Christmas Menus for Smaller Celebrations

This Christmas, we may not be able to sit at the same table as all our loved ones but we can still come together in spirit. Here’s our suggestions for sharing a warm and comforting Christmas on a smaller scale.

Not being able to be with all our friends and family will be very hard for many of us this year. But, while we may be separated physically, with determination, planning and a little help from modern communication technology, we can still make Christmas 2020 a time for celebration with those we cherish most.

Surveys have shown that, after spending time with family and sharing gifts, eating Christmas food is the third most important thing about Christmas for us Brits. So sitting down to eat a traditional meal at our table at the same time as our loved ones do in their homes is one way we can feel connected to those we are apart from. It doesn’t have to be turkey – Christmas isn’t all about this bird. But we do think there should be one rule: it must be tasty!

Turkey

If Christmas does mean turkey to you, then turkey it should be. If a white turkey is a little too large this year, you might like to consider a smaller flavoursome free range Bronze turkey. Pick a size that’s right for you from our range of choices, allowing around 500g per person.

You might also like to consider a fuss-free turkey crown or, if you’re going to be alone or there will just be two of you, a turkey leg. Here at the Wild Meat Company, we love the darker and moister leg meat so would be very happy with one of these on Christmas Day.

All the turkey options available on our website are raised by our near neighbours Keith and Paula Southey, who give their free-range bronze and white turkeys a very happy and healthy life on their farm. 

Goose

Goose is a great option for feeding fewer people, as it has a far lower meat to bone ratio than turkey as well as much more fat.

This means there is less of it when you carve the bird but what you are left with is utterly delicious – plus you can make the very best roast potatoes with the fat you drain off during cooking. If there will be six or less of you, go for a 4kg bird.

We’re very proud of our slow-reared free-range geese, which are produced locally by Philip Hunter.

Sutton Hoo chickens

For homes with one to four people, a Sutton Hoo chicken weighing around 2kg is ideal, while our larger size options cater for up to seven. If you’ve never tried a Sutton Hoo chicken before, you’ll be amazed by their flavour. This old-fashioned breed takes twice as long to mature as conventionally farmed chickens – time that’s spent roaming freely over 40 acres of Suffolk meadows. This produces the best tasting chicken you’ll ever eat with dense succulent meat, delicious juices and picture-perfect crispy skins.

Game birds

Roast partridge and pheasant are superb seasonal choices for smaller Christmas celebrations. Allow one partridge per person or one pheasant between two and ensure you baste them in plenty of butter and wrap them in bacon to keep the meat moist. Stuff with a homemade stuffing made with sausage meat, chestnuts, herbs and fresh breadcrumbs and serve with a sachet of Potts game gravy for a delectable festive treat.

If there will be three or four of you, our game roulade (pictured right), made with pheasant and wild duck, or a ballotine like our guinea fowl and mallard ballotine, are also great gamey options.

Wild venison or wild boar

In medieval Britain, venison was a popular choice for Christmas Day and it would be fantastic to see this old tradition revived. If there are between one and three of you, spoil yourself with a half or whole striploin or haunch joint.

Wild boar, another favourite for Christmases of olde, is another mouthwatering choice for Christmas 2020.

Beef, pork and lamb

Roast beef was the meal of choice for the majority of Brits less than a hundred years ago. It was only when turkey became a more affordable option in the 1960s that this bird became the star of the Christmas table.

If you’d like to tuck into a joint of beef this year, you’ll not find any tastier than our grass fed beef, produced by the Styles family, whose small farm in Norfolk has remained unchanged since the second World War. For one to four people, we recommend a 1.1kg one-bone rib joint, a kilo joint of topside or, to make it a Christmas to remember, a kilo of fillet – either served flash fried or made into a beef wellington.

Prefer lamb or pork? Our locally reared lamb makes for a very memorable Christmas, as does Blythburgh pork, gammon, ham and sausages.

Christmas boxes for six

For more ideas, visit our Christmas Shop, where you’ll find Christmas meat selections to feed up to six. 

However you will be spending Christmas this year, all of us at the Wild Meat Company would like to wish you a happy and healthy one and a hopeful New Year.