Solve me a Christmas riddle! (Food related)

[snowballer]

We have one oven. A totally bog standard, normal, single oven with two shelves and an internal grill.

This year, I have 12 people for Christmas Day - 7 adults and 5 kids aged from 6-12.

How the hell am I going to actually cook dinner for 12?! I have done 9 from it in the past, but the extra three is sending me over the edge! I'm a pretty competent cook so suspect this is about timing and prep, but the fact the turkey takes up the whole oven for around 3.5 hours is rather awkward. (Must have turkey, must be whole bird - just preference).

Hit me with your incredible ideas! 🙏

Yorkshire puds rule... even with (especially with!) Christmas dinner (I'll duck for cover along with you @snowballer !!)

Coal?

My parents had an old 'hostess' warmer thing that I think was a wedding present in the 80s, that was used once a year at Christmas to make timings easier. Do you have any older relatives with one they could lend you? That keeps several elements of the meal warm and you can sort them out an hour or two in advance. Also seconding the air fryer suggestions! And consider changing up parts of the meal to make things easier, go for options that can be prepared on a stove-top rather than in an oven, or things that rest and don't need to all be in at the same time!

Agree with pp about cooking the turkey the day before. Resting , portioning and covering in gravy and into alfoil trays. Out of the fridge in the morning.Into a hottish oven 45 minutes max. Done.

Correct 😁

Sorry!! I really should have read through the thread first before suggesting things.

In that case I would prioritise roast potatoes, stuffing, one roasted vegetable side (if you must - if not mandatory I'd ditch it although I personally think roast parsnips is a must) and Yorkshire puddings for oven use on the day. Plain sausages can be cooked the day before and microwaved to reheat. Pigs in blankets can be done in air fryer if you decide to get one. Or whichever way works best for you.

It's really just the timings so I'd work those out in detail first.

Simple idea but hopefully helpful- ask someone to bring you an extra shelf for your oven- as roast potatoes, parsnips etc are quite shallow

Or you can buy one on amazon for £16

Generally as others have said:
Cauliflower cheese you can make the day before - but once again can be browned/ heated in the oven on a shallow shelf
yorkshires on top shelf (though weird with turkey)
As others have said cook turkey hours before and rest whole (I do not agree with portioning it I think it will dry)
Red cabbage can cook in advance and heat in microwave
Make gravy in advance- cook some chicken roasts for salad and use to make gravy and stock
Make Cranberry sauce now and put in jars

Airfyers not as easy solution as some are making out as you need to turn stuff to make sure it cooks evenly so if you are wanting to spend time with your guests not ideal

@Lwrenn 👌

I would not do a traditional Christmas roast dinner. I would cook a turkey and maybe a ham and flans the day before and serve them cold with salads, warm sausage rolls, cranberry and orange dips, potato salad etc. You could still do roast potatoes or small baked potatoes for those who want spuds.

I cook for 20 OP, its very doable and i love it.

Set the table xmas eve INCLUDING cutlery, one year i forgot to lay out the cutlery and it was pandemonium 😂

I have a hostess trolley, if you can get one it would help alot!!.

My turkey is 18lbs i cook her xmas eve until about 10.30pm and then cover in tinfoil and tea towels and by the time its ready to carve around midday its still warm, exact same with the ham, boil in coke then cover then xmas morning baste with honey and mustard and whack in oven.

My starters are prawn cocktails with smoked salmon or soup. All done xmas eve.

Roast potatoes take so much longer to cook than you think, ive been caught out a few times with them.
Bin bags are essential and more tea towels than you can fathom.

I cook:

Turkey
Ham
Stuffing
Chipolatas
Roast Potatoes
Mash potatoes ( bought from M&S heated in microwave)
Carrots
Brussels
Cheesy leeks
Vegetarian dish for the veggie in the family
Veggie stuffing and chipolatas

Best friend brings the dessert which is fab

Sorry meant to add.

The worst part is the plating up, takes the longest and can feel very stressful but stay calm....i have my mum that helps and we kinda have a system, all meats first including stuffing/chipolatas, then potatoes, then all the veg.

There are no custom plates everything gets whacked on and if they dont like it they leave it but actually that doesn't really happen hahahaha , husband generally standing there waiting to take plates to the guests and appears to be the most stressed of us all😂

My turkey is 18lbs i cook her xmas eve until about 10.30pm and then cover in tinfoil and tea towels and by the time its ready to carve around midday

Wow - this is the most ahead turkey I've seen yet! That's amazing it's still warm 13.5 hours later?!

For those asking, we usually eat around 2pm as we have guests only for the day. I'd much prefer a later lunch/early dinner but it doesn't work logistically. On the plus side it does mean I can relax once it's all on the table, and drink the rest of the afternoon away!

I think the overwhelming summary of this thread is that I need to get an air fryer. Also another oven shelf - why didn't I think of that!

Yes still very warm, i cover in tinfoil the about 4 teatowels, let me try ad find pics.

My brother comes around midday also and carves.

Hostess trolleys are amazing and mine is coming out my cold dead hands! They are so cheap now you could buy one and get rid of it after Xmas.

Your meat should be allowed to rest for atleast 60-90 mines with a covering of foil and towels to insulate it. Then the roasties go in. It doesn't have to be cooked. The stuffing and pigs in blankets can be done the day before and just warmed through for a few minutes or even cooked in an air fryer. I got a hot plate /bain Marie from b and m for £25 a few years ago and it's been brilliant for keeping food hot while in dishing up from a standard domestic kitchen as I cook for 12+ every Xmas/Easter.

Ooh there's one for a fiver up the road on Facebook marketplace...! 🤔

I cook Christmas lunch for 12 almost every year. If you rest your turkey for 2 hours, those items in this post are the only things that need an oven, then I think you’ll be fine and don’t need an air fryer. An additional shelf might be helpful so you can have three trays in at a time, but even that isn’t necessary.

Everything you have listed takes about 30/40 mins. Yorkshire puds obviously go in at a higher temperature than the rest, but it’s easy to make 12 (or 24 if you make small ones) in one round in the oven. I always do those last.

But you can do two or three trays of roast potatoes in one round in the oven (should take about 30-40 mins) and two or three trays of pigs in blankets and sausages in another round (30 mins). Frankly that will make a ton of food, so if you make a bit less - two trays of potatoes and one tray of pigs in blankets and sausages, you can do it in one go of about 40 mins.

So in total you only need the oven for approx 1.5 hours after the turkey is done which even leaves enough time for pre-heating in between rounds of food, a re-heat of anything cooked earlier, and anything going a little wrong.

I stick a cloth on top and pretend it is a table for the rest of the year !

Ok, having thought about it here is what I would do:

If no one particularly cares about the veg sides (as in 'we must have X and do it this specific way) I would make all the veg beforehand and make them all reheatable in microwave or on hob. That way they can be done last minute while you're making or warming up the gravy - another thing that can be made in advance.

Turkey out and resting.

Potatoes, stuffing and Yorkshires in the oven. These all benefit from the higher temp if you do your Yorkshires at 200⁰. If you do them at 180⁰ I would swap and do pigs in blankets in air fryer (see below).

Plain sausages can be cooked the day before and microwaved to reheat, they will turn out fine. I would do pigs in blankets from scratch as they'll be nicer that way.

Borrow or buy an air fryer to do the stuffing/pigs in blankets.

I would also do a great big whopper of a MN massive salad. A winter slaw, red cabbage coleslaw, or a remoulade. That way people will have something fresh and crunchy to fill up on if there's slightly less to go around of the usual sides.

Oh! Forgot my biggest tip! Unless you are wedded to serving a starter I would give everyone canapés and drinks about an hour before dinner. That way they won't be starving when dinner time comes around and they might eat a little less. Plus it helps with a buffer if dinner gets a little frenetic at the end or something unexpected comes up. I find it takes all the pressure off.

I always cook the turkey on Christmas eve, slice it when cool and reheat slices in the microwave on The Day. Tastes just the same and frees up my ( smallish) oven for everything else!

Utilise the grill pan as a roasting tin as you can get loads of roasties etc on there

I've just got a single oven for the first time in years and think there will be a lot of juggling as it only came with one self

I’ve just read the full thread and seen lots of people suggesting cooking the turkey and/or sausages the day before and re-heating in the microwave. Please don’t do that OP. It affects the texture of meat and is horrible. The only thing I pre-make and microwave is the braised red cabbage, since the flavour actually benefits from being cooked the day before and the texture is unaffected by being zapped.

I agree, if there's any way to do the plain sausages from scratch too that would definitely be better. But it's the only one of the must-haves that I would say is just about okay having been reheated. TBH If I were doing it myself I would skip the sausages all together and people would just have to do without them, unless they're vegetarian ones.

Good lord if we skipped the chipolatas in my house it would cause an all out war 😂😅

Oh I know what my solution to that problem would be: do the plain sausages first in the air fryer. Wrap in foil and tea towel, then do the pigs in blankets.

Forgot that timings for air fryers are much shorter!