First time cooking dinner- help appreciated!

[ScarlettBeauregarde]

I’m hosting Christmas for the first time this year. Wasn’t overly concerned about the dinner as I’ve made plenty of roasts in my time, but I’m a bit confused about the turkey.

From Google I’m seeing most turkeys take 2 hours, but I seem to recall my mum getting up at 6 to put the Turkey in. I asked my sister and she said her husband (who does the cooking) puts it in around 7/8. This seems so early considering we eat around 2:30! What am I missing?

From Google I’m seeing most turkeys take 2 hours
Really!!??
You need Delia, patron saint of Christmas. If you are really worried about it, cook the turkey the day before so there is less stress on the day.

You’re missing a trick in not cooking it a day or two before when things are less fraught, then slicing and keeping in the fridge to reheat on the day. I’ve even done it weeks before then frozen in slices, but I am a massive fan of doing as much as you can ahead of time so you can still enjoy Xmas Day. I par-boil and freeze the spuds in advance, then treat exactly the same as frozen roasties you buy; tip frozen into hot duck fat.

with the turkey not needing oven space, it means you can have the oven on full whack whenever you need it for roasties/stuffing/Yorkies etc.

I put ours in about 6.30/7am depending on when we're up. Usually takes about 3-4 hours depending on size and how many people we're serving (Usually 10-12) we eat at about 2.

Once it's cooked we double layer in tun foil and bath towels and let it rest which frees up the oven for everything else to cook.

Always gives a really juicy turkey.

The turkey thing confuses me too OP so I usually get a turkey crown (large can serve up to 10 IIRC) and a ham or small beef joint.

I much prefer cooking just the crown, I also remember my mum getting up at the crack of dawn and I can’t get on board with that 🥲 depending on weight it usually takes 2/3 hours so I usually put it in after present opening and breakfast, around 11am.

My biggest tip would be to keep it simple with the accompaniments. You'll see umpteen recipes with fancy things to do with sprouts, or carrots etc. Don't bother, you are just making a rod for your own back. Keep the number of side dishes to a minimum, you don't need loads of different ones. Maybe sprouts, carrots, peas and parsnips, or similar.

All the veg and potatoes can be prepared the night before - put the veg in the fridge ready and the potatoes on the stove in a saucepan of cold water. You can buy ready-made pigs in blankets & stuffing, or you can make your own. Do all that weeks in advance. PIBs can be cooked from frozen, and do at least twice as many as you think you'll need.

Aldi is your friend when it comes to Christmas puddings and mince pies, they are great.

I usually cook our turkey for around 3 1/2 hours and then rest for at least half an hour, people used to always overcook them. Personally I wouldn’t want reheated turkey on the day but my main tip would be to do as many side dishes as possible the day before including the stuffing. Get your potatoes par boiled and leave in the fridge and any veggie dishes that are a gratin variety or similar can all be done the day before. I do the pigs in blankets in the air fryer which saves on oven space,

You can (and probably want to) rest the turkey for a couple of hours under foil and towels so you can get the roasties (and yorkshires) and gravy done.

Definitely this. Don’t cook it the day before though, I always wonder why people say they don’t like turkey and then I discover that they’ve cooked it the day before, it’s nowhere near as nice then.

A turkey should rest for the same amount of time it is cooked. I loosen off the skin and stuff butter under it to keep it moist. Baste every 30 mins. I Stuff with lemon cut in half, garlic cut in half, fresh thyme and onion also cut in half. I then use this all for the gravy with the juices.

Depends how many you’re cooking for and how big the Turkey is.

Do your guests even like Turkey? Mind didn’t - so I did Turkey crown and a gammon, instead of a whole Turkey, makes for much quicker prep too. I do all the veg on a big roasting tray all together. Potatoes you can par boil in the morning and have them ready for the oven. Stuffing you can make the day before. Microwaveable red cabbage. Parboil sprouts and roast them with lardons and chestnuts with the rest of the veg.

Peel your potatoes the night before and leave them in water removes all the starch makes for crispier roast potatoes change water before boiling.

You can do most turkeys in 2 hours from fresh as long as the heat is high and you baste every 10-15 mins. I usually do at 190 for 2.5 hours and baste every 20
(Katie Boyle method from the 80s!)

Definitely buy pre done pigs in blankets

Do stuffing separately, not in turkey

Do most veg day before too - carrots, peas etc. steamed sprouts or cabbage can be tossed in with lardons and chestnuts (from a pouch) on the day

Aunt Bessie's parsnips!

Parboil the potatoes and cover them in goose fat then spread on a tray in fridge

Now I’m even more confused 😂 I’ve seen a Jamie Oliver recipe and a BBC one and both said 2-2.5 hours. Maybe im choosing too small a Turkey? There is 7 adults, a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old.

I was also planning on slow cooking a gammon joint to serve along side, and definitely prepping the veg the night before as other have suggested. Was intending to put the Turkey in 11-1:30ish then leave to to sit for an hour while I do all the sides. From my estimations I can cook them all within the hour, was going to par boil and plate up in the fridge ready.

Does anyone have an easy, foolproof Turkey method??

Will defo do stuffing separately, thanks. Googling Katie Boyle now!

I was planning to shred and stir fry the sprouts with bacon lardons, have done this before and it takes 5 mins.

Defo aunt Bessie’s parsnips!

Noted on the soaking potatoes, will make sure I do that first.

Also noted on leaving the Turkey for rest for the cooking time- wonder if this explains the early cooking starts in my family?

Definitely we are Turkey people, my mums is always bone dry though (wonder why!) so hoping to nail it.

Had anyone tried a slow cooker beef joint? Considering this instead of gammon.

You’re making me hungry! I can’t wait for Xmas!

I made myself a roast beef and horseradish sandwich for lunch after reading about Christmas food, hence the sudden hankering for beef instead of gammon 😂

I make a seasoned butter on 24th - orange zest, chopped sage, thyme leaves, chopped rosemary, crushed garlic, salt and pepper all mixed into softened butter. Leave out of fridge but covered overnight. Slide it between skin and meat on turkey in the morning before covering the skin with streaky bacon slices - combo of butter and bacon keeps it from drying out in coking.

Cover turkey with foil (after putting some stuffing in the neck cavity if desired, and a halved lemon in the other end). Chuck in oven.

Check every hour and baste (use liquid in roasting tray to pour over top of turkey to keep moist), recover with foil 1st few times but leave off for last hour at least to get crispy skin.

Cooking time depends on final weight (including stuffing if in bird) - weigh tray when empty, then when bird on top and subtract weight of tin is easiest way.

When cooked (use thermometer if you have, otherwise check juices running clear and hot all the way through), take out and put on carving dish. Recover with original foil and then put a few towels folded on top to keep heat in. Then you have the hour you need for it to rest, and easily at least another hour if needed, for bird to stay hot while you do potatoes, veg, gravy etc.

And start with the time you want to sit at the table at, allow plenty of "last minute" time for making gravy/heating plates/putting everything in dishes and carving/serving (20-30 minutes disappears so fast at that point!), but basically work backwards from that to get the rough time you need to put the bird in the oven (exact time will only be known once it's ready to go in).

And remember to relax. If properly covered, meat will keep warm for ages. Give people an extra bowl of crisps if something is taking a bit longer than you thought. Don't feel under pressure to put it on the table by X time - it's more about a nice meal on the table at a reasonable time and that everyone will enjoy (not that cook is so stressed they can't taste a thing).

And delegate jobs if that suits you - prep things in advance, leave cutlery and glasses on table for someone to set it nicely, someone else keeps you company and chats in kitchen keeping your beverage topped up not everyone all elsewhere...(having some wine while cooking is fine but intersperse with non-alcoholic drinks as well - keep hydrated and have something to eat in the morning to keep blood sugar levels up).

(Butter out of fridge overnight is so its nice and soft to smush around under turkey skin in the morning...)

I normally do two or three meat so only get a turkey crown which I cook in the slow cooker for about 6 hours.

@BiddyPop exactly what I was looking for! That sounds amazing, I’m going to do that exactly. I was planning on a 4kg Turkey, will that be big enough do you think?

Buy a meat thermometer! Takes all the guesswork out. I usually find most meats cook through far quicker than the instructions suggest (maybe my oven runs a bit hot) but haven't had a disaster or dry meat since getting one

@Defiantlynot41 I have one but have never used it! Will defo be utilising that. The BBC recipe I found said to cook for 2 hours then take out at a certain meat thermometer temp so I will do that then rest in foil and towels as people have suggested.

I'm sorry, I am no good on weights, especially as we end up with a "serves 6-8" size for 3. (But we like turkey and happy to have leftovers).

Butcher will advise on weights, and magazines generally have guides on sizes.

We usually put ours in the oven in early afternoon (2ish), with the aim of eating around 5 or 6, if that helps. But it's very fluid at that point of the day.

Please don’t cook and slice in advance, and reheat!!

It’s really not at all difficult to cook a Christmas dinner - you just need to be organised and as a pp said, keep it fairly simple - not umpteen different veg and side dishes.

Find a good guide such as Delia, then make a list of all timings, working back from when you want to sit down to eat, right back to e.g. when to turn the oven on.

Then write it out again in time order, and stick it somewhere you can easily refer to it, eg the front of the fridge.
As pps have said, a turkey will easily keep hot for an hour if wrapped up - plenty of time for veg etc. it will carve better after resting, too. I usually rest mine upside down, so the juices drain into the breast rather than out of it, but a big, hot turkey can be awkward to turn upside down!