What Christmas food can I cook the day before?

[Seven12]

Can I cook things like stuffing and pigs in blankets (supermarket bought) the day before and reheat? The packets say no, but I’m not sure why.

There is only a few of us, but there always ends up with too many different things in the oven. Anything on the bottom of the oven gets burnt. Everything else seems to get a bit soggy, presumably from all the moisture in everything.

Take your turkey out of the oven 90 mins before lunch. Cover with foil and tea towels. Cook everythjng else while the turkey rests. The turkey will be better for it.

I tend to cook the veg in the morning andthen blast the serving dishes in the microwave.

Following as I want to spread the load a bit too!

Also to add last year I invested in a three container buffer style warmer - it keeps everything nice and hot whist the rest of the meat finishes in the oven. We use it a lot when people come over as they then can serve themselves to the majority of the meal while all we have to do is carbs and put gravy etc on table.

carve

I cook the day before if I can. K dont want to spend my whole day in the kitchen. Mist veg gets pre prepared and cooked. Meat is cooked the night before.

We wont pre cook roasties because they have to be fresh, so pigs in blankets go in the along with creamy leeks and yorkshires.

I see no harm in pre cooking the other things though, I've often eaten warmed up pigs in blankets.

You can make up veg, stuffing, pigs in blankets etc the night before and then cook them all on the day. I wouldn’t pre-cook them though, they would be gross. Except maybe red cabbage, which will be better for it. Cook the turkey first, then you have an empty oven.

I cook the turkey and pigs in blankets the day before. Don't bother re-heating, once the gravy is on you don't notice!
This year I'm cooking my roast potatoes Xmas eve too. They go really crispy being cooked on the second day.

I’m par boiling my roasties and parsnips today to dress and freeze so that I can chuck them in the oven on Xmas day. Done my carrots already and thinking of doing some Yorkshire’s just as back ups

I second leaving the turkey to rest, it doesn’t have to all be in at once

On 23rd I make stuffing and stuff the chickens (don’t like turkey here!) so all ready to go in the oven. Also make brandy butter & leave in fridge.

On 24th:
Make trifle
Peel & boil spuds
Peel all veg
Boil gammon (in coke) ready to bake with treacle on next day

That way on the day I really only have to put things in the oven. I second getting some sort of hostess thing if you can, it’s really helped in previous years with keeping everything warm!

@loutypips See that is what I was thinking about the pigs in blankets - I’ve often eaten them the day after from the microwave. Same as leftover stuffing.

I just never get it right in 30 years of doing it, always for only a few people. Being honest we don’t tend to cook lots of roast dinners, but when we do they are fine (except the roast potatoes that are awesome if I do say so myself).

Two shelves in the oven. One shelf is filled with aforementioned awesome potatoes with some Yorkshire puddings shoved down the side at the end. I’ve only got one other shelf....how can this fit meat, pigs in blankets, stuffing, parsnips?

Apologies for what is a very stupid question.....but if you cook your meat the day before, how to do reheat it? —hoping someone says microwave—

We don't reheat the meat, just slice it cover it in piping hot gravy on the plate. I've seen other people slice it and put it on a tray and cover with gravy there to warm it through before it goes on the plate.

It's not a stupid question!

I don't reheat the turkey. As it's cold, it's much easier to slice, so thin slices covered in hot gravy is fine.
You could slice then microwave it, but it can make it dry.

We've cheated and got readymade Yorkshires, they don't need long in the oven at all.

Do you have a grill part of your oven? If so, you could take the rack out of there to give you another shelf.

Thin cold slices sounds a great plan. I’m now thinking of getting a chicken or turkey crown and doing it the before. That will help massively. Thank you for your advice.

I just find the oven turns into some kind of meat/veg hot steamy spa at Christmas. Like I say, we don’t often cook roasts, let alone big ones - we are more likely to have a chicken thigh.

Thinking of doing the in blankets the day before as well.

I don’t have a separate grill. Our oven is great for everything we do....except Christmas. The bottom of the oven is the temperature of lava. It has the unique ability to burn and undercook at the same time.

I just don’t want to faff about the whole day for a rubbish meal. Want a nice relaxing, enjoyable meal.

My braised red cabbage is already made and frozen. I will par-boil my roast spuds the day before - they actually crisp up better for being properly cold when they hit the hot fat. I'd think about preparing batter for Yorkshires but we've limited fridge space.

In terms of extra oven space, your meat will be better for being taken out 30-45 minutes before you serve for a decent rest. You then have extra oven space for stuffing balls/parsnips/yorkshires or whatever else you need to roast.

You know what, I’m actually getting quite excited about it now. Maybe year 31 won’t be so rubbish. I’m galvanised into pre-cooking as much as I can thanks to this thread.

I’ve never even risked trying to add red cabbage into the mix. My Christmas dinner has always felt mediocre enough without adding a further poor quality dish.

I really enjoy a nice meal with all bits and pieces, just can’t carry it off!

Going to now give red cabbage a go and freeze it as well. Any recipes would be grateful. Might give this one a go www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/dec/12/how-to-make-perfect-braised-red-cabbage

Any other amazing ideas for avoiding faff on the day...keep them coming!

I used the Delia recipe that Cloake links to in that Guardian piece. It's great, and will make loads. I did mine last week to eat with a steak pie, but if you have leftovers it's really nice with ham or sausages. It reheats in the microwave brilliantly.

You can cook the turkey the day before and as said before it isfinebythe time you have got all the freshly cooked stuffing, sausages etc and gravy on. In fact the turkey seems to have more flavour.

cook turkey first and remove from oven cover with foil and a towel and leave in a warmish place ie not the windowsill it will keep warm for at least 1 hour plenty of time to do roasties

put potatoes on top shelf parsnips and pigs in blankets on second shelf

cook sprouts/ carrots / gravy on hob

bread sauce and red cabbage can be reheated in microwave
cranberry sauce made day before all veg can be prepped day before

I use Delias recipe for red cabbage but make it in a saucepan or the slow cooker rather than in a casserole dish. I normally make a huge pan of it, take out a dessert bowl to reheat on Christmas day and then freeze the rest in parcels of about 4 table spoons. The rest of the year we just take the parcels out the freezer and reheat in the microwave. Don't freeze in too large portions as you don't really need more than 2 table spoons each with a roast dinner!

Just rest the turkey properly and you've no need to cook the day before. I wouldn't go for dinner where the food was reheated (or served cold) from the day before, I'd rather host (I am the one who cooks our Christmas dinner, though we have it on Boxing Day).

I cook this on 23rd and reheat. It doesn't need as many onions as the recipe says though!
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3062/caramelised-carrots-and-onions

Do red cabbage ahead and microwave it.
Bread sauce and cranberry sauce can be made ahead and microwaved.

I’ll never understand cooking the turkey the day before and eating it cold

You’d never do that for the main element of any other meal - why a Christmas dinner?

That recommendation baffles me every year, @bearbehind!