Christmas Lunch - What can be prepared on Christmas Eve

[DiscoDizzy]

I'm quite a good cook but for some reason when my mum comes for Christmas Lunch, I just go to pieces, its like i've never cooked before. I think I must find her really intimidating because she likes to 'help' out in the kitchen whilst drinking my wine.

So has anyone any tips about what they prepare beforehand and how they heat things back up afterwards (so food doesn't go dry).

Also do you hand over full plates or do you let people help themselves and if so how do you make sure your food stays hot at the table? Please spoonfeed me these answers, I can be dim at the best of times.

Oh but I do worry about things going cold, this was one of the things DH mentioned about last year. I did serve the food on cold plates though . All common sense seems to go out of the window when my mother's there.

Okay.. I prepare the veg the night before.. although I do the spuds on the day as I don't like it when they have stood in water over night.

I prep the turkey the night before and put it in the fridge till morning when i throw it in the oven first thing.
I then just throw the veg etc in when turkey is resting.
( remember it's just a christmas roast )

We usually prepare all the vegetables on Christmas eve and leave them in the pan with water ready to cook on Christmas Day. We also stuff and prepare the turkey the night before and I usually set the alarm for about 5.30/6.00am and put the turkey in the oven.

We don't cook anything until Christmas morning though!

Prepare all the veg the night before. If you are making your own stuffing make that the night before too. I usually cheat and buy ready-made gravy (you can decant and hide the packet before your mum gets there!) I also use frozen roast potatoes - I know lots of people are sniffy about them but I've has lots of compliments about them over the years!

Then on the day you'll just need to cook the turkey - or as lula said, you could cook that the night before - some people suggest slicing it and keeping it in gravy to stop it drying out.

Cook the turkey the night before and prep all the veg.

xmas day, carve the turkey up into slices and place back in clean roasting tin with a small amount of water sprinked over, cover with foil and this together with hot gravy will make it hot.

I repare all the vegtables the night before and stuff the turkey if we are having one (often have lamb as it is really good at christmas)

Lay the dinner table ready with crakers, glasses and folded napkins, candles and a table decoration.

Biol the kettle to pour over the plates if you have forgotten to heat the plates in the oven (or dont have enough room in the oven) as the hot water will at least take the chill of the plates and the food is kept hot longer or pop them in the microwave. Sorry but I hate eating cold food.

If you want moist turkey put mascopone cheese between the flesh of the turkey and the skin - it takes a little while but it makes the bird breast really moist and tender as it doesn't dry out when cooking. This can be done the night before.

Veg can be prepared the night before and kept in a sealed container in the fridge.

Bread sauce can be made in advance and kept in the fridge too, also the stuffing.

(assuming you are having turkey)

I think i'd like to cook the turkey beforehand but I get the feeling that my mother would see it as a failing in me not to have cooked it on the day.

I think I have issues with my mother that I didn't know I had.

has anyone used the frozen roast parsnips from aunt wassaname?

parsnips are the most loved thing in this house, well my stepdad and me esp, and i am nervous about messing them up on the day!!

I have a really small oven so i am def thingking about cooking the stuffing the day before and reheating. It's oneof those tings that you can't give a whole shelf to itself.

nametaken/Ivvvvy - thats what I meant about spoonfeeding me the answers

I am very grateful to you all for the suggestions.

I par-boil my potatoes (and bash them) for roasting the week before and freeze them because I don't have many pans and I do pretty much all other prep on Christmas eve.

I put all dishes on the table for people to help themselves but I have two ovens and a plate warmer so luckily have room to warm all serving dishes plates etc, but before this I used to fill all my serving dishes with boiling water and put plates in the microwave with a little bowl of water on top for a minute or so.

A good way to deal with 'help' is to give them specific things to do that way they are not just meddling as my dear old Dad loves to do!

As you all seem to know what you need to do in order for christmas dinner to go well - anyone fancy coming to mine and just doing it for me?

I'd prepare all the veg the day before, make the gravy, the bread sauce and the brandy butter, make the stuffing and stuff the bird. You could also parboil the potatoes the day before so they just have to be popped into the hot fat.

I do put all the veg etc into serving dishes, then dh carves and everyone helps themselves to veg, gravy etc. If you heat the dishes beforehand, things don't cool too fast - fill them with really hot water if you don't have space in the oven/grill.

i think that if you are a bit worried , then do as many of the things suggested here, stuffing, sauces, the table etc, and just concentrate on the turkey and roast veggies on the day.

i don't eat meant but I think it's nice to have that lovely smell of the meat cooking on the day!! Reminds me of home.!

From the time you pull the turkey out of the oven, you have approximately two hours to serve the bird and refrigerate or freeze the leftovers. It does not matter if the bird is still warm. That goes for the stuffing and gravy, too.

It is not safe to let turkey (or stuffing baked in the bird) sit out at room temperature for more than two hours. Past that and they should be discarded. When they drop from hot to just warm, salmonella bacteria begin to grow. Consuming improperly stored leftovers can make you very sick.

Leftover turkey should served either cold, or reheated to at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). As long as the turkey leftovers stay cold, or get hot enough, there should be no danger in eating them, especially within the first two days after cooking. Here again, though, promptly refrigerate any leftover turkey.

Take as much care reheating the leftovers as you did roasting the turkey in the first place. Reheat only the amount you will eat in the one meal. Most food safety experts also suggest only reheating the turkey once. Once again, it is those in between ?danger zone? temperatures (40 ? 140 degrees F) that invite problems. As the leftover turkey reheats, it can start to grow salmonella bacteria. Partially warmed turkey or stuffing may give you and your guests food poisoning.

Reheating turkey in the gravy is very dangerous - it will not be up to the required temperature and in fact at the best tempurature for actually making you sick

Piratecat, you can freeze parsnips yourself - defrost before cooking though.

Don't forget to put wine in the fridge the night before.

We par-boil our roasties and then toss them in goosefat. You can do this in advance and then freeze them. Take them out of the freezer in the morning and leave them at room temp and they should be ready to just pop in the oven when you are ready.

You can make your stuffing in advance and freeze it uncooked. I often make big batches of stuffing and freeze it.

do yo mean cook them then freeze?

those aunt bessie ones, are they pre cooked.

?

you can also toss par bioled roast potato in semolina... a low fat alternative to make them nice and crunchy

i am just remembering last yr, it was just me and my sis, amd my dd. my sis is a chef, but we got a bit drunk onthe vino, and kind of forgot what we were supposed to be doing, and in what order!!!

it was a laugh tho!!

Ivy, that's really scary re cooking turkey

ivyy i read 'salmonella' then, instead of semolina !!

I think if you parboil parsnips they can be cooked from fozen.