Coming from England and following our hearty ‘family traditions’, I’ve never known a Sunday without the classic ‘Sunday Lunch’. These lunches could feature huge joints of meat like beef, pork, or lamb, to chicken, turkey or a summer barbeque of grilled salmon and shrimp, amongst heaping mounds of other delectable sides and a mouth-watering dessert or two.

However, the most satisfying meal of the ‘Sunday Lunch’ equivalence is my family’s Christmas Day Lunch. This lunch is no ordinary lunch, and is definitely not for the faint of heart. My Mum, Grannie, brother and I spend Christmas Eve making sausage rolls (something similar to pigs in a blanket, but much better, so I’m told), and (sweet) mince pies. After all of the pastries come out of the oven, and before half of them have been shoved into my Dad’s or brother’s mouths (they burn their mouths every year, I don’t know why they don’t learn!) we decorate the mince pies with icing sugar, and then set out all of the ingredients needed for the day ahead. What is set out on the kitchen counter is a sight for sore eyes. There are bushels of Brussels sprouts, packages of green beans, broccoli, leeks, parsnips and carrots, a sack of fluffy potatoes to roast, Sage and Onion stuffing packets as well as packets of sausages, the mixings for Yorkshire puddings (similar to popovers, but again, better) and a giant pork joint with the skin still on.

On Christmas Day after all the presents have been opened, and everyone’s eaten his or her kipper (a pan-fried salty fish) and scrambled eggs accompanied with a glass of Buck’s Fizz (orange juice with a drop of champagne (drop is subjective to who is pouring the glass….)), the ‘mise en place’ (a French term for ‘everything in place’) begins. All the vegetables are washed and cut, the Yorkshire pudding batter is mixed, the stuffing is mixed in with the sausages and placed in rough ball shapes on a greased tin, the skin and fat of the pork (crackling, delicious!) is separated from the meat and is sliced, and put into a glass dish with salt and olive oil for roasting with the meat. The carrots and leeks are set to simmer on the stove, and the green beans, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts steam. The potatoes are diced and ‘fluffed’ and the excess meat dripping from the previous Sunday Lunch is used to roast them so that they are crispy and yummy, along side the parsnips. Then in goes the joint of pork and everything is ready for the meal. That is apart from the pudding. When I say pudding, I do not mean a gelatinous yoghurt-y type dessert, instead I mean a steamed pudding, which is basically a steamed cake. On Christmas we have two puddings. We have a traditional fruit and nut Christmas Pudding, which I have to say is one of my favorites, and we also have a steamed Ginger Pudding (my brother’s picky, what can I say?), which is really tasty. After all is said and done, we’re all stuffed until about 8 o’clock, when everyone sneaks down to get those last sausage rolls.

Courtesy of: http://steamykitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/yorkshire-pudding-recipe-3962.jpg