Christmas dinner - tips?

[Friedseasalt]

Hosting for the first time this year. Only 6 adults and one toddler so not too many people. How do you prep the night before/early in the morning? Don't want to be cooking all day so want to try and be organised. Starter will be prawn cocktail & Pate, main gammon & Turkey and trimmings, desert cheesecake.. Thanks 🙂

I prep as much of the trimmings as I can in the days before.
Will cook the ham, sausages, pigs in blankets, stuffing etc on Christmas eve and just reheat on the day.
Bread sauce etc cook the day before.
I prep all the veg the day before - peel, chop etc and just keep in bags in the fridge so I can quickly cook on the day. Potatoes I peel and chop and just keep in a pan of cold water overnight to stop them going brown, or you can parboil and coat in fat ready to roast the next day too.

Prawn cocktail I'd do on the day but Christmas dinner can be prepped the day before. I have six coming to me and I do..

Potatoes - boil and cover in goose fat can be frozen and cooked straight from the freezer.

Carrots and parsnips, prepped and but in sandwich bag covered in honey.

Yorkshire pudding mixture made and kept in the fridge.

Pigs in blankets from the freezer.

Stuffing - mix with sausage meat wrapped in bacon, keep in a loaf tin in the fridge.

Bread sauce, I never make myself I just get a tub from M&S

Cauliflower and broccoli cheese, make the night before keep in fridge and re heat on the day.

Potatoes - boil and cover in goose fat can be frozen and cooked straight from the freezer.

Can you tell me more about this please?! Is it a regular par boil then cover in goose fat while still hot? Do you cool them down on a tray and then bag them up to freeze? How are they when you cook them? I have very high standards when it comes to roast potatoes but I would love to be able to do this for Christmas if it works well.

I don't use frozen turkey / chicken / lamn, I order it fresh a day or two before and find it massively helps to reduce cooking time. I also try to prep veg / cake in the days before - eg I make roasties for 20 people by freezing parboiled potatoes a month beforez, defrosting them overnight, draining water, and just roasting them. They taste amazing

Make a list.

Check it twice.

Work backwards from when you are serving and list every step. For example:
1400 - dishing up
1355 - potatoes out of the oven, make gravy
1345 - boil veggies
1330 - turkey out of the oven to rest, cover in foil
1325 - turn potatoes
etc

Get all your serving dishes ready the day before and stick post it notes in them so that a) you know what you are using, b) other people know what you are using if they try to ‘help’ you, and c) you don’t accidentally plan on using the same small dish for three different things. (Been there, done that).

@Icanttakethisanymore

The roast potatoes are a Jamie Oliver recipe. Boil them for a little bit longer then you normally would a roast potato, transfer to a metal tray that you put over a low heat hob mash down slightly with a potato masher cover fully in goose fat, leave them to cool down and then freeze. 60 minutes in the oven on the day and they turn out perfect.
It was on one of the Jamie Oliver Christmas shows a few years ago but it's probably on YouTube,

Oooooo - sounds fab! Thank you

Sounds great, do you cook straight from frozen or defrost first? Thanks!

@Richtea67
Straight from frozen

Thank you SO much for all the tips, so useful. I feel like I have a plan now and all written down. Do most of you eat between 2-3 or earlier?

Gravy is time consuming and causes people stress- make some in advance from a chicken, or doe Jamie's make ahead gravy.
Red cabbage make in advance and freeze- but do not leave it in the microwave after defrosting like I do every year!

I'd give those pre frozen roasties a trial run.

My sister is a very good cook, she takes the legs off the turkey and cooks them separately on Christmas eve to leave the big bit to cook on Christmas day without the legs getting dry and inedible. Makes like easier, the leg meat can be served cold as long as everything else is hot, or just warm through.

We're Scottish and we have 'thin gravy' which is literally a stock cube or marigold powder in boiling water with some dried herbs added. It's not for everyone but we love it and you can mash your roasties right down in it. Never fancied that gloopy gravy you see on TV.

TBH I wouldn't bother with a starter, nor with the gammon - if there are only 6 of you. Presumably you'll have had breakfast as well? So not really any need for a starter.

You can prep veg the day before - but make sure it's possible to re-heat them all at the same time/in the same oven! You don't want to be putting things in/taking things out, doing them one at a time, while the others go cold. (Been there, got the t-shirt!)

Make gravy in advance (or cheat, by buying ready made stuff - you can add to this with the water from your veg if you want to, and/or adding some wine).

Get someone else to clean your glassware and set the table for you, so you're only having to focus on the cooking.

And make sure you have a large glass of something with you in the kitchen! (But not so large that you can't focus on the food )

Same @Friedseasalt!
I was considering starting a thread the other day, so thanks for this 🥰

I've done a rec run of freezing prepped veggies and then cooking after 2 weeks, and it went well, so it's definitely taken some pressure off. Plus my brother is making a gammon and my mum is making dessert- so I'm literally just doing the main (we skip starters because our main event is a feast 😂). Dessert is normally 3/4 hours after the food coma!

I would ditch the starter. It makes timing and dishing up so much more stressful. If you really want to feed people more than the meal have canapes.

Absolutely plan back timings from when you want to serve and dishes. The turkey can eat for ages somewhere warm before carving so that frees up oven space.

We set the table on Christmas eve too!

Roast potatoes par boiled and cooled then kept it the fridge. It makes them extra crunchy, like triple cooked chips.

If you are short on oven space, Yorkshire puddings (if you want them) can be made in advance and reheated in 5 mins in the oven.

Veg peeled, chopped and stored in water in the fridge. Braised cabbage and cauliflower cheese can be prepared and reheated.

Gravy can be made in advance and frozen or kept overnight in the fridge. I thicken it on the day though.

Stuffing balls and PiBs can be prepared and put in trays in the fridge ready to go straight into the oven.

If you are short on oven space, cook the turkey then leave it to rest while you cook everything else.

You can make the cheesecake on Christmas Eve too.

Don’t forget to warm the plates and serving dishes! I sometimes put them in the dishwasher on a short cycle timed to finish when dinner is ready!

Plan how everything is going to fit in the oven and fridge, and what baking trays and serving dishes you need do you don’t have to play Tetris on the day! 😂

As you get main course on the table (&, despite thinking starters are often the best part of a meal, I think they’re unnecessary/too much for Christmas dinner), pop the sprouts on. By the time everything else is ready to serve the sprouts will be perfect - bright green and very slightly crunchy.

Plan what oven shelves you are going to use for what trays, for how long and at what temp. Turkeys take a lot of space

Plan serving dishes and utensils the day before and put a post it note on each one so you dont forget in the rush

Buy a warming tray thingy to pre warm dishes and plates and then keep things warm once served

Get a load of disposable foil oven trays for the day..less washing up but use them on top of your proper baking trays so they dont wobble when full of food

Start the morning with an empty dishwasher and then run it with all the prep stuff while you are eating, then you will be able to fit the plates in after the meal

Stock up on tin foil, bin bags and kitchen towel (and toilet paper)

Lay the table the night before if possible

Make sure you have containers to put leftovers into, and extra if you want to send leftovers home with anyone

Prep and freeze as much as possible. Generally I am only cooking the turkey from fresh on the day, everything else has been prepped or precooked and frozen before

Lists and timetables are your friend

Dont drink too much until you have finished dealing with anything with hot fat (learned that one the hard way)

Someone who doesnt cook does the clean up

Dont let faffers into the kitchen, they get in the way

Have fun