What are you having for Christmas dinner? Well, it’s good to know that so many people have bought products from local producers. In fact, with the quality of our local butchers and farms, you’d be hard pressed to find anything comparable for the same prices in a supermarket!
Then we have Hillside Brewery, Seven Cider and other great local drinks producers to provide alcoholic beverages over the festive season.
Roast potatoes and parsnips, winter vegetables, stuffing, homemade gravy, Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, a whole chicken or a mouth-watering joint of lamb, pork or beef… this is what immediately springs to mind when someone says “Christmas dinner” to me. Then there are other seasonal staples, such mince pies and Christmas cakes.
Nevertheless, Christmas dinner can be whatever you want and it doesn’t have to be traditional. In fact, some people would rather eat cold mud pies than a piece of Christmas cake – so much so, that someone I know made her own version one year. It was a freestyle cake making affair (more of an experiment in fact). Fortunately, however, the end result was fantastic. This was her own twist on a traditional Christmas cake:
- Sultanas, candid peel and currents were substituted for more glace cherries, almonds and balls of rolled up marzipan.
- It was given a chocolate flavour and large chunks of white and dark chocolate were stirred into the mixture.
- It was fed generously with Amaretto weekly for approximately 3 months before ‘icing’.
- When it was time to ‘ice’ the cake, it was coated in a thick and impenetrable shield of marzipan, before it was covered with lashings of melted dark chocolate.
It really was the ultimate Christmas cake for people who don’t like Christmas cake. Unfortunately, there is no recipe as such.
Christmas food heresy!
In fact, it’s easy to get so used to our own traditional favourites that other people’s Christmas dinners can seem almost heretical, with people even falling out over what to have and how to cook it. This is where we see the dark side of Christmas with people under intense pressure to please everyone. However, we hope that our readers will enjoy the festive period for what it is – the season of peace on earth and good will to all!
We are rather nosey at WyeDean Deli Confidential – why else would we be looking for the best food and drink producers in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley? We are curious to know what local people plan to eat in order to celebrate Christmas. Furthermore, we want to know if local people will be eating and drinking local things!
Bex from WyeDean Deli Confidential will be in France over Christmas (where they take great pride in their local produce), but she will still be taking some sausages from Cameron’s Quality Butchers!
However, there are many ‘modern classics’ that have become synonymous with Christmas such as Quality Street, Roses, Cheese Footballs and those dubious multi-packs of weird pretzelly things. However, we think that no Christmas is complete without some kind of local produce – which also happens to make fantastic presents. The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley has its own wine, cider, perry and ale. It is teaming with great quality butchers, and we have traditional cheese makers, Forest Flatbreads from Hart Barn Cookery school, fabulous bakers and a plethora of jam and chutney makers. Apologies if we have missed out anyone crucial!
So, Happy Christmas from WyeDean Deli Confidential. We hope that everyone enjoys the festive season and please get in touch and let us know what you are eating this Christmas!