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Christmas dinner!

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,589 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    That's what I do at home. Think it would have freaked out my in-laws if I asked for a pliars. PITA, either way.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,408 ✭✭✭Lewis_Benson


    We are going with roast chicken breasts, honey glazed ham, roast beef, carrots, sprouts (puke. They are for the mother) mushy peas, Yorkshire puddings.

    My neighbour is doing a different take altogether, Tai Green Curry



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,589 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    Where I'm cooking has a second fridge in the garage. Also, bronze turkeys are pretty compact but still with loads of meat. And once the turkey is broken down into stuffed legs and a crown with the back removed, it doesn't take up that much room.

    Post edited by the beer revolu on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,161 ✭✭✭Mr.Wemmick


    We have a spare fridge in the garage, comes into its own around this time of year. Also have a chest freezer & separate tall freezer which are great ( got during covid) although that said a Turkey breast stuffed and the extra stuffing balls do not take up a lot of room

    I’ll make the coleslaw fresh tomorrow morning and prep the veg.. will do a mash potato soufflé just before dinner at 4pm. I’m only doing a few roasties for the kids.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,684 ✭✭✭Fionn1952


    Cooking for ten people tomorrow, driving about a hundred miles on Stephen's Day to cook for 18 with very little prepped in advance bar brine for turkey and the desserts. I'm in for a stressful few days.

    Have a rosemary, lemon zest, garlic and sage salt I make this time of year on dry brining the turkeys (very large boned and rolled breast for each day), par boil and then roast the ham each day with a mustard and marmalade glaze. Will be using my stash of wagyu tallow for the roasties day one, standard duck fat day 2. Honey balsamic roast carrots and parsnips, sprouts with pancetta and pine nuts, my mother's stuffing recipe and making the gravy off the fond plus a big batch of demiglace I made and froze into ice cube moulds a while ago.

    I don't really like turkey but I did one Christmas without it and after a lifetime of turkey and ham at Christmas it just didn't feel like Christmas at all so we're stuck with it.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 779 ✭✭✭Cushtie


    Yeah, the tendons were a bit of a dose alright. But got there in the end.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,256 ✭✭✭rameire


    Salivating at the food described since the start of this thread.

    First time in years doing a crimbo dinner as usually go on a sun holiday. Doing an early dinner at 4.

    So have prepped like never before.

    Cooking for 6.

    Made brocolli, celeriac veg soup yesterday. Enough for 20 people.

    Today, Pealed and chopped all veg which is now sitting in water.

    Washed the ham multiple times in cold water today.

    Made home made brown bread, need another one as it's all gone.

    Soup for starter.

    For mains.

    Ham will be served boiled and baked.

    2 chickens with a spicy butter flavouring roasted.

    Brussels well be steamed then pan fried in butter.

    Carrots boiled, parsnips parboiled and roasted.

    Mash and roast potatoes in duck fat.

    Sage and onion stuffing.

    Yorkshire puds.

    Some gravy.

    Dessert will be home made dark chocolate mousse with marscapone.

    Afters is a cheese and meats board.

    Should be enough leftovers for some moist sambos around 11.

    🌞 3.8kwp, 🌞 Clonee, Dub.🌞



  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 4,771 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tree


    I do only have the one fridge, but the chest freezer is magical. It's where I store balls of leftover risotto, so I can make arancini…

    Christmas Eve is officially "grazing" day. Must soak some brioche for french toast in the morning, I wonder if mixing Eierlikör in with the custard would be good…



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,615 ✭✭✭✭tom1ie


    Cooking for 16 later today.
    I’ve the carrots and parsnips cut into large chunks and sitting in water waiting to be dried and put on the roasting dish with the duck fat.
    One loaf tin with sage and onion stuffing, one loaf tin with sage and onion plus sausage meat stuffing ready to throw in the oven.
    Turkey crown with no bone now has Irish butter and herb mix in under the skin, I then brushed outside the skin with more melted Irish butter and sage and rosemary herbs.
    I then covered the crown in o Neil’s streaky rashers.
    Both Ham have been boiled, fat cut off and put to one side.
    Hams then covered in mustard and brown sugar for baking later.
    The fat off the hams are in the fridge and on a tray with a weight on top to flatten them out.
    The fats will go in the airfryer at 220C at least to become crackilng.

    Potatoes peeled and divided into pots for par boiling for roasties and the rest for mash.
    Sprouts peeled and ready for boiling then frying in pancetta oil and butter, with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
    Carrotts chopped for boiled carrots.
    Marrowfat peas in the tin ready for the microwave.
    Can’t wait!!



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,589 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    Yay!

    You'll never go back. It's way nicer done this way than the breast, imo. I tend to roast mine for about an hour.

    I'm so glad that this is becoming popular! As long as I can remember, my dad did this until he got a bit too old for it and I took over. Sometimes I even buy turkey legs, when I can find them, to cook them this way.



  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 4,073 Mod ✭✭✭✭Planet X


    I’ve missed two Christmas dinners in a row. I’m fuming 😀😀.

    This Christmas, Philippines. Last Christmas, NZ.

    Missing my bread sauce, turkey, spiced red cabbage et al. Mince pies, plum pudding. My heart aches. Planning for next year already 😀.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 263 ✭✭exiledawaynothere


    bread sauce was never on our menu. Missing it also. The Irish Christmas does have its charms.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,589 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    Honestly, apart from the food, I've no interest in Christmas, and given the option I wouldn't even cook turkey. I got to do goose one year but, alas, turkey is always wanted. I've probably cooked 25 Christmas dinners (often with help) but I've never hosted.

    I've often thought about Christmas abroad but family pulls on both sides of the Irish Sea have stopped it.

    I've never had bread sauce.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,962 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    All the prep work done last night.

    Look at those Brussels. Straight from the stem, not a bit of wastage. ❤️



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,438 ✭✭✭phormium


    Love bread sauce, just had a big cold spoon of it when putting it into something to heat up later, many disgusted faces in my kitchen lol! There is only a few of us that like it, I had it made and frozen in November. I could just eat the bowl of it on it's own.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,127 ✭✭✭ebbsy




  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 4,073 Mod ✭✭✭✭Planet X


    Bread sauce……raised on the stuff. 😀

    People are either bread sauce or cranberry sauce……in general.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 966 ✭✭✭taxAHcruel


    Dinner coming on nicely. The Garden is not the same without the Geese wandering around outside though :)



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,447 ✭✭✭✭Dial Hard


    I think my mother thinks pre-prepping is cheating or something. Literally everything (except the roasters, which I prepped and froze last week) is done on the day, and again from scratch tomorrow.

    In fairness, if she cooked the ham.on Christmas Eve, it would likely end up getting milled when we all land in from the pub...



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,161 ✭✭✭Mr.Wemmick


    starters done at 1pm.. relaxing with a drink now, kick off with main meal at 4:30pm. A bit tricky here with a vegetarian and a celiac but we got there in the end.. with smoked salmon, homemade coleslaw, avocado, GF cheese & garlic cheese flat bread and homemade Parmesan & smoked bacon baguette.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,086 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    Ham done yesterday, slow simmered in Cider, Apple Juice, Onion, Carrot and lots of Peppercorns, glazed in Honey, Dijon and Soy.

    Sausage meat stuffing with mushrooms, garlic, shallots and Thyme. Baked yesterday.

    I'm doing two large Free Range Turkey crowns today, one in each oven, Kerrygold with Rosemary, Parsley, Oregano and Garlic Salt mixed in, spread under the skin, flash crisped in a 260C oven and then dropped to 160C, streaky bacon laid over the top, then a 2.5 hour roast with regular basting.

    Had a traditional Fry (well grill and air fryer) at 10am. Smoked Salmon salad starter to be served at 3pm and main meal at 5pm. Meats, stuffing, sprouts, broccoli, carrots. cauliflower, all steamed al dente, crisp roasties done in Kerrygold and Olive Oil, Turkey gravy, Cranberry Sauce and Dijon.

    No glazed veg, no white or bread sauces or any of that muck, they are too filling for little satisfaction and nobody likes them anyway



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12 Hurdig


    Not doing turkey, ham etc. Dinner was to be just 2 of us but went to 4. Doing Smoked duck with mushroom risotto. Have plum pudding & brandy butter. Also chocolate fondant.

    Starters will be smoked salmon on brown bread. Smoked mackerel pate on crackers. Have a huge amount of cheese for later in evening.

    Will be eating in about an hour.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,161 ✭✭✭Mr.Wemmick


    Almost there..



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,962 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Something for everyone.
    After all the talk of rolled turkey leg. What was forgotten and left in the fridge! 🤯



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,831 ✭✭✭✭The Hill Billy


    Just the one fridge, but I prepped all my veg on Monday and put it in pots in the utility room and turned off the radiator out there. It's a chilly room at the best of times and all the veg was grand today.

    Stuffing and braised red cabbage also done on Monday, but had space for that in the fridge. Yesterday all I had to do was cook the ham and spiced beef, and make the cranberry sauce. Kicked back in the afternoon with a few sherries.

    All went swimmingly today I'm pleased to say. Mrs B & the Kids enjoyed their dins, and there's tons of everything left over for round two tomorrow.

    Merry Christmas to you all!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,438 ✭✭✭phormium




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,161 ✭✭✭Mr.Wemmick


    We did a delicious whiskey & marmalade glazed ham two days ago and ate it all, lol. Just the turkey today and it was plenty for 4 of us. Never did the potato soufflé either, just dbl cream & butter mash. I blame the two gins I drank this afternoon.



  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 4,771 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tree


    Aldi vegan no turkey and stuffing roast, roasties, mash, mushy peas, carrots, pork sausage stuffing, veggie gravy. Still feeling full hours later.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,397 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Traditional route for us.. no pics sorry I was too busy 😀

    Cooking for five today, five tomorrow, four on the 27th… so effectively 14 people 😁

    Turkey was free range from the local butcher, 7.2kg. This turned out to be by far the easiest thing, it basically cooked itself.

    Turned the oven on at 0600, it went in at 0610, gas mark 4… it needed no attention whatsoever and was cooked by 1330. No basting needed, no faffing around with the foil… I could have served it up right then but there was a requirement to provide bacon nibbles among other things so it went back into the oven with foil off and strategically applied streaky bacon.

    The main difficulty was the roasters. I made the mistake of doing these a few years ago and am now not allowed to refuse. They are a major faff to prepare and always take a lot longer than you think to fry up in the roasting tray, even at the very top shelf in the oven at off the scale 9+ gas mark. I really should have (or the sous chef should have 😁) peeled, parboiled and maybe even half-fried them on the 24th.

    I was too busy then making the stuffing though! I'd asked the butcher could I get giblets, they said nobody wants them! and handed me three turkeys' bags worth. Necks and hearts went into the freezer and ultimately the stock pot, the three livers were most welcome and finely chopped went into the stuffing, along with fresh parsley, thyme, breadcrumbs and sausage meat.

    The stuffing is usually a big hit but this year even more so, due to the high liver content 😁

    We ended up plated and ready to eat at 1710, I'd promised 1700 so not too shabby… and the turkey was carefully not allowed to dry out at all.

    I used up all of the frozen 2023 stock making today's gravy… the lovely jelly stuff that ends up in the turkey tray, along with random small bits of uneaten meat, and the bones, will go into the stock pot and boiled down and eventually frozen will become the 2025 gravy… it's the circle of life 😃

    I'm partial to your abracadabra,
    I'm raptured by the joy of it all.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,397 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    25th is a lot of work and the 24th is too… the 26th is great as I'm eating Christmas dinner with little effort - just carve it up and stick it in a roasting tray and cover and heat it up! 27th is the same, then anything that's left goes into the stock pot. The first time I said to the other half I should make a stock pot she thought I was mad, now everyone is addicted to the stuff. Usually half of it gets used up during the year (paellas) and half is left for the next Christmas dinner.

    The mistake I made this year was buying a 3.5kg ham that doesn't fit into our biggest pot, I thought "no problem we can cut a bit off and cook that" but having two ham pots on the go created a lot of difficulties with other things. 2.5kg is plenty for us and fits easily into our biggest pot.

    I'm partial to your abracadabra,
    I'm raptured by the joy of it all.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,500 ✭✭✭riddles


    Cut the legs off a 5kg turkey - did a dry salt brine basically rubbed herbed sea salt all over the turkey unde the skin and left for 24 hours. Then did the same with home made garlic butter.

    Split the legs off and the thighs. Put the crown in a roasting bag. Left the rest out in the same tray. Turkey cooked in just over two hours rested for an hour. Everyone said it was the nicest Turkey. Would definitely recommend it made getting at the brown meat really easy. Meat was so moist and full of flavour. All the Turkey sambos later needed was a bit of mayo.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,589 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    That's some range of cooking times for a turkey amongst us!

    From one hour for my poached crown and roast, stuffed legs; to two hours for a roast bird with the legs taken off ; to seven hours 20 minutes slow roast turkey.!

    I served up at 4 and didn't start any veg prep or cooking cooking until after half 1.😊 It was a pretty intensive two and a half hours, though.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,397 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Low and slow is my preference, some go as low as gas mark 3 but I wouldn't dare.

    We had pretty much a kilogram of stuffing in there too which has to be allowed for. I couldn't quite get all of it into the neck so I made a stuffing ball wrapped in foil and put it into the tray beside the turkey, that turned out to be just as good as the stuffing in the neck. It ended up half immersed in the grease/jelly which stopped it drying out. I wouldn't stuff the body cavity but I do stick a whole onion in there for flavour.

    Usually when we start at gas 4 it goes up to 5 later, but we had no need this year and basically like I said, it cooked itself and needed no attention at all. I kept the foil well clear of the turkey breast so it didn't get overcooked or dry out due to contact with the hot foil. There was air space underneath it so it acted like a mini oven and kept all the moisture in. A roasting bag should do pretty much the same thing but I've never used one.

    Not a fan of butter basting personally, I did try it one year but the meat ended up tasting of butter (I probably overdid it) and it makes for a lot of liquid grease in the bottom of the tray which doesn't solidify even when cold. Scraping away the solidified grease to get at the delicious jelly stuff underneath it is vital for the stock pot 😁

    I'm partial to your abracadabra,
    I'm raptured by the joy of it all.



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