CHRISTMAS dinner used to be a straightforward affair with turkey and all the trimmings, but you can now get a quirky array of alternatives and speaking of which, a new survey has found many Brits seem to have developed a few quirky festive table manners.
How so?
A new survey has revealed some rather questionable habits Brits seem to have developed over the years as they tuck into their turkey - and sometimes their turkey alternatives.
Such as?
The Top 10 Quirky Xmas Dinner Habits survey found that a quarter of us like to drink gravy out of the jug, while 12 per cent of us put ketchup and/or brown sauce on our Christmas dinner and 12% also put hot sauce on everything, including their Brussels sprouts. Another 20% said they are fastidious about their festive routine, eating in a specific order, such as vegetables first, then roast potatoes, then stuffing and then turkey.
What else are we getting up to?
Some seasonal diners forego their Brussels for baked beans (5% of those surveyed), while another 8% said that in the morning, while many are busy unwrapping Santa’s deliveries and tidying up the resulting mess, they actually sit down to have their Christmas dinner. Others confessed to mixing all the items on their plate together into a festive stew before tucking in, while 16% said they unwrap their pigs in blankets before eating and 12% confessed to biting the tops of their mince pies off and licking the filling out.
And many of don’t have turkey at all?
The survey, conducted for Frankie & Benny’s, found a third of us opt for an alternative to turkey, with one in five saying they would opt for a pizza.
Speaking of which…
One restaurant has capitalised on this by offering diners the chance to have an entire Christmas dinner on a pizza.
A Christmas dinner pizza?
Christened, ‘Fairytale of New York’, the festive pizza from Bad Boy Pizza Society in London's Seven Dials features a gravy base, with mozzarella, shredded garlic, Brussels, pigs in blankets, crispy fried sage and cranberry sauce drizzle.
And if that wasn’t enough…?
Bristol-based restaurant, Pigsty, has launched the UK's first ever Christmas Dinner Trifle - bringing to mind the ‘trifle’ created by Jennifer Aniston’s character, Rachel Green, in a classic episode of Friends that featured mince and cream.
What’s it like?
Pigsty describe the trifle as a "unique sweet meets savoury" concoction, featuring chunks of brioche soaked in Cointreau-flavoured cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets and mash, topped off with a sprinkle of candied bacon pieces. And in fact, throughout December, sausages wrapped in bacon will be part and parcel of every dish at the restaurant, with other items on offer including bacon-flecked profiteroles and sausage-infused martinis.
We seem to be taking Christmas dinner to the max?
Jon Knight, managing director of Frankie & Benny’s, said, “We know Brits love Christmas and this year especially, we want to celebrate individuality,” adding that, “The research we commissioned has certainly thrown up some surprises” but advising diners to “be yourself and ‘do your own thing’.”
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