.... Homemade Christmas pudding, matured since last autumn. Accompanied by brandy butter and white sauce.

Being at my mums the food will be incredible but alcohol very scare on the ground. 

Post edited at 17:53
 nikoid 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Very traditional for us:

Prosecco and hula hoops to kick things off, followed by fish and chips and jam roly poly. If we've still got room we'll have a few of those chocolates what ambassadors like to eat. 

 Robert Durran 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Whatever is available in the deserts of Arabia😊

 aln 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Carless:

Can I come to yours?

 Doug 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Carless:

would normally have had something similar on the 24th but minus the foie gras & probably a gigot d'agneau for the main course but as my father in law died very recently I suspect it'll be a much lighter meal this year.

 Tom Valentine 17 Dec 2019
In reply to andyb211:

We like curd tarts here in Yorkshire.

 Pyreneenemec 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Robert Durran:

> Whatever is available in the deserts of Arabia😊

You do get around ( love your photos) but what are you doing carbon-footprint wise ?

Back to food !

This is France, so a really fancy start with 'nibble's made by my Michelin star trained daughter ( but she's now a school canteen boss). They go by the name of 'amuse bouches' ! Probably half a dozen different things.

Home made Foie gras.

Turkey. We have tried lots of other things, like chapon and goose but nothing really beats an organic turkey. With stuffing full of ceps and chestnuts.  Loads of veg, but principally roast potatoes and parsnips with perhaps a few sprouts and a little broccoli.

Pudding will be a surprise. My daughters doing that, so  I know it will be excellent. We will also have some 'crepes'. This is a family tradition, made with beer not milk ! 

No cheese. After eating all that, we simply couldn't do justice to a decent piece of cheese ! 

Got  a few decent bottles to accompany this ' festin'. Notably a Vin de Paille from the Jura and a Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives for the Foie gras. Not sure about the reds. I've got a decent Madiran on stand-by if nothing else presents itself ! Champagne for the pudding and perhaps a Maury too if the pudding is chocolate based. 

3
 GrahamD 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Venison pie for us. Not got past that in the planning.

 Big Steve 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

I'm on my own this year, so I will probably have bacon sandwiches for lunch, and an ASDA pizza for tea, with various bottles of alcohol throughout the day. 

 Blue Straggler 17 Dec 2019
In reply to nikoid:

If you get those jumbo Hula Hoops you can put a Wotsit in the hole. It would be like having pigs in blankets! 

Post edited at 19:39
 nikoid 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Blue Straggler:

Classy! I'll give it a go! Also I forgot the custard, obvs you can't have jam roly poly without it.

 Blue Straggler 17 Dec 2019
In reply to nikoid:

Custard ? Like SOMETHING TO COOK?! 

Nah

Angel Delight or if that is a bit much work, Carnation 

 Clarence 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Blue Straggler:

Angel delight made with carnation is pure luxury, try it when you don't mind feeling sick for a while! I'll be having cheese and pickle cobs, some dried fruit and nuts and klix coffee to wash it down, work tchoh!

 nikoid 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Blue Straggler:

We like to make a bit of an effort at Christmas.

 Dave the Rave 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

No starter.

Turkey, home made sage and onion stuffing and lentil loaf for the vegis.

Roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots sprouts and broccoli with homemade onion sauce and a gravy.

No pigs in blankets. I don’t get these and had never heard of them prior to leaving Stoke. Prefer a rolled up rasher of bacon and a separate sausage that is cooked.

No desert.

Post edited at 20:00
 Fozzy 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

The plan so far....

Starter: homemade rabbit rillettes with sourdough toast

Main: roast pinkfoot goose, roast potatoes, parsnips, shredded sprouts fried with bacon, pigs in blankets. 
 

Dessert: Xmas pie or baked raspberry & lemon cheesecake (or both). 

Then a cheeseboard of whatever decent the Mousetrap in Leominster has in next week. 

Drinks: I’ve got a couple of rather tasty Mosel whites stashed away from a work trip this summer that’ll do for the start, moving onto a good robust claret (Berry Bros & Rudd’s ‘Good Ordinary Claret’) for the rest. Port with the cheeseboard, obviously, but I’m yet to buy that. 
 

All to be followed by lanzoprazole. 

Clownfish 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

I'll be out hillwalking with a friend as usual on Christmas Day so what we have for dinner will be determined by what we feel like cooking when we get home. Whatever it is it will be just enough for two people with nothing left over. 

In reply to subtle:

Everybody knows you make Fois Gras by force feeding ducks, sticking a tube down their neck and pumping in large quantities of grain several times a day, and then killing them at 3 months of age, right? If you're cool with that I hope you choke on it. 

19
 climber34neil 17 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Breakfast , scotch egg

Dinner , scotch egg

Tea, 2 scotch eggs 

 Robert Durran 17 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

> You do get around but what are you doing carbon-footprint wise ?

Offset generously flights, car and house (for what it's worth). Beginning to feel guilty and might reassess, though I struggle to imagine giving up flying altogether.

 Tom Valentine 18 Dec 2019
In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

>  If you're cool with that I hope you choke on it. 

That's a bit harsh on Subtle considering foie gras wasn't actually on his menu.

 bpmclimb 18 Dec 2019
In reply to Tom Valentine:

> That's a bit harsh on Subtle considering foie gras wasn't actually on his menu.

True It was Carless. Pyreneenemac mentioned it too, but home-made, so I don't know what's involved. 

To Carless: please don't eat foie gras. It's very cruel and really not excusable.

3
 dgbryan 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Elsewhere someone was asking why there are so many socialists on this site ....

Bon appetit.

2
 Niall_H 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

  • Veggie roast
  • Herby, mustardy, tofu sausages
  • Roast potatoes
  • Stuffing
  • Steamed sprouts and broccoli 

Maybe a slice of Dundee cake for dessert (if I still have any capacity to eat!)  

And a lot of Lemon Lime And Bitters to wash it down with!

 Niall_H 18 Dec 2019
In reply to Fozzy:

> All to be followed by lanzoprazole. 

Wise!  (I do respect a catering solution that also includes a drugs course 😉 )

 Lurking Dave 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

It's just me on my own (quite excited about this) so I will be having a barbie on the balcony - prawns, salad and Veuve Clicquot.

LD

 Sharp 18 Dec 2019
In reply to Dave the Rave:

> No pigs in blankets. I don’t get these and had never heard of them prior to leaving Stoke. Prefer a rolled up rasher of bacon and a separate sausage that is cooked.

Good pigs in blankets are delicious but usually what passes for them is a bit of cheap, watery bacon half wrapped around a mangled chipolata and then blackened in the over. They should be like sealed little juicy sausages where the skin has been replaced with bacon, what's not to like about that!

To make them properly, flatten some bacon till it's really thin and stretched out, tiny bit of garlic butter smeared over with with a few twists of white pepper and 4 or 5 lemon tyme leaves then fully enclose a small chipolata sausage in it. It needs to be fully wrapped so it protects the sausage from the heat and creates a sealed enclosure to keep all the juice in. Stick them in the oven in a tin where they fit pretty snuggly and once they're starting to catch and brown, pour some white wine into the pan with a bit of parsley and cook off till they're nice and sticky. Doesn't need saying that they're only as good as the bacon and sausages you make them with.

We'll be having ham on Christmas Eve, it's just the two of us for Christmas Day so a Turkey crown with left over ham, roasters, parsnips, brussel sprouts, bread sauce, stuffing, pigs in blankets, cauli cheese and yorkshire pudding. Having a second dinner with friends after Christmas and we're going to have a beef rib roast with roasters and yorkies and not much else. The king of roasts.

Post edited at 08:00
 Wimlands 18 Dec 2019
In reply to Sharp:

Rice pudding for starters....” Risalamande”

Roast Goose with red cabbage and caramelised new potatoes for main.

on the 24th so it’s all very confusing...

Post edited at 08:48
In reply to subtle:

We’ll be out walking with the dog all day, so it’ll be a flask of home made tomato and red pepper soup and vegan cheese sandwiches to dip. Don’t know what’s on the menu for dinner, probably a pasta bake, get the fires lit and open the presents.

 Bulls Crack 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Not sure yet - something nice but I don't like large roast dinners

 Alyson 18 Dec 2019
In reply to girlymonkey:

> We are at the in-laws this year, so don't know. I do know it won't be turkey!

We too are at the in-laws this year, but by contrast I know EXACTLY what we'll be having.

- No starter (though we will have a starter later when we have 'Christmas tea' which no one has any room or enthusiasm for), 

- A large, beautiful turkey cooked to within an inch of incineration (she has probably started cooking it already, to be honest) with roast potatoes, mashed potatoes (why?), creamed leeks, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire puddings, sprouts, glazed carrots and parsnips, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce. It's always lovely except for the turkey, which is bone dry but my father in law never fails to proclaim as the best ever.

- Christmas pudding which is my contribution, made last month following Nigel Slater's recipe in his Christmas Chronicles. I made it for the first time last year and it's the loveliest Xmas pud we've ever had. I like it with a cold dollop of brandy cream.

 J101 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Got the parents and siblings round this year so I've ordered a rib of beef from a local farm (Dexter breed I think).

Might try making profiteroles for dessert but I'm getting a backup dessert in case it all goes pear shaped!  

 jkarran 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

I'm at the inlaws' this year so it's whatever I'm given! Roast turkey with the works I imagine. Looking forward to it.

jk

 profitofdoom 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

> So, what you all having?

McDonald's, Happy Meals all round. But will they show the queen's speech?? That's the thing 

 Pyreneenemec 18 Dec 2019
In reply to Fozzy:

>.

> All to be followed by lanzoprazole. 

I prefer a little anticipation and take a few Smecta's beforehand.

 Jon Greengrass 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

My kids will be having

Breakfast chocolate coins+banknotes ( inflation huh)

Starter matchmakers

Main course Terry's chocolate orange with a side of Cadbury selection box

Dessert Bendick's bittermints

all washed down with lemonade and non-alcoholic sparkling muscat

1
 Raskye 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Surprised nobody's having Humbugs

 Dax H 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Sandwiches on the beach if the weather is decent, sandwiches at home if its manky. The Mrs and me like to just chill out and do the bare minimum of anything on Christmas day. 

Boxing day though.  Breakfast with streaky bacon and toast sandwiches, lunch with belly pork strips, dinner a full roast dinner with a pork joint and a chicken (we prefer chuck to turkey). Now when I say a full roast dinner, the Mrs has the lot including sprouts but I just have the pork, the chicken and lots of roast potato's and of course the highlight of the year for me, crispy pork crackling and chicken skin.

Boxing day in the one time of the year I get both in 1 meal. 

 johnt 18 Dec 2019
In reply to Dax H:

Octopus for dinner..... not as nice as Turkey but it guarantees we get a leg each....

Removed User 18 Dec 2019
In reply to Dave the Rave:

No Desert? heathen

 Dave the Rave 18 Dec 2019
In reply to Sharp:

Thanks for the tip. I may try that depending on stress levels. They’re really not what I grew up with though  and I like a single, crispy bacon roll

Think I’ve possibly been put off by cheap supermarket shite. 

 Luke_92 18 Dec 2019
In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

I agree, and I have no idea why this is still legal. I'm surprised on this forum that 13 people dislike a post calling out blatant animal abuse. Happy Christmas, enjoy your tortured duck.

4
 The New NickB 18 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup for breakfast.

we don’t eat our Christmas Dinner until about 6pm, so need filling up in the morning.

Turkey crown wrapped in bacon, pigs in blankets, stuffing (yet to be decided), roast potatoes, roast parsnip with honey, roast baby carrots, sprouts with chestnuts, gravy and cranberry sauce.

Cheese and biscuits.

I have really cut down on meat this year, particularly processed meat, so I’ll probably have more bacon on Christmas Day than the rest of the year combined.

 Niall_H 19 Dec 2019
In reply to The New NickB:

A fair point: I should add some chestnuts in with the sprouts.

But I'll leave you to roasting baby carrots!

 Tom Valentine 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Luke_92:

It's one of the two food taboos my dad was adamant about: the other was the production of veal ( in the days before rose veal became the acceptable face of eating baby cows and bulls).

I've got to say, though, that there's other processes that  make me a bit guilty. For instance, much as I love mussels, that minute when I toss the live creatures into a pan of hot fat, garlic and shallots before adding a slosh of Muscadet makes me a bit uneasy and i can only justify it by saying that as shellfish they are a long way down the cuddly furry and feathery hierarchy.

I suppose also that the argument is that the treatment of the geese which eventually led to a diseased liver (or the calves who were deliberately made anaemic) was long lasting and not a matter of going out in  few seconds of scalding steam.......

 Pkrynicki1984 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Breakfast - Bacon , smoked Salmon scrambled eggs and toast. Washed down with Champagne with Brandy tipped in it.

Dog walk on the beach as we are in southern Spain this year.

Out for an evening meal, and the only thing i know i'm having for sure so far is Provolone cheese starter then some typical Spanish fare ... roast knuckle of pork etc.

Loads of red wine and crappy lager.  

Moley 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Well, turkey, but it should be goose.

This last Sunday we sorted then loaded the 10 geese up and took them off (to another farm) where we dispatched and plucked them plus their 4 turkeys. I've seen enough of feathers!

Unfortunately the friends in the village we are christmasing with don't like goose, so it is bought turkey - I think. But my wife is providing a little starter of the goose liver pate.

We are having one of the small geese this weekend when her son comes for a pre Christmas visit. 

 Pyreneenemec 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Luke_92:

> Happy Christmas, enjoy your tortured duck.

Thank-you, I'm sure I will.

I think it boils down to freedom of choice.  Producers do their upmost to treat humanely the ducks and geese   during their short lives but they are reared for human consumption.   It  is a traditional activity and I see no reason why a handful of militant vegans should impose their choices on  the huge number of people who enjoy eating - perhaps just once a year- foie gras.

12
 Tom Valentine 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

I'm far from being a militant vegan and accept that we all should have a choice in what we eat but you can't pretend that force feeding comes under the category of "humane" treatment.

2
GoneFishing111 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Jeez, the replies to this thread are amazing - i have never had a Christmas dinner like the ones mentioned.

Usually bone dry meat of some description and overcooked veg!

Moley 19 Dec 2019
In reply to GoneFishing111:

> Jeez, the replies to this thread are amazing - i have never had a Christmas dinner like the ones mentioned.

> Usually bone dry meat of some description and overcooked veg!

The forum may consist of argumentative, cantankerous, difficult, troublesome codgers (and younger members), but we all appear to enjoy our food

 MonkeyPuzzle 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

We're going round our mates house as it's their turn, so it better not be shit.

Joking aside, we're doing brunch at ours and then dinner at theirs. Timetable goes:

- Breakfast: Coffee and Nexium

- Brunch: Smoked salmon sandwiches, croquettas, bubbly and maybe a espresso martini or two

- Dinner: Whatever slop they manage to throw together

Last year, I did slow roast beef rump at 75c for four hours until pink from edge to edge and then crisped up at 250c for ten minutes. It were banging.

I'm actually a much nicer guest than I make out.

 ste_d 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

The in laws  -_-

 Dax H 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

> It  is a traditional activity and I see no reason why a handful of militant vegans should impose their choices on  the huge number of people who enjoy eating - perhaps just once a year- foie gras.

There are lots of traditions that have both faded away and been banned by law. I'm no vegan or vegetarian and eat meat just about every day but there are limits. 

Shall we bring back dog fighting because it was tradition, fox hunting maybe, badger baiting? 

2
 Iamgregp 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Your xmas dinner sounds superb, but Yorkshire pudding?  

 Timmd 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Make sure you don't forget the gravy...where's the carrots? 

Post edited at 14:19
 The New NickB 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Iamgregp:

> Your xmas dinner sounds superb, but Yorkshire pudding?  

I bit my tongue on that. I love a good yorkshire, but only with roast beef. Each to their own. I cook Christmas dinner every year, in large part because I have unpleasant experiences of Christmas dinners cooked by other people.

 Iamgregp 19 Dec 2019
In reply to The New NickB:

I've had stand up arguments about yorkshire puddings.  My mum was very traditional, only ever did them with Roast Beef.

Moley 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

I love sprouts, just saying.

Any other lovers or loathers?

 Ian W 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Moley:

boiled - ho-hum.

boiled than quartered and stir fried with lardons, chestnuts and butter with a hint of garlic. Hell yeah!!

Post edited at 15:22
 hokkyokusei 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

No idea, but I'll be eating it on a boat cruising down the Danube in Vienna

 Tom Valentine 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Iamgregp:

With?

Or prior to?

 Tom Valentine 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Moley:

I like  sprouts because I make a point of only ever eating them once a year.

 Niall_H 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Moley:

> Any other lovers or loathers?

I'm a fan of them: usually steamed (which I think gives a better texture than boiled), but I'll certainly try Ian W's parboil-and-stirfry plan!

 Luke_92 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

I'd love to know what "humane" force feeding looks like...

I'm not a vegan, or militant in my diet views, but that's about the lamest justification I've ever heard. Tradition and humane torture, innit. 

1
 Timmd 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Luke_92:

This seems to be about as humane as it gets. It 'may' depend on where one buys it.

https://www.tastingtable.com/culture/national/foie-gras-ethical-force-feed-...

I'm thinking that a factory farm where it's produced could be much grimmer. 

Post edited at 22:37
 Iwan 19 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Hot and sour soup

Beef with ginger and pineapple

Fried rice

Salt and pepper ribs

Prawn crackers

 Tom Valentine 19 Dec 2019
In reply to Timmd:

That's a piss poor justification which the article presents. If you concede that forcing food down the gullet in itself is an inhumane thing to do , that's one thing; but the article fails to address the reasoning behind this practice which is to make the bird's liver enlarge to 3 or 4 times its natural size, in other words inducing weeks and weeks of illness in order to maximise profit from the price per kilo of the organ of the dead bird.

I'm a complete carnivore and will gladly eat any meat put in front of me -since I've never tried it I would for a once only experience have a slace of foie gras without too much arm twisting- but I don't really hold with the notion that the creatures  tolerate it or even look forward to it, otherwise the gavage equipment would be redundant.

1
 Timmd 20 Dec 2019
In reply to Tom Valentine:

> That's a piss poor justification which the article presents. If you concede that forcing food down the gullet in itself is an inhumane thing to do , that's one thing; but the article fails to address the reasoning behind this practice which is to make the bird's liver enlarge to 3 or 4 times its natural size, in other words inducing weeks and weeks of illness in order to maximise profit from the price per kilo of the organ of the dead bird.

I'd forgotten about what happened to the birds' livers.

> I'm a complete carnivore and will gladly eat any meat put in front of me -since I've never tried it I would for a once only experience have a slace of foie gras without too much arm twisting- but I don't really hold with the notion that the creatures  tolerate it or even look forward to it, otherwise the gavage equipment would be redundant.

Thinking about it, it may even be that the birds lack the self awareness to avoid the farmer with the gavage even once their livers start to make them poorly, because their tendency to gorge is being exploited.

Post edited at 00:11
 Pyreneenemec 20 Dec 2019
In reply to Luke_92:

> I'd love to know what "humane" force feeding looks like...

> I'm not a vegan, or militant in my diet views, but that's about the lamest justification I've ever heard. Tradition and humane torture, innit. 

I'd be dumb if I didn't acknowledge that force feeding ducks and geese isn't without incident concerning their well being. I readily admit that  I enjoy eating foie gras once or twice a year, more often the other bits and pièces made with the carcasse : magrets.   confits. 'cou farcie'. Nothing is wasted and it's so good !

Would I go as far as seeking a ban on it's production ? Probably not and I doubt France is ready to accept  such a ban without a bitter fight .

1
 andyb211 20 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Doner left over starter.

Roast Swan with chips and mushy peas.

Smart price rich tea biscuits and Cheese triangles.

 johncb 20 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

A BBQ on the beach. I'm in Mauritius, 32deg C

 Hat Dude 20 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

> Would I go as far as seeking a ban on it's production ? Probably not and I doubt France is ready to accept  such a ban without a bitter fight .

As a quick pointer to the likelihood of this you only need to visit Sarlat-La-Caneda in the Dordogne it's a very attractive town and a big tourist attraction but every other shop sells Foie Gras and has a massive window display

 Iamgregp 20 Dec 2019
In reply to Tom Valentine:

With.  She's traditional, not archaic! 

 Tom Valentine 20 Dec 2019
In reply to Iamgregp:

I'm thinking she's not actually from the county, then.

 Iamgregp 20 Dec 2019
In reply to Tom Valentine:

Indeed she is not!  

 Jon Stewart 20 Dec 2019
In reply to andyb211:

> Doner left over starter.

> Roast Swan with chips and mushy peas.

> Smart price rich tea biscuits and Cheese triangles.

I was going to have crack, with heroin for desert. But my dealer on the dark web didn't make the xmas post.

Nempnett Thrubwell 20 Dec 2019
In reply to GoneFishing111:

> Jeez, the replies to this thread are amazing - i have never had a Christmas dinner like the ones mentioned.

> Usually bone dry meat of some description and overcooked veg!

This thread should be revived after the event to find out how much of the great sounding stuff actually turned out ok. I'm expecting at least a few burnings plus a couple of family homicides over the precise basting procedures.

 Shaunhaynes99 20 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Nothing mad for me, i personally  dont see the need to eat far to much and be blaoting and miserable  for the afternoon 

8-10 mile run in then morning 

Xmas lunch is like like normalt roast but will be pheasant  or topside. 

If i was staying at home i doubt we would even bother with a roast.

2
 Timmd 20 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

I dunno what my Dad and his partner have planned, but I'm making my Mum's Xmas trifle for the family to eat when we all get together nearer to NY, I got the recipe from her on her death bed, and have perfected it to make it taste like she made it. It brings back memories for us all, making it a beautiful thing in both senses.

Jam sponges, whipped cream, almondy biscuits, tinned peaches and sherry, egg custard, flaked almonds, the exact recipe is a family secret.

Post edited at 20:58
 andyb211 21 Dec 2019
In reply to Tom Valentine:

> We like curd tarts here in Yorkshire.

I suggest giving her a course of anti biotics if the discharge is that bad

 nikoid 21 Dec 2019
In reply to Shaunhaynes99:

Sounds like a barrel of laughs!😀

 wintertree 21 Dec 2019
In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

> If you're cool with that I hope you choke on it.

It’s a bit too smooth to choke on.

1
 oldie 21 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

> ...foie gras.....I doubt France is ready to accept  such a ban without a bitter fight <

Well, we're about to relinquish our last chance of influencing them. 

Signed: bitter, old remoaner.

 bpmclimb 21 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

> I think it boils down to freedom of choice.  Producers do their upmost to treat humanely the ducks and geese   during their short lives but they are reared for human consumption.   It  is a traditional activity and I see no reason why a handful of militant vegans should impose their choices on  the huge number of people who enjoy eating - perhaps just once a year- foie gras.

No doubt it helps you in your process of justification to identify any critics of foie gras as "militant vegans". Actually, it's far more mundane than that, they are just people concerned about unnescessarily cruel practices. 

Foie gras production is blatantly cruel and should not be legal: if you treated a dog or cat that way you'd be prosecuted. Exercise your freedom of choice by doing the only decent thing, and don't buy it. You don't need it, and there are plenty of other tasty things for you to eat. 

Or, continue to disregard the suffering of other creatures, and continue selfishly to smack your lips on your delicacy of choice. 

Post edited at 20:30
 freeflyer 21 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Christmas is happening on the weekend after. The visitors are a major meat eater and his veggy dairy-free post-cancer better half. He is dairy free as well.

Starter nibblies will be a red lentil dahl containing not a little ginger and chilli cooked to houmous consistency, hot, with the best bread I can find and a puddle of extra virgin olive oil made from olives which I personally knocked off the trees.

Mains: roast venison loin fillet - the Jamie Oliver recipe, and butternut squash with roast baby tomatoes, spuds, SPROUTS, other greens, venison bone gravy.

Pud: kourabiethes and probably dairy free-ice cream, the odd fruit.

The left-over venison goes into the game pie for the New Year visitor, along with pheasant breast, a bit of rabbit if I find find any (nightmare), a chopped up english banger and pearl barley.

Miamiam

Great thread - I am sorely tempted by the pigs in blankets and the lemon tart. Not together.

And how you can enjoy eating bird liver fat is quite beyond me.

 Pyreneenemec 23 Dec 2019
In reply to freeflyer:

> .

> And how you can enjoy eating bird liver fat is quite beyond me.

Latest  foie gras  production  figures  for France : nearly 19 000 tons of the stuff with 6 000  of that exported. Each year 37 million ducks and 700 000 geese are killed. Nothing is wasted. Breasts become 'magrets' and 'aiguilettes'  wings and legs 'confit', much of which will find their way into 'cassoulet'. The skin and fat is minced and will become duck fat and 'fritons'. Have you ever had chips or roasties done in duck fat ?  Even the humblest  steamed veg  become something else when tossed in a little duck fat ! 

For a few years we did our own ' canard gras' producing foie gras and confits, but it is a time consuming business and a bit much when working full time. We still do our own foie gras and confit but buy the duck carcasses  / livers on a local market. It's still a full days work, cutting and cleaning, melting the fat and then preserving in  sterilised  jars. 

Beats a Yorkshire pud or tofu, but hey, each to their own, et un Joyeux Noel a tous et a toutes ! 

6
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

> Nothing is wasted.

As others have said, if you did what people do to the birds selected for Fois Gras to any other animal in the UK you would be prosecuted for animal cruelty. It doesn't matter how much of the animal you use when it's dead, it's the immense torture they endure in their brief lives that concerns us. 

2
 Gone 23 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

We are in Portugal visiting relatives and will be having a big roast chicken as centrepiece. We couldn’t find turkey in the supermarket, although we did find out that the bird we call Turkey they call Peru, although it comes from neither country.

We will also be missing out on a few of the trimmings as we have coeliacs and vegetarians in the party and it is complicated trying to work out which sauces are gluten and meat free in a heaving supermarket and a language we don’t understand very well, plus the logistics of cooking for nine in a small flat is going to stretch us anyway.

I am sure we will be fine, as we have already subjected the local wine to multiple taste tests and the results have been extremely positive.

 freeflyer 23 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

I have friends who were in the Gers for ten years, now in Marseille. I love all that stuff - except foie gras! As you say,  chacun son goût.

 bpmclimb 24 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

>  hey, each to their own, et un Joyeux Noel a tous et a toutes ! 

I take it from your chipper, jovial tone that you feel no stab of conscience whatever about this. As a bit of contrast, here's what PETA have to say about it .....

To produce "foie gras" (the French term means "fatty liver"), workers ram pipes down the throats of male ducks twice each day, pumping up to 2.2 pounds of grain and fat into their stomachs, or geese three times a day, up to 4 pounds daily, in a process known as "gavage". The force-feeding causes the birds' livers to swell up to 10 times their normal size. Many birds have difficulty standing because their engorged livers distend their abdomens, and they may tear out their own feathers and attack each other out of stress.

The birds are kept in tiny cages or crowded sheds. Unable to bathe or groom themselves, they become coated with excrement mixed with the oils that would normally protect their feathers from water. One Newsweek reporter who visited a foie gras factory farm described the ducks as "listless" and often lame from foot infection due to standing on metal grilles during the gavage. Other common health problems include damage to the oesophagus, fungal infections, diarrhoea, impaired liver function, heat stress, lesions, and fractures of the sternum. Some ducks die of aspiration pneumonia, which occurs when grain is forced into the ducks' lungs or when birds choke on their own vomit. In one study, birds force-fed for foie gras had a mortality rate up to 20 times that of a control group of birds who were not force-fed.

Since foie gras is made from the livers of only male ducks, all female ducklings - 40 million of them each year in France alone - are useless to the industry and are therefore simply tossed into grinders, live, so that their bodies can be processed into fertilizer or cat food.

I have some familiarity with PETA over the years, and I believe their information is generally pretty well researched. True, they aren't completely dispassionate and neutral, and occasionally treat themselves to emotive wording; e.g "ram pipes down the throats", rather than the more value-neutral "insert", but even so ....

Moley 24 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

My wife has today made our goose liver pate (for tomorrow), from the 10 geese we raised and slaughtered for Christmas - bloody good it is too . Not all the geese for us!

Although it is not foie gras, it is normal practice to shut the geese up for the final 6-8 weeks for fattening and feed them hard, mainly wheat in our case, rather than them being out all day and grazing on grass. Same principal of feeding them hard but not quite force feeding of true foie gras, but the pate is lovely.

Each to their own I say, many would say what we do is cruel, so be it.

7
 marsbar 24 Dec 2019
In reply to bpmclimb:

Peta are not reliable.  They lie.  They kill adoptable cats and dogs.  They stage fake photos.  They are extremely erratic in their views.  

This is a different view, also biased of course.  The truth is in between I imagine.  

However it is interesting about the human assumption that the gag reflex would apply to birds which is where much of the cruelty is felt to be.  

https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/12/the-physiology-of-foie-why-foie-gras-is...

1
 bpmclimb 24 Dec 2019
In reply to marsbar:

> Peta are not reliable.  They lie.  They kill adoptable cats and dogs.  They stage fake photos.  They are extremely erratic in their views. 

I quoted PETA because the link was convenient; however, there are other sources, which may be a little less sensationalist but do not contradict the basic information. I did acknowledge that PETA are not completely dispassionate: it's easy to imagine how anger at perceived cruelty might lead to presenting a distorted view, despite being well-intentioned. However, the counter claims and accusations in the links you provide seem far less balanced to me - trying to debunk the whole of the case against foie gras by finding one or two sensational-sounding "facts" about one objecting organisation is a bit ridiculous, and smacks of desperation, actually.

> This is a different view, also biased of course.  The truth is in between I imagine.

If, for the sake of argument, the truth lies only about halfway between, it still paints a pretty damning picture of the whole sordid business. Of course, foie gras devotees will say that's a distorted view, but then they would, wouldn't they? They want to keep buying and eating the stuff, and because admitting to being callous (to others or to oneself) is difficult, the only other option is to attempt to deny that the suffering and cruelty exist at all.

To be honest, in this discussion I don't trust the motivations of the pro-foie gras faction. I think there's an element of pretence: I don't believe they care overmuch about animal welfare. If they did they would never indulge in a non-essential luxury delicacy entailing a bizarre, force-feeding production method. I think the motivation behind the various counter arguments is to try to shut people like me up, not genuinely to satisfy themselves that foie gras is cruelty-free. If that's the case, why not just be honest: "I'm going to carry on enjoying foie gras. It may well be that its production entails at least some degree of cruelty, but that doesn't matter to me, because basically I don't give a shit".  

 Tom Valentine 24 Dec 2019
In reply to marsbar:

The gavage process is a fairly dramatic example of apparently physical maltreatment but it is only part of the story.

Altering a creature's natural diet to such an extent that you induce illness in the weeks prior to slaughter is just as inhumane as shoving excessive amounts of food down its gullet. This applies to calves as well as geese.

I wonder if the goose was left to its own devices would the liver still be as tasty when not unnaturally enlarged? Or is it the increased fat level in the liver which gives it the desired creamy quality.,, unattainable in a rearing system where the goose's natural appetite is respected.

In reply to Moley:

> Each to their own I say, many would say what we do is cruel, so be it.

Some might say it would be cruel to come round to your house, lock you in a small room and feed you unnatural quantities of a diet that isn't natural for you and then kill you. 

But each to their own I say, so be it. 

3
 MeMeMe 25 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Various curries we’ve made over the last few days (always taste better after sitting for a couple of days!)

cauliflower & chickpea

aubergine and lentil

mushroom and tamarind 

Along with nan bread rice and various sundries that we bought to go along with it all.

We did more of a traditional (well ish, a Yorkshire vegan version) on the solstice when different family were about.

Post edited at 04:40
Moley 25 Dec 2019
In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

> Some might say it would be cruel to come round to your house, lock you in a small room and feed you unnatural quantities of a diet that isn't natural for you and then kill you. 

> But each to their own I say, so be it. 

I shall be doing most of that to myself today, hopefully without killing myself yet.

In reply to subtle:

Pizza.

 Fruit 25 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

We had pancakes

 Myfyr Tomos 25 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Welsh Beef!

 LG-Mark 25 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

Bobotie and yellow rice. Was delicious!

 Big Steve 25 Dec 2019
In reply to subtle:

I put my sausages on for my intended sausage sandwich lunch, then my neighbour came round with a full Xmas dinner and Fudge cake for me, which was a lovely surprise

 Pyreneenemec 25 Dec 2019
In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

> Some might say it would be cruel to come round to your house, lock you in a small room and feed you unnatural quantities of a diet that isn't natural for you and then kill you. 

> But each to their own I say, so be it. 

The foie gras we ate for lunch today was absolutely  delicious, as was the accompanying Gewurztraminer.

7
 Pullhard 26 Dec 2019
In reply to Pyreneenemec:

Chickpea curry was outstanding! 

1

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