Roll out the tinsel! Christmas 2014 is looking delicious - and here's why

Words & Photography by Felicity Spector

Outside it was a blazing 25°C and London resembled a furnace on overdrive. What better day to sample an entire range of Christmas goodies from some of the country’s biggest supermarkets and brands? The fake snow was swirling, the cardboard reindeer were sporting painted-on smiles, and I was game for anything.

First, Marks and Spencer - a vast array of rooms showcasing everything from stunning winter coats to festive homeware and food. I began with the café range, and a huge selection of different Christmas sandwiches - secretly my favourite part of the season.

Alongside the traditional turkey sarnies was a protein-packed three bird roast in a flatbread wrap - and an excellent vegetarian sandwich, pairing roasted carrot with chestnut stuffing and cranberry sauce: it was satisfying, creamy and full of flavour. Another innovation - red crisps, although I have to say they did taste the same as the regular kind.

For the main event - along with some handy pre-prepared vegetable sides, M&S is offering a range of turkeys, from a ready-stuffed and rolled breast joint to a free-range bronze from an Oxfordshire farm, and even a goose. There are some spectacular pies, too - including one with a whole pear in the centre, which looked very dramatic cut in half.

I was most impressed with the selection of breads and desserts: especially a Christmas pudding boule which tasted delicious as it was, or toasted with a decadent amount of butter - a dense, dark and rustic loaf packed with dried fruits and a hint of spice. I’ll be making some rather special turkey sandwiches with that one.

From a luscious range of desserts, I loved the mini Portuguese custard tarts, crisped up after a few minutes in the oven, a very rich and moist chocolate stollen and the ‘hero’ piece: a cone-shaped chocolate brownie fudge cake with praline frosting, complete with ‘five gold rings’ made from spray-painted chocolate. As rich as it sounds, it will retail for £18.

Onto Waitrose, which was promoting the very current Middle Eastern/Asian trends: pairing turkey with dukkah and pomegranate molasses, and some dense and fruity stuffing balls fragrant with gingerbread and apricot. Sprouts were shredded and stir-fried with tiny shards of bacon, and roasted root vegetables were spiced up with an Indian inspired blend of seeds.

Chefs from the store were busy smoking huge turkey breasts in a Green Egg smoker, which made it beautifully moist with a good depth of flavour, paired with a scoop of smoked mash and some buttery gravy.

The Heston range was given a room of its own: highlights were a very rich sticky toffee apple pudding and, best of all, a new frozen dessert called the ‘Ultimate chocolate bar’ - many layers of chocolate, praline and caramel parfait, sandwiched by thin layers of chocolate cake and a shiny smooth chocolate glaze. I predict that one, at £9.99, will be flying off the shelves.

Of the other cakes and desserts, some new square shaped mince pies were an interesting take, with brown-sugar crusted walnuts on top, and the mincemeat mixed with apple to lighten it up. Waitrose pastry chef Will Torrent fried up some mincemeat hotcakes, a great idea for using up leftovers, especially served with some spiced sugar and a huge dollop of one of the store’s alcohol-laced creams.

Over at Asda, where food and drink was displayed in giant igloos, there was a really retro feel to the sweets and biscuits: children will love the giant gingerbread men, and the store has been careful to keep an eye out for cost-conscious customers - their layered chocolate cake, which serves 16, will be on sale for a price-conscious £4. I queued up for one of their most exciting new innovations - a 3D model of myself - the team is taking its special scanner to selected stores around the country and for £60, you’ll be sent a ceramic replica which looks uncannily lifelike. I heard the girl in front of me ask “Can it make me thin?” No promises there: it’s not magic!

The Co-Op, trying hard to rediscover its traditional values after a slightly rocky time - to say the least - has clearly put lots of thought into its Christmas collection. I was really impressed by a platter of six enormous scallops, ready to be seared and finished with garlic butter - they’ll be on sale for just £5, although they are flown in from Japan. Sustainably sourced, though.

The Co-op has also put together some decent festive sandwiches, and a decadent range of desserts including a Christmas pudding cheesecake studded with spices and dried fruit, with a base made of pudding rather than biscuit, which was a novel touch.

And there was a magnificently melting whole camembert, ready to be baked in its box, topped with pancetta and cranberries - all of it just £3.

At the more luxury end of the scale, Fortnum & Mason showed off a magical display of beautifully designed packaging and perfectly composed hampers: there were magnificent pies, bejeweled chutneys, and luxury chocolates. For the ultimate tree decorations, you can pick up an embroidered Big Ben or a London taxi.

Cheese specialists Paxton and Whitfield will also make up hampers to order, from £48 - and other gift ideas include a cheese-making kit and a little notebook where you can record your favourite cheese experiences.

We sampled a wonderful range of British and European cheeses - from an incredibly creamy Italian three milk cheese called La Tur, to St Egwin - nutty and clean tasting, and made on a farm in the Vale of Evesham. You can complete your cheese board with some of their seeded or charcoal crackers and some robust ale chutney or cucumber pickle.

There have to be chocolates, of course - and for the most spectacular creation you could hope to find - La Maison du Chocolat has constructed a vast and intricate Christmas tree: at £700, it’s certainly a work of art in its own right. If your budget doesn’t quite extend that far, then their festive range of chocolates won’t disappoint: a mandarin puree was sharp, intense and smooth as velvet, while a hazelnut praline studded with dates paired the dark chocolate couverture with a fudgy sweetness.

It’s a competitive market out there - and the big stores and brands will be going all out to impress, whether it’s by dreaming up new versions of traditional favourites, or providing the best possible quality and value for money they can. All of which is good news for consumers. And after my whirlwind preview, I'm dreaming of a bright Christmas - as far as the food goes, at least.

My Nirvana at the London Cheese and Wine Festival, Southbank, 11th to 13th October 2013

Words & Photography by Greg Klerkx

I adore cheese, whether it’s the most eye-watering Pont l’Eveque or a disc of snowy, virginal goat so fresh that one is certain the churn itself must still be nearby. Perhaps more than any other food, cheese is my nirvana. And if by some cosmic quirk we have the option of choosing the setting for our afterlife, mine might look very much like Paxton & Whitfield. 

Founded in 1797, Paxton & Whitfield was apparently Winston Churchill’s favourite fromager: the shop proudly quotes the great man as having once said, “a gentleman only buys his cheese at Paxton & Whitfield.” The rest of us will also find plenty to love amidst the artfully arranged discs, pyramids, wedges, and rounds, of which roughly two-thirds is typically of British provenance. For further evidence, if needed, that UK cheese is now of world-beating status, Paxton & Whitfield proudly notes that it exports a goodly amount of our nation’s finest to – wait for it – France.

What a perfect spot, then, for the launch of the London Cheese & Wine Festival, which will take place at the Southbank Centre over the weekend of 11-13 October 2013. The Festival exists to celebrate all things cheese: there’ll be cooking demonstrations, food pairings, tastings, and even a daily quiz for those truly in the cheesy know.

The Festival launch event at P&W was co-sponsored by D Vine Cellars and The Flour Station, who will also be front-and-centre at the Festival. The Flour Station is a happy spin-off of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen experiment/empire. Like many of its artisanal peers, The Flour Station prides itself on traditional baking methods, with a particular focus on long dough proving and sourdough recipes that are guarded more closely than Trident nuclear codes. The result is evident in a slew of festival awards and supply deals with top London restaurants and hotels.

D Vine Cellars is the creation of former IT manager Gregory Andrews, whose business card title - ‘Wine Enthusiast’ – absolutely reflects his passion for sourcing unusual offerings. The D Vine Cellars shop near Clapham North tube station features tasting machines stocked with wines from vintners who prioritise sustainable farming methods and ethical winemaking processes. A nice touch is that, for a small corkage fee, shop visitors can enjoy a bottle in the shop along with specially selected cheese and charcuterie.

On offer at the Festival launch event were five cheese-bread-wine pairings offering a sense of the delights in store at the Festival itself. Each vendor had its standout offerings. Flour Station’s walnut levain managed somehow to be feather-light yet hearty and deep, with just a hint of sourdough tang to lift the milky Aldwych goat it was paired with. The company’s bestseller, the Tortano Crown, similarly managed to practically float on the palate despite being made with whole baked potatoes – a few semi-crisped skins were studded throughout the toroidal loaf – which gave it an almost meaty savouriness.

The story behind D Vine’s star of the evening, a 2004 Lemaire-Fournier Les Morandiers, was slightly sad. The 2004 was Lemaire-Fournier’s last vintage owing to the death of the vintner, whose widow subsequently sold the organically farmed vineyards. Thus is the world left with only a small amount of this luscious, honeyed, beautifully shaped Vouvray: an absolute steal at £15.50 per bottle and still available from D Vine (though you’ll have to get there before I do).

Ah, yes…the cheese. The Brie de Melun (“the little brother of Brie de Mieux,” according to P&W) was a nice example of the type; made from unpasteurised cow’s milk, smaller and gentler than its ‘older sibling’ but with a salty, earthy snap to each mouthful. A Spanish offering, Picos Blue, was milder than many of its bluish cousins but matched nicely with the Tortano Crown and a Beaujolais-like 2011 Famile Perrin Ventoux. 

But the big winner for me was a marvellous Westcombe cheddar – chewy, almost caramel-y, and tangy yet lacking in the astringency that some unpasteurised cheddars can tend to carry. Fortunately, the event organisers saw fit to send me home with a healthy wedge of this lovely stuff. Is this step one in assembling my cheesy nirvana? Stay tuned.

For more information about the London Cheese and Wine Festival, visit their website here.