The Tree is decorated and lit, the Christmas songs are
playing, gifts are bought and wrapped, now is the time to plan the
all-important Christmas Lunch if you haven’t already. Unless you have years of
experience under your belt, you will view this supposedly joyous meal with both
anticipation and dread. While I believe in “the more the merrier”, how often
have you cooked for more than 4 people at once this year? And how often do you
make a 5 kilo Turkey? So much can go wrong and this being my first year in
hosting Christmas, I empathize with anyone who is quietly worried that they
won’t be able to deliver and ruin Christmas. To help steady my nerves, I turn
to planning, meticulous planning.
Planning the Menu
If like me, your boyfriend/husband/family has told you
outright what they expect to be put on the table, then planning the menu is a
breeze. Enough turkey and ham to cause meat sweats, accompanied with stuffing,
roast potatoes, brussel sprouts with chestnuts and carrots. Desert will be Christmas
pudding and mince pies. If you’ve been given a free reign, then think outside
the box and serve up anything that would delight your family. You don’t have to
serve Turkey because that’s a Christmas tradition. In the past, we have served
anything from Swiss Raclette, Chinese Hot Pot to Festive Pastas. Anything goes!
Where to get the Turkey
If you live in London, I urge you to order your Turkey from GingerPig. Ever since discovering them, I try to buy as much of the meat I cook
from them, from sausages, to steak to lamb racks. The quality of the food you are cooking with
is just as important as your culinary skills, if not more. No matter how much
magic you can work, you’re not going to make sub-standard meats and vegetables
tasty. The key is to buy from trusted butchers, so that you know the meat is of
good standard and choose organic when possible. Ginger Pig’s deadline is 17th
December, so order now by phone and pick it up a few days before Christmas.
Remember to store the meat in a cool environment (fridge or even a cold
garage), unwrap the meat from the plastic to let it breathe. If it stays
wrapped, it will just continue to sweat and go off.
Recipes and Cooking on the day
If you’ve read my post on Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, you
will know that I am a huge fan, so it’s only natural that I serve up Christmas
the Heston way. I have his cookbook, Heston at home, that contains all the
recipes I need. For the turkey, I have found an article on Daily Mail (also contains a lot of recipes that feature in his cookbook) where Heston
talks about brining. Brining means putting meat in salted water over a period
of time, to give the meat more flavour and also so that it retains more moisture
during the cooking process, resulting in juicier meat. It takes minimum effort
but will yield great results. All you need is a container large enough for the
bird, but small enough to fit in your fridge, salt and water. For large
turkeys, you can brine it up to 2 days while chicken should be brined between 4
to 12 hours.
A year ago, I would have attempted to make everything
myself, including the stuffing and the deserts. Over the past year, I’ve learned
that overstretching myself will only end in tears, and lots of burned
vegetables. So I’ve outsourced some of the items like the stuffing (sage and onion, chestnut from Ginger Pig)
and the deserts (Heston Blumenthal for Waitrose). This way, I give the other
important dishes the attention they deserve.
I recommend doing a trial run, especially if there are
recipes you haven’t worked with before. During the trial run I did in November,
everything went relatively smoothly except for the carrots; a straightforward
recipe tricked me into a false sense of security—I took my eyes off the pan and
they burnt to a crisp. Also, work out a cooking schedule days before to ensure
that you are familiar with what needs to be done and the timings of things.
When you’re cooking 5 to 6 dishes at the same time, it takes planning to get
them served on the table at the same time. Also remember to factor in time for
the meats to rest after roasting, another essential step if you want juicy
rather than dry meat.
There is only so much you can plan, if things go wrong,
don’t panic. No one is expecting a perfectly cooked meal so try to salvage it,
and if all fails, just laugh about it. There’s always next year’s Christmas!
L
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