Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (2024)

I recently watched the movie, “A Christmas Carol” ….and I love looking at all the food on the tables.

Last year, I wanted to make a meal much like that time period.

I wanted to have a dinner much like the one in the Dicken’s story “A Christmas Carol” and if I would have had the period attire, I would have worn that too!

Yep! Ever the romantic!

I have the recipes for my Dickens Christmas Dinner, listed below.

I know, I know…Christmas is over but who says a recipe is ONLY for Christmas?

Yeah, I know.

First I will tell you that dinner was a success and I received raves for all the food.

I understand stuffed apples is often prepared and served at the family meal but since I made apple pie, I did not make stuffed apples.

The first recipe I am listing is for Yorkshire Puddings.

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (1)My dear friends, in case you don’t know this…these are NOT puddings as we in America know puddings.

Usually it is one big “pudding” which is more like our popovers, which for me is like an unsweetened cream puff.

I actually had fun making my individual puddings…so different, but very easy to make. I did not make a roast beef on a spit, which allows the drippings to drip down into a pan…into which the “pudding” batter is usually added, making one large pudding. I instead, baked mine much like we would make dinner rolls and instead of meat drippings, I used vegetable oil.(see the recipe for the explanation of the oil) Only four ingredients are needed for these “puddings”. Perhaps the reason they are called puddings is the way they are eaten. In those days, it was considered a first course and gravy was drizzled over each pudding or one could “dip” the pudding/popover directly into the gravy. I would imagine the bakers of the day had to already have the meal completely prepared at this point as usually (for me) the gravy is the last to be made.

Next on my Dickens Christmas Dinner was the meat.

Tiny Tim’s family made roast goose and I read that there was usually a roast beef too (needed for the Yorkshire puddings)

I guess it was much like we have two meats such as Ham and Turkey.

However, I made individual Cornish game hens.

No left overs, but one less item to store in the fridge after dinner.

The recipe I used called for a citrus glaze which was scrumptious.

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (2)

These game hens are so easy to make. I roasted them for about an hour and then poured the pre-heated glaze over the top and roasted for another 15 minutes. They were moist and tender and delicious! I served with orange slices and lettuce garnish. I just had to put about 1 tablespoon of stuffing in each cavity before tying the legs closed. Hardly worth doing but I wanted to taste the flavor of the hen on the stuffing. You can’t put much into those little cavities. I have also placed the hens on a bed of stuffing, but this time I used an oven rack with drip pan.

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (3)

Speaking of the stuffing. I made a Sausage Apple Chestnut stuffing that was so good.

The next item was so easy to make. Duchess potatoes.

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (4)

I like these potatoes because they look a bit fancy but are easy peasy to make.This is simply mashed potatoes made up ahead of time and adding egg yolks, butter, cream, salt and pepper and a bit of nutmeg. Pile or pipe onto a cookie sheet and top with cheese. Yummy! And the recipe came from jolly old England.

The next item from our Dickens Christmas Dinner is the traditional Brussel Sprouts.

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (5)

And before you say “yuk” as some of my family might say…you have to try them roasted with pancetta (or you can use bacon) and add the chestnuts. I also used a few pecans because I used most of the chestnuts in my stuffing…. but traditionally, The English Christmas Dinner would include Brussel Sprouts. Let me tell you that I could have eaten them all myself. Most receipes will tell you to boil the sprouts for a few minutes before roasting them in the oven, but I didn’t do that. I did it all in a cast iron skillet. see the recipe below for my method.

In addition to Brussel Sprouts, a Dickens type dinner would include parsnips.

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (6)

OK, folks…I substituted carrots.

They are at least shaped kinda sorta like a parsnip! 🙂

Maple Bacon wrapped bacon carrots and we all loved this combination. Another easy side dish to make.

I took whole carrots and did not peel them as the recipe suggested. Instead I washed them well and I wrapped the bacon around them. The addition of the Maple Syrup at the last 15 minutes was to die for. YUM!

The other recipes can be found in the recipe file. The Apple pie is made with red delicious apples, The Wassail is made with apple cider and red hots and cinnamon. The mini mincemeat pies are easy peasy to make.

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas Day and the food that was prepared with love.

Printable recipes are below.

Happy Holidays from the Captain and Me.

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (7)

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (8)

Yorkshire Pudding(s)

2017-12-26 07:44:28

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (9)

Yorkshire Puddings are not a pudding at all...they are more like popovers or cream puffs only not as sweet. Usually they are at the beginning of the meal which is a roast beef and the meat drippings flavor the pudding as they bake. Dipping in gravy or pouring gravy over the tops is a favorite way to serve, but I prefer to use them as dinner rolls along with poultry for special occasions.

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Ingredients

  1. 4 large eggs
  2. *1 cup milk (equal quantity of milk to your measured eggs)
  3. *1 cup flour (equal quantity of all purpose/plain flour to measured eggs)
  4. Pinch of salt
  5. 2 tbsp lard or beef dripping (I used vegetable oil because I was making game hens as my entree)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
  2. Pour the eggs and milk into a large mixing bowl and add the pinch of salt. Whisk thoroughly with an electric hand beater or hand whisk. (Important! Let mixture sit for 10 minutes).
  3. Gradually sift the same volume of flour (as the eggs) into the milk and egg mixture, again using an electric hand beater or hand-whisk to create a lump free batter resembling thick cream.
  4. Important! Let this batter rest for a minimum of 30 minutes, longer if possible - can leave up to several hours.
  5. Place a pea-sized piece of lard, dripping or ½ tsp vegetable oil into your chosen Yorkshire pudding tin, (I used a regular 12 hole muffin tin) and carefully place in the oven until the fat is smoking.
  6. Whisk the batter adding 2 tbsps of cold water, then fill each muffin hole up to about 1/3 to the top and return the muffin tin quickly to the oven.
  7. Let the "puddings" bake until golden brown, approx 20 minutes. Repeat the last step again until all the batter is used up.
  8. Yorkshire Puddings do not reheat well as they become brittle and dry.

Notes

  1. *I followed the instructions by measuring out the quantity of "liquid" in each egg and matching it with the flour and the milk. It varied per egg.
  2. ****In Yorkshire, the pudding is traditionally served with gravy as a starter dish followed by the meat and vegetables. More often smaller puddings cooked in muffin tins are served alongside meat and vegetables.

Me and My Captain https://meandmycaptain.com/

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (10)

Orange Glazed Cornish Game Hens

2017-12-26 08:22:51

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (11)

Individual portions and no left overs. These little game hens are moist and delicious and only take about an hour to roast. I added a little orange zest to the glaze before putting them back in the oven and the taste was excellent

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Ingredients

  1. 4 Cornish game hens
  2. 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
  3. 1 teaspoon salt
  4. 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  5. 3/4 cup orange juice
  6. 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  7. *1/2 cup chicken broth
  8. 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  9. 1 teaspoon ground mustard
  10. 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  11. Zest of orange (optional)

Instructions

  1. Tie legs of each hen together; turn wing tips under backs. Place on a greased rack in a roasting pan. Brush with butter; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1 hour.
  2. In a saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Spoon over hens. Bake 15 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 180°.

Notes

  1. *You can use wine, Madeira or Sherry in place of the chicken broth if desired.
  2. I also stuffed my hens with a sausage apple chestnut stuffing, putting the excess in a baking dish to bake for about 30 minutes.

Me and My Captain https://meandmycaptain.com/

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (12)

Duchess Potatoes

2017-12-26 08:52:51

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (13)

So easy to make, pre mash potatoes and then place mounds under in the oven or under a broiler. They look fancy but are easy peasy.

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Ingredients

  1. 2 pounds russet potatoes
  2. 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
  3. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
  4. 1/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
  5. 1 teaspoon kosher salt to taste
  6. 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  7. 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  8. **1/4-1/2 cup finely shredded Swiss cheese, grated on the small holes of a box grater (about 1 ounce)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Cook potatoes as you would for making mashed potatoes and then mash
  3. While the potatoes are still warm, mix in the egg yolks 1 at a time making sure each yolk is completely incorporated before adding the next. Add the butter, cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and stir until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth.
  4. *Transfer to a large piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star piping tip and pipe into round mounds onto your baking sheet. Sprinkle with the cheese.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes until the tops of the potatoes are light golden brown

Notes

  1. *If you do not want to use a piping bag, you can "heap" your potatoes in a mound with a large spoon.
  2. **If you want to use pepper jack cheese, please do so...that is the way the Captain and I like ours.

Me and My Captain https://meandmycaptain.com/

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (14)

Sausage Apple Chestnut Cranberry Stuffing

2017-12-26 12:08:36

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (15)

Make this as you would your favorite stuffing recipe, adding cooked sausage, diced apple and chopped chestnuts and dried cranberries.

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Ingredients

  1. 5 cups torn pieces of day-old bread, lightly oven toasted
  2. 4 ounces cooked sausage, crumbled
  3. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  4. 1 medium onion, diced
  5. 2 celery stalks, diced
  6. 3 tablespoons minced fresh sage leaves
  7. 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves
  8. 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaf
  9. 1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced
  10. 4 ounces presoaked dried cranberries
  11. 1 package or jar of peeled whole roasted chestnuts, coarsely chopped
  12. 1-3 cups of chicken broth or stock

Instructions

  1. In cast iron skillet, cook the sausage breaking it apart as you cook
  2. Remove and place sausage on paper towel
  3. Add butter to the sausage drippings and saute the onions and celery, add the sage, thyme and rosemary (you can use the dried herbs if desired)
  4. Place bread and cooked sausage into a large bowl.
  5. In a large skillet saute the onions, the celery, the sage, the thyme, and the rosemary. Add the chestnuts, apple and cranberries stirring well.
  6. Add the vegetable mixture to the bread and sausage, tossing the mixture well, add salt and pepper to taste and add as much broth to soften and let the stuffing cool.
  7. Mix in eggs and add more broth if needed.
  8. Makes enough to stuff a 10 pound turkey with extra to bake on the side in a casserole dish.
  9. Or bake covered in a well buttered 15 X 10 X 2-inch glass baking dish at 350 degrees for 30 minutes then remove foil for 15 minutes to crisp the top and sides

Notes

  1. Sometimes I use the eggs and sometimes I don't. I have not noticed a big difference in the stuffing.
  2. The stuffing may be made 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled. (To prevent bacterial growth do not stuff poultry in advance.).

Me and My Captain https://meandmycaptain.com/

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (16)

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta and Pecans

2017-12-26 12:22:40

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (17)

The pan roasting works for me and gives more flavor to the sprouts. Bacon or pancetta work also.

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Ingredients

  1. 18 Brussels Sprouts, halved lengthwise
  2. 1/2 cup of diced Pancetta (or you can use bacon, cut into 1/4-inch slices)
  3. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  4. 6-8 peeled whole chestnuts, thinly sliced
  5. Salt and freshly ground pepper
  6. 1/2 cup Chicken broth

Instructions

  1. Brown the Pancetta or bacon in 2 tablespoons of the butter (or olive oil if desired, remove to drain)
  2. Toss the sprouts in the fat/oil and brown on both sides
  3. Place lid on the pan and let the sprouts steam a bit
  4. Add the Pancetta, chestnuts, salt and pepper, and the remaining butter
  5. Cook until tender and serve.

Notes

  1. I don't like boiling the sprouts first as some recipes suggest. I get more flavor browning in heavy skillet.

Me and My Captain https://meandmycaptain.com/

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (18)

Maple Bacon Wrapped Carrots

2017-12-26 12:36:15

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (19)

I planned on one carrot per person, but clearly could have used more.

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Ingredients

  1. 8 whole carrots, scrubbed, tops removed if desired
  2. 8 slices of bacon
  3. 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  4. Cooking spray or olive oil
  5. 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
  6. Aluminum foil sprayed with non stick spray

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. Peel carrots if desired and wrap the slice of bacon tightly around the carrot
  3. Place on foil lined baking pan and spray with olive oil or your preferred cooking spray
  4. Bake 20 minutes and then brush with maple syrup and bake another 10 minutes until carrots are tender
  5. Place on serving dish and sprinkle with salt if desired.

Notes

  1. I did not add any salt and my carrots were great.

Me and My Captain https://meandmycaptain.com/

Dickens Christmas Dinner Menu and all the recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the Christmas dinner in The Christmas Carol? ›

Peeking into Bob Cratchit's Christmas with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge sees that the family's meager but meaningful Christmas dinner consists of apple sauce, mashed potatoes, and a roast goose. Though it's much less prevalent now, goose is still served at many Christmas dinners.

What is on the menu in the Cratchit Household on Christmas Day? ›

Charles Dickens popularised the traditional, English Christmas in 1843 in his novel A Christmas Carol, when Bob Cratchit and his family sit down on Christmas Day to eat a dinner of goose with mashed potatoes and apple sauce accompanied by sage and onion stuffing and followed by Christmas pudding.

What is the traditional Dickens Christmas dinner? ›

The Dickens' family dinner was no Scrooge-like affair. The spread was literally soup to nuts with fish, poultry, red meat, side dishes and desserts in between. Turkey was “usual but not irreplaceable,” according to Ross.

What did the Cratchit family have for Christmas dinner? ›

The Cratchits' Christmas dinner of stuffed goose, potatoes, and pudding, of course, is never really prepared or eaten: the whole passage, as we later learn, describes a vision granted to Scrooge of what WOULD have happened that Christmas if Scrooge had not changed his ways.

What is a traditional Christmas dinner menu? ›

Traditional Christmas dinner features turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. Other types of poultry, roast beef, or ham, are also used. Pumpkin or apple pie, raisin pudding, Christmas pudding, or fruitcake are staples for dessert.

What is the dessert served in A Christmas Carol? ›

Carolers sing “now bring us some figgy pudding!” In “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and the dish is a centerpiece in Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol,” when Mrs. Cratchit serves the steamed pudding set ablaze with brandy and garnished with holly.

What dish was served by Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol? ›

That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered—flushed, but smiling proudly—with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. Unlike this pudding, which was made in a mold, Mrs.

What is Mrs. Cratchit preparing for their Christmas meal? ›

“Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigour; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce. … At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs.

What dish was served by Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol This dish was also mentioned in the song We Wish You a Merry Christmas? ›

It's the flaming center of the climactic meal of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and pops up in carols themselves: “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” has two whole verses about demanding figgy pudding.

What is Charles Dickens favorite food? ›

Dickens loved a leg of mutton stuffed with oysters, roly-poly jam pudding and he was a toasted cheese devotee, frequently consumed at the end of his supper. “… no man could possibly survive the consumption of such frequent toasted cheese” Charley Dickens, 'Reminiscences of My Father.

What did Scrooge buy for Christmas dinner? ›

After Scrooge has his change of heart, he decides to buy the Cratchits a more luxurious meal instead: a turkey.

What Christmas traditions did Charles Dickens make popular? ›

Then will Father Christmas die, too?” It made a permanent mark on how Christmas is viewed and celebrated in modern times. You could say that every aspect of the festive season – turkeys, mince pies, mistletoe, present giving, and overall merriment – was down to Dickens's portrayal of Scrooge's spiritual transformation.

What did poor Victorians eat for Christmas dinner? ›

When Victoria first came to the throne however, both chicken and turkey were too expensive for most people to enjoy. In northern England roast beef was the traditional fayre for Christmas dinner while in London and the south, goose was favourite. Many poor people made do with rabbit.

What dessert do the Cratchits eat on Christmas? ›

Mrs Cratchit's pudding is clearly in the shape of a 'speckled cannon-ball'- a firm round ball, thanks to the process of boiling in cloth. While the Christmas puddings in Eliza Acton's 1845 cookbook are all boiled, the surrounding pudding recipes in the cookbook use a 'thickly buttered mould or basin'.

Who does Bob Cratchit make a toast to during Christmas dinner? ›

Loyalty to Scrooge

Cratchit's wife reluctantly joins Bob in a toast to Scrooge. "Long life to him! A merry Christmas and a happy new year!" Mrs. Cratchit says, though she cannot refrain from adding, "He'll be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt!"

What did Scrooge eat for dinner? ›

We can conjecture that he might have had cheese with mustard and perhaps (unmentioned) bread for lunch in his office (where he does not have a kitchen to prepare anything hot), and beef with potatoes and gravy for his melancholy dinner in the tavern.

What games are played at Fred's Christmas dinner in A Christmas Carol? ›

In Dickens' A Christmas Carol, when Scrooge goes to 'visit' his nephew Fred with the ghost of Christmas present, Fred's guests are playing parlour games which we still play today such as Blind Man's Bluff and Twenty Questions.

References

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