Making Christmas dinner for the first time - any tips?

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Advent-ures in the MSE Forum | Day 19

For the nineteenth day of Advent, let us introduce you to the Making Christmas dinner for the first time - any tips? thread.

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MSE_Laura_F

From buying a meat thermometer to prepping everything the night before... last year we had a bevvy of excellent tips on first-time Christmas dinner cooking. Do you have any more to add this year?

pumpkin89

Don't feel you have to include specific things just because it's traditional.  If nobody likes sprouts, don't bother!  And likewise, including people's favourites, even if they're not very Christmassy, will win you brownie points (my sister will forgive anything if there's sweetcorn  )

maisie_cat

Christmas dinner is a slight fancier roast and real friends and family are not going to be worried if something goes wrong so don't fret. Nearly every year I forget something even with a list
Prep as much as you can in advance, have a timetable/list/gantt chart and drink champagne while supervising the oven.
Have fun

MalMonroe

This thread started last year . . .  so it's a bit old and hopefully the meal went well for Rebecca.

My advice would have been to either get caterers in, or take everyone out. 

I hate cooking and have only prepared and served one Christmas meal in my life - I'm now a pensioner. . . . I have to say that it was delicious and I received compliments but for goodness' sake, do we REALLY have to go to all that trouble? And why is it always mostly women who are in charge of it?  

I'd rather save up all year to go out for a slap up meal around Christmas time (NOT on Christmas Day because I really don't believe that pubs and restaurants should even open on Christmas Day). £15 a month does it for two of us.

Whoever started the tradition of big turkey dinners (probably an American) wants shooting. And I say that as someone who won't eat turkey because I'm vegetarian!

Let's all have a rest at Christmas, every year, especially we women. We work hard enough the rest of the year and we jolly holly well deserve it!

Toonie

This year it's just me and my partner and whilst we both have favourites we are also being realistic about how much we can an want to cook and eat. So, we've made a menu, doubled up ingredients where possible to reduce waste, and kept it fairly simple. I've also gone through the cupboards to see what we already have (like the two jars of cranberry sauce which are still in date, so we don't need another no matter how many times my partner suggests it).

The only other thing I'm doing is checking on cookware to make sure it's in good order, so I've ordered some batteries for my meat thermometer and kitchen scales.

-taff

Eat what you like whether it's supposed to go with a roast dinner or even don't eat a roast dinner. And compromise if necessary. I love cauli cheese, OH hates it but he does like brocolli, so brocolli cheese it is.

Make as much in advance as possible, take a look at this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1354481/christmas-dinner-preparing-in-advance/p1

Remember that the more you cook, the more leftovers there are. Since leftovers don't usually require the same amount of cooking as uncooked stuff depending on what you d with it, then that makes cooking easier the more you have, so don't worry if you cook too much. Soups, stews, curries, bubble and squeak, it's all easy cooking for the rest of the week.

Wraithlady

For a very MSE stuffing, the recipe I use is from an old (ie 1927) cookbook:

Stale bread
Herbs - preferably fresh ones
Suet (or grated butter in extremis)
Rind of a lemon, grated or zested
1egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Whizz up the bread with the fresh herbs - I use enough to make it a pleasing shade of green, but it's up to you (if using dried herbs, add after you've made the breadcrumbs)

Add remaining ingredients (and anything else you want to add) and mix with a fork, adding some water or milk if it's a bit dry or if you're using dried herbs.

I use it to stuff the neck end of the bird, but it's also fine in a loaf tin or made into balls and cooked in the oven with the bird.

Can easily be made the day before - or even a few days before, if you leave the egg and liquid out until the day.

babyshoes

If I had to boil it down to one piece of advice  - cheat. 

For example:
Frozen roast potatoes, frozen yorkies, frozen honey roast parsnips are all good and save a load of prep on the day.
Some frozen or pre-prepared veg can be really nice.
Depending on how many you need to serve, a prepared roast can be very nice.
Use meat and veg juices along with a little boiling water to deglaze the plan, a splash of port or sherry and some Bisto to make gravy. Bring it all to a boil to cook away the alcohol, then adjust thickness with Bisto/water as needed. Easy peasy, and the alcohol makes it a bit posh. 

JIL

We were chatting at work today about how good the food warehouse Christmas range looks this year. (Iceland)  buy on Tuesday and take a 60 year old with you and theres a 10% discount.  I bought 2 turkey breast joints from there, I have at least 10 to cater for and they will cook quicker.