Disaster at christmas

Oh felice I do not know what to say. I know that it is little consolation but do you have the receipt and could you take it back to the store/butcher on Friday?

Have you anything else that you can rustle up?

I do feel for you, that is an awful thing to happen.

felice urgh what a thing! If it's any consolation I just had to slice off the burnt fat from our beef rib roast for not noticing that someone had really cranked the oven up high! Luckily I smelt that something was burning.

What would Christmas be without some drama? hope it all works out okay with your meal in the end.

felice, try not to worry about it, it should be your company they are there to enjoy not your food, if he was sniffy about it so what, don't you feel upset about it, you did your best.
One year I did a huge joint of pork, but whilst it was cooking I kept smelling fish, when it was cooked that's what it tasted of as well, the pig had been fed on fish meal to fatten it up!!!
Like you I felt terrible, but we just ate the veg and double helping of pud. So felice go and have a and tell SIL you will go to them next year so that he can display his talents for a change, or he could take over your kitchen and give you a hand just a thought.

panic over, thank you for your kind wishes, once it had rested SIL tried it and prounounced it delicious,,,,, French remember,,, he also loved the sprouts with bacon and shallots and loves roasties, they don't seem to do them here or in France.
SIL is a great cook, but got home from work at 11.45 last night and is now off to bed 17.30 here, to get up at 2.30 to be in the depot for 3.30 then off around France, Belguim and Luxembourg until friday late afternoon.
DD and i had decided to share the lunch she did the starter and I cooked the rest down here(in the Granny flat) and we moved the lot upstairs when required. then DD clears up and i get lots of nice shiny pots returned. we live more or less in the same house so going to them is just nipping up the stairs.
I am normally a very confident very experienced chef but i just seem to want to make everything just right when I cook for him, he is a really nice man.
dessert was Roasted pineapple with Christmas Pudding Ice Cream and my spiced caramel sauce, DD hates christmas pud, so thought I would try a different slant, James Martin recipe, five stars, lovely. thanks again for your support throughout the year too, DD thinks you are wonderful too, glass of wine in hand now and Carlos Decosta on BBC 4 later.

YaY that it turned out all right, and double YaY for Carlos DeCosta, now there's a dish

All's well that ends well, but why is it often the way that something you've made many times before goes wrong just when you want it to be perfect? My daughter 's favourite chocolate sponge pudding, which I can make with my eyes closed, decided to stick in the bowl today. It didn't really matter and it tasted good, but it is still annoying when you know you have done everything the same as usual.

I have made the same Christmas pudding and Creamy Brandy Sauce from a favorite Christmas recipe book for nearly thirty years. This year I couldn't find my book and since I only make these recipes each year I searched for similar recipes. I found what I thought was a recipe that had the same amount of ingredients though when I stirred in the 1 cup flour I could see it was too much. I then added an extra 250g of butter and more fruit and spices and also grated carrot which is in my recipe and not in the recipe I was using. Everyone declared it was as delicious as usual.

I couldn't find a similar recipe to the Creamy Brandy Sauce and had to wing it. My egg whites wouldn't stiffen, I think it was because the eight eggs weren't chilled (I was making a double amount). I whipped the cream and that was enough to thicken the sauce, luckily it turned out well. Success, now to find my book.

Felice Put it down to bad luck! You will probably be able to laugh about it one day.

We had a 2 year old home-made Christmas Pud (It looked and smelled OK when I re-covered it to steam) now waiting for a disaster!!!!!

It will be interesting to know how it turns out OGM, how was it stored for the last two years.

Christmas puds last forever! I've eaten them from the stone age

old we have used age old home made Christmas puddings and they are fine, as long as they have been stored correctly.

I always store Xmas puddings for two years before using. Much improved taste. I have just bought a Waitrose chocolate pudding, extremely lovely, and will keep it for Easter. It will be one month past it's dead by date but never mind!

Pud was stored in a fridge (old one retired to the garage but still works fine!)
Poured brandy over 2 slices today and re-heated, yum! Still here to tell the tale