Christmas Dinner tips

[CupCupGoose]

I know it's early but this is the Christmas topic and I just want to start planning as I love christmas so much!

So I'm hosting this year and cooking for 9 which is quite a big deal for me especially as my DB and his girlfriend (who I've only met once) are coming and are big foodies.

Please share your Christmas Dinner tips with me please!

Smoked salmon is a great Christmas starter, serve simply with brown bread & butter and lemon. Or use for canapés. Takes up very little fridge space.

Encourage guests to bring contributions, especially things they are known to make well, Aunty Mavis's trifle, Grandma's cheese straws etc.

Use bought ready made basics that you've zapped up a bit, extra cream in the brandy sauce, a splash of port stirred into the Cumberland sauce, icing sugar with glitter sifted over the mince pies, after a glass or two of fizz no one will notice!

Anyone expecting twins on Christmas Day should be sitting with their feet up whilst someone else cooks dinner!

Write out your timings backwards and stick them on the cupboard doors ticking off as you go.

I make stuffing balls and sausage stuffing the night before so they are prepped and ready to cook.

Lay the table on Xmas eve

Prep mash day before and put in microwaveable dish

Peel veg and put in pan of cold water overnight ready to go

Prawn cocktail starter and canapés for earlier

Black Forest trifle made day before and Christmas cake and cheese for later

Keep the turkey dripping to eat on toast. My MIL always wastes it by putting it in the gravy, half of which ends up being chucked away. When we hosted Xmas dinner I literally had to hide the dripping to prevent someone either binning it or wasting it.

Ooh! If you do make your own bread sauce (ahead of time and freezing it, of course), I find that boiling a chopped onion in milk (rather than infusing a clove-studded whole one) and blending it into the milk with a stick blender gives a much better flavoured sauce. You can infuse the cloves separately and fish them out before blending or, as I prefer, use allspice.
Lots of cream and butter too...

Used to dislike bread sauce as it was so bland but this is lovely imo.

Or maybe I've just got a jaded palate

I like a starter with christmas dinner I find it gives me time to relax and then enjoy my dinner without just diving straight in

If you have a late dinner say 5pm onwards, then I'd serve a substantial starter at 1pm as lunch. That absorbs the alcohol, stops the hangry nit picking and gives you time to prepare the meal. You can skip the starter at the actual meal and go straight into the main course.

Make whatever you can in advance and freeze. I make bread sauce, braised cabbage, chocolate torte, mince pies and freeze.

Xmas pudding made in October.

As much prep as possible Christmas Eve - table laid, veg peeled, meat prepared, trifle made etc. Last year we were so well prepared we even managed to go for a nice walk in the morning together!

Wow I wasn't expecting to come back to so many replies! Thank you all so much. I've read through all your replies but I will go through them all properly later and make a list. I will practice everything at least once before the big day. Jamie Oliver seems to be a popular choice, so I will definitely be having a look at his app/recipes.

Do not slice the turkey in advance - that way school dinner lies. Keep the turkey whole until the last minute and get a guest to carve it as you serve everything else.

No starter, you don't want the edge taking off your appetite.

No fancy flavourings on the sides (honey, spices etc), the meal is rich and flavoursome enough as it is.

Find out if your family actually want things like bread sauce, we ditched it when we realised only one person was eating it and they weren't bothered about it.

Rest the turkey as others have said, put towels under the tray as well as over it. I wouldn't dream of cooking it the day before and reheating.

If you are making the Jamie Oliver get ahead gravy leave out the star anise.

Best advice, as a pp has said, is to work out your timings backwards, from when you plan to sit down to eat. Write down everything, inc. e.g.when to put the potatoes on to parboil before roasting. And then write it out in order and stick it on the front of the fridge, or anywhere else it won't get lost/splashed with oil etc.
I still do it after many years of cooking Chr. Dinners.

Ditto to no starters. Nice canapés an hour or so before. Ours are usually M&S.

If you possibly can, eat at 5 or 6. Much more civilised and far less of a rush for the cook. If it has to be earlier, 3 pm will do!

Remember that the turkey needs to rest, and will happily keep hot for up to an hour if you wrap it in a couple of layers of foil with a tea towel or two on top. This gives you plenty of time to do the veg, and turn up the oven for nice crispy roast potatoes, make the gravy.

If you're going to make proper turkey gravy in the roasting tin (not at all difficult) remove the giblets the day before and simmer them up well with some onion, carrot, celery, etc. to make the stock.

A couple of weeks before I have a few days where I prepare roast potatoes, parsnips for roasting, bread sauce, stuffing balls, pigs in blankets and gravy and they all go into the freezer. I can pop them into the fridge on christmas eve and they're all ready to just heat up.
A couple of months before I make around 100 mini mince pies and freeze. They can be warmed through from frozen in the oven when ever you want them.
Definitely cook your meat first, then cover set aside and get on with everything else.

I also clear a shelf in the fridge and have a permantly set up cheese board as well as one for antipasti type bits. I keep it covered with a double layer of cling film and top it up a few times over Christmas week and pull it out for most lunches and if guests call in. Add a tin of crackers, jar of chutney and some fruit and you have an instant lunch or supper with absolutely no effort.
Any cheese left over can all be thrown into the most indulgent mac n cheese you've ever had!

I don't do Xmas, but I have been known to cook 5 course meals. Due to arthritis I can't cook from scratch the way I used to.

Buy pre prepped veg, wither use a steamer or microwave the bag the veg comes in. If you are using a steamer it can all be prepped the day before.

If you are cooking more than you usually would your oven needs more time, the heat dissipates, this is why on MKR and other cooking shows dishes that have worked perfectly for years suddenly don't work.

Jamie Oliver didn't invent those butters they have been around for decades, anyway they can be done ahead of time and frozen in ice cube trays.

Easy make ahead starters

Chicken liver pate - make in individual ramekins.
Melon and Parma ham.
soup - make ahead and freeze,defrost the day before and heat in a slow cooker.
pork and chicken terrine.

Terrine recipe
2-3 packets of streaky bacon
1 pack of chicken livers - these are usually sold frozen
2-3 packs of different sausages, cumberland,pork and lincolnshire are my go tos
1 packet of chicken goujons

1 metal loaf tin.

Line the tin with the bacon, start with the sides and have the bacon overlapping the sides so you can fold in after, once the sides are done cover the bottom with bacon.

Take a sausage, prick with a knife and take the skin off,l cut / pull in half and make into a ball. Do this with the other sausages

fill the lined tin with alternating sausage meats, chicken and chicken livers, press down as you go.

Once it is full fold the bacon over and bake in the oven for 30 mins.

When you take it out there will be a lot of grease, pour this off and add a weight while the terrine cools so more grease/fat comes out.

Serve in slices with bread and a couple of salad leaves.

Don't do starters - everyone eats too much anyway.

Work out timings and write them down. Saves so much stress.

Make anything that can be made in advance - which is practically everything - in advance.

Use Delia's recipes for everything. Cranberry sauce, bread sauce, Christmas pudding, sides. She is the queen of Christmas. All her recipes are on her website. Avoid Nigella like the plague bitter experience

Also ham. Giant ham from a proper butcher. You can't have too big a ham as there is loads you can do with leftover ham, it's nicer than turkey and you can't do it wrong. Just do it in the oven.

Really enjoying reading all these tips. Thanks everyone. Would it be worth buying a Christmas cook book? Which one would you recommend? I've been looking at Jamie olivers as a few of you have mentioned him.

Jamie’s Christmas dvd, comes with recipe cards so you can take them to the shops as a list. I re-watch every year as a little reminder (and because I am obsessed with Christmas!). About £5 on Amazon but saw some on EBay for £2.
www.amazon.co.uk/Jamies-Christmas-DVD-Jamie-Oliver/dp/B000K2BUH0/ref=asc_df_B000K2BUH0/?hvlocphy=9045372&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310745957914&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos=1o2&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-563583183565&hvrand=5662015926590570215

Would add - remember it is one meal. Just a roast dinner with extras.

Remember if you are cooking for loads of people you still only have (in our case) one oven and a 4 hob with a small fridge.

Work out if you also have to cater for difference - I have a veggie for a daughter. I have a coeliac for a MIL. My family would soooooo not be ok with no meat, but most things can be veggie and gluten free - so I go with the easy option (main meal =meat/GF pigs/blankets and a veggie roast/piggy option) and not the cater for 3 different diets option...

mostly do what you like to eat, no point doing your own cranberry if 2 of 9 will eat it - I get a jar.

I'd cook the Turkey and while is resting do the following in oven

Roast potatoes
Honey roast parsnips
Pigs in blankets

Then I'd stick a tupperware of braised cabbage (made a couple of days before) in microwave to heat up.

Steam some greens on hob.

Heat gravy on hob

Starter would be smoked salmon, Brown bread triangles and lemon halves wrapped in muslin.

If you really want a Christmas cookbook then I'd recommend the Josceline Dimbleby Christmas book.

This was Christmas in our house for 20+ years and I bought the reissue last year. Yes, some of it is a bit dated but loads is amazing. And the Chocolate Crunch Christmas pudding is fantastic, dead easy and v impressive.

www.tapatalk.com/groups/creativelivingfr/chocolate-crunch-christmas-pudding-t4397.html

Like the person posting the recipe, I also didn't do the icing. It was amazing without it.

Maybe slightly different as we're a family of vegetarians & vegans but my tips are:

Make yorkshire puddings a week or 2 before - fully cook, then chill & freeze. Pop in a hot oven for 5 - 7 minutes & they'll be perfect.

Make cauliflower cheese in a oven proof dish & freeze.

Peel, chop & parboil potatoes & refridgerate.

Cook swede & mash it with vitalite & seasoning & freeze in low tubs (defrosts quicker).

Prep carrots & sprouts & refridgerate.

Use instant gravy.

Our mains are often 2 x Quorn roast, 2 x nut roasts &/or mushroom wellingtons.

We never have starters, so many sweets & snacks available beforehand so no one really wants it.

We keep pudding to ice cream or sorbet & have Christmas pudding on Boxing day.

I like a starter for Christmas lunch, it helps to make the meal an extra special occasion.

From a practical point of view, it gets everyone seated and settled, last minute trips to the loo over with, wine poured plus drinks for those who suddenly want something different!

About a week before Christmas, have a dry run with all the crockery, glass ware, serving dishes and plates you will be using, and give them a wash so they are ready.

All the stuff that can be done in advance & frozen I try to get made before the kids break up from school so I can do nice stuff with them.

I also make sure I've got oven chips, pizzas, garlic bread & pasties in the freezer for the days either side of Christmas for quick easy meals.

If you have to defrost meat, research how much time you need. Defrosting a turkey takes far longer than I ever guessed!

Also if you are making sides ahead and freezing them, they will defrost faster if they’ve been frozen in several small positions, rather than in one hefty chunk.

Having a bash at the get ahead gravy right now for our roast tomorrow

Ooh love this thread!
I like to do turkey and then beef or pork in the slow cooker aswell, found an amazing recipe a few years ago that included a bottle of cider, apple, onion, allspice, cinnamon i don't suppose anyone knows it do they? It's tastes like Christmas it's amazing