[Closed] Christmas lunch - what is actually worth preparing the day before?

parboil and lighly do the roast tatties, and just prep everything else to go in oven at saet times. Easy.

I assume you’re not feeding 15+ people this year, no reason that stuff can’t be done in the morning, shouldn’t take long and I can’t think of anything that’s better done the day before.

And sprouts are your only vegetable? Heathen*

*I will also accept heathen status as I don’t like bread sauce 🙂

The important thing for me is to have a list of when things need to go in and come out. Makes life much easier.
As for prep, as you've done but also par-boil the spuds and make the bread sauce.
I'd also make your batter for the Yorkshires.

Basically do as much as you can to make the day itself as easy as possible.

Put the beer in the fridge, ready for 11am tomorrow.

If you're asking about sprouts today you've already missed the boat. They should have gone on this time last week. Saturday night at the absolute latest.

Everything else can be done on the day but I'd prep the potatoes now. Peel, chop and parboil - start them in cold water and then only 4-5 minutes from when it starts to boil - then drain and give them a good rustling to fluff up the outsides. Put on a paper-lined baking tray, handful of kosher salt flakes and then drizzle with oil/melted goose fat. Let all that soak in overnight and then just put in the oven when ready. Best roast tatties ever.

no reason that stuff can’t be done in the morning

Er, christmas bike ride?

Get the frying pan ready for frying the sprouts for ~5mins.

Let all that soak in overnight and then just put in the oven when ready. Best roast tatties ever.

I'm going to disagree. Roast potatoes should go in the oven hot from the parboil.

Put the sprouts on now and boil them to a mushy mess just like my dear old mum used to do 😂

Thanks for the tips.

Trim sprouts and make yorkie batter is probably as far as I will go. Need some excuse tomorrow to escape the children/present carnage into the warm embrace of the Adam Buxton audio book in the kitchen.

And sprouts are your only vegetable? Heathen

Bowls and bowls of unnecessary different veggies, for me, is the defining feature of the badly-cooked old person roast aka. the sad grey carvery experience. I'm from the do one thing and do it properly school of thought.

Put on a paper-lined baking tray, handful of kosher salt flakes and then drizzle with oil/melted goose fat. Let all that soak in overnight and then just put in the oven when ready. Best roast tatties ever.

I'm a big a fan of animal fats as anyone, but straight into hot fat to get crisp outsides and fluffy steamed insides is the only way surely. The whole point is to not let the fat soak in. That sounds, errr, less than optimum.

I’m having a bash at making this posh gravy today so can possibly relax tomorrow when stressing over roasties, thereby giving me half a chance to not overboil them. Might prep sprouts tonight when possibly spannered. Blunt knife prepared in readiness.

Love gravy

Yorkshire pud batter, always seem to turn out better when I've made it and left in the fridge overnight. And before anyone says it they definitely have a place on Xmas dinner

Put the beer in the fridge, ready for 11am tomorrow.

Put the beer in the fridge, ready for 8am tomorrow. FTFY

Roast potatoes should go in the oven hot from the parboil.

Disagree strongly. Cold into hot fat helps with the texture, a lot. Parboiled straight from the fridge into the preheated almost smoking goose or duck fat.

Anyway, as we have a veggie now, I’ve ruined Xmas by going for frozen… sacrilege! One bag is cooked in duck fat… the other veg fat… it’s wrong, but it’s easy.

Anyway, as we have a veggie now, I’ve ruined Xmas by going for frozen

Easyfying Xmas dinner is wrong whether meatie or veggie. Being a veggie is not wrong. The big messages you are giving here are:

- ‘The vegetarian’* ruined our Xmas
- Those who refrain from eating animals products don’t deserve nice Xmas veg like wot us meatatarians do.
- Because of the vegetarian we must all now suffer
- Baby Jesus still loves vegetarians, but we are simple fallen Children Of God and so we not only punish The Other, but we also punish ourselves because, again, we are simple fallen Children Of God. So here are 12 lashes for the sinner, and another 12 for the whip-bearer/s. Sing Hail Mary. Hic.

*But it was you who decided on frozen/decided not to simply cook the veg roasts in a foil tray next to the others 😉

I've always done my roasties in olive oil, and pre cooked them the day before, then finished them off on the day. If it'd good enough for thrice cooked chips....

Wake up sheeple. You’ve all been bamboozled by Delia, Big Water and all the other lizard overlords. Roasties do NOT need to be boiled, par or otherwise, just stick them in the oven 20 minutes earlier and have another glass of wine instead of pissing about with them 🤣

Trifle getting done today, well the jelly/fruit base.

I’m having a bash at making this posh gravy today

If like me you can't be arsed to watch him "quickly" explain how to make gravy in a 7+ minute video, you can read the recipe in seconds here.

Sounds like a lot of faff, my red onion gravy is a lot easier.

Put the beer in the fridge, ready for 11am tomorrow.

Put the beer in the fridge, ready for 8am tomorrow. FTFY

Is the for when the champagne/prosecco/cider/meths has run out? (delete as appropriate to cause least offence)

That sounds, errr, less than optimum.

I can only go on my experience, and doing them the way I mentioned they turn out delicious. Almost caramelised round the outside. Found out pretty much by accident, I was going to put them in the oven as soon as they were drizzled with oil but got waylaid. And by waylaid I mean forgotten. 6-7 hours later they went in and they were ridiculously good.

Re: veggies.
Barbera is veggie. If we went to someone's for Christmas she takes her own main thing be it a mushroom based main or even the cliched nutroast and then prepares a simple gravy to be cooked finally before the meal. If the roasties are cooked in goose fat she'll just take frozen ones and throw them the oven was needed. What is the problem?

I've vacuum sealed my beef ready for the sous vide tomorrow am...
Gammon sat in coke in the fridge too...

That's it for today...

DrP

Sounds like a lot of faff, my red onion gravy is a lot easier.

One faff is another’s fun.

Also, was given a box and a minikeg of local ale totalling 27 pints which now sit in the cellar (which is handily a step from the kitchen). The long and zenful process of cooking gravy, R6 on the squawker, and beer on tap - all keeps me company for the long haul. Horse and courses. Will try your red onion gravy for the New Year! This arvo is mine all mine, and the longer it takes the betterer. 🥳

(It better had taste otherworldly-amazing, else I’m unsubscribing 😉)

What is the problem?

As long as Barbara prepares/buys/carries her own food everywhere, no problem. Good veggie.

Cougar, you should try this. It’s flipping amazing. Took me less than a hour though so a bit miffed couldn’t have been longer and had to go and fix the boiler instead 🤣🍺

Followed recipe to the letter except for rosemary (not a fan)

3 massive garlic bulbs cloves so maybe more of that than in recipe depends really. Was easy to make.

Taste-tested with Mrs P/resident vegan before putting pan under lock and key til tomorrow. Her short review (as witnessed):

Oh my GOD I want to eat it all. From a bowl. It’s quite like oxtail soup from what I remember

Great success! Thanks Gaz Oakley/avantgardevegan

Sprouts should be deep fat fried. It’s an American thing. Had them in February. You won’t identify them as sprouts, and they are a million calories, but deep fried.

This year, not doing anything for the four of us. Normally I might prep the hard veg and par boil the roast potatoes. Will have. A short ride tomorrow. First road ride since February.

Is the for when the champagne/prosecco/cider/meths has run out? (delete as appropriate to cause least offence)

No. Only if we were partying would we be having meths. But parties are banned. Covid innit 🤣🤣 🤣

I made tomatoe soup this morning. Creme Fraiche goes in just before serving tomorrow.

Well that's funny you're having exactly the same dinner we are. Probably a bit late to reply now but all I've done is make a garlicky, herby, zesty butter and inserted it under the chicken skin over the legs and breasts to infuse overnight and make the dessert (Jamie's Christmas crumble) i was going to do the bread sauce as it keeps well but couldn't be arsed so will do that and pigs in blankets in the morning.

I'm currently cooking my red cabbage...cooked for 3 hours at 125c. Then reheated for a couple tomorrow.

Half a red cabbage, cooking apple, onion, garlic, spices, sugar, salt and pepper, veg stock, lemon juice and cider vinegar.

Yum 😋

Bowls and bowls of unnecessary different veggies, for me, is the defining feature of the badly-cooked old person roast

braised red cabbage, leek cooked in double cream and sprouts here - all prepped today. Tatties prepped and ready for par-boiling then roasting tomorrow. I forgot to do the pudding mix but that won’t take long in the morning.

Cougar, you should try this. It’s flipping amazing.

Wassat then? Looks good, did I miss the recipe somewhere?

(I've fixed your post as requested BTW)

Sprouts should be deep fat fried. It’s an American thing.

Sounds Scottish.

Bowls and bowls of unnecessary different veggies, for me, is the defining feature of the badly-cooked old person roast

Chez nous there will be red and green cabbage, sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac mash, roast spuds and Yorkshires to accompany the very well cooked (though not in the overcooked sense, it will indeed be recognisable as a once sentient animal) old person rib of beef.

Brandy butter is all I've done so far. I usually make prawn cocktail sauce, sometimes bread sauce too but this year can't be bothered (packet for the latter). There's plenty of time to prep the veg after the bird goes in the oven, it's something to do while it's starting to roast.

Given that the oven thermostat has literally just failed today I'll be tied to the oven anyway turning it on and off. Lucky I found out tonight!

Oh, right, sorry, yes, the gravy. I thought it was soup, I hadn't read properly. Might give it a punt at some point, cheers.

My recipe is still on paper so is seemingly still a Beta product. I'll do a batch tonight / tomrrow and report back.

One faff is another’s fun.

Oh, absolutely. I like cooking more than I like eating TBH.

Gammon sat in coke

Probably voted Leave.

I made tomatoe soup this morning. Creme Fraiche goes in just before serving tomorrow.

Care to share your recipe? I'm on a quest for the ultimate tomato soup.

I once made an exact replica of Heinz tomato soup and was properly chuffed for about 30 seconds until it dawned on me that I could have just bought a tin and saved like three hours and ten quid.

Enjoy your ride TiRed

Gammon sat in coke in the fridge too…

Boris or Gove?

Thanks @Cougar, yeh post it up when you can pls, I look fwd to trying with sossies and mash. Some great tips in this thread.

Have a good one all 🍺🍺🥳

We’ve done the whole thing tonight. Prepped, cooked and eaten.
Tomorrow isn’t for cooking; it’s for walking on the beach, presents, and grazing on cheese and cold meats (with a batch of warm pigs in blankets- we’re not complete animals!).

That might not help the OP now but it’s a great idea for next year!

We're going for the 2 hour (or less) fast cook of the Turkey tomorrow. Gulp....

How does that work? Chop it into pieces and deep fry it?

Lister 🤔so what happens on boxing day??

More of the same of course!

To bring the thread full circle, the post-mortem is as follows;

In the end, in advance I;
- Made the bread sauce
- Prepped the sprouts
- Made the yorkie batter - had separated a bit overnight which was disconcerting, but after a whisk the puds themselves came out great
- Par-boiled the spuds. On taking them out of the fridge on the day, about half of them had taken on a fetching grey colour. I think this is where I lost my nerve last time and re-did them. This time I said "**** it" and carried on regardless. They came out great.

Grey spuds;

Acceptable outcome;

Gout on a plate;

Satisfied customers;

That looks excellent 🙂

We were going to do a non traditional Christmas roast beef, instead we did non traditional fillet steak, chips, peas and mushrooms with blue cheese and Parmesan. It was awesome 😀

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Doing the roast today instead.

Looks good, but you've taken your eyeoff the ball with the pigs. And only one? Come on! 😂

Sod prepping the day before. Chucked the lamb in the oven with anchovies, garlic, rosemary & red wine, prepped the veg while that was cooking and cooked it while the lamb was resting. Turned out perfectly although I forgot to put the broccoli on the plate!

Yeah, the pigs got a bit neglected when I cranked the oven up for the yorkies. Carbonisation is where the flavour is though, yeah?

Re. one only - If I’d gobbled them all yesterday I wouldn’t have been able to scarf them for breakfast this morning in a sarnie 🙂

I did the taters on the day, parboiled, cooled, slightly forked to roughen texture. Coated lightly in olive oil and added to (took advice here) to a preheated /hot roasting dish containing foil and olive oil. The spuds sizzled as they hit the foil/oil. Added other veg (carrots, parsnips) and chestnuts along the way. Gave an extra 30 mins cook to be sure and roasties turned out best I’ve ever done. Didn’t take a pic but timmy’s up there look identical. Well chuffed and well-received. Thanks STWrs

Turned out perfectly

Although you’ve positioned than at the back, you realise we can see those potatoes yeah? 😉

Being a veggie is not wrong.

Absolutely. My little joke was about being lazy and using frozen roast spuds, rather than doing ‘em right. Didn’t mean to be disparaging about vegetarians, sorry. For the record, I was up for a bit of solidarity and all having a meet free day, but the boss insisted on her Turkey. As it happens it was very easy to cook for both… and I should have just done proper spuds without using any bird fat… as my daughter pointed out mid-morning…obvious really in hindsight.

OP… thanks for completing the circle and reporting back.

Christmas Dinner is the day my kitchen comes into its own! I refitted/extended a few years back and it really is the centre of the house. I love cooking, and everybody congregates. The one huge extravagance (actually cost nothing!) was keeping the old dishwasher and plumbing it in the corner, so we have 2 dishwashers, making cleaning as we go soooo much easier.

Yesterday whilst I cooked, my youngest made his Mandalorian Lego head, oldest daughter played with her elec guitar loop pedal and the missus crochet'd a reindeer with her new crochet hooks. A real Christmas kitchen of chaos!!

WRT pre-prepping, my daughter made a roulade in the morning whilst I walked the dogs, and I made the Yorkshire batter the night before.

Roast potatoes is a game of chicken - they should be parboiled to the point that they barely hold their shape, then into hot fat to crisp off the outsides, whilst amazingly soft in the middle. Roast parsnips similar.

Yorkshires - use a deep muffin tin with 2-3mm oil in the bottom, preheated. fill the muffin cases just over half. 20 mins on 220C fan

Sprouts - par boil whole, then cut in half & pan fry in butter until crispy. Half with pancetta, half without as we have a veggie daughter.

Roast turkey is boring, so we had a fillet joint of beef which I wrapped in Parma ham and roasted to rare. roasting tin juices start the gravy - add red wine, redcurrant jelly, stock, thyme and a dash of cream. A whole fillet joint from my butcher is cheaper than a turkey - Ive sliced off 4 fillet steaks for later too, and there was plenty. The other good thing about cooking a fillet joint, if you have a heathen who won't eat meat that isn't well done, chop off one end and put it back in for an extra 15 minutes.

Oh, and stuffing, I mix in some rocket and grated cheese in addition to the sage and onion, using sourdough bread for the base. I bind it with a dash of milk.

– Par-boiled the spuds. On taking them out of the fridge on the day, about half of them had taken on a fetching grey colour.

I've now discovered that you can par-boil the spuds (ad shake/air dry/cool) weeks before - just freeze them on the trya and then transfer them to a bag.
Cook from frozen (same amount of time as normal) and they're epic-ally good - crunchy bits are even crunchier than when they're not frozen.
Same can be done with the parsnips.

I made gravy two weeks ago (proper job using roasted veg/chicken wings) then froze it. Apparently it was the best ever.

Not having pans of veg, etc all over the place makes life so much nicer.