This site saved Christmas dinner last year when I did beef, can you help with Turkey?

lil_me

Ok I cheated, I have the farm shop butchers stuffing mix which has fresh sage, onion and chesnuts in with the sausage meat, all fresh and I know because they made it it will be fab!! but I will try nearlyrich's recipe too, I will be doing more than one tray and trying to sneak more stuffing than meat on my plate, hiding it under the meat thanks for the recipes, I just love stuffing!!! I'll make my fave stuffed yorkshires, roll stuffing into a ball, pop a chipolata in (have some of the butchers special old english recipe ones) then chuck into the yorkshires as they cook. Divine!!

D&DD I giggled then paniced, you know I will have to check mine 10 times now

Right, shopping list for tomorrow now includes - foil, roasting bag if I can get one, more butter, streaky bacon.....then the veg...

Ellidee

Hi lil_me I noticed Aldi were selling foil turkey roasting tins for 99p perhaps you could pick one up when you go for the roasting bags.

lil_me

Thanks Ellidee, another reason to have a look in Aldis, we have 2 I can get to easy tomorrow so will have a look in both.

strawberrypud

What are you having?

I want to cook a traditional Christmas dinner and all the trimmings but I'm so worried my turkey will be dry and the rest will just not be that tasty. Please please help to advise me how to cook a great Christmas dinner. I would really appreciate it xx

SallyForth_2

Explaining how to cook a xmas dinner is a bit of a challenge. I would recomend that if you don't already, buy yourself one of the monthly magazines like Good Food Magazine, or Family Circle (is that still going?) or similar, they nearly always have xmas dinner receipes and ideas at this time of year. Just use the ones which appeal, as some can be a bit ott.

babyshoes

Cheat whenever you can - frozen roasties, veg etc. And cover your turkey breast with lots of butter and streaky bacon.

LondonDreamer

Check if any Jamie Oliver Christmas specials are still on Channel 4's 4OD service or on YouTube. I don't often make the dinner myself (usually go to in-laws) but I always watch it and he has some fantastic tips. Hope he's doing a new one this year!

Edit to add: Found the one from last year. It was a five part series, so lots of info! Jamie's Family Christmas

Penelope_Penguin

strawberrypud wrote: »

Please please help to advise me how to cook a great Christmas dinner. I would really appreciate it xx

It depends on what you want to cook I'd advise a copy of Delia's christmas book (easily available on Amazon). She has all the details in there and best of all a timed plan of what to do :T

Buy the best turkey you can afford, spread butter and streaky bacon over the breast, baste often and allow to rest before carving are my tips for a succulent bird - I've cooked turkey more than 20 times, and it's never dry

More ideas for you in this thread; I'll merge this later.

Pink.

Hi strawberrypud,

It's best to try not to panic about Christmas dinner and put it into perspective by seeing it just as a glorified roast with a few extras (if you want them). Are you cooking for others or is it just you and your partner, your toddler and baby? If it's just the four of you then try not to worry to much about the food and just spend as much of the day as you can having fun with your family. That's what they'll remember most.

If you take the time to read through these threads you should pick up some tips that will help:

Christmas Dinner - Help its my first!!!

Christmas Dinner Timings! (for a first timer!)

This site saved Christmas dinner last year when I did beef, can you help with Turkey?

What do you do for Christmas dinner?

Christmas Dinner (preparing in advance)

Good luck, I'll merge your thread with one of the above later.

Pink

maman

strawberrypud wrote: »

What are you having?

I want to cook a traditional Christmas dinner and all the trimmings but I'm so worried my turkey will be dry and the rest will just not be that tasty. Please please help to advise me how to cook a great Christmas dinner. I would really appreciate it xx

Other than timing (because you'll probably have a bigger bird and extra veg) then it's no different to making a roast chicken dinner. I think there are three main things to remember: prepare as much as you can in advance (I always prep my veg and stuffing on Christmas Eve) and take any shortcuts on offer (like roast potatoes, microwave pudding, ready made custard etc). Lastly, write yourself a timetable for when everything needs to be started then you can float in and out of the kitchen as you wish. It's really only hands on at the very end when you're doing greens, gravy etc.

If you'd like to write your own 'instructions/timetable' for how you do a roast then we can add any advice to it.

If you