To ask how you do a Christmas Dinner?

[Hofuckingho]

By that I mean, how do you get everything cooked ready at the same time? How can you roast meat, cook roasties, parsnips, Yorkshire puds, stuffing for a lot of people, with a domestic oven?

I have 12 coming, help.

Meat first so it can rest. Roasties and parsnips together then Yorkshire’s and stuffing towards the end. Or a slow cooker if you’re cooking ham or beef

Meat out of the oven an hour before, let it rest. Then put in roasties. 20 mins to go turn oven down, put in parsnips and stuffing :)

Oh Parsnips if they are parboiled!

If you've never cooked one before I feel sorry for you if you are attempting to cook it for 12 ?!
There will be lots of tips and instructions and videos online if you Google.

There's a dinner thread in the Christmas topic that may be helpful for you.

Cook the meat the day before. Borrow a steamer or 2 from those coming so you can fit all the veg etc in.

Make sure everyone chips in with prepping and cleaning up.

One year my former MiL decided to plate everything up and then microwave each one.

There were only 7 of us and the first person finished eating theirs as the last person received it. Not a good idea.

Like others have said cook the meat so ta ready an hour before you want to eat. Keep it in tray and cover in several layers of foil and then several thick towels. This will mean it’s still warm when serving
Whack the oven up and put in the parboiled potatoes, start doing the various veg etc.

Do as much as you in advance. Make ahead gravy, carrots, red cabbage...

Most things will wait or reheat pretty well so start early and accept that some things will come out and go back in for 5 mins at the end. Things like red cabbage or cauliflower cheese can be cooked the day before and finished in the microwave if needed.

I actually find roast potatoes are better the day after, as they always take longer than I think, so we end up eating them a bit pale on day 1. Last time I did a roast for 10 people I made the potatoes the day before, then they just needed 5-10 mins to heat up and finish off.

I leave Yorkshires until last as they’re best fresh but everything else can be done over the course of an hour or two and then just reheated at the end.

Thanks for the great tips. I think I might cook the turkey the night before, will that be okay?

Write everything down first, all the timings, then follow it. You can cook the turkey quite a while before everything else then cover and rest to free up the oven. Make sure you have heated your serving dishes if you are allowing people to help themselves to veg and that'll keep it hot while you're playing up meat, etc.

Everyone has a different method. But sometimes I think far too much food is prepared, sorry!

As others have said, roast the turkey. Time it to work with the rest of the grub. Take it out when ready and allow to rest for at least an hour.

In that hour you can roast the spuds (lots of them!) and do the veg. We just do a big tray of roasted veg, I know it ain't traditional but it is easy! We don't like sprouts or yorkies either, so it works for us.

Make gravy, serve up. Yummmmmmy.

I usually prepare the vegetables early on and leave them ready to cook.

The turkey goes in around 3.5 hours before we want to eat. Cooks in 2.5. Then put parsnips into roast when it comes out.

1.25 hours before we want to eat I start boiling the potatoes. After 15 minutes I stop, let them dry a bit and put into goose fat (cold, as I am too scared to do hot, but if you preheat it it is apparently much better, but I like mine as they come).

Roast potatoes for an hour. Turkey is out by then so also space for stuffing and parsnips. I don't parboil the parsnips.

25 minutes before we want to eat, put carrots on.

10 minutes before we want to eat, add broccoli and sprouts to top of carrots so they effectively steam.

Once veg goes onto steam husband carves turkey.

Everything is ready together.

If you parboil your potatoes, they only need an hour in the oven to go nice and crispy. This means that you can put them in the oven while the bird is "resting". I cut parsnips small rather than parboil as I find they have more flavour, but the still only take an hour.

One thing that I have found invaluable though is my electric food warmer. It's really good for keeping stuff warm while you faff about with plates and stuff.

How would you heat it up?
I take it out an hour before we eat, wrap it tightly in foil, then turn up the oven for the ( parboiled)roasties to go in.

What they said, re turkey out an hour beforehand to rest.
Then everything else can be bunged in and away you go.

Do all prep in advance, e.g. peel potatoes - store in a pyrex bowl with salted water, ditto carrots and parsnips.
Make sure you have everything to hand so no rummaging around at the back of the cupboard for the gravy dish on the day.
If Yorkshires are shop bought then they go in after everything lese has come out.

Top tip:
Write a timetable. It the turkey is big turn it round half way through, and open the tin foil 30mins before the end.

Work out on Christmas Eve how long the turkey will take. Remember to add on the weight of any stuffing in the neck end before calculating cooking time. It takes longer than you think.

So e.g. Mine goes something like:
07:00 - Oven on turkey in
09:30 - rotate turkey
11:30 open foil
11:45 - potatoes on to boil
12:00 - turkey out
12:30 - carrots on
12:30 - fry sausages

And then I have a side list of 'do whenevers'

• make bread sauce
• lay table
• topping on trifle

etc

I part cook the toasties, carrots and parsnips the day before then they get crispy and hot when the meat is resting. I buy ready made cauliflower cheese and red cabbage so they just need heating. You can cook the turkey the day before and warm up slices in gravy. Good luck, I love Christmas dinner.

Agree with meat first so it can rest while other things cook .

Could you borrow or afford to buy a halogen oven (they sit on top of your worktop - ours was about £35) as I found this face extra cookig space and made things infinitely easier! Roast potatoes (if par boiled) take 20 mins and they have always come out perfect.

Then keep the main oven warm to hold things of you are waiting.

Good luck! I remember my first year cooking for a crowd being daunting but it was fine and now I don't bat an eyelid!

So day before parboil potatoes, parsnips. Prep the meat and cut up the carrots. I buy ready made Yorkshire puds for Xmas dinner (much to the children's consternation). Then write everything else down.

Basically you're just making a roast dinner.

I wouldn’t do the turkey the night before, because it’ll just add a job of heating it up. If you cover it with foil and an old towel it’ll still be warm after an hour or so of resting.

I also do Jamie’s get ahead gravy, which take the stresss out of last minute moments,

Electric food warmer and do as much as possible the night before.

Cauliflower cheese gets made the day before (tastes better the day afterwards anyway) as does all the veg prep.

As things become ready on the day we pop them in the food warmer (you need to let it heat up properly before you put food in). We wouldn’t be without ours - we use them throughout the year for curries etc. when we are hosting family.

Cook the turkey the day before. Then cut and warm it through Xmas day whilst you are cooking the rest of the dinner, which without the turkey to worry about will just be a large roast dinner, so much more doable.

(Cos i’ll be pished by gravy making time)

As others said par boil pots and parsnips night before. make mash night before can reheat in oven or microwave. Also make cauliflower cheese night before.

I am a million years old and was lucky enough to inherit my mum's hostess trolley - it saves xmas for me. Other than that I have no advice to give other than taking the meat out early and knowing that it will be absolutely fine for a good 90 mins and then hot gravy will make sure it's warm - and no you won't all die from food poisoning