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

admin

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

Jeff Stewart: Actor who played Reg Hollis in The Bill helps police arrest shoplifter

Published

5 hours ago

July 25, 2025

admin

Jeff Stewart: Actor who played Reg Hollis in The Bill helps police arrest shoplifter

The actor who played PC Reg Hollis in hit TV series The Bill has been praised by officers after helping them arrest a shoplifter.

Jeff Stewart stepped in when a thief attempted to escape on a bicycle in Southampton on Wednesday.

In a statement, a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: “The thief, 29-year-old Mohamed Diallo, fell off the bike during his attempts to flee, before officers pounced to make their arrest.

“To their surprise, local TV legend Jeff Stewart, who played PC Hollis for 24 years in The Bill, came to their aid by sitting on the suspect’s legs while officers put him in cuffs.

“In policing you should always expect the unexpected, but this really wasn’t on The Bill for this week.”

The Bill was broadcast on ITV between 1984 and 2010 and featured the fictional lives of police officers from the Sun Hill police station in east London.

Mr Stewart, who was among the original cast, appeared in more than 1,000 episodes as PC Hollis.

In praising Mr Stewart’s actions, the force said: “Long since retired from Sun Hill station – but he’s still got it.”

Police from the Bargate Neighbourhoods Policing Team were alerted by staff at a Co-op store in Ocean Way to a suspected shoplifter on Wednesday.

Read more from Sky News:
Hungary bans rappers Kneecap
Tributes paid to Hulk Hogan

Mohamed Diallo, 29, of Anglesea Road, Southampton, was subsequently charged with five offences of theft relating to coffee, alcohol and food from the Co-op and two other Sainsbury’s stores on three dates in April and July.

He pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and was bailed to be sentenced on August 29.

UK

Oasis photographers remember the early days: ‘The journalist had to take a week off afterwards!’

Published

5 hours ago

July 25, 2025

admin

Oasis photographers remember the early days: 'The journalist had to take a week off afterwards!'

It was a cold, typically rainy Manchester evening, October 1993, when Michael Spencer Jones set out to meet a new guitar band he had been commissioned to photograph.

The weather was miserable, he didn’t know their music, wasn’t totally in the mood. “I had to drag myself from home, thinking: is it going to be worth the trouble?”

On the drive to the Out Of The Blue studio in Ancoats, on the outskirts of the city centre, a song he’d never heard before came on the local radio station. “It was like, wow, what is that?” The track was Columbia, by Oasis, the band he was on his way to meet.

He started to get excited.

Spencer Jones had previously met Noel Gallagher during the musician’s time as a roadie for fellow Manchester band Inspiral Carpets. But not Liam.

“As a photographer, obviously, the aesthetic of a band is massively important,” he says as he recalls that first shoot. “I’m just looking down the camera lens with a certain amount of disbelief.”

In front of him was a 21-year-old, months before the start of the fame rollercoaster that lay ahead. And yet. “I was looking at a face that just seemed to embody the quality of stardom.”

‘Success was inevitable’

It was the start of a partnership that continued throughout the band’s heyday, with Spencer Jones shooting the covers for their first three albums, their most successful records, and the singles that went with them.

“You work with bands pre-fame and there’s always that question: are they going to make it? With Oasis there was never that question. Their success was inevitable.”

There was a confidence, even in those early days. “Incredible, intoxicating confidence. [They were] not interested in any kind of social norms or social constraints.”

It wasn’t arrogance, he says, of a criticism sometimes levelled at the Gallaghers. “They just had this enormous self-belief.”

Spencer Jones was one of several photographers who followed the band, capturing the moments that became part of rock history.

‘Noel had an uncanny intuition’

Jill Furmanovsky, who started working with Oasis towards the end of 1994, a few months after the release of debut album Definitely Maybe, says Noel always seemed aware their time together should be documented.

“An uncanny intuition, really, that it was important,” she says. “I think Noel has been aware right from the start, because for him that’s what he used to look at when he used to buy his Smiths records or Leo Sayer or whatever, he would stare at the covers and be fascinated by the pictures.”

Contrary to popular belief, Furmanovsky says the brothers got on fairly well most of the time, “otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to function”.

She picks one shoot in 1997, around the release of their third album, Be Here Now, as one of the more memorable ones. Noel had shared his thoughts about the band on a chalkboard and “they were having such a laugh.”

But when things did erupt, it became significant. “There were tensions in some shoots but they never started hitting each other in front of me or anything like that. I used to complain about it, actually – ‘don’t leave me out of those pictures where you’re really arguing!’.”

In Paris in 1995, tensions had boiled over. “It’s one of my favourites,” she says of the shoot. “It reflects not just the band but the family situation, these brothers in a strop with each other.”

What is notable, she says, is that they were happy for photographers to take candid shots, not just set up pictures to show them “looking cool”. Pictures that on the surface might sound mundane, showing “what they were really like – tensions, mucking about, sometimes yawning… This was the genius of Noel and [former Oasis press officer] Johnny Hopkins.”

Furmanovsky also notes the women who worked behind the scenes for Oasis – unusual at a time when the industry was even more male-dominated than it is now – and how they kept them in line.

“They got on well working with women,” she says. “Maggie Mouzakitis was their tour manager for ages and was so young, but she ruled. For a band one could say were a bunch of macho Manchester blokes, they had a lot of women working in senior positions.”

This is down to the influence of their mum, Peggy, she adds. “Absolutely crucial.”

Furmanovsky has been working with Noel on an upcoming book documenting her time with the band, and says she initially wanted to start with a picture of the Gallagher matriarch. “Noel said to me, ‘Jill, you do know she wasn’t actually in the band?'”

Touring with Oasis – ‘the journalist had to take a week off’

Kevin Cummins was commissioned to take pictures when Oasis signed to Creation Records, and it “kind of spiralled out of control a little bit”, he laughs.

“I photographed them for NME, gave them their first cover. I photographed them in Man City shirts because we were all Man City fans, and City were at the time sponsored by a Japanese electronics company, Brother. It seemed a perfect fit.”

The early days documenting the band were “fairly riotous”, he says. “They were quite young, they were obviously enjoying being in the limelight.

“I remember we went on tour with them for three days for an NME ‘on the road’ piece, and the journalist who came with me had to take a week off afterwards.

“I dipped in and out of tours occasionally – I’ve always done that with musicians because I cannot imagine spending more than about seven or eight days on tour with somebody, it would drive you nuts. They’re so hedonistic, especially in the early days. It’s very, very difficult to keep up.”

Cummins says the relationship between Noel and Liam was “like anybody’s relationship, if you’ve got a younger brother – he’d get on your nerves.”

During the shoot for the City shirt pictures, he says, “Liam kicked a ball at Noel, Noel pushed him, Liam pushed him back. They have a bit of a pushing match and then they stop and they get on with it.”

Another time, following a show in Portsmouth, “as soon as we got [to the hotel] after the gig, Liam threw all the plastic furniture in the pool. Noel looked at him and said, ‘where are we going to sit?’ And he made him get in the pool and get all the furniture out. So there were like attempts at being rock and roll, and not quite getting it right sometimes.”

Cummins says he has “very affectionate” memories of working with Oasis. “I’ve got a lot of very sensitive looking pictures of Liam and people are really surprised when they see them,” he says. “But he is a very sensitive lad… it’s just he was irritating because he was younger and he wanted to make himself heard.”

Getting ready for the reunion

All three photographers have yet to see the reunion show, but all have tickets. All say the announcement last summer came as a surprise.

“There was an inkling of it, I suppose, just in the thawing of the comments between the brothers, but I still wouldn’t have guessed it,” says Furmanovsky, who has a book out later this year, and whose pictures feature in the programme. “It’s wonderful they have pulled it off with such conviction and passion.”

Cummins’ work can be seen in a free outdoor exhibition at Wembley Park, which fans will be able to see throughout the summer until the final gigs there in September.

“I think the atmosphere at the gigs seems to have been really friendly… I like the idea that people are taking their kids and they’re passing the baton on a little bit,” he says. “Everyone’s just having a blast and it’s like the event of the summer – definitely something we need at the moment.”

Spencer Jones, who released his second Oasis book, Definitely Maybe – A View From Within, for the album’s 30th anniversary last year – adds: “They really seem to be capturing a new generation of fans and I don’t think a band has ever done that [to this extent] before. Bands from 20, 30 years ago normally just take their traditional fanbase with them.”

But he says his first thought when the reunion was announced was for the Gallaghers’ mum, Peggy. “I think for any parent, to have two children who don’t talk is pretty tough,” he says. “It’s that notion of reconciliation – if they can do it, anyone can do it.

“The fact they’re walking on stage, hands clasped together, there’s a huge amount of symbolism there that transcends Oasis and music. Especially in a fractured society, that unity is inspiring. Everyone’s had a bit of a rough time since COVID, battle weary with life itself. I think people generally are just gagging to have some fun.”

Brothers: Liam And Noel Through The Lens Of Kevin Cummins is on at Wembley Park until 30 September. Definitely Maybe – A View From Within, by Michael Spencer Jones, available through Spellbound Galleries, is out now. Oasis: Trying To Find A Way Out Of Nowhere, by Jill Furmanovsky and edited by Noel Gallagher, published by Thames & Hudson, is out from 23 September.

UK

Govt ‘shadowy’ to reveal Rayner warning about social cohesion in ‘readout’, Harriet Harman says

Published

6 hours ago

July 25, 2025

admin

Govt 'shadowy' to reveal Rayner warning about social cohesion in 'readout', Harriet Harman says

It was “shadowy” of the government to reveal Angela Rayner warned about the threat to social cohesion in a “readout”, Harriet Harman has said.

On Wednesday, Downing Street released a “cabinet readout” saying the deputy prime minister told ministers the government “had to show it had a plan to address people’s concerns” to defuse community tensions.

She said immigration was having a “profound impact on society” and noted 17 out of 18 places where protests broke out last summer after kicking off in Southport were the most deprived areas in Britain.

This was widely interpreted as a warning that riots could happen this summer.

But Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that announcing it in a “readout” – given to journalists after a cabinet meeting – was not the way to do things.

“These are quite huge issues – the potential for disorder, social integration, the public mood, and ahead of summer,” the Labour peer said.

“I don’t know whether I’m just a bit old-fashioned about this, but I think it’s better when government are making statements like that they give people an opportunity to ask questions rather than this kind of sort of rather shadowy way of doing it.”

The former minister added that cabinet meetings are supposed to be secret so that everybody around the table can speak and say “anything they want because there is this protected thing”.

“You don’t say what’s happening at cabinet,” she added.

“And if anybody asks in the House of Commons or anywhere else, what happened in cabinet, the automatic response is ‘we don’t talk about what’s happened in cabinet, it’s private’. And they’ve sort of slightly breached that now.

“So is it now a situation where anybody can be asked, what did somebody say in cabinet?

“Or is it only that the prime minister can say what happened in cabinet?

“It’s a bit puzzling.”

Baroness Harman’s comments came after protests in Epping last week outside a hotel housing asylum seekers turned violent.

More than 1,000 people gathered outside The Bell Hotel in protests over two nights after an asylum seeker was arrested and charged on suspicion of alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in the town.

Counter-protesters joined, and this week Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused Essex Police of bussing them in, which the force said was “categorically wrong”.