Anyone else cooking their first ever Christmas lunch this year?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

We've always had lunch at my parents house - they throw a massive gathering and we are incredibly lucky to have lots of lovely food and drinks (we provide the turkey).

This year, due to Covid, we will be having Christmas day just the four of us (2x dc under9). I'm very much looking forward to it.

We've spent almost the whole year now doing the bare minimum of trips outside (kept it local to the park or woods etc).

So for the Christmas period I'm hoping to go all out. And I want to smash the lunch. I'm fine with roasts etc so not scared, per se, just feel like it's a bit of an important meal

Anyone else on their very first Christmas lunch this year?

If you’re cooking turkey it will be much nicer if you let it rest rather than carving it immediately. Gordon Ramsey says it should rest almost as long as it has cooked but I wouldn’t go that far! But it does mean that you have plenty time to cook the sides and roasties.

Before I learned about resting the roast I’d be trying to juggle everything and time it so it was all ready together. It’s so much easier now, and far, far tastier too.

Oh and buy a meat thermometer if you haven’t got one. It takes all the guess work out of it!

This is all very helpful.

Prep all your veggies and potatoes the night before and leave them in water ! Save you so much time and space on the day x

Use a slow cooker for your second meat, we always put a gammon in the slow cooker x

Work out the timings, starting backwards from when you plan to sit down to eat, right up to when you need to turn the oven on. Include everything, inc. e.g. when to put the spuds on to parboil. Then stick it on the front of the fridge or somewhere else it won’t get lost.

If cooking a turkey, remember that it will be fine if taken out of the oven even an hour before you eat, and will carve better, too.Just wrap in foil with a couple of tea towels on top.
This gives you plenty of time - and oven space - for the potatoes and other veggies. In fact most if not all smaller roasts will benefit from 20-30 minutes’ resting time.

We're a vegetarian/vegan household so no help re meat but I always make cauliflower cheese on 23rd Dec & keep it in the fridge (in an oven proof dish). Then on 24th prep all veg & put in containers (some in cold water). I put ours in the garage as it's really cold in there in December.

My dc's favourite parts of Christmas dinner are crackers (that you pull), individual toad in the holes & corn on the cob so I don't stress too much & just cook as I usually would but with a few extras. Jelly & ice cream for pudding as no one has room for anything else.

Dh & I might have some Christmas pud after the dc go to bed. And some cheese & crackers. And some mulled wine. And some crisps etc etc

I use my steamer for most veg, cook the nut roast in the air fryer, toad in the hole & quorn roast in the oven with the roast potatoes & stuffing balls.

Cauli cheese goes in the bottom of the oven to heat through while the toad in the hole cooks.

I always make enough for leftovers on Boxing Day (my favourite day!).

This is a reallt good thread thank you! @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz I'll do a practice run of the roast potatoes and parsnips I think and then just hope for the best on the day! Our ovens really small so I'm borrowing a microwave oven and going to buy gravy/bread sauce/ Yorkshire puds and anything else that will save time and my tears all ready made but I'll make a cheese sauce I think. Good idea to PP about another meat in a slow cooker!

For the last 10years I’ve cooked our turkey on the gas bbq. It has a thermometer on it so we just cook it in a roasting tin like we would in the oven and it frees the oven up for everything else.

You buy

Ready stuffed turkey breast
Ready made pigs in blankets
Frozen roast potatoes
Frozen mixed veg
Frozen Yorkshire puds
Bread sauce

It’s the only meal I don’t cook from scratch. Too much other fun stuff to do - and so much easier!!

I've never done an actual Christmas dinner but I did fake Christmas for 8 adults plus kids two years ago which was a success (even if all my mum talks about is how my SIL had to force down beef that she didn't want to eat even though she'd specifically been asked if she wanted a vegetarian option - she wasn't veggie at the time but was eating a lot less meat and heading that way - and then was given free choice of what she wanted on her plate. So thanks for that mum, glad my efforts were appreciated).

But that aside! If you can do a roast, you can do a Christmas dinner. If you can't do a roast then there's plenty of time to practice. Space is the issue so check which trays, if any, you can fit in side by side, work out what things you can put in the same trays, can anything be done in the slow cooker etc. The meat can come out well in advance and that frees up a shelf. I covered in foil and tea towels as per recommendations on here and when I came back to carve it a LONG time later it was still too hot to touch. You can absolutely cook it in the morning or even the night before if you've got the fridge space. You won't notice it's cold once it's got hot gravy on it.

I did 3 meats and cooking them earlier in the day meant I had plenty of time to get them carved an out of the way without rushing and trying to do other things at the same time.

And absolutely yes to writing down all your timings.

I second buying yourself a good magazine which will give you a run down of timings. If you aren’t eating until 5pm I would put it on rather than heat it up. If you eat in the kitchen make your chair the one nearest the oven so you can get back and forth easily.

We have three courses so always have something cold for first course so it can be made earlier and sit in the fridge on the plates ready. I put Christmas carols on while prepping. I would buy the gravy. M&S do a lovely one as it saves the hassle. I prep the pigs in blankets the night before or you could buy them. Cooking a turkey crown is easier than a full bird and I cook a gammon the night before but the slow cooker is a good idea too. Make sure you soak it, bring to the boil then after about ten minutes throw that water out and start again with hot water from the kettle and cook for set time. Then throw out water, spread mixture ( I do course mustard, brown sugar, five cloves and sometimes pineapple rings fixed with cocktail sticks) over the scored skin and roast for ten to fifteen minutes. Gammon goes really well with Turkey. This way means it isn’t too salty.

Get DH/P to help prep veg and even the children can help if old enough. Perhaps setting the table.
If you don’t like Christmas pudding make something the day before. I made pavlova last year. You can make the base the day or even the week before, prep the fruit too then just whip the cream after eating the main and layer up. Or as someone suggested a trifle which can be made before.
Being prepared is key. You might forget something on the day but don’t worry about it.

@BluebellsGreenbells I was thinking about buying frozen roast potatoes as I've never cooked them before and they're the biggest part of a Xmas dinner for me! Would you say they're as good as homemade? Thing is I'm never gunna get them as good as my mum so I may as well just buy them pre made right!?

@BluebellsGreenbells I have to say frozen roasties aren't as good as proper ones, it's a texture thing for me! But you can buy the preprepared ones in a foil tray from supermarkets that you just bung in the oven which come out lovely and take all the faff out of doing your own

If you figure out how to make nice parsnips let me know.

Don’t go nuts. Buy an oven ready turkey - the timings on the packaging (at least M&S) are very accurate if your oven is reliable, the rest it as others said to get on with the veg.

Oooh pre prepared roasties?? I’ve never seen them but I would definitely try them!

According to good housekeeping McCain roasts crispy and fluffy were the best and won the good housekeeping award last year. I might get some to trial them because that's probably the thing I'm freaking out most about!

Not my first as me an OH love cooking and so for the past 10 years of so have been the hosts or had dinner just us for most years!

It’s great that so many people are looking forward to cooking their first Christmas dinner🥰

If it’s only 2-4 of you, I would suggest getting a turkey crown rather than a whole turkey. I would also invest in a meat thermometer if you don’t have one. We’ve always used one and never had a dry turkey. I would always cooked it longer (just in case) but the meat thermometer ensures I don’t and so it doesn’t dry out. I also second the comments about leaving the meat to rest. We take it out and at that point ramp up the oven to get crops roasts, Yorkshire pudding etc. If you carve straight into it, all the steak goes and so it dries out.

The only thing I prep the day before is the stuffing. I always cook separately to the turkey. I make a few trays as the family love it on the Boxing Day buffet and me and OH always have a homemade turkey and stuffing pizza at some point too. I just then cut whatever size we need per meal and reheat in foil. Always delicious 🥰

On the times I have made my own condiments like cranberry sauce and bread sauce, I do these the day before too.

If it’s your first time, get on a site like good food and look at their plans for prepping. Having times to stick to and guide what you’re doing is really helpful.

Good luck!

Not the first time here but, all being well, we're going to be in a new house with a bigger kitchen so I've decided I'm going to try and cook two different meats for a change.

So today I am trialling a Mary Berry roast pork recipe. It's either going to be epic and amazing and glorious (and to be fair it's smelling pretty amazing at the minute so DH and DC are circling like sharks!) or it's going to be five hours of my life I never get back!

My advice is to write down a plan if what goes in when and which pan. This is especially important if you are juggling a single oven. Cooking Christmas dinner isn't hard in itself, it's getting the timings right so food is cold/dry/undercooked. For the complete roast dinner notice which a small family, a prestuffed chicken or turkey crown is far easier with limited oven space, and I can't recommend enough a microwave steamer.

I'm completely unsure what I'll be doing, I normally have had 8-10 but last Christmas was the last of the era (my marriage had already imploded but I invited exh for the kids sake because they were worried about him on his own). This year I've moved in with my dp, two of our kids are within locked down cities at university, another at a different university, elderly parent him, cautious parents me, rule of six .... I'm thinking of booking the pub for lunch and whichever of the kids can get here we'll pay for, but if it's just the two of us won't feel like we have no one. Oh and house purchase is stalled ...

I love Christmas but I could do with it not being in 2 months, and covid is only a small amount of my issues!

Ps another top tip - don't tuck into the champagne at breakfast sliced my finger quite badly a couple of years back prepping veg tipsy!

Oh and avoid frozen roast potatoes, horrible weird aftertaste, Maris pipers, parboil 10 mins, roast 50 mins gas mark 6 (200) easy

If you have never done a roast before and don't mind frozen food Iceland do a deal for under £10.00 with meat, roasts, pigs in blankets, veg and YP plus a pud.

It won't feed a big family but will feed 2 adults and 2 children.

I don't do Xmas but I do like to do dinner parties and big meals.

You don't need to buy a turkey, it's far too much for a small family get a nice piece of meat.

I roast meat in the slow cooker so it leaves the oven free. I also have a steamer and a combi microwave.

You don't need a starter, if you d o one make it the day before of have something really simple like melon and prosciutto.

First thing in the morning put the meat in the SC - if your kitchen is cool you can put the meat in the night before with a timer to start at 6am or7 am.

Prep vegies the night before. If you peel potatoes you can store them in water with a glug of milk and they will retain the colour.

I don't pre boil my potatoes, put lard or dripping in a tin in the oven on high for 20 mins. Peel the potatoes while it is heating.

Put the potatoes on for 20 mins, then open the oven and turn them over, put your YP tin in above them and leave for 20 mins.

Boil the kettle or a pan of water or prep a steamer.

Then open the oven, turn the potatoes, put the YP batter in and leave for 20 mins.

If you are doing mash (potato or otherwise) chip very small and put on the boil / steam.

Take the meat out of the SC and wrap in foil to keep warm.

Put other veg on to boil / steam.

Pour most of the fat from the sc away, add some plain flour, whisk, add boiling water and stock cube, whisk - you now have gravy.

After another 15 mins everything is ready to serve.

Mince pies and/or pudding can be microwaved later.

My advise if you have younger kids is that they don't care about the meal but they do want to spend time with you so don't stress about the meal.

Last year I asked the kids what their favourite things about Christmas food is and we all decided we love breakfast - croissants and bacon or salmon and the nibbles and sandwiches with left overs.

So I very controversially had our Christmas dinner full blown meal with all the trimmings on Christmas Eve. And we had such an amazing Christmas morning with no rush and nice big breakfast and then a whole day of nibbles , lots of left overs and puddings.

Me and my husband were so relaxed and chilled. We spent time , building Lego and making up the new toys.

We will definitely do the same this year !

I've made Christmas dinner for a few years now and I make the gravy in advance (Jamies get ahead recipe) and freeze.

Then i bought a heated serving dishes that keep food hot for an hour or so. So I do the meat early and carve and wrap in tin foil. The potatoes I cook in goosefat and veg i prep the night before (carrot and parsnip mash and greens)