A 'traveling' Xmas dinner?!

Alfietinker

Firstly, I wasn't sure if this should be in OS or on the Xmas board - hope it's not in the wrong place!

This year I'm going to be cooking Xmas dinner, but at MIL's house! :eek:

Now, bearing in mind they like to eat as early as possible (12.30-1.00ish), and it's a good 50 minute drive away, I have two options: (1) forsake any kind of lazy lie-in, get there super early and do everything from scratch. Or (2), do as much prep as possible Xmas Eve and somehow transport everything over there, so we can at least have a leisurely brekky before we go.

So, in essence, how much can I feasibly transport? I thought of preparing veg etc but I don't think I could keep them in cold water for that time in the car (bendy roads and water, mmm..... :rotfl: ) Would potatoes etc really go funny if they were out the water for an hour or so?

The trimmings and sauces are no problems as I usually do these in advance anyway, so I can just shove them in tupperware.

My main worry is the turkey. It normally takes me a while to stuff/rub butter under skin etc. I know you shouldn't stuff the meat too far in advance, so is there no way I can prepare this in advance at all?

I really don't want to have to be rushing around our house, opening pressies and gulping down breakfast in order to get there really early.

Any help is very much appreciated!!

Frags

Hi Alfietinker,

Sorry your post made me giggle, i had visions of you driving along stuffing the Turkey at the same time! Can you not stay at the MIL's house on Xmas eve? I ams ure you have probably thought of this solution already but this owuld save you a lot of rushing around?

Skint_Catt

Couldn't you cook the turkey the night before? We always do this and it tastes much better the next day!

Alfietinker

There is no way we're staying there Xmas eve! :eek: :rotfl: I just couldn't hack it! :rotfl:

I've never thought of cooking the turkey the day before, I didn't even know you could! That's a great idea though, do you then just re-heat it under foil whilst potatoes etc are cooking? And does the stuffing keep OK?

The only thing I wonder about is using the left overs, doesn't that mean it's already been heated up once, so if I wanted to then make curries etc, it'll have effectively been cooked 3 times?

Skint_Catt

We have it cold with another hot meat (usually gammon) and hot pots, gravy etc., but I'm guessing it could be reheated fine Not sure about the stuffing, sorry as we usually cook it seperatly to make sure everythings cooked through. I'd only be heated in curries not cooked again, so i'm sure it's be fine

Alfietinker

Ooh, cold, now there's something I'd never have thought of. I'll have a think about that. I won't be doing another meat though as there's only 4 of us (+ bump ) and the [STRIKE]out[/STRIKE] inlaws don't eat very much. Although, thinking about what you said, I guess I don't have to do a turkey, a gammon would be a lot easier. I could boil it the night before, glaze it and then just bung it in the oven as soon as i get there......

I tried to thank you but my button disappeared

kethry

that is a pickle - reminds me of the days when i was a teenager and we (parents and i) would have to get up at around 4.30am on christmas morning in order to open a few presents, get ready, have breakfast, pile into a car and get from deepest darkest devon up to leicestershire to spend christmas day with my maternal grandparents, stay there overnight, race over to Bridgnorth to my aunt's house, spend the day there with dad's family, then go back home to devon. A friend used to say i was the only person he knew who spent christmas day in the back of a car!!

Anyway. onto your pickle: i'd agree with Skint_catt: you could easily cook the turkey the day before and carve it into pieces for transport. if you carved it the day before transport you could lay pieces of turkey on a plate/casserole dish, pour gravy ontop (to stop it drying out) and microwave a little. The added bonus of doing it this way is that you really only reheat as much turkey as you need, so it will avoid your worries about re-heating meat repeatedly.

as for the trimmings: when we went to my aunt on boxing day, she would give us bits from the previous day's turkey, heated up in this way, stuffing from the inside (cold), and fresh hot stuffing from the oven, cooked in balls. The rest of it would be party food, rather than traditional food - her home made pickled onions were fought over by dad and his brother - vol au vonts, sausage rolls, you get the idea. Not suggesting you do this, but obviously serving cold stuffing (from the bird) is fine, and fresh stuffing cooked in balls wouldn't take very long to do - about the same as roast spuds i expect. Or you could reheat wodges of stuffing at the same time as you reheat the turkey.

pigs in blankets would reheat easily enough. most veg wouldn't take very long to do, and you could prepare the night before, put into sealed boxes (lock and lock) with water and they should be fine. if you put them into bags, then into a box lined with a big bin liner, then even if the water does leak, it doesn't matter too much. regarding roast spuds: i would either use aunt bessies (not very OS i know) or pre-peel, but don't pre-parboil, because otherwise they'll go black and mushy and ew. If you go to that extent (I do) then you could also easily make the stock for the gravy the day before as well, and pour into a lock and lock tub.

Hope all that helps - the important thing is to prepare as much as you can beforehand, breathe, stay calm and prepare lists and things of what needs to be cooked when, and make sure everyone else marches along to your instructions!!

good luck!

keth
xx

Skint_Catt

No worries - I couldn't EDIT earlier!

We have it cold and another joint and there's only three of us! (Four this year as its my first year with a partner in tow) We just love sarnies and curries until New Year!

We get the huge (feeds 10-12 :eek:) turkey breast joint from M&S rather than an actual bird as there is no wastage whatsoever. Potatos could be transported in tupperware filled with water to stop discolouration.

:xmastree:

windowshopper100

Transporting an Xmas dinner is no problem - my sister and BIL have started doing this recently since his parents have become a bit too old to traipse to pubs/restaurants Xmas day - and she wants to spend as least time there as poss too!

Cook bird the day before and carve/portion as kethry says. Reheat in the micro with gravy - then the rest of the bird is fine for eating cold or portioning how ever you fancy for the inevitable curries, etc.

Sauces and trimmings - just pack up in plastic containers if you've made all that in advance.

Prepare the veg the day before too and just keep them in plastic bags in the fridge ready to take with you.

Keep the potatoes in water overnight but an hour or two in a placcy bag whilst transporting wont hurt. You could even roast them the day before and reheat (Aunt Bessie does it) - although I think sometimes they can taste a bit stale reheated.

hth
WS100

[Deleted User]

what about par boiling the potatoes for travelling. They`ll roast perfectly and quicker

ClaireLR

How about making the dinners fully at your on Xmas eve, chilling in the fridge on a plate wrapped in foil, transporting to MIL in the morning ready to nuke/whack in the oven and make some fresh gravy???

Much easier than half doing things/transporting chopped veggies/cooked turkey etc. We do this, that way we get to all go to the pub on the dinnertime and come back to a dinner that takes 20 mins to heat in the oven!

That way as well you get to use the once cooked turkey, rehated on the dinner once is ok, and whatevers left will have only been cooked once so will be fine again to reheat/use for sarnies.