# British Dopers: Do You (For Christmas Dinner) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055 "2007-12-15T00:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/1 "2007-12-15T00:34:53Z")
Cook roast goose? Drink wassail? Have plum pudding for dessert? I’d like to have a real Charles Dickens/Christmas Carol Christmas…and I’m wondering how hard it is to make those foods. I’m told that goose is good-but has a lot of fat. Wassail-I don’t have a clue-is it still made in England? And dessert (plum pudding) -how hard is it to make this? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/2 "2007-12-15T00:45:29Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] Cook roast goose? Drink wassail? Have plum pudding for dessert? I’d like to have a real Charles Dickens/Christmas Carol Christmas..and I’m wondering how hard it is to make those foods. I’m told that goose is good-but has a lot of fat. Wassail-I don’t have a clue-is it still made in England? And dessert (plum pudding) -how hard is it to make this? [/QUOTE] Aged 54, I have always eaten turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing, sausages wrapped in bacon, carrots and gravy for Xmas dinner. (Naturally I leave the sprouts!) [The BBC agrees with me.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/features/christmas/christmas_turkey.shtml) I don’t drink myself but have never heard of anyone drinking wassail. (When I was in the Tolkien Society, we got a recipe for mead…) Xmas pudding is mandatory. WIth custard or cream, thank you. Sadly I cannot help with any cooking, but I’m sure it’s no more difficult to make the version you mention. [Here is Delia Smith (an English authority) with some tips on goose.](http://www.deliaonline.com/articles/food/christmas-birds-of-a-feather,240,AR.html) [And on plum pudding.](http://www.deliaonline.com/search/?qx=plum+pudding) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/3 "2007-12-15T01:09:46Z")
Goose? Nope. For the vast majority, it’s turkey. I put my foot down last year, there were only three of us, but goose was prohibitive (£80 was the likely cost at the local (not cheap but worth it) butcher). We got a three-bird roast from another local firm, duck stuffed with partridge and pigeon. It was absolutely fantastic, and pound-for-pound probably cheaper than turkey. However, our dad was rather put out by this, and because there’s a whole SIX PEOPLE to feed this year, a turkey is clearly essential :rolleyes: (can you tell I don’t like turkey all that much?) We’ve insisted on getting an organic one, which nearly got scuppered by the latest bird flu outbreak, but all is well now. Wassail? Never heard of it. Christmas pudding, absolutely, and it’s made to a recipe passed through the Irish side of the family. If followed to the letter, you’ve fed so much whisky and/or brandy into the thing, you’d be amazed anything else remains. The recipe is no secret, I’d happily share it, but it’s scrawled in all sorts of hieroglyphics tucked away among recipe books. It’s not hard to make, it just seems to be a very long process. (And the Christmas cake is made to the same recipe, yet my mum always seems surprised that people don’t want to eat both at the same sitting.) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/4 "2007-12-15T01:25:53Z")
I’m one of apparently few Brits who actually eats turkey all year round, although I concede that if you are not partial to meat so dry that it makes your teeth stick together, it may not be for you 😛 Plum pudding, what is that? If it is another name for Christmas Pudding, then it is vile stuff. Usually served with brandy sauce, another evil thing which strangely you only encounter on Christmas Day. It’s like it’s open season for Disgusting Stuff That Nobody Would Otherwise Eat. If you want a real British Christmas Dinner, you must include crackers (the kind that pull apart making a loud noise, not the kind that you eat). They open up to reveal (a) a paper hat that you are obliged to wear (b) a really terrible joke, the worse the better, and (c) a plastic toy of laughably poor qulaity. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/5 "2007-12-15T01:30:06Z")
Oh, sod brandy sauce, brandy butter, any of that nonsense. Even cream. If it’s made properly, it’s moist enough to be eaten dry. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/6 "2007-12-15T01:32:57Z")
As far as goose is concerned, it’s kind of [greasy.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=356653)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/7 "2007-12-15T01:41:04Z")
Brit here. We usually have our Christmas feast on Christmas Eve. We have a prime joint of beef or lamb, not turkey. We do have plum pudding. As for wassail, I’m familar with the door-to-door version: the response I know being Drink Hail! 😃 And you then toast each other. But no-one does it round here. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/8 "2007-12-15T01:41:25Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Oh, sod brandy sauce, brandy butter, any of that nonsense. Even cream. If it’s made properly, it’s moist enough to be eaten dry. [/QUOTE] It could be cooked by Raymond Blanc and hand-fed to me by Nepalese virgins, it would still be Christmas Pudding. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/9 "2007-12-15T01:42:35Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] It could be cooked by Raymond Blanc and hand-fed to me by Nepalese virgins [/QUOTE] My mother is neither of those 😛 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/10 "2007-12-15T09:45:46Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] It could be cooked by Raymond Blanc and hand-fed to me by Nepalese virgins, … [/QUOTE] I am interested in your project and would like to subscribe. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/11 "2007-12-15T13:26:05Z")
I’ll be having goose this year, for the first time. I’m spending the day with a Russian friend, so we’re having a hybrid Russian-British Christmas, and that’s traditional for her. I’ve made the pudding, a low fat version, as requested. Bloody expensive it was too, the only ingredient I actually had was an elderly half bottle of brandy. I followed a recipe first attempt and didn’t like the texture (almost like bread pudding), so improvised second time around and like it much better, since it’s more sticky and moist. It’s due a feed this weekend. It will be eaten with custard. I’ll need a practice on that this weekend. I may well make some sort of trifle for later on/boxing day, but it won’t involve jelly or sherry. It’ll probably be chocolate and amaretto based. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/12 "2007-12-15T14:37:40Z")
We are up for turkey this year - all the feedback I have heard says that goose is really fatty, which I won’t cope with - with sausage meat and chestnut stuffings, chipolata sausages, streaky bacon, roast potatos, kumara (an NZ tradition), and veges (no brussel sprouts). Wassail is like a mulled beer (or cider) with soggy toast - I’ll stick with mulled red wine. Christmas (fruit) mince pies with melting stilton cheese. Christmas pudding with Brandy Butter. Yum, yum, yum Si ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/13 "2007-12-15T17:02:00Z")
For Christmas dinner in England, I’ve had duck, goose, and many times venison. Never turkey, although I do know that’s common. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/14 "2007-12-15T17:20:55Z")
I experience a multicultural Christmas. We have a starter (usually some smoked salmon) and then we have the standard British turkey course (roast turkey, roast potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts, gammon and gravy) followed by the Goan course which is [Sorpotel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorpotel) (very old and secret family recipe), pilau rice and [pooris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poori) and then dessert which is usually Christmas pudding (sometimes a sherry trifle as well). One year a great-aunt brought her family’s sorpotel for Easter (a similar menu to Xmas is served for Easter), so we had two versions of the dish on the table. They were totally different from each other in flavour and texture. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/15 "2007-12-15T17:27:06Z")
I make wassail every year, though it’s not the traditional spiced _ale_. I make mulled apple cider with a good bit of orange in it - orange juice and orange rind. Black peppercorns, allspice, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and nutmeg. Heat it in a cauldron over a solstice bonfire (you can use your stove, if you insist!) and serve it warm for the kiddies, and then add some brandy or whiskey (Jack Daniels works really well with apples, no need for the expensive stuff with all this spicy sweetness going on) for the ethanol drinkers. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/16 "2007-12-15T17:55:41Z")
Never had plum pudding but goose is magic ,doesn’t have to be greasy,apparently you rotate it or something in the oven,I’m most certainly no cook. Quite a few people I know have goose instead of turkey at christmas as it has a lot more taste. Parsnips put in with the spuds are bloody nice too. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/17 "2007-12-15T18:06:41Z")
Plum pudding is traditional here in the UK, although it isn’t known as that now, simply Christmas pudding. (Same thing, but the change in terminology explains why most Brits think they’ve never had it). It’s a _sine qua non_ for Christmas dinner. Yes, we sometimes have goose, usually turkey though. The spiced ale known as wassail is definitely dead as the dodo though (at least in general terms). ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/18 "2007-12-15T18:54:54Z")
> [@](#): > > British turkey course (roast turkey, roast potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts, gammon and gravy) Gammon? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/19 "2007-12-15T19:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=Dominic Mulligan] Gammon? [/QUOTE] Is a baked ham/gammon not traditional at Christmas? I guess I didn’t realise and just took it for granted as it’s part of the meal I’ve eaten for 31 years. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055/20 "2007-12-15T19:55:16Z")
Irish Xmas dins involves ham as well as turkey, but I’ve not had it in England. I have had goose for Christmas once, but it was very fatty, the way my mum cooked it. I have also had “a wassail cup” at a church do, after having sung “here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green/here we come a-wandering so fair to be seen/love and joy come to you/and to you your wassail too/and God bring you a happy new year” and stuff. Can’t remember what it was - probably mulled wine. Plum pudding (“plum duff”) is near enough to Christmas pud for it not to matter, I believe. I love the idea of the Dickensian thing too, myself, but can’t be bothered actually create it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-do-you-for-christmas-dinner/430055.md?page=2)