Christmas Dinner Prep Questions…

[Ilovechristmass]

Hi all. It’s my first time hosting this year. I plan on preparing everything on Christmas Eve and have a few questions for the seasoned pros on here!

1. Can I par boil potatoes for roasties, carrots and parsnips and then leave them in Tupperware in the fridge over night? And then on Christmas Day, put them straight into hot fat and cook as usual? Will it add much time onto the usual cooking time as I’d be cooking them from cold rather than hot?
2. Can I prepare stuffing balls (just paxo made up and then mixed with sausage meat) on Christmas Eve?
3. Can I pre-prepare Yorkshire pudding batter and leave in the fridge?

Does anyone have any other tips? I’m trying to get as much done as I can on Christmas Eve so that I can spend as much time as possible with my DC on Christmas Day morning!

For ease, I'd consider making the potatoes and the stuffing ahead of time and popping in the freezer. I parboil the potatoes and then cook, toss in goose fat and then freeze on a tray until hard then toss into a ziplock back. I do the same with stuffing balls and yes you can mix stuffing mixture with sausage meat for a a meatier stuffing. You can get this done on a Sunday afternoon in the lead up to Christmas and just cook from frozen.

Yorkshire pudding batter is so quick and easy to mix that you could do this the day of without losing much time or again you could either make ahead and freeze or make ahead on Christmas eve and then warm in the oven on Christmas day.

I'd
Make the stuffing and freeze, or just buy ready made.

Yes to the rest.

Nigella's Christmas book is really, really good, not all posh and pretentious at all. I really rate it.

Yes to making the stuffing balls in advance and leaving in the fridge

From many, many years of roast potato prep, I've found the best method to be: Peel and chop on Christmas Eve and leave in a big pan of acidulated water over night, then change the water and parboil on the day.

Yes to all.

Put a paper towel in the tuppaware with the potatoes to absorb any moisture and make sure to par boil with lots of salt to get them super crunchy. It doesn't really change the cooking time in my experience.

I definitely agree. It even has a plan to follow.

I wouldn't pre make the batter but if you weigh the flour and measure the milk then you could do that and keep it in separate Tupperware, takes a step out for the next day, I do it by eye personally. You could also prep the tray ready to go in the oven.

If you have freezer space make the stuffing now and freeze, can do same with roasties if you want. Otherwise it's fine to prep them day before, same with veg.

My freezer is full of stuff I've prepped already, stuffing both ordinary and sausage, cranberry sc, bread sc, sponge for trifle, turkey stock for gravy, will do veg/potatoes/cook ham Christmas Eve and make dessert. Only thing to do on the day then will be cook everything including turkey, don't leave any actual prep for the day itself just cooking.

1. I prefer not to tbh, I think they are best done in the morning.
2. yes
3. measure, don't mix together

I also:

• peel and chop all other veg and store in bags in fridge
• lay table including glasses and napkins
• get out all pans and serving dishes and spoons and add a label for what goes in what. Plates checked and in the grill compartment to warm
• make a time schedule for the oven and hob, taking into account the fact a pan of water takes twice as long to come to the boil on Christmas day!

I prep all veg the day before, peeled etc, and stored in water in bowls in the fridge. I make my yorkshire puddings the day before and reheat, but you could certainly keep the batter in the fridge too, it keeps well, and actually develops a bit if left, I always make mine a few hours in advance. I also precook pigs in blankets and reheat, so the over doesn't need to be on all day on Christmas, and with me in and out changing things over

Yes I cook pigs in blankets, stuffing etc all on Christmas Eve and then just reheat on Christmas Day.
All veg peeled and chopped in plastic bags in fridge over night - drop of lemon juice in with the parsnips to stop going brown. Potatoes I leave in a saucepan of water overnight to stop going black and par boil/roast on the day.
Christmas pud was made in October

Here is the secret to why Christmas is the easiest roast to prep. The turkey really needs to rest a long time. At least as long as you cook it, but it’s not unusual for us to pop it in the oven first thing in the morning and then it is done before noon and can rest until anytime in the afternoon when we need it under foil and a towel. Easily 4 + hours. This means all the juices go back in and it will be nice and juicy (and still warm!).

I’d do stuffing balls the night before (or spend an extra £1 and buy pre-made). All the veg can be chopped the night before but none of it needs to be parboiled. Just straight on a roasting tray when you need it. That leaves you just with potatoes and Yorkshire pudding batter to do. You could peel potatoes and put them in cold water the night before if you want. I wouldn’t cook them though and I wouldn’t make the yorkie batter in advance (but that’s so easy to do anyway, shouldn’t take you more than 3 minutes on the day).

This means with turkey out of the way, you just need to boil potatoes and shove everything else in oven ahead of lunch. It’s much easier because you aren’t trying to fit everything in around the turkey.

I made stuffing and it’s in the freezer. Last year I also made cheese sauce for cauliflower and froze that, it was fine. Also cooked pigs-in-blankets, froze them too. Everything was fine reheated on the day.

Usually I cook the potatoes and veg and then roast them after the turkey is cooked. This year I will cook the turkey and ham on Christmas Eve.

Cook veg till al dente, plunge in iced water to stop cooking. Store in Pyrex dishes and microwave before serving.