Get Ahead for Your Christmas Cooking: Planning Your Christmas Kitchen

Get Ahead for Your Christmas Cooking: Planning Your Christmas Kitchen

Christmas is coming with a rush, so I thought it would be a good time to give the links to some useful Christmas Kitchen and Christmas Cooking posts I made last year.  I’ve given a little preview for each link so you can know what to expect when you click on!

Christmas Pudding: it’s not too late to make your own Christmas Pudding from this very old and absolutely wonderful recipe.  Yes, you can make them months (even a year!) in advance, but I’ve made this very late some years and it still turns out splendidly, even without a “maturing” period.

Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe - The First Christmas Pudding

On the subject of Christmas Pudding, last year the trend was very much towards celebrity  “mad professor” chef Heston Blumenthal’s Orange Christmas Pudding –  they sold out very fast and were changing hands on eBay for ridiculous amounts.  This was my take on the idea.

Heston Blumenthal Style Orange Christmas Pudding Recipe

I enjoy my turkey on Christmas Day, and while there are always ideas for alternatives such as goose, capon, venison etc I still stick up for the big bird.  You can read why here:

In Defense of the Christmas Turkey

This is the big one and got a LOT of visitors last year, not least because it got a mention on the BBC website’s foodie pages (OK, being honest, it was me who mentioned it there, but it drew a lot of traffic!)  Here’s as step-by-step a guide to Cooking Christmas Dinner the Stress-Free Way as you can get without someone being actually there to hold your hand.

The Stress-Free Guide to Cooking Christmas Dinner

Pigs in Blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon) are a lovely traditional accompaniment to Christmas Dinner, so here’s an easy recipe and method for preparing them, along with a use for the bacon rinds.

Pigs in Blankets (Sausages in Bacon) Recipe

And finally for now, here’s my guide to the perfect cooking of Brussels Sprouts, which teaches you the sneaky chef’s and caterer’s way to pre-cook, refresh and reheat veggies – giving you really vibrant colour, taste and texture while relieving the pressure of timing yet more pots and pans on the big day!

How to cook Brussels Sprouts Perfectly

Hope the above is useful to you, and in the meantime, also hope all your planning, preparing and shopping is going well.