Is there anyone on here who actually needs advice on cooking Christmas dinner?

Yes I agree, but over the years I would ring my mum sadly as she’s passed away several years ago can no longer do this, She was a head cook in the wrens and would always come to my rescue if I wanted to know something, although I didn’t have to ask about Christmas dinner: if I want to know anything now I google it

We have some friends who had 4 children and she says she can't cook! When they come to us for a meal, they reciprocate by taking us out for one. They spend a fortune every Christmas going out for their Christmas day dinner. Their 2 daughters can't cook either apparently.

DS's wife couldn't cook and neither could her mum, luckily for them both he is an excellent cook. My gran used to say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. It didn't work in reverse for our DS as they're now divorced.

I know what you mean Pamela it's overkill at Christmas with so many celebrity cooks telling us how to do something we've been doing for years.

I'm always happy to pick up any tips. I'm doing a veggie meal this Christmas. Two new Jamie Oliver recipes. Pistachio and cranberry nut roast and stuffed butternut squash. Always new things to learn.
I would like some suggestions re best pastry for mince pies. Previously liked pastry with some grated orange rind, egg and sugar in but will have to try and find the recipe. Any thoughts girls?

momboys, there is a thread on here about pastry, I’m sure someone mentioned Mary Berry and orange rind.

I always like looking at new ideas and, in fact, picked up a couple from the papers today.

It's a shame if people become entrenched in the old ways of doing things.

I was reading about parboiling parsnips and coating in flour and parmesan cheese and roasting then. Sounds delicious!

Thanks Pamela. Will try and find it

YOU might know it all PamelaJ1 but there are always new generations who haven't done it before. I must admit I always pick up some new ideas and variations so am happy with the info about cooking Christmas Dinner. Always learning something new. I must admit I do get a feeling of overload on cookery problems in general though. I particularly dislike the weekend morning programmes on cooking but...I just switch off

Maybe no one on here needs instructions on how to cook a turkey but there must be people somewhere doing it for the first time every year. My oldest dd is one of them! She’s a very good cook but this is her first time of hosting Christmas dinner and she wants it it be the best it can be.

Recipes change over time anyway and I think our festive meals are more interesting today than back when I first began making them.

mumofmadboys having read your post I've googled and found the Delia Smith recipe for parmesan parsnips. Yum - they're going on the menu.

Stolen from the House of Evil, aka Facebook

Triggered by adverts and TV chefs??

Christmas Dinner....
I have concluded that the inevitable stress of Christmas dinner is created by adverts, supermarkets and TV chefs... It's a Sunday dinner for [expletive deleted!] sake!!! We do it quite happily 51 weeks of the year but can we the consumers be trusted to manage by ourselves on one day of the year...apparently not!

Here goes...
1. Turkey... It's a big fecking chicken that's all, 20 minutes per lb plus 20 minutes at 180 degrees - job's a good 'un! Get yourselves a meat thermometer - £3 off the Internet - poke it in the offending bird. If it says 75 degrees or over its cooked!

2. Stuffing - regardless of what Jamie Oliver says you do NOT need 2lbs of shoulder of pork, onions, breadcrumbs, pine nuts and a shed load of fresh herbs to make stuffing.... (no fecking wonder he's bankrupt if that's what he spends to make stuffing!)
What you need is Paxo and a kettle!! If you wanna liven it up, squeeze 3 sausages out of their skins and mix that in with your Paxo before cooking ?.

3. Gravy - Jamie Oliver is copping for this one as well....
Bisto, Jamie.... All you need is Bisto!
Not I (nor any other woman I know) has got time on Christmas Eve to mess about roasting chicken wings and vegetables, adding stock and flour, cooking it for another half hour, mashing it all up with a potato masher and then straining the whole sorry mess to make gravy ???

4. Vegetables... Never mind faffing round shredding sprouts and frying them with bacon and chestnuts to make them more palatable... If you don't like them don't buy and cook the fecking things!! If your family only eats frozen peas then that's good enough!

5. Roast potatoes... Yes I par boil mine, rough 'em up, then roast them in goose fat but Aunt Bessie also does the same ?. Personally roasties are the one thing I think are worth doing properly though.

6. Trimmings /Christmas pudding and the like.... Aldi or Lidl!
(oh and while we're on the subject of pudding- if Bird's custard is what your family likes on the wretched thing then that's fine - you do not need brandy butter /rum sauce etc or anything else that costs a fecking fortune and takes 2 hours to make!)

7. Family....
Children.. Feed the little blighters first separately. If they only want turkey with tomato sauce - fine, leave 'em to it, it doesn't matter. Once they are fed, shoo them off to play with their Christmas presents so that YOU can enjoy your dinner in Peace! In fact, let's put the final nail in Jamie's coffin and just feed them Turkey Twizzlers ?
Adults... Anyone that can manage to get their sorry arse to your dinner table is also capable of helping to serve up/ sort the kids out/ clear the table /wash up /dry up etc.

And Finally.....
No one.... And I mean NO ONE (apart from the cook) is allowed to get sozzled and fall asleep before the washing up is done!!!

Rant over ?
Merry Christmas!

Things change though, dont they. I remember my dad roasting the Turkey overnight on a really low heat - I do mine fast now.

HurdyGurdy, you made me laugh, thanks.

My SIL will be cooking this year- and Bisto is not allowed anywhere near his kitchen ... nor will Paxo- but his prerogative ahaha.

Kitty trying new things can be fun, yes - as long as it doesn't add to stress and fuss and becomes a bit too Master Cheffy- life's too short. I'll always remember cooking my first big Christmas dinner, with both my mother and MIL telling me what to do and how to do it- and it totally different ways. I had to tell them to bug**r o** hmm go and have a drink elsewhere - and it all turned out great in the end.

If it was up to me- it would not be a turkey - much prefer a great aged rib of beef.

momb I have a really yummy recipe for mince pie pastry - buttery with lemon rind & ground almonds. ‘Lush’ as Gavin & Stacey would say!

I’ll look it up for you tomorrow lunchtime and post it on here if you’re interested?

When I was first married, I would have valued that advice - I thought one duck would feed 6 people!

There must be many younger persons who have no idea, their busy lives have not allowed them to learn.

The thing is there are lots of people having to cook Christmas dinner (or even a roast) for the first time, and scared stiff in case they make a mess of it. I would assume they would be grateful for these programmes and articles - as I was back in the day!
I have always followed the blessed Delia since the 1970s, never had a less than delicious turkey.

Thanks Urmonston that would be lovely

yes please

At Christmas dinner all anyone in my household is interested in is the turkey, ham, stuffing and gravy. So they just get served with plain roast potatoes and parsnips and boiled sprouts.

I am not stuck in my ways, I am always interested in differnt ways of serving sprouts, parsnip etc, just not on Christmas day

I see no point in gilding the lily. Really good quality ingredients, simply cooked. It is Christmas, I intend to enjoy it as much as anyone else and I am not remotely interested in being competitive about the cooking.

No competition here. Just family. Enjoy new recipes and ways of doing things.

Could any of you cook before you got married? I could not boil an egg- but you just get on with it and learn.

Thanks, HurdyGurdy.

I discovered the joys of cooking when I was about 17 so I like to think I was quite good when I got married. Looking back though, because of the lack of ingredients in the shops and the fact we were always skint, my early efforts would cause much hilarity with our adult DGC if they could see them now.