Perfecting a Christmas dinner can be a difficult challenge
Christmas turkey(Image: Stone RF/ getty images)
A Christmas dinner is a tradition that brings families and friends together every year. The roots of Christmas dinner can be traced back to the Medieval period, when feasting was central to celebrations. Over the years, many festive traditions have changed and our food is no exception.
Every family has a different way of cooking a Christmas dinner and some households choose not to have one at all. While Christmas dinners are a staple of December 25, they can be the root of the most stressful few hours of the day for the cook, especially when everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves.
There are steps you can take to make the cooking process as easy as possible. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has issued guidance about the best time to start preparing Christmas dinner. He shared the advice in a TikTok when he appeared on the Jonathan Ross show last year.
The chef suggested it may be useful to get some of the more time consuming jobs out of the way the day before, meaning you have more time to relax on the big day.
One step that can be taken to prepare in advance according to Gordon is to get all the family peeling vegetables on Christmas Eve. Anyone having dinner that lives in your house should help you prepare if they are able to.
The Hell’s Kitchen star then recommended par-cooking the vegetables. You can precook vegetables just shy of being done and then hold them until you are ready to quickly reheat and serve.
Gordon Ramsay(Image: PA)
Gordon advised it is important that you remember to store vegetables in the fridge overnight and they’ll be ready to use when it comes to making dinner. Many people also forget to sharpen their knives, but the TV host says a quick sharpening will save a lot of effort.
The 59-year-old discussed a worry that is shared across many households when it comes to cooking the Christmas dinner: the turkey. He offered a simple solution to ease the stress of those tasked with the challenge of serving the meat perfectly, he said: “Honestly, first thing half past five, six o’clock in the morning put the turkey in the oven and stick it on low.”
Gordon also urged people to “nip back to bed for a few hours” before making a plan to keep the meal prep in order. He doesn’t think there is any issue with pushing lunch back and told viewers to “stop worrying” and instead have dinner at 3pm or 4pm, so the cook can enjoy their food too.
According to Gordon, the secret of success for a great Christmas dinner is making sure the turkey doesn’t turn out dry. The trick to is to keep the bird “incredibly moist”.
A method of preventing your meat from drying out, previously shared by Gordon in a YouTube video, is to make a butter mix by sprinkling salt and pepper into a bowl of soft butter, and add a dash of olive oil, the zest of two lemons and their juice. Then crush three cloves of garlic and chop a generous handful of parsley before giving everything a good mix.
You should add the butter under the skin of your turkey. This stage can be done the night before. If so, cover the turkey in tin foil and keep it in the fridge ready for cooking on Christmas Day.
When it comes to cooking a turkey you should put the turkey in a roasting tray and drizzle olive oil all over. Gordon said: “This makes it nice and crispy, and stops the butter from burning.”
Gordon, who was cooking a 5kg bird, suggested putting the turkey in a oven preheated to 220C for 10 minutes. The idea is to brown the bird quickly. Turn down the oven to 180C and start roasting the turkey. For Gordon’s bird, it was cooked for two-and-a-half-hours, basting every so often.
Dining and Cooking