Cooking for 11 people in tiny kitchen is this even possible!

[newsparklylife]

So.... 11 people Xmas day comprising of 8 adults & 3 children of which 8 are meat eaters & 3 (adults) are vegetarian.

I have a small width (50cm) oven, a microwave, a slow cooker and a steamer plus the 4 hobs.

Is this even possible?! Can I cook a turkey crown in the slow cooker (although thinking probably won’t get one big enough in there).

Any wonderful tips / ideas? At the moment I’m just going to wing it

The turkey will need to rest before carving so while thats happening you can cook the veggie option - vegetable Wellington? And the roast potatoes.
Slow cooker could be used for gravy or red cabbage?
Get yourself a hot plate and that way you can keep things warm while you are dishing up.

Put everything else in the oven after the turkey has finished cooking. The turkey wants to rest a while loosely wrapped in going anyway. It will keep its heat and do long as the gravy is hot, all is fine.

I would think it's quite possible. Don't over complicate it though, veg on the hob. And You could pre cook the roast potatoes in the oven til very light brown early on then finish them off at a high temp for 10 minutes after the turkey crown is out when its resting.

Famously in our family we had to do this once and my BIL and I were kitchen benches as there was no bench space. We stood crammed in the doorway with a pair of oven gloves each and we had to hold things and then give them back then hold other things while food was swapped in and out of the oven etc. Chaos but good fun and a Christmas to remember.

Put the bird in the slow cooker or cook overnight xmas eve.

But a tiered steamer pan for veg or an electronic steamer. Last time I cooked xmas dinner I used the steamer pan AND the small electronic steamer that we had stuffed in the loft.

If you’re doing a starter, make sure it’s either something cold or something which can be pre prepared and with minimal effort to reheat.

I did 12 in our standard kitchen

Ham joint in the slow cooker.
Cooked turkey in the oven to be finished 1 hour before eating. Then wrapped in loads of foil and several towels to keep warm.

Then Cooked potatoes and veg and stuffing etc in oven and veg on top of oven.

Would you consider cooking the meat the day before? That’s what PIL always do and have never had any issues

Just wanted to add this is a delicious vegetarian dish that would be lovely on Xmas day!

www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mushroom-and-chestnut-filo-pie/

Agree with above.

Ham in slow cooker or even done the day before.

Turkey out 1 hour before serving wrap in foil and towel to keep warm.

Once Turkey in out put in roast potatoes and cocktail sausages.

Don't do a bazillion different type of vegetable. All veg in steamer. Potatoes and gravy on hob.

What have you thought for starters?

I cook for 12 a few times a week with similar equipment. Juggling, foil and a microwave are necessary!

I host a similar number of people each Christmas in a tiny flat. I delegate a lot of the cooking, so one person will cook the turkey crown at home and bring it with them, ditto another with the pork or ham. I do the starter, veg, stuffings, potatoes and trimmings and dessert is something like trifle that can be made ahead.
It works well and not having to deal with the meat frees up the oven space.

If you're doing red cabbage, cook it a week or so before and freeze it. It actually tastes better after reheating than freshly cooked.

Thank you all so much for your replies, I really appreciate it! When I had a big house with beautiful kitchen I never had this many people lol!!!

I was wondering whether I could cook the turkey and then leave to rest while I did the potatoes. Not sure about cooking it the day before (I did think about this) but worried I'll poison everyone when it comes to reheating it

Red cabbage a week before - noted!

I think we will be juggling things, I hope my mum will help. As for where we put 11 plates to dish it all up that's another question all together!!!!!

Thank you (and Happy Christmas!)

Think about part roasting the potatoes day before as then they won’t need so long in the oven the next day.

Cook Turkey day before and slice and reheat in gravy, perhaps in slow cooker. Not the same spectacle as carving at the table but you need to make the best of the facilities you have.

But it's certainly possible, before we had an extension, our kitchen was very small but we still had a couple of big family Christmas dinners and also catered bonfire parties with 30 attendees. They just had to come in for food in shifts.

Shifts for bonfire night that is, still managed to sit down to Christmas dinner together.

Meat thermometer is great for reassurance!

Resting the turkey isn't just for the benefit of juggling the cooking. It massively enhances the flavour. Even if you were cooking in a huge kitchen with 14 ovens I'd still recommend it.

Potatoes cook at hotter temp than anything else and they are the only thing that you can't leave sitting around keeping warm. So they cook last.

Warm plates on a pot of simmering water. Swop them up and down to warm evenly. Hot plates and hot gravy are essential (they hide other issues!)

Cook the potatoes the day before, then just reheat in a hot oven on Christmas Day, 15 to 20 minutes will be ample.

Use the microwave for some of the veg, eg grate carrots and do with butter and whole grain mustard, chopped leeks with a bit of butter and a splash of white wine, or cook and purée carrots the day before and microwave for a few minutes on the day.
Asparagus cooks very well in the microwave too.

Cook sprouts earlier in the day, toss with pancetta to heat through.

Make the gravy the previous day and heat in the microwave.

It can be done but it requires planning and not over complicating things. Less hands on help with the cooking helped too as there wasn't enough room for bodies in the kitchen. So when people wanted to help I got them to lay the table, wash up etc
I cooked Xmas dinner for 15 in my tiny tiny triangular (wtf they thought that was a good idea) student kitchen many moons ago - it was a fab fab day and made me very popular.
Plan timings on paper, work out what can be prepped in advance. My biggest issue was fridge space not oven space but was solved with a cool box outside for the night before.