Not just about turkey and what you have with it but the whole thing. What and when and maybe what don't you have?

Chicken is always a staple for us throughout the year - roasted whole or portion; ingredient in various rice dishes, garlic drumsticks, crispy wings etc.

So in December we usually have an embargo on poultry so that come xmas dayy we're almost gasping for turkey and it goes down even better.

For the last few years we've tried to make a 'thing' about xmas eve dinner too. Gigantic prawns, Veggie/Seafood Lasagne. Or just fish and chips.

At some point after xmas day we have a 'finger food' style meal too.

Chicken, Salmon Pie, meat ball ragout was a tradition for the others (a Quebec thing?) on xmas eve rather than a xmas day turkey, but that was before they experienced turkey that wasn't dry and the extras.

They have been completely sold on my turkey dinners for a few years now and the pie/ragout has been moved to easter weekend.

Have a guess......

No dinner plans here, well specific to Christmas anyhow.

The freezer and pantry are so bare bones, but some fish for my wife, and a pork chop for me will probably do the trick.....

My wife's usual tradition is to go have Sushi with her mom on Christmas Eve, they have done that for years, just not sure if her mom is coming out to see us for the holiday.

Wine and fudge?

Dog can have the fudge, Snoop and I will try the win although it may be too sweet.... No...I will give you a clue

Oh. The fart-beasts.

Dessert wines can be nice - with dessert. A nice M&S or Tesco xmas pud, with cream and a glass of dessert wine was part of my xmas dinner for several years before moving over.

Turkey on Christmas day, and a visit to the local chippy will be the order of the day on Christmas Eve.

Many years ago, elsewhere, I wrote this about Christmas & Food:

I loved traditional Christmas dinners as a child ; the turkey, baked ham and all the trimmings.

Once I started cooking Christmas dinner myself, I have to admit I went off turkey, realising that it's actually all the trimmings that make that bird interesting and the cooking took a lot of fun out of Christmas morning ...

Then I hooked up with a Canadian born Frenchman who firmly insisted that *all* cultures be observed which meant a feast on Christmas Eve, *and* one on the Day itself.

(This, BTW, is the same man who once entirely dismantled my kitchen on December 22rd, and only provided me with a temporary sink, work surface and two burners at 2pm on the 24th after A Very Serious Ultimatum was delivered. We had guests that year too.)

I got Christmas Eve down pat with a buffet including garlic snails, smoked salmon, prawns, various hors d'oeuvres, salads and a fondue.

But I'm still not reconciled to turkey.

So then, I decided to experiment :

Goose ; urgh, while not downright nasty, it certainly wasn't worth the bother.

Back to turkey.

Then we had roast beef, which was excellent and very easy, but deemed not festive enough.

Back to turkey.

(In between we started celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving and I decided that Two Turkeys per Year is One Too Many - hence the alternance).

One year I did a very fancy (for me) duck recipe (we had several of them considering the amount of meat on a duck and the amount my gannets and the various strays who come to dinner eat), which was excellent, and while fancy, a lot easier than turkey.

Then there was the year I did wild boar...

There were also a few Christmases where I attempted to embrace the Québécois traditions & tried the tourtières, ragoûts, etc etc etc stuff. And a couple where - as a blended family - some of us ended up eating 3 or 4 "Christmas" dinners in a row.

This year I'm going to my daughter's, where I shall be babysitting on Christmas Eve while the adults go do the QC blowout feast thing with t'other side(s) of the family, & I'll provide/cook the Frenchie style buffet in the afternoon/evening on Christmas Day.

There will be, as always, a thoroughly British Christmas pud with Brandy butter.

That used to be my feeling until a few years ago, although I did actually really enjoy the cold turkey Boxing day dinner.
Once I discovered the Butterball turkey I was converted to the idea it really can be the turkey as well as the trimmings and I've even discovered that non butterball turkeys can be good too and I have adjusted my cooking times and temps. I make notes each time (sad git) for next time, because if I followed the recommendations on the next one it would be overcooked.

There are some ridiculously cheap turkeys about these days and we usually buy one when they are on offer for $10. I don't remember the last time we didn't have one in the freezer.

I was toying with the idea of keeping the legs back for a slow cooker soup a few days after, but seeing the size of what I took out the freezer just now, I may leave them on and separate to continue cooking when the breast is ready as usual.

I've done the duck experiment. Nice but I'd rather have Tesco's duck breast in plum sauce.

I'm still tempted by a bit of pheasant. Might add one this year if Sobeys has any frozen ones tomorrow.

I absolutely don't brine the turkey. Tried it twice and it was unquestionably the worst turkey ever. But others swear by it.

I did once experiment with brining: it was bloody awful and SUCH a waste of time .

I think I enjoy the leftovers (soup, stews, pie) more than the traditional roast turkey. I do have one in the freezer ATM, because it was stupidly cheap a few weeks ago at the supermarket.

I haven't eaten pheasant in 30-odd years, but yeah, yum, I could go for that!!

I really like the roast turkey dinner, although I always tend to enjoy the Thanksgiving one more than the Christmas version. I think it's to do with the pressure to make the Christmas dinner special. We have a buffet style Christmas Eve. We are quite multi cultural, my husband is Jewish so we celebrate Hanukkah as well as Christmas with a menorah in the living room and Christmas tree in the family room. My son's girlfriend is Chinese she is coming for Christmas Eve and day, she hasn't been in the country that long so don't know what she is expecting but she likes to eat so I am sure all will be good.

It will be turkey and a monstrous amount of trimmings. My turkey does not come out dry.

Both Xmas Eve and Boxing day are buffet style efforts & include the compulsory NZ baked ham.

We prepare and cook together as we enjoy the joint effort even though it is just for ourselves these years. We even still pull crackers although a box can last years.

Down in the deep south of the US, we are having a roast beef this year. Usually it is a standing rib roast but newly retired doesn't include $9.99 lb meat on the table for 7 people. Especially since the price includes the weight of the bones even though they do make for a nice beef and barley soup later. Going to the butcher in the morning for an eye round or round of beef however you stay it in whatever country you are from Of course, will have the traditional meat pies that my Canadian hubby loves and no, even though he was born and raised in Montreal, it is not with pork or veal, just beef. One of the kids won't eat ham so that killed that thought. So safe with the roast beef, potatoes, veggies, homemade mushroom gravy, fresh biscuits and a homemade cheesecake for dessert.

Can't find crackers down here and remembered to late to order them from amazon. Darn!

Righto, so I bought a pheasant - frozen and an eye watering $29.

A couple of cooking methods were mentioned in the rabbit thread.

Considering the turkey will be cooked at 325f are there any suggestions for what to do with the pheasant?

Will it roast? Maybe cut the legs of and roast those with the rest done another time? Toaster oven? Roast it before the turkey and reheat a bit later?

Or just leave it to ruin it another time?