Turkey? Or not?

...did the Christmas food shop yesterday in Aldi. Got to the turkey section, my wife and I were weighing up the pros and cons and as there are only 3 adults and a 1 year old sitting down decided to go with boned stuffed duck. It was just €13.

Anyway, it'll be our first Christmas without turkey. So was wondering, is it a must for people, an essential part of Christmas, or are many looking at alternatives?

Sunflower 27

[Deleted User] wrote: »

...did the Christmas food shop yesterday in Aldi. Got to the turkey section, my wife and I were weighing up the pros and cons and as there are only 3 adults and a 1 year old sitting down decided to go with boned stuffed duck. It was just €13.

Anyway, it'll be our first Christmas without turkey. So was wondering, is it a must for people, an essential part of Christmas, or are many looking at alternatives?

Not a fan of turkey so not having it this year. Leftover turkey doesn't taste good either to me so this year we have said no to turkey. And may this be the first of many Christmases to come!!

thee glitz

I like extra ham instead, but still need the stuffing.

Gremlinertia

On my own and working so a little bit of lamb, leftovers on a plate for work.. Baileys coffee is becoming a little tradition for me though..

Markcheese

I got a large piece of leg of pork for christmas -but my dad wants turkey so have one as well ... its more for the left over turkey than the bird on the day ..

Markcheese

Markcheese wrote: »

I got a large piece of leg of pork for christmas -but my dad wants turkey so have one as well ... its more for the left over turkey than the bird on the day ..

That was one of the main pros...the traditional 2 or 3 days of turkey sandwiches, turkey curry etc.

Galwayguy35

I like the brown meat on the turkey and stuffing, don't have a say on what the dinner will be as I go to the brothers place for christmas dinner but the boned and rolled turkey does be nice.

Although growing up we used to have a goose and IMO it was a lot nicer.

Lau2976

Nope no turkey in my house. Everyone eats vegan so tofurkey for my sister or a nut roast. The rest of us don't like meat substitutes so we'll have lots of veg instead.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Diamond Doll

My mum usually does a turkey and two chickens and a ham! There are nine in the family, plus usually a few partners there on the day. I go for the chicken, I'm not a fan of turkey the rest of the year and Christmas is no different.

Shenshen

Nope, no turkey here. We're both of us vegetarian, so it's not an option.
Husband is a bit of a traditionalist, though, so it'll be a lentil and nut roast on the day, and stuffing balls with cheese and cranberries baked inside them on the side.

lertsnim

Beef for me. I never liked turkey.

I usually have a nice steak

charlietheminxx

I can't wait for my turkey and stuffing tomorrow! Yum.

Whitewinged

We were going to go with beef this year. OH said he would go to the butchers and came back with a turkey crown, beef and ham intending to cook the lot on Christmas day even though the point of getting the beef was so that we didn't have too much meat left over??? Anyway we will just do the turkey and ham tomorrow and beef another day

Going with a VERY slow roast pork this time ourselves.

Turtyturd

Will have turkey, more so out of tradition, as I could easily swap it with chicken. Much prefer the ham.

kylith

I'm not much of a fan of roast turkey. It's dry and pointless and I'm too low down the pecking order to get a leg. When I was in a position to have Christmas in my own house I'd get a 3 bird roast in Lidl; much tastier and no leftovers. These days I'm dragged to a family member's house so I have to put up with tradition or be branded a churl.

Who cares about tradition anyway? Why not have a beef Wellington, or a feed of tapas?

Lux23

I love a bit of turkey and ham at Christmas, I normally have a couple of Christmas dinners leading up to the big day itself too.

Mena

Roast beef today, roast leg of lamb tomorrow. Had a turkey once for Christmas, never again.

Lia_lia

We have turkey in our house. My brother, Granny and Aunt eat it. My Mother and myself don't eat meat. I'll eat potatoes :pac:

etoughguy

It's turkey all the way
None of this fancy pants ducks, geese or peacocks for me

Oh and plenty of ham and spiced beef too (that's a cork thing ye langers)

Turkey and ham for sure, wouldn't be Christmas without them. It's tradition but I also love turkey and ham, I'd have it in restaurants now and again throughout the year too and I regularly have turkey in sandwiches for lunch during the year.

Eugene Norman

Turkey doesn't have to be dry. It's much nicer than chicken when cooked correctly.

If you don't have turkey it's not Christmas, vegetarians excepted.

You might get away with a goose.. The rest of ye take a long hard look at yourselves.

Glenalla

Beef wellington for us this year mmmmmmmmmm!

stampydmonkey

Brothers doing beef wellington so no turkey this year. Hopefully it won't end up in the fire!

Gmol

Corned beef and ham since about 2010.

jaja321

We will be having duck. We used to always have goose, which I love, but unfortunately not everyone in the family loves it, so duck it is.. which is still yummy.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Going with a VERY slow roast pork this time ourselves.

It has just now gone into the slow roast. It will be there for the next 30 hours - before I slap on a load of oil and take a blow torch to it to make crackling

Have I ever mentioned before on boards how much I like to cook?

LordSutch

You could have had a much more inclusive poll.

1/ We will be having turkey on Christmas day.
2/ We will you be having goose on Christmas day.
3/ We will be eating duck on Christmas day.
4/ Turkey is too dry, we'll be eating a big fat chicken.
5/ We will be eating pork this Christmas for a change.
6/ No birds please, we're vegetarian, Nutroast please.
7/ *Other . . . .

The Bishop Basher

None of us like Turkey so it's always a toss up between roast rib of beef or a leg of lamb.

Leg of lamb won out this year..

Graces7

Turkey here; they are very cheap before Christmas. I have five cats and a dog and feed some raw meat every day. So I have dismantled the turkey ( almost got frostbite..) and I will make my usual breastmeat recipe; a kind of sandwich with the turkey as "bread", layered with stuffing, cranberries and fruits, loosely wrapped in foil and roasted. It steams itself, moist and tasty and enough for two days. One of my happiest memories of my late collie, a massively abused rescue, is of her one Christmas with a raw turkey back; held it between her front paws, bottom in the air, tail waving,, happy for ages.

Eugene Norman

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It has just now gone into the slow roast. It will be there for the next 30 hours - before I slap on a load of oil and take a blow torch to it to make crackling

Have I ever mentioned before on boards how much I like to cook?

I can see it now. Lunch time tomorrow and tax goes "nearly done. Almost there. Probably put the temperature a small bit low. Needs maybe 3 more hours".

DivingDuck

Never had turkey in my house when I was a kid. Nobody liked it enough to eat it more than once! Always a roast like beef, pork, or lamb for that reason, and yet somehow there were never any leftovers...

Lamb this year. Looking forward to it.

TG1

We're having Turkey this year but it will be the first time in about ten years as none of us like it!

We've done goose, duck, chicken, beef and even did a fondue one year.

The one thing that makes it Christmas is the spiced beef. We only discovered it when we moved to cork, but since then it's a necessary part of Christmas. This year it wasn't bought in cork though so not sure will it measure up!!

Ruu

Turkey and ham in our house, always the way it has been. I won't be eating much of it myself, small appetite.

CelticRambler

'Twas a bit of a culture-shock moving to rural France and finding out that turkey was considered the cheapest can't-think-of-anything-else answer to every meal, all year 'round. And rarely anything else in the school cantine.

Then it came to Christmas and all the turkey was cleared off the supermarket fridge shelves to make room for ostrich, venison, llama, wild boar, kangaroo, or pheasant, capons and quail for those who needed a poultry-fix. :eek:

Limousin beef roast for me this year.







... but when I'm in Ireland for Christmas, I absolutely love cold roast turkey sandwiches made with Brennan's white sliced pan.

Eugene Norman

Eugene Norman wrote: »

I can see it now. Lunch time tomorrow and tax goes "nearly done. Almost there. Probably put the temperature a small bit low. Needs maybe 3 more hours".

Pish. It is timed like a Gandalf arrival. It will arrive precisely when it is meant to.

Sunflower 27

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Turkey doesn't have to be dry. It's much nicer than chicken when cooked correctly.

If you don't have turkey it's not Christmas, vegetarians excepted.

You might get away with a goose.. The rest of ye take a long hard look at yourselves.

What a load of old tripe. Having Turkey is not what makes Christmas. If it is, you are clearly doing it wrong!! It is not even remotely up there!!!

homerjay2005

A Christmas without Turkey?:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

f*ck off.

Eugene Norman

Sunflower 27 wrote: »

What a load of old tripe. Having Turkey is not what makes Christmas. If it is, you are clearly doing it wrong!! It is not even remotely up there!!!

Take a long hard look at yourself. Ask yourself is this who you really want to be?

suicide_circus

Glazed ham and spiced beef for me

Avatar MIA

As long as you have some bird for Christmas, you'll be grand...

Although, it would be nice to have some meat as well.

RonanP77

We got a small turkey crown and a very large ham, the ham is always nicer.

Sunflower 27

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Take a long hard look at yourself. Ask yourself is this who you really want to be?

Lol. I don't like Turkey as much as other meats. Why ruin my Xmas eating turkey. No way

beertons

Never been to Turkey, wouldn't rule it out though.

EazyD

Tip to stop turkey being dry is to cook it skin side down first before turning back over to cook further and crisp the skin nicely.

LordSutch

LordSutch wrote: »

You could have had a much more inclusive poll.

1/ We will be having turkey on Christmas day.
2/ We will you be having goose on Christmas day.
3/ We will be eating duck on Christmas day.
4/ Turkey is too dry, we'll be eating a big fat chicken.
5/ We will be eating pork this Christmas for a change.
6/ No birds please, we're vegetarian, Nutroast please.
7/ *Other . . . .

I've gleaned a lot from this so far.

When I left the poll a few hours ago, non turkey eaters were well ahead in the poll.

I see turkey eaters have caught up and surged ahead.

Conclusion? Turkey eaters are lazy and stay in bed longer.

fussyonion

Turkey for me. It's traditional plus mine are never dry.
People are overcooking turkeys; no wonder they're like sawdust.

I tightly seal the turkey in the roasting tray with tin foil and the steam generated moistens the whole bird.

The leftover breast meat becomes melt-in-the-mouth again once you introduce it to a hot pan, so our turkey curries and soups are always gorgeous in the days after Christmas.

Doesn't it have to be basted with a squirty thing?

RobertKK

I love turkey, but then I should we used to rear turkeys on the farm and sell them. I do put some turkey in the freezer too for the following year, so like a dog, it is not only for Christmas.