Christmas Dinner Without the Stress: My 36 Tips

### Part 1: Planning 1. Write down the number of people and any dietary restrictions. 2. Pick your dishes and find the recipes. Balance the complexity. 3. Estimate portion sizes and multiply the recipes by your head count. 4. Make your shopping list, and don't forget the drinks, please. 5. Write down how long everything takes to cook, longest to shortest. That tells you which day you actually have to start. 6. Count the pots, pans, bowls and utensils you need, plus your burners and oven size. Nothing is more annoying than running out of space, trust me. 7. Check you have enough plates, cutlery and glasses. Sounds obvious; I've seen enough Christmases go bad over missing plates. 8. Think about what you can prepare in advance. A stew or curry even gains flavor from a day in the fridge. Marinate overnight, bake the cake a day or two early, par-boil veggies, peel carrots. One search on your dish tells you what can be made ahead. 9. Stick to dishes you've made before. 10. Want something new anyway? Practice it in one of your dinners before Christmas. Nothing is worse than being frustrated by a dish you just don't know how to cook, I've been there, you don't know how many times. 11. No time to practice? Then make the new thing a side dish, way easier to pull off than a first-time Beef Wellington. You've been warned. 12. Christmas doesn't have to be a 5-to-15-course menu. For a big group, shared dining with large trays and bowls beats individual plating. 13. Delegate. Don't torture yourself with the responsibility of feeding all these mouths, it's also Christmas for you. Mary makes that amazing cake anyway; ask her to bring it. Just make sure the person can actually cook. 14. The holidays are about giving, so give back more than you take: if someone asks you to bring a dessert or starter to their party, support them, or politely decline and stay home. 15. Mise en place, the famous chef term: everything in place before you start cooking. And I mean everything, house clean, tables set, drinks cold, plan written out, pots and pans ready. This step should be the most work; it's what keeps you organized and stress-free in the kitchen. 16. Things will still go wrong, and that's okay. Set expectations and only invite nice people who understand kitchen chaos. If they don't, politely suggest doing Christmas at their place next year, see who laughs last. 17. Guests early? Snacks. A charcuterie or cheese board with some bread, and lots of drinks. ### Part 2: Cooking 18. Pick recipes by group size. Above eight guests I'd go for a whole turkey, multiple chickens or a large stew, things you buy in large and cook in large. 19. Temperature is everything. This is what people usually screw up when cooking in chaos. Check meat, fish, chicken and turkey with a meat thermometer, and get the star of the show, usually the protein, right. Guests forgive a colder Brussels sprout, never a cold expensive piece of meat. 20. Check what can be overcooked. Look up the perfect temperature for a dish and gauge it with your thermometer along the way, or skip dishes that only taste nice at one exact temperature. 21. Warm your plates slightly in the oven or microwave, warm dishes drop in temperature slower on a warm plate. 22. Keep food in the pans until the last minute, hold things in a very low oven, or cover oven dishes with aluminum foil. 23. My favorite way to keep food warm: a warm water bath, or better, get yourself a sous-vide system. Set it to a temperature and drop in bottles or jars to hold them warm. It also happens to make the perfect steak. 24. Fridge full? If you live in a cold climate, put food outside, it's probably colder than your fridge. Otherwise, cool boxes. 25. Rule of thumb for the menu: a delicious protein, two side dishes, a sauce or gravy, and Bob's your uncle. Start from the main course and build outwards to starter and dessert. 26. Have something sweet, sour, salty, umami and a crunchy texture on the table. ### Part 3: Plating 27. Turn one vegetable into a puree, smear it over the plate and lay your protein on top. Instantly nicer than mixed veg on a plate. 28. Draw your plating on paper first, you get the idea without cooking all the food. 29. Check yourself before you wreck yourself with liquids. Nothing ruins a plate like unexpected juice everywhere, suddenly your Beef Wellington is Beef Wellington soup. Serve sauce in a little jug next to the plate and let people ruin their own plating. 30. Think in colors. Missing red? Gravy, cranberry sauce, chili. Missing green? Herbs or green onion. As long as it fits the taste of the dish. 31. Less is more. Don't overcrowd the plate, you can always offer seconds. 32. Clear the edges of the plate. Trust me, it does wonders. 33. The plate itself matters too. I go minimal white or a dark shade, but it's your Christmas party, go wild. ### Part 4: Plan B 34. Always have a plan B in your plan. Burnt main? Overcooked steak? Fear not: your favorite takeout is the perfect fallback for a risky recipe. 35. Uncertain you can pull a dish off? Delegate it to someone else (see tip 13). 36. Not everything has to be from scratch. Sauces or potatoes can be pre-made from the store, or better, check your neighborhood artisan deli, butcher or bakery. These shops make amazing food for the holidays, and you get to enjoy Christmas too.