My Essential 12 tips for a Successful Christmas Dinner.

Having a Successful Christmas Dinner.

Christmas is really a once-a-year dinner party. And this is my Essential 12 tips for a Successful Christmas Dinner, without all the stress.

As its only once a year we want to make it special for everybody. But often the day become a chore that YOU don’t enjoy and leaves you no time to enjoy the day with the family.

What’s worse is that dinner party guest are normally very polite and complimentary. Of course, at Christmas we have the pickiest guest of all – The family. So, lets guide you through some hints and tips so make the day less stressful, less work, and more fun!

And if it’s not Christmas? Read on, most of these tips equally apply to any dinner party.

12 tips for a Successful Christmas

Plan ahead.

Don’t leave it until the week before to decide what you’re having for the meal. Remember that good looking starter you saw Jamie Thingamabob produce on TV last week? It may be a great dish, but can you make it in your kitchen? Do you have the right skills or even the right cookware to make it?

Always stick to something you know you can make and works in your kitchen. Don’t plan to roast everything, then find you don’t have enough oven space. Remember your Christmas KISS, (keep it simple, stupid).

If your still looking for ideas, don’t forget to check out our Christmas recipes.

Our Cranberry and Whisky Luxury Mince Pies.

The definitive Chestnut Stuffing.

Helston Pudding a light alternative Christmas pudding.

Make a time plan.

Now you know what you’re serving its time to make a time plan. This should start to when you need to order / buy the ingredients needed. Then work your way right through to putting the food on plates

Be clever with your starters.

Serve some snack and nibbles on the table as the family sit down. If you have ever eaten at a posh restaurant, you may have been served a complimentary ‘Amuse’ as you sit at the table. This originally was designed to sharpen the pallet for the meal, but the main reason may restaurant do this is to by time for then to prepare the starter and main course with you getting bored.

You can do the same thing just by laying out a few bought-in snacks and appointing someone to open the wine. You can now focus on the starter without the slow hand clap coming from the dining room.

Failing that, serve a cold starter that is already on the table before your guest sit down.

Work ahead.

Work as far ahead as you practically can. If you make your own stuffing, make it a couple of weeks ahead then freeze. If you’re roasting a chicken in the weeks before Christmas, put some chicken winglets (you can sometimes by turkey winglets in the butchers) in with the chicken. Get some fresh stock from the supermarket and make your gravy in advance. You guessed it, pop it into the freezer. Some desserts also freeze well or even make a frozen dessert the week before Christmas.

Make sure if you are freezing cooked food, it is completely cold before freezing.

Peel and Chop vegetables the day before.

Root vegetables can be peeled and cut up the day before. Peel your sprouts ready to cook Place a sheet of damp kitchen paper on top then cling film and they will be fine overnight. That means a great deal of time saved on the day, and less mess to deal with.

Blanch green vegetables in the morning.

Your firm green vegetables can be ‘Blanched’ in the morning ready to reheat later.

To do this have a large pan of boiling salted water ready on the stove. You will also need a bowl large enough to fit the vegetables three quarters full of iced water.

Drop the green vegetable into the boiling water and return the pan to the boil as quickly as possible. As soon as they are nearly done lift then from the pan into the iced water. When they are completely cold drain them well and dry them off on an old tea towel. Return the vegetables to the dried bowl then pour over a little melted butter. The butter should set on the outside of the veg at which point it can be transferred into microwavable containers. When needed reheat the vegetables in the microwave on half power (don’t nuke them on full power) ready to season and serve.

Use a probe thermometer.

For me, this an essential piece of kitchen kit. I could spend all day discussing its benefits. For Christmas, its mainly making sure our meats are not over or under cooked

Turkey needs to be cooked all the way through whereas red meats like venison and beef don’t.

If you have bought a frozen bird, it must be completely thawed before cooking, and that’s harder than you think. Don’t however stick it in the bath or on top of the radiator as I have heard people doing. It will probably take a couple of days in the fridge. And put some kitchen paper around to absorb moisture. Follow the same basic rules as cooking chicken.

Don’t cook your turkey trussed up, it makes the legs difficult to cook through. When the bird has It’s estimated time push the probe of the thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and the thigh. It you get a reading of 74-75˚c, its cooked.

Use a slow cooker for steamed puddings.

If you are having Christmas pudding or any steamed pudding like my Helston pudding it can take up valuable hob space. Slow cookers are not all that slow nowadays so why not use it to cook the pudding.

Make sure it’s been fully warmed up and filled with boiling water before you pop in the pudding.

Use a thermos flask for sauces.

When you have made or re-heated your gravy pour it into a clean, pre heated thermos flask. It will happily sit there until you are ready to serve. Less mess and one less thing on the hob.

N.B. this works well for custard or any sauce you need to store hot.

Fit in a good rest.

I’m thinking here of the meat not you. But if you have been clever with your time plan a break should be possible.

Meats need time to recover from the stresses of cooking. I would aim to rest by turkey for at least 45 minutes before carving.

No, it won’t get cold but keep it out of a drafts. Lay a piece of foil over the bird, but don’t wrap it up like a Christmas present. Think of it this way. If it’s been in a red-hot oven for two hours, is it going to cool down in a few minutes? No. In fact meat continues to get hotter in the few minutes after cooking is completed. Check it with your thermometer if you don’t believe me!

Don’t try and plate the whole meal.

The full Christmas dinner can be a heck of a lot of items on one plate. Don’t try and get all of them onto the plate at once. By the time you have done that the food will be cold, and your guest fallen asleep. Rope in a spare pair of hands to distribute stuffing or chipolatas. Place the vegetables in warm bowls on the table so your guests can serve themselves. Get the meat and stuffing onto the plate with some gravy to keep it warm and serve. The bowls of vegetables will keep hot for some time.

Wash up as you go.

Wash up your utensils as you go. If you’re in the habit of pudding dirty items in the sink, you can guarantee the item you need is at the bottom of the sink. Also, if you need to drain anything, you can’t, its already full of equipment. I prefer to keep the dishwasher for the plates and cutlery, but you may be able to fit in a dishwasher load before the meal begins.

And Finally – Keep off the wine, for now.

Its amazing how many people associate cooking and drinking together. Its better to keep eating and drinking together. Resist that glass or two of wine when getting the meal ready. It’s the only recipe you don’t need, and that’s disaster!  Keep yourself, focused and steadily work down your time plan.

Once you’re at the table, there’s plenty of time to catch up.

Enjoy Life! and have a Wonderful Christmas.

John.

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©John Webber. 2023