Enjoy Cooking Christmas Dinner

by Susanne Floe To Travel is to Live

Even the most experienced housewife has pre-Christmas nerves about how their meal will turn out, but with my tips you can have an almost stress-free Christmas.

Prepare your Christmas dinner like general going into battle.

1) First create a timetable in advance and stick to it.

2) Sharpen your weapons; sharpen your knives, check you have all the pots and pans in the correct sizes, if not, now is the time to buy new ones (you may want to take advantage of the Pre-Christmas Sales if your budget it tight).

3) Start on Christmas Eve. Set the table, prepare the dessert, wash and chop the veggies, make the cranberry sauce and bake the bread. It is best to prepare the potatoes just before you start to cook to keep the vitamins and minerals, but because you will be busy on Christmas Day it will not do any harm to peel the potatoes and put them in cold water in the fridge on Christmas Eve.

Choosing the Perfect Turkey

When selecting your turkey, fresh is best and free range is definitely best of all.

To allow generous portions with leftovers, cater for 1 lb/500 g per person. If on the other hand you want average portions with some leftovers, you want 10.5 oz/300g per person.

Top Ten Turkey Tip

* Defrosting the turkey in the refrigerator is the safest method and requires the least maintenance.

* Leave the turkey in its original wrapping and place it in a baking pan, breast side up. Allow 24 hours of thawing time for every five pounds of turkey.

* Do NOT wash your turkey before cooking as this could spread the bacteria around the kitchen. Any bacteria that may be on your turkey will be killed during the cooking process.

* To speed up the cooking time consider removing the legs.

* Breast meat dries easily, so it needs less cooking that the legs.

* To reduce the use of salt use herbs, garlic, lemon and spices for a good-flavour alternative.

* The turkey is cooked when the thermometer shows:

Breast: 329 F/165 C

Thigh: 338/356F/ 170/180 C

Stuffing: 329F/165 C

* Let the turkey rest 20-30 minutes before serving, so that the juices spread through the whole bird.

* The leftovers should be cooled slightly (1 hour maximum) before being placed in an airtight container and stored in the fridge.

* Store the stuffing leftovers separately, eat within 3 days.

... I leared to cook in confidence by using the free programme Magic-Hats

You may want to try it too - check it out - afterall it is free.