What do you 'precook'?

[BelBabe]

So this year I'm cooking my first Christmas Dinner. We've always went to the in laws but this year we've decided to just do second Christmas with them on Boxing Day and spend the actual day at home.

There's just me , DH and DD (3) but I'm getting carried away looking up recipes.

But in terms of logistics is there anything you cook before hand and either freeze or keep in the fridge and then just heat up on the day? Maybe certain side's?

Nope. Straight in the oven from the freezer... like oven chips! Though make sure you use a tray that will catch the fat.

@Intermittentgasping I parboil, leave to cool a bit then coat in goose fat before I freeze. Then they don't need futher oil/fat to cook in. I find a preheated heavy tray works well.

Red cabbage
Cranberry sauce
Jamie Oliver's get ahead gravy (with the star anise)
Sausage rolls for Christmas Eve

Am going to make mince pies, cooked and then frozen to try and save some time Christmas Eve - not convinced if they will work or not

I do the ham on Christmas Eve

I do and freeze Jamie Oliver’s Christmas gravy which is EXCELLENT and so worth not having that last minute panic; slow cooked red cabbage; bread sauce; cranberry sauce. I also cook and freeze a beef bourgignon, at least 2 big things of soup, a big bolognese sauce and a thick chicken casserole which I can either turn into a pie or thin with some more stick and have with mash or rice.

Silly question, when you prep the veg a day before, how do you store them? In water? Just in the fridge?

Most chopped/peeled vegetables will stay nice and fresh in a sealed container with a damp paper towel. There are exceptions, but it’s the most common thing we do, especially for what we tend to serve at Christmas.

We just do a glorified roast dinner. It's me my DH and DS who is 3. Don't need a lot of food. We've bought small turkeys before. I don't do much prep beforehand

Pudding and cake - already made.

On Christmas Eve - ice Christmas cake, sausage and cheese roll starters/canapés, veggie main, stuffing, cranberry sauce.

On Christmas Day - roast the turkey, prepare and cook veg and potatoes, make gravy, do cold starters, heat up pre-made items.

Have a drink. Sleep.

Each to their own, but heating frozen roast potatoes on the day for an hour, having alteady cooked and frozen them, seems twice the effort v doing it once on the day and roasting them once for 45 minutes. Also wastes electricity.

Also I don't get making gravy in advance as surely you need the juices from the turkey. That's about the last thing I do on the day while everything else is crammed into the oven, keeping warm, and it only takes a few minutes.

No - you don’t fully cook the potatoes first. You just split the stages up. I parboil them, then drain, fluff them around, and coat in hot goose fat in wide pans on the hob. Then I cool and freeze them. On Xmas day, I put the parboiled fat coated spuds in a hot oven and roast them, just as I would have done otherwise (perhaps 10 mins longer to account for cooking from frozen).

It really works very well - there’s no double cooking, you’re just pausing the process part way through, to save the peeling and parboiling and pans of goose fat on Xmas morning. I do not compromise on roast potatoes, and this doesn’t compromise them at all.

I’m with you on the gravy though.

Ah, I see. That makes more sense, thanks.

Personally, I have tried all kinds of fats over the years and still find that cold pressed rapeseed oil produces the best roast potatoes. Wouldn't use animal fat now anyway as DD1 is veggie.

I only pre-make stuffing the day before, otherwise I just do an extra big Sunday roast (we have chicken as nobody is that fond of turkey) and I do additional Yorkshire puddings and pigs in blankets.

Cranberry comes in a jar and red cabbage was never a thing growing up so I don’t make it.

I normally make cranberry sauce, but my MIL randomly gave me a jar of cranberry relish a few weeks ago, so we'll have that.

Have done red cabbage before but don't like it enough to bother with it. I do carrots, parsnips and sprouts. There was a metric fuckton of red cabbage left over last time too.

I don’t pre cook / freeze roast potatoes, my freezer space is too limited. I find parboiling, fluffing them in a colander and cooking them spread out in a big cast iron roaster in very hot sunflower oil works well but I haven’t tried rapeseed oil (might give that a go).

We're having dinner just us and two small DC so I'm doing similar as want a low key cooking day so we can enjoy time together.

I'm making a few things the day before and warming on the day:
Mashed potatoes
Pigs in blankets
Stuffing meat
Yorkshire puddings

Plus:
Par boil potatoes for roasties
Chop veg ready to roast
Ready made sides from M&S

I've bought a new stack of Tupperware from prep and leftovers.

A few weeks beforehand I do a roast and make lots of extra chicken gravy which I freeze. On the day, I blend that with the turkey juices to make chicken and turkey gravy. Saves a lot of extra faff on the day!

I parboil the potatoes early doors then let them cool down completely. Put plenty of salt & pepper on, then I put cold rapeseed oil on them - because it's cold you can use your hands and make sure they are well-coated. Then put them in a hot oven, about 220C fan, for about 40-45 minutes. The turkey is out and resting by then.