With only a few days left until Christmas, you're likely getting the last pieces of your dinner together.
From prepping the turkey to getting all your veggies and Yorkshire puddings nice and perfect in advance, there's a lot of work that goes into making that perfect Christmas dinner.
For the chef of the house, the annual Christmas dinner can be a time of stress and pressure making sure every little thing is perfect for your friends and family.
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If you're feeling a little unprepared this year, put your worries aside because a chef from the four-star Daffodil Hotel has provided six of his best tips for making the perfect Christmas dinner.
Graham Harrower, Executive Head Chef at Daffodil Hotel has said: "Making the perfect Christmas dinner can appear to be an overwhelming task, but honestly with a bit of preparation there's nothing you can’t do!
"When cooking a Christmas dinner I would plan in advance how you are going to cook each item of food and factor in oven times and storage space - especially if you are cooking it all on the morning of.
"One top tip I would always say is cooking your turkey the night before could save you a lot of stress on Christmas day, and trust me, it will still be just as delicious!
"Three things I would consider when trying to cook the perfect Christmas dinner would be to leave your turkey to rest after cooking it for around 45 minutes.
"This will help all the juices stay inside and avoid it drying out after. For roast potatoes my top tip would be to cook them in oil that’s nice and hot and then roast them in goose fat for that extra special taste.
"I would also advise you to experiment with herbs and spices when you roast your vegetables and try something outside the box.
"Finally, focusing on a few varied food items is important, as if you try to cook everything it could become extremely overwhelming and you could end up with too much to cook and not enough time and space.”
Here's a breakdown of six key tips from Graham Harrower to help you serve the perfect Christmas dinner this festive season:
Prepare your room and storage
Before you start any cooking, it’s important to make sure you have enough fridge and general storage space.
Average sized family fridges can’t always fit a turkey, plus all the vegetables and drinks in it, so sorting out where everything is going to go in advance will save you from stress after cooking.
Leaving the drinks outside or in the garage is always a good idea when it comes to saving fridge space.
Leave your Turkey to rest
Turkeys need to be cooked to a core temperature of 75C and once cooked, left uncovered for approximately 30-45 minutes.
While it's tempting to cover your Turkey with foil and get ready to store it away this could in fact dry out the meat.
For roast potatoes, get the oil nice and hot
With roast potatoes being one of the main components of a Christmas dinner, it’s important to get them right.
You can start by blanching your potatoes in salted water until they're just cooked, then drain and toss to get those desired fluffy edges.
Once that's done, place your potatoes on a preheated oven tray and drizzle oil or duck fat on the top, finishing it off with your favourite herbs. Turn the potatoes until they are all coated then pop in the oven for around 30 minutes.
Don’t forget gravy is important too
A roast dinner just isn’t the same without gravy, why not try making it richer and especially festive by stirring in some cranberry sauce or a splash of port?
Use some spices and mix things up
When you're roasting your veg, use some herbs and spices to mix things up and make the dishes more interesting.
You could roast your carrots with some cardamon or pan fry your brussels sprouts with some diced pancetta & thyme.
If you have some fussy eaters at the table, take a small portion of each vegetable and put them in a bowl before you add your herbs and spices so they can enjoy it plain.
Keep on top of the washing up
Nothing is worse than finishing a meal and having tons of washing up to do at the end.
By keeping on top of the washing up as you cook, it will not only save you kitchen space but make the end of your meal more enjoyable and relaxing.
You could even get some kitchen helpers whose only job is to wash up.
