First Christmas Hosting

lucystardust87 · 14 November 2014 at 10:32PM

Re stuffing, I'd do stuffing balls. Just make the mix up and form into balls and bake. That way they can go on the edge of any baking tray with some room. And to serve just put in a bowl and people can have as many as they like.

Ms_Chocaholic · 14 November 2014 at 10:35PM

Just be aware that food takes longer to cook on Christmas Day, I don't know whether that's because more ovens are on so allow extra time for your roasties. I always forget and wonder why they are never cooked in the normal time.

If you've not got a steamer (a pan one) then I would really recommend it. You can put your potatoes in the bottom and veg above and it makes an easy life out of cooking your veg.

Ms_Chocaholic · 14 November 2014 at 10:37PM

Oh, one more thing, get a thermometer for the meat (you can put it in the meat and leave it whilst it's cooking) - it will let you know whether it's done.

There's some here to cast your eye over
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/top-five-meat-thermometers

You don't want to give all your guests food poisoning

ciderwithrosie_2 · 14 November 2014 at 11:21PM

Don't throw the giblets away - bung 'em in a pan and cover with water, add a bit of onion, celery and carrot, a splash of Worcester sauce, few grinds of pepper and a couple of bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for about 40 mins til reduced. strain off the liquid to use as the base of your gravy. Smells lush as it's simmering.

funny_bunny_2 · 15 November 2014 at 12:58PM

I think preparation is key!
I try to do as much as I can in christmas eve so I can spend as much time with my 3 boys.
So I peel, chop all the veg and potatoes and leave in saucepans of cold water, premix the stuffing and leave in fridge once cooled, make up the pigs in blankets and set the table
I'm also going to cook the turkey on low overnight. This is my first time doing this as didn't have dinner until late last year because waiting for it to cook. Also hoping my downstairs will be lovely and warm so no need for the heating to be on lol.
Then relax with a glass of well deserved wine.
On the day we will have lunch about 1.30 so around 12 oclock I will par boil potatoes whilst goose fat is heating up. Put in oven with the parsnips. 20 mins later I will put the pigs in blankets and stuffing in. Turn the steamer on for the veg and start to make tge gravy.
That's the plan and whether it goes to plan is a different story. But I live hosting christmas dinner.
Good luck xxx

Alchemilla · 16 November 2014 at 9:03AM

Great thread. I am in the same boat but vehgetarian and have never even cooked a chicken!

partialycloudy · 17 November 2014 at 1:42PM

Thanks for all the tips! Keep em coming!

I would prefer to do as much fresh stuff as possible.
So will be doing roasties from scratch (no problem have done them before)
Veg- Will be fresh, but, now this will sound bad, but I don't eat cooked veg and OH has frozen stuff....but I take it to cook veg you just put in a pan of boiling water....or steam??
Stuffing - never done before but will prob use a mix
Pigs & Blankets will get from butcher.

I was reading some cook books over the weekend and it all sounded pretty straight forward....but they all only said how to cook a whole turkey....so am leaning more towards that!

I will see what I have time for, in regards to dessert

suki1964 · 17 November 2014 at 2:24PM

Fresh stuffing from the supermarkets is perfect to cheat with. I buy loads in the run up to Christmas (usually as they reduce it) and serve at least two types, chestnut and a fruit one, along with the chipolata sausages

Veggies, keep them simple, roast tatties, a cauliflower cheese can be made the day before and bunged in the oven to reheat, we like carrot and parsnip mash, made in the morning and nuked when required, peas and of course the sprouts, plain boiled

Remember if you can roast a chicken, you can roast a turkey. I start mine at 10 ish and it's ready by 1. It's removed from the oven , wrapped in foil and covered in a tea towel and dinner is served at 3ish This is important. You need to give it time to rest before carving and it allows you the time and space to get the veggies done. Remember the last thing that should come out of the oven is your roasties. Time your veggies, stuffings etc to them

HTB_newbie · 17 November 2014 at 2:56PM

Hi PartiallyCloudy

We were is exactly he same position two years ago when we hosted for the first time (now every year is at ours) and cooked for 10.

Firstly, if you are thinking about this already you will be absolutely fine!

We have a range cooker but things we didn't think about first time was do we have enough shelves (we were swapping these about the ovens before) and baking trays? A shelf for the turkey, a shelf for the roasties, a shelf for parsnips or other roasted vegs, pigs in blankets etc.. and if you are doing a hot starter does this need room in the oven? We now buy disposable baking trays to make life a little easier.

As others said prep the veg the day before makes life a lot easier and work the timings backwards to give yourself a to do list. I've never done this previously but I read something by Mary Berry where you can cook your roasties the day before then put them back in the oven for 10 minutes on the day to reheat and recrisp.

I'm sure whatever you do will be fine. Just remember if timings go awry or a side gets missed out it is no big deal. :beer:

duchy · 17 November 2014 at 3:34PM

Christmas dinner is just a roast dinner for more people.

If you want to cheat with pre prepared veggies, gravy etc do so. No need to make a martyr of yourself peeling pototoes and spouts for ten people unless you really want to

Yes it will cost more than prepping everything from scratch but only you can decide if that is worth it to you . My feeling is it's my Christmas too and I use some cheats to make it simpler. (I've been known to prep and cook an entire Christmas dinner before and after a shift on the phones at home on Christmas day so I tend to feel with enough prep the day before and a pre written timetable of what gets cooked when that it doesn't need to be a drama.

First Christmas Hosting

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free