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Christmas food 2017: Best and most bizarre products in UK supermarkets
From the drool-worthy to the downright bizarre, let the supermarkets do your hard work for you
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Your support makes all the difference.Christmas means big business for British supermarkets.
With most Brits having a feast of some sort - be that traditional roast turkey and all the trimmings or a festive brunch - there’s a lot of food to be bought.
This means that the supermarkets are putting everything into luring in shoppers and outdoing each other.
Each year, ever more elaborate concoctions grace the shelves, vying for our attention and doing their utmost to have us drooling in the store aisles.
In recent years, with everyone tightening their metaphorical belts (and loosening their real ones), the budget retailers have been successfully drawing people away from the higher end supermarkets.
But this has prompted the more expensive retailers to up their games and get even more creative.
And it's not just about Christmas dinner either.
Forget toast and cereal - with Brits’ love of brunch showing no signs of abating, we’re increasingly putting more thought into our first meal of the day on Christmas morning. After the inevitable chocolate coins from your stocking in bed, of course.
In fact, last year’s pre-Christmas sales at Sainsbury’s revealed year-on-year uplifts in smoked salmon (28 per cent), avocados (25 per cent) and English muffins (22 per cent). This year they're selling all sorts of brunch dishes, including a hot smoked salmon and egg royale.
Here’s our pick of the most interesting, elaborate and delicious food offerings from British supermarkets this Christmas.
The main affair
by Sainsbury’s Three Fish Roast, Sainsbury’s, £25 (customer ordering only)
Forget the turducken, Sainsbury's has taken the triple bird roast idea to the sea. “We’ve taken a skinless centre cut piece Scottish salmon fillet and cut it by hand to butterfly it open. It’s then stuffed with whole cod tail fillets, raw peeled king prawns and a rich creamy stuffing of roasted red peppers,mascarpone, lemon juice and parsley, before being wrapped up and secured so it will cook perfectly and remain intact to make for a spectacular main course,” they say.
Prosecco-basted Italian-style Turkey Parcel, Waitrose, £35 per 1kg, serves minimum five
If you’re looking to get as much prosecco into your body as you can on Christmas day (we salute you), this is the main for you. With porcini butter, wrapped in pancetta, this turkey parcel could be the one if you’re a smaller group.
Specially Selected British Beef Burrito, Aldi, £7.99
A burrito meets a beef Wellington in this bizarre but delicious-looking concoction. Tender, slow-cooked pulled beef brisket in a porcini mushroom sauce, wrapped in a fluffy Yorkshire pudding and served with a rich red wine and onion gravy. We could get on board.
Toffee apple pork hog roast, Asda, £6 per kg
If Christmas is a time for getting as much sugar into your body as is humanly possible, enter the toffee apple pork hog roast. It’s filled with caramelised onion and sage stuffing and served with sticky toffee apple sauce too.
Vegetarian offerings
Butternut Squash and Quinoa Roast with Apple and Plum Glaze, Co-op, £3.00 for 500g
Hearty and healthy come together in this nice break from a nut roast.
Vegetarian Parsnip, Camembert & Chestnut Pithivier, M&S, £10.50 for 670g (serves four)
Honey-roast parsnips, Camembert, chestnuts, shallots and thyme, encased in all-butter puff pastry. Sold.
Two Vegetarian butternut squash and sweet potato rosti, M&S, £6 for 500g
Butternut squash and sweet potato rosti topped with roasted onion squash, red onion confit and feta, finished with a basil pesto drizzle. Yum.
Sides
Christmas Pork Stuffing Pudding with Cranberry Burst, Waitrose, £5.99 for 500g
Looks like a Christmas pudding. Is actually stuffing. What more could you want?
Taste the Difference Individual Root Vegetable Stacks, Sainsbury’s, £7 (customer ordering only)
Because why have your veg in a pile when it could be in an elegant stack? Root veg is layered up with spring greens, cheese, caramelised onion and toasted pine nuts in what is meant to be a veggie main, but we say let’s have it as a side along with everything else thanks very much.
Seasonal squash bake, M&S, £5 for 600g
This three squash bake includes butternut, kabocha and onion squash, in a creamy cheese and lentil sauce topped with provolone cheese and hazelnut crumb. Just give us a fork and the pan and no one gets hurt.
King Prawns & Scallops with Prosecco Sauce, Tesco, £3.50
It’s 2017 and not content with just drinking prosecco, we now add it to as many foods as we can. Enter this starter or side that’s cooked from frozen in 25 mins.
Deer in Duvets, Asda Extra Special, £2.98
Pigs in blankets too common for you? Be sure to really impress the in-laws this year by upgrading to venison.
Snowbergines, Waitrose, £1.35 each
You read that right: snowbergines. These speciality aubergines are white. Best not to ask why and just enjoy the novelty factor.
The Best Stuffing Cracker, Morrisons, £4
It’s a stuffing cracker. What more is there to say?
Irresistible Hirata Buns and Korean BBQ Pulled Pork, Co-op, £4.50 for 184g
Whether as a starter or just an addition to your meal, why not add a touch of the exotic to your Christmas feast (and be terribly on trend) with some pulled pork buns.
Puddings and sweet treats
Santa stuck in the chimney cake, M&S, £20 for 1.2kg
Top creativity marks to M&S for this cake that will undoubtedly go down a treat with children - it’s a deep filled red velvet chocolate cake with a surprise hidden centre: black velvet sponge in the shape of Santa’s belt with a yellow soft icing buckle, covered in icing with chocolate Santa legs popping out of the chimney.
The Ultimate Chocolate Truffle Cake, Heston from Waitrose, £12.50 for 680g
If in doubt, supersize it. Which is exactly what Heston’s done with this giant chocolate truffle. ‘Tis the season for indulgence, after all.
Irresistible Cracking Chocolate and Orange Cheesecake Dome, Co-op, £8 for 750g
Chocolate orange is one of the flavours of Christmas for many people, so take your love affair to new heights with this impressive looking cheesecake.
Giant Christmas Pudding Cookie, Morrison’s in store, £5
We won’t judge you if you eat it all to yourself.
Taste the Difference Tiffin Wreath, Sainsbury’s, £15
Plain tiffin is no longer enough and chocolate biscuit cake “salami” is old hat. Enter the tiffin wreath. With gold lustre effect. Because of course, gold lustre effect.
White chocolate and raspberry wreath, M&S, £20 for 750g
Filled with a Belgian white chocolate mousse and a raspberry compote centre, on a delicate feuilletine base, this pretty pudding actually tastes even better than it looks. One for those amongst us who have an unrelenting sweet tooth.
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