How to cook Christmas dinner, by the UK's top chefs - including recipe that might change how you do roasties forever
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If Christmas dinner in your house means soggy Brussels sprouts, desiccated turkey and gloopy gravy that's gone cold while you've waited for everything else to cook, you're not alone. But what if it didn't have to be that way?. We asked some of the most renowned chefs in the UK to give their ultimate guide to making Christmas dinner.
This is key, says two-Michelin star chef Alex Dilling: "Any step you can do days ahead will help not only the time with your family but also there will be far less washing up.". For TV regular and one-starred Tom Shepherd, this means doing the Yorkshire pudding batter and cauliflower cheese the night before, and prepping all the veg.
"I'm really into brining my turkey, I couldn't recommend this enough," says Shepherd, whose Staffordshire restaurant Upstairs is booked up more than a year in advance. Tom Shepherd's brine. Hrishikesh Desai, the renowned chef patron at one-star Country House Hotel in north Cumbria, does it like this to maximise flavour….
For Shepherd, a resting time of at least 60 minutes is best. Great British Menu legend Lisa Goodwin-Allen, executive chef at one-starred Northcote, says a leftfield choice might be to cook the turkey on the BBQ instead of in the oven. "Not only does it give you more space in the oven on a busy Christmas Day, but it also gives the meat a lovely smoky flavour that adds an extra dimension to your Christmas dinner," she says.
