How To Time Your Christmas Dinner, According To A Chef

Former chef to the royal family, Darren McGrady, previously shared how to make the perfect roast potatoes, as well as his secrets to the juiciest turkey.

Working with Smooth Spins, he added that it’s a good idea to get your Christmas shop in on 20-21 December.

But what about the timing of the actual Christmas dinner?

Well, luckily, he’s shared his sage (and rosemary, and… OK, sorry) advice on that, too.

One of our favourite tricks for fluffy, crispy roast potatoes is to parboil them the night before.

But McGrady recommended taking this even further.

“All your vegetables can be peeled and prepared on Christmas Eve, so they’re ready for the next day for the big event,” he said.

He added that as much as possible, it’s a good idea to cook your turkey and vegetables separately.

“There’s no point having them ready to go in the oven [while] the turkey is still sitting in there, because it fills up the full oven”, he said – a full oven is a less effective one, and it can mean everything takes longer to cook.

Instead, he suggested starting your poultry off in a roaring hot oven to get a good sear (he recommended 220°C for the first half hour).

Then, “reduce the temperature” – Safefood recommends 180°C.

“Three-quarters of the way through, I stick some foil over the breast so the heat reflects off that aluminium foil, and the legs get to cook a bit more.”

There is no one set time for cooking a turkey, as it depends on the size of the bird. Per Safefood, you need 44 minutes per kilo at 180°C / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4.

“Once your turkey is about 10/15 minutes [from being ready to take out],” parboil your roast potatoes if you haven’t already, the chef said.

“By that time, your turkey is ready, so take it out of the oven and let it rest – that’s important.”

To make the perfect glossy gravy, McGrady told HuffPost UK, it’s important to use the juices and sediments at the base of the turkey roasting tin.

“I would actually roast my turkey on a rack so all the juices drop down into a pan or dish,” he said.

“If you’ve got vegetables – carrots, onions, celery, bay leaf, thyme – all of that is in the pan so the juices are falling on them. I would add flour to that and stir all that in, then add some good chicken or turkey broth, then make my sauce from that.”

This needs to be made once the turkey is out of the oven and can occur while you’re waiting for veggies to cook.

“Next, season it with salt and pepper; you end up with a fantastic sauce. You strain it off, then you have the most amazing sauce for the turkey.”