How to cook Christmas dinner, by the UK’s top chefs – including recipe that might change how you do roasties forever

Published

7 months ago

December 21, 2024

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If Christmas dinner in your house means soggy Brussels sprouts, desiccated turkey and gloopy gravy that’s gone cold while you’ve waited for everything else to cook, you’re not alone.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way?

We asked some of the most renowned chefs in the UK to give their ultimate guide to making Christmas dinner.

Prep

This is key, says two-Michelin star chef Alex Dilling: “Any step you can do days ahead will help not only the time with your family but also there will be far less washing up.”

For TV regular and one-starred Tom Shepherd, this means doing the Yorkshire pudding batter and cauliflower cheese the night before, and prepping all the veg.

Brining the turkey

“I’m really into brining my turkey, I couldn’t recommend this enough,” says Shepherd, whose Staffordshire restaurant Upstairs is booked up more than a year in advance.

Tom Shepherd’s brine

A simple 10% salt to water brine
A bit of thyme, garlic and orange peel thrown in
Leave it for 24 hours, then remove 90 minutes before cooking to dry it off, rub in butter and salt.

Cooking the turkey

Hrishikesh Desai, the renowned chef patron at one-star Country House Hotel in north Cumbria, does it like this to maximise flavour…

Take the legs off the turkey and debone them;
Take the wishbone off and create a gap between the skin of the turkey and the breast. Fill it with well-seasoned stuffing or butter or truffle butter. Leave in the fridge to rest;
Take as many sinews off the deboned legs as possible then flatten the meat and fill it with stuffing. Lay on an oiled foil sheet, season and wrap to form a roll. Make sure it is rolled tight. Cook in a preheated oven at 220C for 1.5 hours. Remove from the tinfoil, fry the legs on a pan to brown it evenly. Slice and serve;
For the main turkey, remove from the fridge, drizzle oil or brush with soft butter, place on a roasting pan and then into the pre-heated oven at 220C. Cook for at least 1 to 1.5 hours while basting every 10 minutes.
To ensure the turkey meat is cooked, use a carving fork, push through the crown and lift the turkey. If the juices run without any blood then it’s done;
Remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.

For Shepherd, a resting time of at least 60 minutes is best.

Great British Menu legend Lisa Goodwin-Allen, executive chef at one-starred Northcote, says a leftfield choice might be to cook the turkey on the BBQ instead of in the oven.

“Not only does it give you more space in the oven on a busy Christmas Day, but it also gives the meat a lovely smoky flavour that adds an extra dimension to your Christmas dinner,” she says.

Turkey alternatives

Most of the chefs we spoke to aren’t fans of turkey.

“It has its place but there is a reason we only tend to eat it once a year,” says Dilling. “As a large bird with a low fat content, it can very easily become dry.”

For him, goose is “an incredible and underrated bird” as it’s a simple roast and full of delicious fat – which has the bonus of making your roasties super tasty.

Benjamin Ferra Y Castell, head chef at one-starred Pavyllon in London, recommends guinea fowl.

“Many people overcook poultry to be sure it’s done, but that can dry it out,” he says. “The trick is to cook it in two stages.”

For a 1.2 kg guinea fowl…

Season well with salt, pepper and butter for extra flavour;
Roast it at 200C with the fan on for about 45 minutes until golden and crispy, basting it while it cooks;
Once the breast is cooked, remove the legs and cook them for another 15 minutes. If you’re unsure, use a cooking thermometer – when the thickest part of the breast reaches 57C, take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes. It’ll continue to cook and reach 63C, which is perfect for poultry. Don’t worry about the legs; they’ll stay juicy due to the collagen in the meat.

Lisa Goodwin-Allen’s perfect roasties

Before we get to this, we need to decide what potatoes to use. Benjamin Ferra Y Castell likes Ratte potatoes as “they’re small, cook quickly, and are full of flavour”. For Hrishikesh Desai, it has to be Maris Piper.

As for how to cook them, here’s Goodwin-Allen’s guide uncut…

“You want a good chipping potato that’s going to be light and fluffy on the inside and good texture on the outside.

“I don’t use just regular water – I take water, duck fat, a couple of crushed garlic cloves and tie some rosemary up, bring it to the boil and let it simmer for at least two hours or overnight to get a lot of flavour into the water.

“When that’s ready I put the potatoes in, bring it to boil and then simmer them until they’re partially done. You should be able to just slip your knife through them. I then take them out and fluff them up. A great little tip here is to mix a bit of rice flour with garlic granules and dust them, then put them onto a tray.

“Then, you want to freeze them! Freezing them breaks down the carbohydrate inside them which is going to help them turn out perfectly.

“When you bring them back, put a tray of duck fat into the oven – get it really nice and hot. This can be done from frozen. When you put them in, they should really sizzle because you want them to fry, not boil. You could also fry them (three to four minutes from frozen, then take them out and fry again for 15 minutes before serving). They will be nice and crispy on the outside and really decadent and fluffy on the inside. That’s what a good roast potato is all about.”

Jean Delport, executive chef at one-starred Restaurant Interlude in West Sussex, adds a knob of butter to his duck fat to ensure they get super crispy. A common tip is to get the fat up to temperature, 220C, before putting the roasties in.

Delport says you need to shake them, both initially and at 15-minute intervals, to prevent sticking.

Tom Shepherd adds minced garlic after cooking.

Other veg

The Shepherds will be having creamed cabbage.

“It’s a winner in our house,” he says, revealing his method…

Grab a humble white cabbage, remove the root and slice as thinly as possible;
Boil in salted water until softened, and chill
Meanwhile, reduce a pan of double cream with garlic and thyme in by half, and whisk in some grated parmesan, season with salt and pepper, and reintroduce the cabbage to the mix – you won’t regret it.

Niklas Ekstedt, Michelin-starred chef and owner at Ekstedt at The Yard in Westminster, roasts root vegetables like parsnips, carrots and beets with a drizzle of teriyaki sauce and some ginger.

“The sticky sauce and fresh ginger adds a real depth of flavour that elevates the vegetables for a delicious side dish,” he says.

How do you make Brussels sprouts taste nice?

Brussels sprouts absorb a lot of water so do not boil them, says Dilling.

Instead, cut them in half and mix them with duck fat, bacon lardons, garlic and herbs. Roast them till charred and tender.

Gravy

Ferra Y Castell shares his recipe…

100g diced shallots
3g cracked black pepper
60g soy sauce
140g sherry vinegar

“Reduce these ingredients in a pan until nearly dry,” he says. “Then, add the reduction to a good beef stock, add a dash of cognac, and you’ll have a rich, flavourful gravy.”

Shepherd says “the tray you roast your meat on is like gold dust”.

Add onions for your meat to sit on and some roughly chopped carrots, he says. Once the meat is resting, you can get going.

“I begin with placing the tray on the stove and heat,” he says. “Add a little garlic and flour, cook that out until no longer clumpy and start by deglazing the tray with a glass of wine, then once that has evaporated, add some meat stock, ideally the same stock as your chosen meat, ie, beef or turkey. Boil that and reduce to a gravy consistency, pass through a sieve and enjoy.”

‘Unbelievable’ stuffing

This one comes from Dilling – or rather his mum.

“She always used to make a sage, pork and onion stuffing with lots of celery and good homemade chicken stock,” he says. “She would put it in a gratin dish and bake it in the oven. Crisp on top and soft underneath. Just writing this I am salivating. Unbelievable.”

Yorkshire puddings – yes or no?

Delport is firmly in the no camp.

“Not for me. I’m not their biggest fan, but for Christmas there are too many other options I would rather add to our selection,” he says.

Shepherd takes the opposite view.

“Yorkshire puddings are essential with any roast dinner, especially at Christmas!” he says. “A non-negotiable!”

If you’re with Shepherd and fancy making your own, here’s a recipe courtesy of one of the best chefs in Yorkshire, James Mackenzie from the one-starred Pipe and Glass Inn…

Ingredients (makes 10)

Six eggs
300ml full fat milk
260g plain flour
Goose or duck fat or beef dripping, or rapeseed oil if preferred
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4;
Place the eggs and milk into a mixing bowl and whisk together, sieve the flour in and mix with a hand blender until you’ve got a smooth batter. Leave to stand for at least 10 minutes;
In a 12-hole baking tray, place a tablespoon of fat into each mould and put in the oven until smoking hot;
Season the batter immediately before you pour it into the smoking hot tray – this will stop the salt breaking down the egg and your puddings will rise really well;
Fill up 10 moulds nearly full around the edge of the tray, leaving two moulds in the middle free to allow the heat to circulate evenly;
Bake for 35 minutes and don’t be tempted to open the oven door earlier or they will collapse.

Dessert

Delport offers his guests a massive cheeseboard, with a variety of sweet things alongside, while Shepherd likes a homemade tiramisu – but suggests leaving Christmas pudding to the experts…

“No one beats Marks & Spencer for me,” he says.

For a leftfield choice, Ekstedt suggests Risgrynsgröt (rice pudding).

“It’s a Swedish classic, but I like to add a little twist. I sometimes serve it with a salted caramel sauce or some roasted nuts – it’s delicious and full of nostalgia.”

Leftovers

“My favourite part,” says Shepherd.

His suggestion is piling hot turkey, stuffing, creamed cabbage and roast potato into a sandwich or Yorkie pudding, with a hot pot of gravy on the side to dip it in.

“Incredible,” he says.

Desai, however, has a different philosophy…

“Don’t have any leftovers, just eat it all, you get Christmas only once a year!”

UK

Ozzy Osbourne dies just weeks after farewell show

Published

7 hours ago

July 22, 2025

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Ozzy Osbourne dies just weeks after farewell show

Heavy metal star Ozzy Osbourne has died aged 76, just weeks after reuniting with his Black Sabbath bandmates and performing a huge farewell concert for fans.

In a statement, his family said: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love.”

Latest: Tributes paid to Ozzy Osbourne

As he performed from a throne on stage at Villa Park less than three weeks ago, Osbourne told 42,000 fans: “You’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

It was a gig put together with performances from some of his favourite acts, including Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, for the star’s “final bow”.

Osbourne and his fellow original Black Sabbath members – Tony Iommi, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward – reunited for the first time in 20 years and were the last to appear on stage for the Back To The Beginning concert on 5 July.

Following his death, Metallica posted a photo on X of the band with Osbourne, along with a broken heart emoji.

Ronnie Wood, of The Rolling Stones, wrote: “I am so very sad to hear of the death of Ozzy Osbourne. What a lovely goodbye concert he had at Back To The Beginning in Birmingham.”

Black Sabbath’s account on X posted a photo of Osbourne from the gig with the caption: “Ozzy Forever!”

And Ali Campbell, singer with Birmingham band UB40, wrote: “Rest In Peace Ozzy. The Prince of Darkness. A true Birmingham legend. The undisputed king of heavy metal. You didn’t just shape a culture, you defined it. You led from the front and never looked back. My thoughts are with Sharon and the entire Osbourne family during this time.”

Sir Elton John described his “dear friend” as a “huge trailblazer” who “secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods”.

“He was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” the singer also wrote on Instagram.

Born John Michael Osbourne on 3 December 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, he became known as the godfather of heavy metal.

The self-styled Prince of Darkness pioneered the music genre with Black Sabbath before going on to have huge success in his own right. He was famous for hits including Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Crazy Train and Changes, both with the band and as a solo star.

Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut album in 1970 made the UK top 10 and paved the way for a string of tracks.

They went on to become one of the most influential and successful metal bands of all time, selling more than 75 million albums worldwide.

The singer also found a different kind of fame thanks to noughties MTV reality show The Osbournes, which followed the Birmingham-raised star’s somewhat chaotic life in Los Angeles with wife Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack.

And he was also known for the famous anecdotes of hellraising during his rock star heyday – most infamously, the tale of how he bit the head off a bat while on stage.

Black Sabbath fired Osbourne in 1979 for his legendary excesses, like showing up late for rehearsals and missing gigs.

“We knew we didn’t really have a choice but to sack him because he was just so out of control. But we were all very down about the situation,” wrote bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler in his memoir Into The Void.

Osbourne re-emerged the next year as a solo artist with his album Blizzard of Ozz. In 1981, he released his second album Diary Of A Madman – both were hard rock classics that went multiplatinum.

He had Parkinson’s disease and had suffered other health problems in recent years, including complications from injuries sustained in a fall in 2019.

After being forced to cancel tour shows, he made a one-off surprise appearance on stage in Birmingham to close the Commonwealth Games in 2022. The Villa Park gig was announced earlier this year by Sharon, who said he was determined to give fans the “perfect farewell”.

During his career, Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – twice for both, with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist.

He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame – as well as in Birmingham’s Broad Street – an Ivor Novello, and five Grammy wins from 12 nominations.

Plus, he received other honours such as the NME’s Godlike Genius award, and Classic Rock’s Living Legend prize, over the years.

Osbourne leaves behind his wife, Sharon, and their children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack, as well his two older children, Jessica and Louis, from his first marriage to Thelma Riley, and grandchildren.

UK

Ozzy Osbourne obituary: Heavy metal, reality TV, and biting bats – the wild life of Birmingham’s Prince Of Darkness

Published

10 hours ago

July 22, 2025

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Ozzy Osbourne obituary: Heavy metal, reality TV, and biting bats – the wild life of Birmingham's Prince Of Darkness

“You’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart,” an emotional Ozzy Osbourne told fans as he performed from a throne on stage at his beloved Villa Park, reunited with Black Sabbath, less than three weeks ago.

It was an exit on his own terms by heavy metal’s biggest character, with a supporting line-up of hard rock luminaries including Slayer, Metallica and Guns’n’Roses, all inspired by his music.

With Black Sabbath, Osbourne was at the forefront of heavy metal. As Ozzy, he was one of the biggest rock stars in the world. Nowhere was this more evident than at the Back To The Beginning in his home city, where 40,000 fans gathered to see the show billed as his “final bow”.

“Without Sabbath, there would be no Metallica,” frontman James Hetfield told the crowd in Birmingham.

It was a sentiment echoed by many of the other acts who performed on stage. Announced by his wife Sharon earlier this year, the show was a chance for the performer to reunite with Black Sabbath and say thank you and farewell to fans after years of health problems, including Parkinson’s disease, which had forced him to cancel recent tour shows.

Other celebrities, from Sir Elton John to Dolly Parton, sent video messages of support. Fans knew it would be his last performance, but could not have known his death, at the age of 76, would come so soon.

It was a truly metal goodbye.

‘I think there’s a wild man in everybody’

John Michael Osbourne was born in Solihull in December 1948 and grew up in the Aston area of the West Midlands city.

As a teenager, he was bullied at school. Drink and drugs later became a way to escape his fears, he said in interviews, and after leaving school at 15, he worked several jobs, including labouring and in an abattoir.

It was hearing The Beatles, he said, that made him want to be a musician.

“I think there’s a wild man in everybody,” he says in a resurfaced interview clip. “Ozzy Osbourne and John Osbourne is two different people. John Osbourne is talking to you now.” His eyes widen a little manically, he grins, the voice cranks up. “But if you want to be Ozzy Osbourne, it’s like… it just takes over you.”

In 1967, he was recruited to the band that two years later would become Black Sabbath, inspired by a film of the same title. This was a line-up of four working-class schoolfriends – Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler, alongside Ozzy – who twisted heavy blues into something darker, creating a sound and otherworldly image that felt new, exciting and rebellious.

A self-titled debut album was released in 1970 and made the Top 10 in the UK. The follow-up, Paranoid, released just seven months later, topped the charts after the single of the same name became their big breakthrough. The album also included the unforgettable Iron Man and the anti-war protest song War Pigs – its unmistakeable riff inspiring the Arctic Monkeys’ 2014 single, Arabella.

Black Sabbath went on to release six more albums with Osbourne at the helm before he was fired in 1979 due to his drinking and substance use, something he claimed was no better or worse than other members at the time.

In 1980, he returned with his debut solo album, Blizzard Of Oz, and the lead single Crazy Train. As a solo artist, he went on to release 13 studio albums – the last being Patient Number 9, in 2022 – and had hits with songs including Mr Crowley, Diary Of A Madman, No More Tears, Bark At The Moon and Shot In The Dark.

His first UK number one was a re-recording of the Black Sabbath ballad Changes, as a duet with his daughter, Kelly, in 2003, and his collaborations over the years included everyone from Alice Cooper (Hey Stoopid in 1991) and Post Malone (Take What You Want in 2019) to, in a somewhat unusual move, Hollywood star Kim Basinger for a re-recording of the dance hit Shake Your Head by Was (Not Was) in 1992.

With Black Sabbath and as a solo star, he is estimated to have sold 100 million records throughout his career – for context, this is reportedly on a par with Sir Paul McCartney’s solo sales – so the numbers speak for themselves.

Biting the bat

Osbourne was also a huge personality and played up to his hellraising image – the Prince of Darkness.

The most famous Ozzy story goes like this.

The singer was on stage in Des Moines, Iowa, 1982, when the bat appeared. He assumed it was a toy. So, like any good hellraiser would do, he bit its head off.

For more than 40 years, he found himself jokily fielding questions about bats. What do they taste like? (Salty). What happened afterwards? (Headline news, painful rabies shots). Do you have any pets? (Yes. They’re all dead).
“I get a lot of weird people at my concerts,” he told David Letterman in 1982, of how the animal came to appear in front of him. “It’s rock ‘n’ roll, y’know”.

He was sometimes irritated by the bat connection. But he also played up to the image, recounting the story in interviews, offering plush bat toys among his merch, and appearing as himself, biting a bat, in the 2000 Adam Sandler comedy Little Nicky, about the son of Satan.

Known for catapulting raw meat at fans during gigs, there were plenty of other tales of darkness and debauchery. Osbourne’s wild persona and on-stage theatrics always went hand-in-hand with the music.

From Prince of Darkness to reality TV

He was famously managed by his wife, Sharon, whom he first met when her dad, Don Arden, was managing Black Sabbath. As well as the music, Sharon and Ozzy together founded the Ozzfest festival tours in 1996 – and in 2002 came his second act.

It’s hard to imagine it now, but before the perfectly coiffed Kardashians it was a scruffy 50-something rocker from Birmingham and his family who ruled the Hollywood reality TV scene. As with his music, he was a pioneer – this time round of a new era of addictive viewing.

The Osbournes followed the lives of Ozzy and Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack (their eldest daughter, Aimee, famously had nothing to do with the show), and the family fallouts and sunny California culture clash proved to be a ratings winner. The MTV series catapulted the metal star to global mainstream celebrity heights.

His marriage to Sharon was tumultuous but the pair always stayed together, and they renewed their wedding vows in 2017. Sharon was the driving force behind Ozzy’s successes, to him eventually getting clean, and behind his farewell show.

Despite weathering the storm of drink and drug use, Osbourne’s air of indestructibility was challenged when a quad bike accident left him with a broken collar bone and ribs, as well as short-term memory loss, in 2003.

The 2020 documentary Biography: The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne, had summed up with its title the performer’s seeming ability to defy the odds. However, the health problems started to mount up. Scheduled tours were postponed, and in 2023 he told fans holding on to tickets that he had come to the realisation he was “not physically capable” of dealing with life on the road.

But there was one gig he couldn’t miss – a surprise appearance to close the Commonwealth Games in his home city in 2022, just weeks after undergoing surgery.

Now, fans will remember the shows they did get to see, the music that ushered in a new genre – and especially his most recent gig, which was said to have raised around £140m for charities. Just a few days afterwards, his new memoir, Last Rites, was announced. It will be released in October.

During his career, Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – twice for both, with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. “Countless artists from many genres have credited Ozzy as a major influence, including Metallica, Lita Ford, Rage Against The Machine, and Busta Rhymes,” reads his US citation. “With his longevity, impact, and iconic persona, Ozzy Osbourne is a phenomenon unlike any other.”

He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame – as well as in Birmingham’s Broad Street – an Ivor Novello, and five Grammy wins from 12 nominations.

But other honours, such as the NME’s Godlike Genius award, and Classic Rock’s Living Legend, also give a sense of how much his personality played a part in why he is so beloved by fans and critics alike. In the Nine Lives documentary, daughter Kelly describes him as “the most irresistible mad man you will ever meet in your life”.

Osbourne’s was an unlikely journey from Birmingham to LA. He was a working-class hero of heavy metal, a reality TV favourite – forever the Prince of Darkness.

“People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything?” he once said. “I’m like, f*** no… If I’d done normal, sensible things, I wouldn’t be Ozzy.”

UK

Conservative Senedd member Laura Anne Jones announces defection to Reform UK

Published

16 hours ago

July 22, 2025

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Conservative Senedd member Laura Anne Jones announces defection to Reform UK

Conservative Senedd member Laura Anne Jones has joined Reform UK, the party has announced.

The announcement of the party’s first member of the Senedd was made on Tuesday at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells, Powys.

The annual event is Europe’s largest agricultural show and attracts thousands of visitors every year.

Laura Anne Jones was initially a member of the Senedd for the South Wales East region between 2003 and 2007, before returning in 2020.

She is the second high-profile defection from the Conservative party, after former cabinet minister David Jones joined the party earlier this month.

Reform leader Nigel Farage said the latest defection was a “big step forward for Reform UK in Wales”.

Speaking at the news conference, Ms Jones said she had been a member of the Conservative party for for 31 years but that the party was now “unrecognisable to [her]”.

She said the Conservative Party “wasn’t the party that [she] joined over three decades ago” and that she could “no longer justify” party policy on the doorstep.

Ms Jones said Wales was “a complete mess” and that she now wanted to be “part of the solution not the problem”.

Reform is still without a leader in Wales, but Ms Jones did not rule herself out of the running for that position.

The defection comes with less than a year to go until the Senedd election, when voters in Wales will elect 96 members to the Welsh parliament for the first time – an increase of more than 50%.

Recent opinion polls have shown Reform UK and Plaid Cymru vying for pole position, with Labour in third and the Conservatives in fourth.

Ms Jones said she had not notified the Conservative Party of her defection before the announcement.

The party’s Senedd leader Darren Millar said he was “disappointed” with the announcement and that Conservative members and voters would feel “very let down by her announcement”.

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