Donal’s tips for cracking festive dining
tv chef skehan’s top tips for stress free dinner on big day
WITH less than a week to go to Christmas, the countdown to the much-anticipated turkey is well and truly on.
Christmas dinner is probably the most stressful meal of the year to prepare, but TV chef Donal Skehan is on hand to make sure it’ll be plain sailing.
1 Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
With so many elements to Christmas dinner, it’s not surprising many people run to their fridges in the morning only to realise they’re missing things.
To prevent this festive faux pas, Donal advises you to list all your ingredients and check off exactly what you need to pick up in the supermarket.
This will ensure you won’t be running to Tesco in a flap on Christmas Eve in a desperate search for Brussels sprouts, or even worse, realising you’ve forgotten to cook them.
Donal told the Irish Mirror: “It’s probably one of the most difficult meals you could cook during the year.
“Your key thing with a meal like this is preparation. Anything you can do in advance, do it.
“I’d start with a list four or five days in advance, knowing what you need to buy and what ingredients you have… so when it comes to go-time, you have everything ready to rock.”
2 Start your cooking days before
Instead of leaving everything to do on December 25, one of Donal’s top tips is to start the cooking one or two days beforehand.
Many parts of Christmas dinner can be prepped or cooked in advance, so the more you get done ahead of the family coming round means you’ll have more time to relax and enjoy Christmas Day.
Donal explained: “Look at things you could do in advance. Like the veggies could be prepped in advance – potatoes and Brussels sprouts could be par-boiled and left in the fridge until the day. “The Christmas ham could be done the night before, as can the stuffing.
“All you should be left with is focusing on the turkey on Christmas Day. The dessert and starter can be very easy stuff that you can make in advance and assemble.”
3 Divide and conquer
If you’re entertaining a large group of family or friends this Christmas, a good way to tackle the workload is to split it.
Asking some of your guests to help out by preparing some of the side dishes or other courses gives you more time to focus on perfecting the main event – the turkey and ham.
Donal said: “In our family we have a tradition of delegating, which is a good tip because it lessens the load.
“It’s either my mum, my aunt or me who will be doing the main Christmas dinner and then someone does the dessert and someone else does the starter.
“It’s a nice way of mixing it up.”
4 Stick to the classics
Christmas dinner just isn’t the same without turkey and ham, and Donal believes that sticking with tradition is the best way to please everyone.
The Dubliner said: “I’ve been cooking Christmas dinner for the last 10 years and writing recipes but it always comes back to people just wanting the classics.
“Looking at little bits of room to improve is fine but I think when you start completely reinventing the wheel you run into trouble.
“There will always be someone around the table giving out, asking where the bread sauce or gravy is.”
5 But don’t be afraid to put your own spin on it
Little variations to your tried and tested turkey recipe can make a massive difference with minimal stress.
Donal revealed small tweaks to a classic recipe can make a big impact at the dinner table. He said: “I know it’s all about tradition at Christmas but there are some little ‘wow’ twists you can do.
“They’re the show-stopping elements people will remember on Christmas Day.
“My go-to ham is a traditional Christmas ham, but I do it with a plum and star anise glaze.
“It’s really easy to do. Once you’ve cooked your ham, score the fat and stud it with cloves.
“Mix a jar of plum jam with a few tablespoons of brown sugar, orange juice and star anise.
“You bubble that away until it’s really sticky and jammy.
“Then you glaze that over the ham.
“When it’s baked you have a Christmas ham that just looks spectacular. It’s a real showstopper and tastes fantastic.
“It’s twists like that that do make a difference.”
6Keep them sweet
While most people love turkey and ham, not everyone’s as keen on traditional Christmas desserts.
So if the plum pudding and Christmas cake aren’t impressing your guests, it’s a good idea to have a simple back-up close to hand.
Donal said: “You have people that don’t eat the traditional Christmas pudding, so I’ll always have a second dessert.
“It tends to be a double chocolate tiramisu or a black forest pavlova – they’re my go-to back up desserts for Christmas.
“They always seem to do a little bit better than the traditional Christmas pudding.”
■ The Christmas special of Donal Skehan’s Meals In Minutes airs tonight on RTE One at 7.30pm.