Leftovers

Graven ImageGraven Image Shipmate
edited December 2024 in Heaven
It is the day after the Christmas Feast. What do you do with the leftovers from Christmas and other days? What are your favorite second-day meals? What leftovers are even better the second time around? My favorite is Turkey soup. I like it better than when the turkey was the main meal.
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  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    Turkey fricassee at lunchtime today, but there's still enough left to feed the two of us tomorrow so I could do with some ideas, please.

    My mum used to cook a turkey and a ham at Christmas and we'd have the meats cold on Boxing Day with chips. She always said she preferred that meal to Christmas dinner as it was easy and she could relax about it. I served it up one Boxing Day early in our marriage and it was met with such disapproval I've never done it again.
  • Well, those in this house have already observed an only slightly Lesser Feast of Christmastide, that being PIE BREAKFAST! (If you know you know...) :wink:
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    @Graven Image, I totally agree about the turkey soup! Roast turkey is pretty tasty (most of the time!) but all my family, inlaws and outlaws beg me to give them a container of the turkey carcass soup!

    Didn't roast a turkey for either Thanksgiving or Christmas this year, but am planning to get a small one just to make the soup, plus having turkey sandwiches!
  • We roasted a nice chicken from a local farm, as there are so few of us (@Hugal, myself, my Dad - who eats about 3 mouthfuls - and his carer).

    Picked over the carcass this morning, decided I couldn't be faffed to make stock. Sorry, I say every year that I'm going to, and every year I decide I have better things to do. However, lots of meat left, so @Hugal is currently making some delicious potato-topped pies for eating tonight, and some to freeze for future meals.
  • After eating leftovers for several days, I also make turkey carcass soup. <3
  • Bubble and squeak is the food of the gods with cold turkey and Branston pickle.
  • DardaDarda Shipmate
    Alan29 wrote: »
    Bubble and squeak is the food of the gods with cold turkey and Branston pickle.

    Agreed! This was our lunch today and enjoyed it more than yesterday's hot roast.
  • Turkey has never been on the Christmas dinner table in my family. It’s strictly for Thanksgiving, which is quite fine by me. And our Christmas dinner usually doesn’t include the sorts of foods where the leftovers can be used to make something different. But I will very much look forward to leftover scalloped oysters and leftover stuffed beef tenderloin tonight.


  • I've just devoured a large plateful of cold beef, ham, and turkey - along with assorted pickles - courtesy of my kind Neighbour T, who provided me with a huge hot Christmas dinner (with all the trimmings) yesterday!

    /slight tangent/

    Dessert today was a chocolate reindeer, and a chocolate penguin. Now, I hear that the Holy Christmas Penguin (sometimes appearing in Pink) forms a part of the Christmas story these days, but for some sinister reason this has been suppressed by the Church.

    Why is this? Enquiring minds need to know...
  • The drawback of having lunch chez my son’s wife’s parents is that I don’t have the benefit of bringing home any turkey leftovers.
    He did give me a meal of lasagne to bring home, which was excellent.
  • Leftover meat will go to wild animals
  • Since we were at Mother Maniac's abode for Christmas, dinner this evening before we left was slices of cold turkey with fresh-cooked roast potatoes and cauliflower. If we'd been at the parental Knotweeds, it would probably have been a stir-fry with turkey in (assuming that the ravening hordes had left anything to stir-fry!).
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Part of my family tradition is that everyone goes home with leftovers after Christmas (and Thanksgiving) dinner. Like many people, I cook enough for ten times the number who will actually be having dinner, and being single, I wouldn't be able to eat all that myself! So, sending goody bags home with everyone spreads the love.
    Besides, I certainly didn't want to cook today, and likely nobody else did, either!
  • I hear that the Holy Christmas Penguin (sometimes appearing in Pink) forms a part of the Christmas story these days, but for some sinister reason this has been suppressed by the Church.

    Why is this? Enquiring minds need to know...
    If you watched Wallace & Gromit you'd know why ... Holy Penguin my foot!

  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Turkey has never been on the Christmas dinner table in my family. It’s strictly for Thanksgiving, which is quite fine by me. And our Christmas dinner usually doesn’t include the sorts of foods where the leftovers can be used to make something different. But I will very much look forward to leftover scalloped oysters and leftover stuffed beef tenderloin tonight.


    We don't have Thanksgiving here and so turkey is very much centred on Christmas. Or vice versa. There is a bit of a rebellion against it in some quarters but I've never felt the need to deviate. Rib of beef is popular but I can't abide it personally as dissecting the meat out of all those fatty areas in that particular cut is just too much of a pain in the arse. Lamb requires a mortgage arrangement and pork is just a bit boring. So turkey it is.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Turkey has never been on the Christmas dinner table in my family. It’s strictly for Thanksgiving, which is quite fine by me. And our Christmas dinner usually doesn’t include the sorts of foods where the leftovers can be used to make something different. But I will very much look forward to leftover scalloped oysters and leftover stuffed beef tenderloin tonight.


    We don't have Thanksgiving here and so turkey is very much centred on Christmas. Or vice versa. There is a bit of a rebellion against it in some quarters but I've never felt the need to deviate. Rib of beef is popular but I can't abide it personally as dissecting the meat out of all those fatty areas in that particular cut is just too much of a pain in the arse. Lamb requires a mortgage arrangement and pork is just a bit boring. So turkey it is.

    I’m getting used to Turkey. We always had goose growing up - not to be posh, just because it’s what my parents had grown up with and there was helpfully a goose farm down the road so long before it was fashionable we had yearly access to one at a sensible price.

    Mrs B does not like goose, so goose is over for me and at this time of year o do feel a bit sad about that.
  • We're not keen on turkey and for some years have had roast venison. For the last three it has come from an excellent farm in the Brecon Beacons. There is a lot left over, so we'll have a Hearty Stew today and freeze the rest.
  • We also had roast venison but this was because we forgot to get a chicken on our last supermarket trip and had a venison haunch in the freezer. We’ve been visiting the in-laws for the last couple of days and using leftover meat for sandwiches but today we are home for lunch and will probably be making soup from leftover vegetables as the younger son’s girlfriend is vegetarian.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Turkey has never been on the Christmas dinner table in my family. It’s strictly for Thanksgiving, which is quite fine by me. And our Christmas dinner usually doesn’t include the sorts of foods where the leftovers can be used to make something different. But I will very much look forward to leftover scalloped oysters and leftover stuffed beef tenderloin tonight.


    We don't have Thanksgiving here and so turkey is very much centred on Christmas. Or vice versa. There is a bit of a rebellion against it in some quarters but I've never felt the need to deviate. Rib of beef is popular but I can't abide it personally as dissecting the meat out of all those fatty areas in that particular cut is just too much of a pain in the arse. Lamb requires a mortgage arrangement and pork is just a bit boring. So turkey it is.

    I’m getting used to Turkey. We always had goose growing up - not to be posh, just because it’s what my parents had grown up with and there was helpfully a goose farm down the road so long before it was fashionable we had yearly access to one at a sensible price.

    Mrs B does not like goose, so goose is over for me and at this time of year o do feel a bit sad about that.

    Goose seems to need to be ordered months in advance. I'm insufficiently organised for that.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    I've never eaten goose and gather that it's very expensive and very fatty so I'm not inclined to try. I've never cooked venison either, and have only occasionally eaten it, but I'm sure it makes a cracking stew. Lamb is a very occasional treat.

    I've said elsewhere that we never eat turkey at any other time but for me it's not Christmas dinner unless it's turkey with the other essential, pigs in blankets. One year we were with our daughter and son in law and they did duck (something else I never cook). It was nice but for me it just wasn't Christmas dinner.

    I shall do some kind of casserole this evening with the remainder of our turkey and serve it with jacket potatoes.
  • Goose is like duck - the fat is in a thick layer under the skin rather than spread through the meat. So the same applies - roast upside down on a grid with lots of holes in the skin so it melts and drips out. It's excellent for roasting potatoes.
  • KendelKendel Shipmate
    edited December 2024
    I may have to find a goose to roast!

    Parties on 12/24 and 25! I made chicken shawarma (for 12/24) and The Great Bean (for both days). Our guests used up my hoard of plastic take-out dishes, swapping things to take home.

    I ate pumpkin pie for breakfast yesterday. A left over croissant and a banana today.

    We ate shawarma yesterday for supper with hummous, a village salad, toum, yogurt and carrots I fried slowly. We'll eat my sister's creamed spinach with fish and potatoes today.
    Left over beans are in the freezer for another time. Yum!

    I had cooked the remaining shawarma marinade and pan juices from the chicken together, defatted it after it cooled and will use that in an lentil soup later.

    Ham we brought home from my cousin's is in the freezer for a delicious something in the future.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Goose is like duck - the fat is in a thick layer under the skin rather than spread through the meat. So the same applies - roast upside down on a grid with lots of holes in the skin so it melts and drips out. It's excellent for roasting potatoes.

    Prick it and then drench it with boiling water, rub with salt for a crispy skin.
    We have gone back to turkey after flirting with goose and venison. I never eat beef. It seems to have had all its flavour removed since I was a kid. Lamb is for Easter, no room for discussion on that. Pork is not special enough.
    We had a capon one year. A sort of a giant chicken. Last year it was salmon as our veggie son and d-i-l were with us. It made a good change - two sides of salmon stuffed and tied together.
  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    I'm with @Baptist Trainfan - I usually go for venison stew on Christmas Day, and freeze the portions that are left for later. Also, just before Christmas, I made a batch of chicken soup with lots of lemon and garlic (it's an Egyptian recipe). I had that for Boxing Day, and it was absolutely delicious!
  • Alan29 wrote: »
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Goose is like duck - the fat is in a thick layer under the skin rather than spread through the meat. So the same applies - roast upside down on a grid with lots of holes in the skin so it melts and drips out. It's excellent for roasting potatoes.

    Prick it and then drench it with boiling water, rub with salt for a crispy skin.
    We have gone back to turkey after flirting with goose and venison. I never eat beef. It seems to have had all its flavour removed since I was a kid. Lamb is for Easter, no room for discussion on that. Pork is not special enough.
    We had a capon one year. A sort of a giant chicken. Last year it was salmon as our veggie son and d-i-l were with us. It made a good change - two sides of salmon stuffed and tied together.

    Lamb is for when I win the bloody lottery.
  • betjemaniacbetjemaniac Shipmate
    edited December 2024
    KarlLB wrote: »
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Turkey has never been on the Christmas dinner table in my family. It’s strictly for Thanksgiving, which is quite fine by me. And our Christmas dinner usually doesn’t include the sorts of foods where the leftovers can be used to make something different. But I will very much look forward to leftover scalloped oysters and leftover stuffed beef tenderloin tonight.


    We don't have Thanksgiving here and so turkey is very much centred on Christmas. Or vice versa. There is a bit of a rebellion against it in some quarters but I've never felt the need to deviate. Rib of beef is popular but I can't abide it personally as dissecting the meat out of all those fatty areas in that particular cut is just too much of a pain in the arse. Lamb requires a mortgage arrangement and pork is just a bit boring. So turkey it is.

    I’m getting used to Turkey. We always had goose growing up - not to be posh, just because it’s what my parents had grown up with and there was helpfully a goose farm down the road so long before it was fashionable we had yearly access to one at a sensible price.

    Mrs B does not like goose, so goose is over for me and at this time of year o do feel a bit sad about that.

    Goose seems to need to be ordered months in advance. I'm insufficiently organised for that.

    The last couple of times I did goose before admitting defeat* with Mrs B they were from Aldi for roughly the same price as a turkey. Obviously I’m not remotely trying to convert you but it can be done!

    *Essentially I cooked the whole Christmas dinner on the basis that meant I was allowed to choose to have goose.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    More a "food" rather than a "leftovers" question but has anyone tried a three-bird roast for Christmas (or at any other time)? I've heard mixed reports of them, varying from "delicious" to "disappointing." I'm thinking I'd probably need to try one as an experiment before it being a main event such as Christmas.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited December 2024
    Nenya wrote: »
    More a "food" rather than a "leftovers" question but has anyone tried a three-bird roast for Christmas (or at any other time)? I've heard mixed reports of them, varying from "delicious" to "disappointing." I'm thinking I'd probably need to try one as an experiment before it being a main event such as Christmas.

    Disappointing. For one thing, you can't be exactly sure what meat you're hitting with the temperature probe. The temperature you want a chicken breast to reach may not be the same that you want a duck breast at. So to avoid listeria you end up having to overcook it.
  • Since we were at Mother Maniac's abode for Christmas, dinner this evening before we left was slices of cold turkey with fresh-cooked roast potatoes and cauliflower. If we'd been at the parental Knotweeds, it would probably have been a stir-fry with turkey in (assuming that the ravening hordes had left anything to stir-fry!).

    Said Mother Maniac managed to order a turkey crown (effectively just the breast and wings) for 3 of us that was larger than the entire turkey that Mother Knotweed ordered for 9.

    I really, really have no idea how she manages to do some things so well (like cooking it to a turn) and get things like the size needed so wide of the mark. Thankfully she has a freezer, so the carcass was stripped, the meat packaged into one-portion bags, and the bones boiled for stock before we left.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Alan29 wrote: »
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Goose is like duck - the fat is in a thick layer under the skin rather than spread through the meat. So the same applies - roast upside down on a grid with lots of holes in the skin so it melts and drips out. It's excellent for roasting potatoes.

    Prick it and then drench it with boiling water, rub with salt for a crispy skin.
    We have gone back to turkey after flirting with goose and venison. I never eat beef. It seems to have had all its flavour removed since I was a kid. Lamb is for Easter, no room for discussion on that. Pork is not special enough.
    We had a capon one year. A sort of a giant chicken. Last year it was salmon as our veggie son and d-i-l were with us. It made a good change - two sides of salmon stuffed and tied together.

    Lamb is for when I win the bloody lottery.

    That too!!!!
  • Lamb has certainly increased in price, but I bought some Chops today in Tesco - I pan-fry them, with some mint, and manage to devour every scrap of the meat...
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Turkey has never been on the Christmas dinner table in my family. It’s strictly for Thanksgiving, which is quite fine by me. And our Christmas dinner usually doesn’t include the sorts of foods where the leftovers can be used to make something different. But I will very much look forward to leftover scalloped oysters and leftover stuffed beef tenderloin tonight.


    We don't have Thanksgiving here and so turkey is very much centred on Christmas. Or vice versa. There is a bit of a rebellion against it in some quarters but I've never felt the need to deviate. Rib of beef is popular but I can't abide it personally as dissecting the meat out of all those fatty areas in that particular cut is just too much of a pain in the arse. Lamb requires a mortgage arrangement and pork is just a bit boring. So turkey it is.
    I find turkey very unexciting and too often disappointing—dry with little flavor. I finally found a recipe/method for cooking turkey that I like, but I’m more than content to have it only once a year, and the fewer the leftovers, the better.

    When I was growing up, it was always country ham for Christmas dinner. My wife and I have done various things from year to year, but settled some years ago and a stuffed beef tenderloin. The leftovers last night, all gone now, were great.


  • I have just prepared some of the venison for my wife to make into a stew, together with potato, parsnip, onion, carrot and mushroom, using the left-over gravy as well. The rest of the meat has gone into the freezer.
  • These days we have chicken or turkey slices. No waste.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Turkey has never been on the Christmas dinner table in my family. It’s strictly for Thanksgiving, which is quite fine by me. And our Christmas dinner usually doesn’t include the sorts of foods where the leftovers can be used to make something different. But I will very much look forward to leftover scalloped oysters and leftover stuffed beef tenderloin tonight.


    We don't have Thanksgiving here and so turkey is very much centred on Christmas. Or vice versa. There is a bit of a rebellion against it in some quarters but I've never felt the need to deviate. Rib of beef is popular but I can't abide it personally as dissecting the meat out of all those fatty areas in that particular cut is just too much of a pain in the arse. Lamb requires a mortgage arrangement and pork is just a bit boring. So turkey it is.

    I’m getting used to Turkey. We always had goose growing up - not to be posh, just because it’s what my parents had grown up with and there was helpfully a goose farm down the road so long before it was fashionable we had yearly access to one at a sensible price.

    Mrs B does not like goose, so goose is over for me and at this time of year o do feel a bit sad about that.

    Do they sell parts of goose, rather than a whole one, so you could have a breast of goose on the side, or the like?
  • Has anyone ever deep-fried a turkey?
  • No waste. No taste
  • I'd like to try goose but it sounds a faff.

    I usually have turkey bubble and squeak for about 3 days after Christmas and curry the carcass.
  • I've just boiled our carcass for stock. It will be frozen in smallish batches.
  • Telford wrote: »
    These days we have chicken or turkey slices. No waste.

    An excellent idea - useful for sandwiches, too, if you have enough left over from the main meal.

    Do you have the usual vegetables, and other trimmings? I think even pigs-in-blankets can be bought ready prepared.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Goose is like duck - the fat is in a thick layer under the skin rather than spread through the meat. So the same applies - roast upside down on a grid with lots of holes in the skin so it melts and drips out. It's excellent for roasting potatoes.

    I rather like goose, but the kids wouldn't eat it, so it's not worth the faff just for me and Mrs C. If I get organized this afternoon, there will be Turkey PIE...
  • Lovely stew just eaten, followed by leftover Christmas pudding with added leftover mincemeat!
  • Yes, there is the "I've not had that before I don't think I'll like it" factor...
  • Our Place is having a *Bring-and-Share* buffet lunch after Mass on Sunday, so I wonder how many appetising dishes made from *leftovers* will be on offer?

    We have some excellent cooks and chefs, from Foreign Climes, amongst our Faithful Few...
    :yum:
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    I think even pigs-in-blankets can be bought ready prepared.

    There's some other sort? :flushed:

    We enjoyed our turkey casserole with jackets potatoes and cauliflower, followed by mince pies with brandy butter and cream. I also opened the second selection box of chocolates. That's the turkey used up; plenty of mince pies and chocolates still to go, though.
  • Yes - my Neighbour T makes her own pigs-in-blankets!
  • At ours, all the mince pies are eaten. The Christmas cake is half gone and only a few gingerbread biscuits left in the container. We all suffer from the sweet tooth!

    We have eaten all the ham and chicken and only a scrap of lamb left. I made a massive rice salad, which we have enjoyed. Rather than let it go to waste, I've frozen half of it (for stir-fry to be consumed later).

    The other half bowl was turned into a stir fry eaten last night. It fed 3 of us, but the texture seemed a bit off. However, I think the husband may have added a couple of eggs to the mixture. I always worry that rice is something that doesn't keep well, so I'm glad we've eaten it all promptly.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I was at my niece's on Christmas Day and we had the whole works; there was some goof with the order for their turkey and they got a smaller one than they'd ordered, but were given some extra legs to make up for it.

    We had heated up leftovers yesterday at my sister's; I got the carcass (I'd asked for it if nobody else wanted it), and today turned it into 5 takeaway cartons of stock. I'll make broccoli and cheese soup with one tomorrow, and the rest will go into the freezer.

    There was enough meat on it that I should be able to make a decent fricassee too.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    edited December 2024
    For those of us who make soup stock out of the turkey carcass, what herbs and spices and vegetables do you add?
  • Telford wrote: »
    These days we have chicken or turkey slices. No waste.

    An excellent idea - useful for sandwiches, too, if you have enough left over from the main meal.

    Do you have the usual vegetables, and other trimmings? I think even pigs-in-blankets can be bought ready prepared.

    We used 2 packets of proper chicken slices( 2 for £5). stuffing, 5 prepared pigs in bankets each. Aunt Bessie parsnips, mashed potatoes and sprouts off the stick. Preparation and cooking time 40 minutes.
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