DELIA'S COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS

EARLY AM, CHRISTMAS EVE LAST-MINUTE SHOPPING

In practice this means sallying forth for the freshest vegetables (sprouts, leeks, parsnips, onions, carrots, celery, swede, potatoes) and fruit (oranges, clementines, grapes, bananas, dates, cranberries), because they need to last over the whole holiday.

Everyone else will be doing the same, of course, so do get out early and, before leaving the house, read the various shopping lists out loud. You may have forgotten something. Have you got milk, cream, bread, pet food, the turkey…?

MID-MORNING THE TURKEY ARRIVES

Now at last your fresh and magnificent bird has reached its destination. There is no need to wash or wipe it, just place it on a sheet of greaseproof paper and remove the giblets.

Make sure you know what it weighs: your supplier should have written it down – if not, you might find the bathroom scales helpful, but do keep it on the greaseproof paper.

Store it (uncovered) in the fridge till just before you go to bed. You may need to remove a shelf from the fridge to house it, but if space is a problem, don’t worry: you can use an unheated bedroom, or the garage (with suitable covering) – even, in an emergency, the locked boot of the car, which can be pretty cold on a winter’s night. Now you can make the giblet stock for the gravy (see page 38).

LATER AM PREPARING VEGETABLES

A good time to get these chores out of the way. Always my choice for Christmas lunch are the tiny, tight button sprouts and I prefer to serve them plain as there are so many other rich flavours around. Prepare 700g-1kg (1lb 8oz-2lb 4oz) for 8-10 people, and keep them stored in a polythene bag in the fridge till needed. On the day you can sauté them with chestnuts if you prefer as in my recipe on page 40.

You can also now peel and chop the parsnips for my recipe for Parsnips with a Mustard and Maple Glaze on page 65 and store them too in polythene bags alongside the sprouts in the fridge.

MAKE THE TRIFLE

Christmas simply isn’t Christmas without a trifle (for my traditional Trifle see page 72). I find this is the best time to assemble it.

3PM CAROLS AND BAKING

It used to be a tradition in our house to see to all the Christmas baking to the backdrop of the live broadcast of the Festival Of Nine Lessons And Carols from King’s College, Cambridge. But now I just take them ready cooked from the freezer as and when I need them, and enjoy eating the warmed minced pies with my feet up and a cup of tea listening to the carols.

This is the moment when Christmas really begins for me. (To warm the mince pies from frozen they should have 45 minutes out of the freezer to defrost, then be placed in a medium oven for 5 minutes and dusted with icing sugar before serving.)

LATER PM THE TURKEY STUFFING

Now is the time to make up the stuffing ready to go into the turkey tomorrow (see my 18th Century Chestnut Stuffing on page 40).

EARLY EVENING ACCOMPANIMENTS

In our family there are those who like bread sauce as the accompaniment to turkey and there are those who prefer cranberries – and there are some of us who have both!

The Cranberry and Orange Relish (page 65) is the best I’ve ever tasted and it’s oh, so easy to make.

EARLY GET AHEAD!

If you’re still on your feet by this time, you can prepare the onion and cloves for the Traditional Bread Sauce (page 40) and place in a saucepan covered with clingfilm. And why not weigh out the butter and sugar for the Christmas Rum Sauce (page 66) and cover them in a saucepan ready for tomorrow?

BEFORE YOU GO TO BED

In my younger days I used to dash off to Midnight Mass and return home with a group of friends for spiced cider, sausage rolls and pickled shallots at about 1.30am.

Nowadays I like a good night’s sleep before cooking Christmas lunch, so I opt for an early night and morning Mass instead.

Early or late, though, it is important to take the turkey out of the fridge now to allow it to come to room temperature so it heats up immediately when you put it in the oven. The same applies to the stuffing, store it covered in a cool place and you also need to remove 75g (2¾oz) of butter to soften for the morning.

Now your fridge will be looking empty, so it’s a good time to slip in the white wine, champagne, mineral water, children’s drinks and anything else that needs to be chilled.

AVOID A LAST-MINUTE PANIC ON THE BIG DAY BY FOLLOWING DELIA'S STEP-BYSTEP TIMETABLE FOR A STRESS-FEE FESTIVE FEAST.