Christmas dinner is a ridiculous idea when you think about it. Make a list of the various elements that make up the whole affair, from cocktails to canapés, from soup to nuts to everything needed for the 35 servings of dinner and then the inevitable spread of puddings, and you begin to realize: what a huge task we set upon ourselves each year. It seems like every meal needs a new skillet or a coveted home in the oven. And that was before Aunt Shirley arrived with her mini Yorkshire pudding, needing 15 minutes at 190C at a crucial moment in the proceedings.
That’s why, once again, we must say a silent Christmas prayer, not just for the Coca-Cola ham, but for Nigella Lawson as well. He gave us special dispensation to take whatever shortcuts we saw fit in preparing our Christmas feast, acknowledging that our “seasonal sanity” might depend on not cutting corners. “Whether it’s pigs in a blanket, brandy butter or sauce, it makes sense to take advantage of all the high-quality shortcuts you can use right now,” he says. “I keep my freezer stocked with frozen chopped shallots that I use instead of onions. “They cook faster, taste sweeter, and make life so much easier.”
Every home needs a Christmas Major General. If this is you, the one in charge of everything from shopping to (careful) delegation of tasks, from managing the oven to supervising the sauces, why not do as Nigella says and treat yourself to a few clever kitchen hacks these days? year. Stick to our experts’ Christmas shortcuts; Even the pickiest foodie at the table won’t even bat an eyelid. More importantly, it will make your life a little easier, and Lawson is spot on on this point: “No Christmas has ever been made better by the cook’s growing resentment.” Very true.
sofas
My colleague Ed Cumming has done some useful field work here. In a taste test of frozen Christmas dinners, Booths declared the brie de meaux and cranberry packets a win, especially when enhanced with extra cranberry sauce. Meanwhile, the Icelandic tempura king prawns were “hot, crispy and purplish”, while the Tesco mini coquille saint jacques received top marks. His advice when considering purchasing store-bought sofas? “Continue fishing.”
Grazing boards are popular among experts. “I definitely won’t be making canapés,” says Tommy Banks, chef-owner of the Black Swan in Oldstead. Rather than feeling like we need to prepare delicious treats just because it’s Christmas, Banks thinks a nice board of cold foods should do the trick; This comes in handy if you already have an eye on when the parsnips should go in. Good as one bite. Just put it out and everyone likes it.
And if you still want to make something that looks “from scratch” but is actually a big gimmick? Farokh Talati, head chef at St John Bread and Wine, reminds us to keep a box of pre-rolled puff pastry on hand. “Dijon mustard, grated cheese, cut into strips and bake in the oven. Fresh cheese sticks. They’ll be ready in the time it takes you to heat up a bag of pre-made party food.
main event
Do you know what you can do for yourself this Christmas? You can give yourself the gift of not having to peel and cut four bags of potatoes. “Honestly, if the whole point of Christmas is to be with friends and family, it shouldn’t matter if your potatoes are pre-cut,” says Talati.
Choosing frozen vegetables is a convenient way to free up space in the refrigerator. This also means you can buy it in advance and not worry about it being past prime time on Christmas Day. “I would buy a lot of frozen kale, frozen potatoes, all that,” says Talati, who thinks the key is in the cooking method. A pre-cut frozen sprout can be great if treated properly, whereas fresh sprouts you’ve spent all morning lovingly cutting, pruning and crossing stems can be awful. “I would boil them in salted water until they were fully cooked, but then in a separate pan I would fry some onions and some bacon or lard. Then cut them in half and pan fry them with all that bacon, maybe with some sauce to bring it together.
The stuffing is ripe for a shortcut. Marcus Wareing once declared that he swears by Paxo. This seems to be a universal chef tip, as Hicce Hart’s Pip Lacey proves. “You can’t go wrong. Take the paxo (just the regular sage and onion one), but then add your own nuts and bolts to it, whether it’s chestnuts or bacon. A little lemon zest and perhaps some of Nigella’s chopped frozen shallots fried in butter would be a nice addition.
Extras
You might think that a good broth or sauce is the calling card of any self-respecting chef, but many swear by purchasing it. “Buy the sauce,” Lacey insists. “It’s one of those things where everything is timed in the end, but then you’re dealing with making the sauce. Supermarkets these days make some really good sauces. And if all else fails, you have Bisto.”
Banks recommends TrueFoods stock, which can be added to broths along with other flavorings. “I agree with Nigella. No one in their right mind makes stock in their house at Christmas.” You can even go all in and buy their sauce, which is so good it just “heats it up and you’re good to go,” Banks says. Or buy a good supermarket sauce and jazz it up.
Telegraph Magazine editor Lisa Markwell adds roasted wing tips to store-bought sauce as it heats. As always, an extra splash of this or that can liven up even a decidedly average sauce. Try madeira or port for sweetness, and some Marmite for depth of flavor.
Markwell says store-bought bread sauce is fine if heated with “additional cloves and cream” and checked for seasoning. Meanwhile, the Telegraph’s Xanthe Clay says Aldi’s cranberry sauce trumps store-bought options in terms of taste. Want to make your purchased cranberry sauce taste a little more homemade? Heat up some orange zest and juice with a pinch of ground allspice and a splash of red wine vinegar.
sweet treats
Of all the elements of Christmas dinner available for purchase, pud is definitely a no-brainer, if for no other reason than everyone needs to have too much sherry to notice it when it’s passed around.
St. John’s Talati says the quickest way to the “so good it must be homemade” trick is a good panettone. “When I worked for Angela Hartnett, she would buy a bunch of pancakes and we would turn it into the best bread and butter pudding. Make a quick pudding and bake it in the oven. “It’s pretty special.”
Trifle is an easy win when assembled from pre-made things. “There’s a really good Black Cumin recipe that I’ve made before at Christmas,” says Banks. “Everything is bought: the sponge cake, the pudding, the jelly, and then you flavor it with a nice vermouth and it’s delicious.”
Lacey loves the ice cream bomb, made with “meringue, booze, and cream.” Whip the cream with icing sugar and some form of Christmas spirit, such as brandy, then fold in the store-bought crumble meringue, freeze in a Pyrex bowl and deflate.
When it comes to mince pies, Clay suggests halving your workload by buying roasted mince (her preference is Morrisons or Tesco mincemeat) but making your own pastries. “A proper shortcrust tastes much better than the supermarket stuff. […] In contrast, the ground meat I tried differed little from homemade ground meat in terms of ingredients.”
Or just cut your losses and get a whole dessert. M&S received an honorable mention for its frozen cupcake Alaska, which Cumming gave five stars. Andrew Baker, The Telegraph’s resident chocolate expert and author of Cake: A Slice of British Life, reports that M&S was also a winner this year with its passion fruit and white chocolate yuletide log, describing it as “hugely appealing with a fantastic flavour”. The Aldi Belgian chocolate number is “very creamy, with a rich milk chocolate flavour.”
You can spend Christmas Eve carefully rolling a Genovese sponge or hit the shops. The choice is yours.