Three supermarkets have released foot-long pigs in blankets this year – need we say more.
Supermarkets, chefs and festive menu planners have certainly not held back this year. Numerous shops and restaurants are unveiling Christmas burgers, including the Chick n’Sours version (above), aptly named the twisted Xmas celebration burger. Combining fried thigh, kewpie mayo, cranberry hoisin, pigs in blankets, cheese, lettuce and fermented red cabbage, deconstruction seems the only way to tackle it. Also popular this year are Christmas dinner pizzas, monstrous mince pies and the use of a Yorkshire pudding as a tortilla wrap or a sandwich filling.
Here, we round up some of the most bizarre new editions to festive gastronomy, including cows in quilts, a £150 beef sandwich and a pasty containing an entire Christmas meal.
For our round-up of festive cocktails, please click here.
Cows in quilts
Forget pigs in blankets, this year it’s all about cows in quilts believes pub chain Hungry Horse. Instead of the usual cocktail sausage, mini beef burgers wrapped in bacon will be served up at 286 Hungry Horse sites nationwide.
Billed as “the ultimate side dish”, the bacon-wrapped beef treats are available for £1.99. Last year, the pub chain also introduced diners to glitter gravy.
Jason Radbourn, food development manager at Hungry Horse, added: “Christmas is almost upon us, and this year we wanted to take the celebrations to a whole new level by turning a Christmas dinner staple on its head.
“Pigs in blankets have long been the star of many Christmas dinners, and we thought it was time we gave the spotlight to a new seasonal side dish by creating something which pays homage to a true pub classic – the beef burger”.
Hungry Horse pubs: https://www.hungryhorse.co.uk/find-us/
Deep-fried Christmas dinner
A chip shop in Fife, Scotland has decided to branch out from its usual fish supper. April’s Plaice in Buckhaven is serving up a deep-fried Christmas dinner box for £8, including a turkey or chicken leg, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, carrots and sprouts. The owner, James Ellinsworth’s, logic? People do it with Mars Bars so why not Christmas dinner!
April’s Plaice, 14 College Street, Buckhaven, Fife.
Mince pie naan bread
Covent Garden Indian Cinnamon Bazaar has gone all out this year, incorporating garam masala, mince meat and naan bread to create a festive fusion. Combining dried fruit, nuts and spices, the mince meat has been marinated in dark rum, brandy and red wine for six months.
The mince pie naan bread is available with or without cinnamon ice cream and can be bruléed at the table.
Sister restaurant, the Cinnamon Club, is using the same recipe for its garam masala Christmas pudding which serves two people.
£7 (£6 without the ice cream) and available until 2 January, 28 Maiden Lane, London, WC2E 7JS.
£150 wagyu beef sandwich
Christmas in Mayfair comes at a price. Raising the stakes in London’s sandwich game, Japanese restaurant Tokimeite, has created a Wagyu beef Christmas ‘sando’ for the festive season, priced at £150.
The pricey Japanese sandwich is filled with 120g of Japanese wagyu beef fillet, which is coated in breadcrumbs and fried. This is then placed between two slices of brioche bread and slathered in melted Saint-Nectaire cheese and a Japanese demi-glace sauce. Shavings of white truffle provide the finishing touch.
Only four of the £150 sandwiches will be made daily, available until the end of December.
23 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2XS
Mince pie Yorkshire pudding
The Cherry Tree Farm in Derby has created what it has dubbed the “ultimate seasonal sweet treat” – the mince pie Yorkshire pudding. Comprising a hot mince pie nestled in a crispy Yorkshire pud, dusted with icing sugar, the dish is completed with a lake of creamy custard. The pub said the dish was created “to meet the growing demand for innovative dishes and exciting food fusions”.
Gareth Cotton, general manager at the Cherry Tree Farm, said: “There’s no time quite like Christmas to gather the family and feast together – and no festive spread would be complete without a mince pie or two!
“Our filled Yorkshire puddings are always a hit with our guests, but usually we’re encouraging diners to pack them full of succulent meats and seasonal vegetables. This Christmas we wanted to combine the classic Yorkie pud with a seasonal sweet treat to create something truly spectacular, which also tastes delicious.
“We’re not shy of wacky and wonderful food combinations here at Farmhouse Inns, and are delighted to hear that our dish is so popular it will be rolling out across other Farmhouse Inns across the country! We hope our guests are as excited as we are to try our new seasonal dish – we’re sure they’ll love it!”
Grab yourself a pie-pud for £2.49, https://www.farmhouseinns.co.uk/find-us/
Vegan skin-on turkey
Following on from the likes of meat-less meat balls, we bring you the turkey-less turkey. Club Mexicana, the restaurant at London vegan pub The Spread Eagle, is serving up seitan (wheat gluten) masquerading as turkey breast, complete with crispy skin made out of yuba bean curd. The dish is completed with sweet potato and cumin purée and other seasonal garnishes.
224 Homerton High Street, E9 6AS.
Three-course Christmas dinner pasty
Morrisons is selling the ultimate Christmas pasty for those people who can’t decide between sweet or savoury. The three-course Christmas dinner pasty is, as the name suggests, made up of three different sections. The first is Ardennes pâté, sweet apple chutney, and Melba toast; the second British turkey with sage and onion stuffing, potatoes, pigs in blankets, cranberries, and a creamy sauce; and the final portion is traditional Christmas pudding with brandy sauce.
While it might seem odd, Cornish pasties were once not solely savoury. Tin miners once took pastries underground containing meat and vegetables at one end and jam or fruit at the other.
Morrisons’ version comes with an arrow to indicate which end to eat first. The store is also selling Christmas dinner wrapped in a Yorkshire pudding, and wonky sprouts for 75p.
Pick up a pasty at the Morrisons Pie Shop for £2.50. https://my.morrisons.com/storefinder/
Crispmas dinner box
Crisp bar (yes there is such a thing) Hipchips is serving up crispmas dinner. Its crispmas dinner box features festive dips including smoked salmon and pickled cucumber, turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce and Christmas pudding slathered with brandy butter.
The box is also filled with potato crips made from heritage varieties including Highland Burgundy, Violetta and Pink Fir Apple, with cinnamon sugar crips for dipping in the Christmas pud.
49 Old Compton Street, W1D 6HL.
Wassailing stuffing bundt
Why have normal stuffing when you can have a bundt-shaped version inspired by the old English tradition of Wassailing? Launched as part of the Heston Waitrose Christmas range, the stuffing combines Braeburn and Granny Smith apples, crab apple jelly and sausage meat, made with oak-smoked pork, bacon, pine nuts and brioche. The stuffing bundt comes with an apple and brandy glaze and a pork crackling crumb.
Blumenthal adds: “Wassailing is the ancient custom of visiting orchards to recite incantations and sing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year. Taking inspiration from this seasonal tradition, my new dishes celebrate the humble apple in all its forms”.
Serves 4-5, £9.99, https://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/bf_home/bf.html
Foot-long pigs in blankets
Giant pigs in blankets from Aldi.
2018 is the year of the foot-long pigs in blankets. First out the traps was Aldi (above) which unveiled its super-sized seasonal sausage in September. Not to be outdone, a week later Asda got in on the act, unveiling its £5 variant at the start of September. Marks & Spencer clearly thought it was missing out, announcing its foot-long pigs in blankets yesterday.
Asda’s version…
Asda’s version will set you back £5, Aldi’s for £2.99 for two and M&S for £5 for two.
And finally, foot-long bacon-wrapped sausages from Marks & Spencer
Profiter’coals
Another Heston for Waitrose creation, Profiter’coals or “great balls of fire” are black-coloured profiteroles filled with mandarin orange crème pâtissière and drizzled with a smoked orange caramel sauce and scattered with popping candy.
The orange-flavoured profiteroles will be hitting stores shortly, and will be available for £13 for 18 choux buns.
