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What’s for Christmas Lunch this year?

No matter where you live in Great Britain, there are certain dishes that will always feature on the menu for Christmas Lunch. (For those not of British decent, Christmas lunch is the meal for Christmas Day!).

With more people becoming vegetarian or intolerant of various foods, Christmas lunch has had to be adapted to suit but we all still have our favourites. So to satisfy everyone in the family, even with adaptations, certain dishes HAVE to be there.

The traditional British Christmas lunch will always include a starter of prawn cocktail or smoked salmon, perhaps with blinis or even watercress soup. The main course is usually roast turkey with gravy, sage and onion or sausagemeat stuffing, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, glazed carrots, roast parsnips, bread sauce, “pigs in blankets” (small sausages wrapped in bacon). Dessert usually consists of mince pies, Christmas pudding and/or Christmas cake with brandy butter or brandy sauce (or both!), and to round it all off, a cheese board and port. By the time the cheese comes round, we’re usually too stuffed for another mouthful but we often have the port just to ‘settle the wind’!

Due to peoples’ changing tastes, adaptations to the menu have been made to accommodate vegetarians, vegans and people who just don’t like turkey. There are now many magazines dedicated to vegetarians so a horrible stodgy nut roast or endless quiches are no longer the only choices for those who don’t want to eat meat. Although the ubiquitous nut roast is still served, there are many other delicious ideas available, for example Potato, Fennel and Mushroom Gratin (for the recipe go to http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/137617/Potato–fennel-and-mushroom-gratin), or a Sweet Potato and Leek Roulade with Stuffing (recipe in the December 2009 issue of delicious. magazine).

Over the years, potatoes have evolved into creamy tatties &  neeps (potatoes & turnips) potatoes that have been scored and scattered with thyme and sea salt, brussels sprouts have been clothed in garlic and parmesan, parsnips have had mustard and maple syrup brushed on, apples and juniper have been added to braised red cabbage, orange rind added to the cranberry sauce, and chestnuts used for both savoury and sweet dishes. Roast duck, goose, and other game birds such as partridge, woodcock or grouse, roast beef, roast pork and even fish roasts have also made their appearance.

Dessert has also changed. You’ll now see many variations on the traditional Christmas cake and pudding, trifles with exotic fruits, sinfully lavish chocolate creations, cheesecake with rum-soaked raisins, Pavlovas with clementines and passionfruit amongst many, many other choices.

Not only have dishes for the main meal changed but what’s done with the leftovers has taken a much needed turn for the better. For example, leftover turkey can be made into turkey goulash (look on www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk for some of these recipes), a turkey and ham pie with a puff pastry case or into a Thai turkey salad or turkey tostadas with avocado and sour cream or even an updated version of Coronation chicken (turkey). Leftover vegetables could be turned into roast vegetable salad with feta and the best one yet is Stuffing Burgers which uses leftover raw sausagemeat stuffing (or plain sausagemeat), onion, parsley and sage, plus lemon zest and one egg, formed into burgers and served on ciabatta buns with rocket, sour cream and cranberry sauce topping. That one is good enough to do any time in the year and not just at Christmas.

So although our tastes are changing as people travel more and become more adventuresome with food, all families have their food traditions without which it just wouldn’t be Christmas!