Teach me your Xmas dinner tricks!

[OxfordshireMumOf2]

I'm hosting Christmas at my house this year for the first time ever, with us included there will be 2 children (under 5) and 8 adults. My kitchen is tight on work top space and my oven is just the standard 2 shelf with a small top oven and 4 electric hobs. I only ever cook a roast for the 4 of us, 2 of those being small children, teach me your hacks and tricks on cooking timings please! i also have an airfryer if any suggestions of what i can make in that!? already stressing about oven/work top space and food getting cold as something else is taking forever to cook! HO HO HO!

Prep everything before the day and have a list of timings.

For example I usually put the turkey in the oven at 6am so it's done by 11, then wrap in double layer of tinfoil and a couple of bath towels and let it rest for a few hours and it will be juicy ready for serving at 2pm

Work backwards from the time of serving to get all your cooking times.

I measure out and label all dry ingredients well in advance
measure wet ingredients the day before
chop vegetables a day or two before

then on the day I am like a tv chef because everything is prepped and I just have to do the actual cooking. I tip tiny bowls of ingredients in and can speed through making things like it’s nothing. The kitchen also stays much cleaner.

Prep all veg and pots night before and leave in washing up bowl filled with cold water.

Buy a steamer! Electric or hob one. I have a hob one, 3 layers = cooking of 3 veg only takes up one hob then. If you get an electric steamer, no hob space needed at all!

Cook meat early on in the morning and wrap in quality tin foil to keep warm. That will free up your oven for roasties nearer to serving.

If you're doing pigs in blankets, cook them early doors as well and then reheat in microwave just before serving. Same with bread sauce if you have that with your turkey. Oh and stuffing balls too.

Just make sure you heat gently in microwave and don't zap them in the microwave otherwise things can get dry and rubbery so just lower the power and reheat gradually as you're bringing everything else to a close. Tin foil once reheated to keep warm for those last few minutes before it's at the table and people are serving.

Lots of good tips on the thread Tips for cooking for 8 with a tiny oven! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/christmas/4884338-tips-for-cooking-for-8-with-a-tiny-oven

You can do loads in advance - make roasties in advance and freeze (at the parboiled and coated in butter/fat stage), stuffing made in advance so it’s only heating up etc

veg like red cabbage can be done in slow cooker (again way in advance and frozen)

work out what stays warm - your meat needs to come out of the oven in advance, freeing up space in the oven - a turkey can come out and rest an hour before eating. Stuffing and rosties will keep warm, other veg not so much.

Buy nice gravy - it can the go in the microwave.

8 people don’t eat twice what 4 do, Christmas Day has so much else to eat, you don’t need to make a mountain of food. You could always put breadsticks/ olives out as a snack before the main dinner, and Christmas pudding is a meal in itself!

good luck, and try not to stress!

Resting the turkey after it cooks is the main thing. A couple of hours massively improves the meat.

And it frees up oven space for veg and roasties. The potatoes are the last thing to cook - they don’t benefit from sitting around.

I do all the prep on Christmas Eve so that it’s just a matter of sliding things in and out of the oven on schedule.

Fill the sink with hot soapy water, and wash as you go.

Think about plating up the food. I put a saucepan on the hob with a couple of inches of water on a low simmer, and pile the plates on top to warm. I have a couple of wooden boards to land hot dishes out of the oven.

Decide ahead whether you want to serve it buffet style, plate up, carve in the kitchen or at the table. And think about what serving dishes you’re using. The first few times I hosted I would pull them out and put a post it note in them because I have a bad habit of planning to, eg use one jug in 3 different ways. I do something similar with ingredients too eg think that because I bought a carton of cream, I can make custard, ice cream, top the trifle and put it in the hot chocolate.

Give yourself time to set the table and if necessary put a note on the calendar in December to check table cloths are washed and ironed, glasses aren’t dusty etc. You don’t want to be sorting that on Christmas morning.

I write a list of everything I’m cooking, and tick off for Prepped, Cooking, and Complete.
everything prepped a long time in advance; as much as possible cooked the day before and reheated. I use square foil cooking dishes for some things so that I can fit more on each shelf. I also have an extra oven shelf. I have a pressure cooker, slow cooker, steamer, and halogen oven. All of them tend to get used.

I do pate and salad for starters so it doesn’t require heating.

(I’m usually cooking for a minimum of 15 and have done a lot more)

I do gammon in the slow cooker
Cook the turkey the day before (or very early morning and let it rest for a good few hours)
Parboil roasties day before ready to put in the oven Xmas day
Premake cauliflower cheese (again so it's just ready to pop in the oven)
Peel veggies the night before
Buy nice ready made fresh cartons of gravy that can just be reheated and nicer than bisto lol

O and pigs in blankets and stuffing balls work really well in the air fryer!

Stuffing, bread sauce and red cabbage I make well in advance and freeze. I do the same with a game casserole for Christmas Eve so I’ve got something a little bit special but zero effort (I serve it with hasselback potatoes that are almost as simple as baked spuds but look much fancier!)

Don't do a starter, it is unnecessary extra faff.

I'd accept all help or any offers of stuff to bring. Delegate potato peeling etc. Be more of a manager than a cook.

DH cooked Christmas dinner 2 years ago pre kitchen upgrade in an oven that took a couple of days to heat up - and 2 portable induction rings. That was for 10.

It took planning.

Bread sauce, cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets, stuffing, gravy, red cabbage all bought in.

My roasties are great so I make those.

Warming the plates helps.

Ditch starters
Smallest turkey possible
Check that you can get the turkey in the oven in good time.
Get foil trays for roasting. I know it's not great for the environment but it is one day a year.
Jamie Olivers roast potatoes get half done the day before and are delicious. Also his get ahead gravy is good.
Cook veg that come in jars or frozen. Less prep.
Your turkey will come out half an hour before serving so you have a half hour window for veg.
Ask a guest to bring dessert
Ser the table the night before

Hostess trolley!

Food put in it as it’s ready (also helps with space on the hob and in the oven). Everything stays hot, no stressing about timings.

Part cook vegetables in the morning, cover with cling film and zap in the microwave just before serving (a Gary Rhodes tip). Also agree with par boiling potatoes the day before then lather in goose fat and leave covered somewhere cool like a porch.

Do you have electric warming trays? We always use those.

And I agree to prep as much as possible in the days before. We do Christmas with 4 other families, so everyone also gets to bring at least one thing that’s ready to eat when it arrives. They usually go on the warming trays, or are brought in a crock pot.

And we always serve buffet style as it’s just easier for us.

As so many have said, prep as much as you can before the day. I’ll parboil & coat the potatoes & parsnips, clean & peel sprouts & carrots & put into their saucepans in water (I pan fry the Brussels with chestnuts & bacon but the water’ll keep them fresh). Make up the pigs in blankets, cover & put into fridge, make stuffing balls & freeze (I usually do a large batch on a Sunday roast & make the Christmas ones then), stuff & dress your turkey.

I also have a painted chalkboard on my kitchen wall to keep plan & keep track of when to cook what (brain is like a sieve). And it also means if I’m crook, someone else can step in (stupid spinal disability).

If you’re going to be serving on the table, a few weeks before lay out you plates/chargers/mats/serving dishes & take a photo (or draw a plan). Then on the day you know where & how everything will fit together, rather than juggling the pots to find a space when the food is ready!

If you have guests arriving on Christmas Eve, get them involved! Give everyone a rolls (drinks, tea & coffee, snacks, washing up etc.,) so you don’t shoulder all the jobs.

Christmas should be as much fun for you as it is everyone else!

Peel and parboil spuds and parsnips weeks in advance and freeze. Roast from frozen.

Buy pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce and stuffing mix or frozen stuffing balls and Christmas pud.
Gravy granules - maybe add a splash of sherry/wine etc for adults
You can do red cabbage a few days beforehand too.
MiL cooks the meat first, wraps in foil and towels and leaves it to rest whilst she uses the oven for other stuff.
Prep fresh veg the day before.
I love bread sauce, it's a bit fiddly, so I do that the day before too.

I echo not serving starters.

People love to pig out on the actual dinner.

I also roast the turkey early and leave it to rest for a loooong time.

A multi layered hob steamer will be your friend.

If you have a veggie alternative (I usually do a chestnut & mushroom filo pie), make enough for everyone, or the poor lone actual vegetarian will be fighting the rest of the table for it.

Freeze parboiled potatoes, parsnips & other root veg a few days ahead - tipping them frozen into hot fat crisps them up. Also works for stuffing balls.

As everyone else said, the bird/joint will stay hot for hours under tinfoil & a towel, & be better for it, so do that first then the accompaniments.

Better to cook 3 vegetables perfectly than have 6 that are variously half raw, soggy, & cold. I do carrots, sprouts & peas (not traditional but the anti sprout brigade like them) in a hob steamer. Red cabbage is slow cooked ahead with red wine & spices, & then can just be heated through in the oven or microwave.

Loads of gravy & make sure that's one thing that's piping hot. Other condiments from jars/packets unless you especially love making your grandma's bread sauce recipe from scratch for nostalgia purposes.

Do canapes & drinks in lieu of a starter, then offer puddings buffet style an hour after dinner (when someone else has done the washing up, basically...).

It's not Christmas without prawn cocktail!

Cook one meat the day before, pre-make yorkshires and freeze, carrots and parsnips parboiled and then glazed and ready to cook. Creamed leeks and red cabbage pre-made and reheated. Your meats should all be out and resting or cooked the night before to save faff with just a small cooker.

Order turkey pizza

We're just moving this over to the Christmas topic!