Christmas dinners through history | English Heritage (2024)

FAQs

What do Englishmen traditionally have for Christmas dinner? ›

Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom usually consists of roasted turkey, stuffing, gravy, pigs in blankets, bread sauce, redcurrant jelly, roast potatoes; vegetables (particularly Brussels sprouts, broccoli, carrots, and parsnips) with dessert of Christmas pudding, mince pies (both served with brandy butter, custard ...

But instead of very large parties and gatherings, the Victorians saw Christmas as a family occasion. Most Victorian families had roast goose for their Christmas dinner, wealthy families ate beef, venison and turkey, often served with a chestnut or veal forcemeat stuffing.

For Christmas Day the feast featured eight different meats, demonstrating the status of the household. The shopping list for such a feast included a whole wild boar, three beef cattle, two calves, four doe, four pigs, eight partridges, two geese and over 60 birds (mostly hens).

Feasts were held to celebrate the pagan midwinter solstice, and archaeological digs have discovered that the most popular meats served up were pork and beef. Pork would be cooked over spits, while beef would be chopped up and used in hearty winter stews.

This traditional British holiday feast features classic dishes like holiday roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, braised red cabbage, and pureed parsnips, plus classic English Trifle and Christmas plum pudding.

The Great British Christmas dinner is… turkey and roast potatoes.

We did three turkeys for the Queen and her family in the royal dining room, one for the children's nursery, and then more for the 100 or so staff, so everyone had a Christmas lunch,'' he added. The turkey is served with mashed and roast potatoes, chestnut or sage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce, and bread sauce.

Turkey or Festive Bird for Dinner

Like many of us, Victoria and Albert enjoyed turkey at Christmas time. They would sit together as a family for their main meal and enjoy turkey with all the trimmings. As you would expect, the royal family were fortunate to share in several courses.

The Family Circle magazine listed this Christmas dinner menu in the December 1956 issue, “Holiday glazed ham, parsley potatoes, spiced peaches, cornbread diamonds, vegetable scallop, relish tray of olives, watercress, watermelon rind, radishes and celery, eggnog pie, coffee, salted nuts, mints.”

Then, there were roasted meats like boar, venison and birds, as well as brawn, a Tudor Christmas favourite. It was made using pork or boar meat, served sliced and decorated with herbs and fruits. It was so popular at court that at Greenwich Palace, extra cooking space had to be added to make more!

What food did the Elizabethans have for Christmas? ›

The Christmas feast was the highlight of the year for those households that could afford it and no expense was spared. A popular main dish was Brawn and mustard, made from force-fed boar meat. Other traditional meats served included roast beef, goose and turkey.

Then as now, beef, goose, ham, and turkey counted as holiday favorites; some households also insisted on fish, oysters, mincemeat pies, and brandied peaches. No one dish epitomized the Christmas feast in colonial Virginia.

For an Irish family Christmas, the traditional dinner is key and getting it right is a real art. Roast turkey and stuffing, clove-studded baked ham, crispy goose fat potatoes, steamed Brussels sprouts, buttery sweet carrots, crispy parsnips, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, gravy, phew, there's a lot to think of!

Christmas dinners weren't quite as elaborate as before the war. Rationing of sugar and butter meant fewer sweets. Meat, including ham, was rationed. Although turkey wasn't rationed, the armed services worked hard to provide turkey dinners to the servicemen overseas, which meant fewer turkeys on the Home Front.

The dishes were placed all around, and there was an elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkeys, ducks, fowls, hams, etc. puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, almonds, figs, raisins, and a variety of wines and punch. We took our leave at six, more than an hour after the candles were introduced. No lady, but Mrs.

Yorkshire pudding goes with roast beef. If you're having roast beef for Christmas dinner (and why shouldn't you?) then yes to Yorkshire pudding. If you're having turkey like everyone else, then no.

Santa Claus is referred to as "Father Christmas."

While some do refer to old Saint Nick as Santa Claus in the UK, it is widely accepted that Father Christmas is his more traditionally British name.

Families welcome the warmth and cheer of a Yule log blazing on the hearth. They decorate their homes with holly, ivy, and other evergreens and hang a mistletoe "kissing bough." Throughout the holidays, carolers go from house to house at twilight ringing handbells and singing Christmas songs.