Hosting Christmas dinner for the first time. Tips?

[Tokyotwist]

I know I've got over two months yet, but I like to know what I'm doing.

OH and FIL talked me into hosting Christmas dinner this year. It will be the first one I do and I am a bit worried about messing it up.

Have already thought about forgetting to defrost the turkey, etc. And when should I buy the veg? I suggested ordering it all and FIL eyebrows hit the ceiling .

So in the interest of keeping me sane for the next 2+ months, what are your Christmas dinner tips? Recipes for starters will also be most welcome.

Get up early and get turkey on - a big one can take a long time to cook.

Get people helping you with the veg preparation - sprouts are a pita and always seem to take ages to prepare.

Par boil potatoes and when drained, shake them in the pan or scratch them with a fork so the outside is roughed up. Cook them in a seperate roasting tin and make sure oil/fat is really hot before putting them in. (carefully).

As long as you give yourself plenty of time you will be fine. The only time I have ever cocked it up was when I didn't get the things on in time and then it was about 8pm before we ate and we were all completely pissed. (This was pre dd!)

What are you thinking about for a starter?

Can you cook a roast dinner? How many are you cooking for?

Pick what time you want to eat and work backwards. If you want to buy everything ready prepared then do it, just dont tell fil

Not sure yet, preferably something cold so I can make it early.

RE: veg, i buy mine on christmas eve very early and try to make that the only thing i really need to buy as shop will be manic!

Buy an extra thing each week in your shopping so you dont have masses to buy in your christmas food shop, eg cranberry sauce, gravy, any nice crackers, meats you can freeze (i do a glazed gammon and have that for lunches and snacks), pickles etc although it depends on how long the guests will be there?

Do a cold starter or something that won't interfere with the oven while you're cooking the spuds.

Something like smoked salmon maybe.

6 adults and my munchkin. They are all quite fussy though. Have talked myself into cooking from scratch. Roast turkey and veg. Dessert is going to be Key lime pie and christmas cake. Will cheat with the cake and buy one. Feed it loads of alchohol and then ice it.
I've no idea about starters though. Oh and do you need to get in the shops fairly early to ensure you get stuff. I have images of bare shelves in my head.

Crikey I forgot they'll need feeding for other meals as well. They wil;l be here for 3-4 days I think.

My mum always does her shopping the night before xmas eve at stupid o'clock as the shops tend be open through the night.

When you say fussy, what do you mean?

Agree re the starter something cold, smoked salmon, pate, prawns?

I've never done xmas dinner by myself, but always help out at mums, its the pressure you put on yourself that will make it difficult.

You could of course ask for your visitors to bring someting with them.

Before I got married dm used to have the dinner on the table at 1pm on the doIt - despite going to the midnight service and matins on Christmas Day. Her trick was to cook the turkey overnight on gas 1/2 by putting it in the oven at about 1am. It worked. The trick is to make sure that it is at room temperature first, otherwise the oven isn't hot enough to make the difference. This was after straining the damson gin and slugging the 1/4 pint that wouldn't fit in the decanter.

Our lunch was always
Asparagus soup - except for the year it got a bit flash with bits of smoked salmon on toast.
Turkey with roast potatoes, bacon, sausage, carrots in onion sauce, sprouts, bread sauce, sage and onion and a home-made stuffing
Christmas pudding

She didn't make the puddings, my great-aunt did and, after she died I was promptly given the recipe booklet as a not too subtle hint.

The only time it didn't work too well was when I was about 3 and fed a load of wax crayons into the innards of her heated dinner trolley that used to ferry it down the hall to the dining room

It's all down to the planning. The first one I did was the year after my father died and we'd been invited to friends for drinks. We went with the turkey in the oven on timed and dh and dm both got totally pissed on champagne and I had to drive them home. The turkey had collapsed after the oven switched off and it was sitting there steaming in the cooling oven. Neither of the 2 'invalids' could face anything. And, following the custom in my family, no presents had been open - saved until after the 'speech'. About 7pm they surfaced and thought they could manage a little cold thinly sliced turkey with bread and butter. They also had the cheek to wince when I openend a bottle of wine.

I peeled potatoes the night before and carrots and swede.

Sorry for long post - just to reassure you that it couldn't be worse than the one I did!

Try making some meals in advance in the freezer, like chilli, spag bol, casserole, soup etc so you dont have to slave away in the kitchen while they are here, and after the big day do buffet style with the leftovers and some other bits and bobs.

Also add extra cereal, bread, snacks, chocs frozen dessert (for when you cant be bothered to make one) to add to your early shopping list.

My friend has a big box with all the xtra christmas food she buys early in so she can see to hand what she has bought and what still needs to be bought.

Think i will do that this week with my food shopping and buy some extra bits and bobs.

oh and make the pigs in blankets in advance and pop in the freezer and the stuffing and its less to do on the day.

The aim being a fab dinner with out you getting completely stressed out!

By fussy, I mean most meals we have out together end up with one or more people complaining. Never had a meal with them that has not been like this. Hopefully they will be a bit less vocal on MY cooking.
Also MIL will only have turkey for Christmas. I am playing ball as it is the easiest roast to do (I think).

Some great tips here. I'll start making a list.

Have OH and FIL offered any help if they are the ones keen for it to be at your place?

Don't be scared to ask for help.

Also don't have too many extras or veg ont eh plates. We have turkey, roast pots,carrots, broccolli (mainly for me, I hate carrots) and pigs in blankets and stuffing.

SMIL on the other hand does
Turkey
roast and mash pots
carrots
peas
swede
roast parsnips
roast veg
pigs in blankets
stuffing balls
red cabbage the list is endless

i prepare my vegatables on xmas eve
sprouts/cauli/carrots/brocoli can all be prepped and put into plastic bags in the fridge.

make yourself a list so that you dont forget anything and Good Luck

Kids don't want to sit down for ages, and want to play with their toys so i just do nibbles for starters which you don't have to sit down at the table for.
Olives, smoked salmon blinis, bread sticks, slices of chorizo/parma ham.
Much easier than all sitting down and still yummy!

When I did my first Christmas dinner, I wrote down the times I needed to get things in the oven so that everything would be done at roughly the same time. I also wrote what temp. everything needed doing at. If you've done a full roast dinner before then you should be fine, it's not that much more work than that.

If you are doing sprouts then do a honey and mustard glaze otherwise no bugger will eat them

And yes to the nibbles, a few bowls of nuts will keep people happy if you need a bit of extra time in the kitchen.

my tips would be.

1. buy a stuffed turkey breast (large one), we got ours in waitrose last year for about 12 quid. takes up less room in the oven, cooks in a couple of hours, and easy to carve.
2. parboil your potatoes, toss in goose fat, in the pan to fluff up, then spread them out on a tray and freeze them (stops them sticking together). once frozen they can be put in bag. on christmas day, just stick them on a tray in the oven.
3. ask your guests to bring something with them, i.e. pudding or ham or something.

Agree with preparation of veggies on Christmas eve.

I also lay the table on Christmas eve too. I order stuff from Ocado in the run up and order meat / turkey to collect close to Christmas day.

We do like you say re the christmas cake, but my DC like decorating it and have done since they were little. They are always v proud of it! Sometimes it has been very bling!! DS also likes making mince pies so we also have those too.

Good luck! I think forward planning is key, especially if you are to enjoy the day too.

We order our turkey from a local butcher and pick up on christmas eve, they open at 6am! You could order veg online but I think you have to get in early to get a delivery slot I think. Nigella's 'spiced and super juicy roast turkey' is really good, as are the rest of her christmas recipes especially the roast potatoes. Delegate as much as you can!

For general catering over Christmas I make lots of things in advance and freeze them, e.g. soup, quiche, nice breads, braised red cabbage etc. All these things can then be defrosted and heated up when you need them.

Generally for Christmas Eve I would have something like a home made quiche with salads and maybe cheese, sage and onion bread (quiche and bread taken from freezer), then a trifle for dessert.

Christmas Day I do the roast dinner (we usually have chicken as we prefer it) but don't bother with a starter as there is so much of everything else. So it would be roast chicken with stuffing, bacon rolls, chipolatas, bread sauce, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, brussels sprouts and gravy. Then Christmas pud and brandy sauce.

I make the stuffing, do the breadcrumbs for the sauce, prepare the bacon rolls, prepare the sprouts and peel and parboil the parsnips the night before. Definitely agree with making a list of timings in advance, so you know when everything needs to be done.

We don't bother with tea much on Christmas Day, I just get out some cheese and biscuits and Christmas cake.

On Boxing Day I would usually do soup and a nice bread for lunch, and in the evening do cold chicken and ham with braised red cabbage and baked potatoes, chutneys etc. Soup, bread and red cabbage can come from freezer, so there's not much cooking to do. Then left over Christmas pudding or mince pies for dessert, or last year I made some yummy ice cream in advance, which I could get out of the freezer when required.

I also make sausage rolls in advance and put in the freezer, so they can be used whenever you need them.

In terms of shopping, I usually order my chicken, ham, bacon, chipolatas etc from the butcher and collect on 23rd Dec. I also do all my fruit/veg shopping on 23rd at the greengrocer. Much less hassle than fighting your way round the supermarket. For general groceries I order an internet supermarket delivery to arrive a few days before Christmas, so I'm not having trolley wars (it's usually hell in supermarkets just before Christmas).

Don't drink as you cook