Christmas themed post! How to make a roast:

It’s all about the timing. You need to know what you are going to do and when and suddenly the whole thing gets a lot less hectic. First, the meat, work out how long it’s got to go in the oven for, usually a minimum of two, but it’ll tell you on the packaging. Oh, and one thing to note on christmas is that everyone else in the whole area around you is cooking dinner at roughly the same time, so you’re oven isn’t going to be as hot as it usually is, so watch out for that.

After the turkey goes in you have to remember to take it out every so often and bast it, that is scoop up those lovely juices and oils that you put it in and dribble them all over the meat. Helps to keep it moist and tasty. But don’t worry, you put things in and out of the oven all the time, so this shouldn’t be hard to remember.

Next thing – potatoes! Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Peel them, and then boil them until they are soft enough to push a knife through. Once you drain them you should be able to make them fluffy by putting them back in the pan,making sure the lid is on tight and then giving them a good shake. This helps with the crispy outside. Then put them in with the roast, in the same pan if you can, then you can use all those lovely meat juices to cook them in. Smoother those in oil as well to help them crisp up. Timings wise these need to boil for twenty odd minutes and then roast for an hour or so.

Parsnip go into roast as well, quarter of an hour after the spuds. Peel, slice and then just shove them in, simple.

Stuffing will depend on what you’ve got. Most of the packet ones need about a half hour in the oven after you’ve made them up, but fresh stuff takes longer.

Vegetables need boiling for quarter of an hour of so, so peel, chop, then throw them in some boiling water.

Yorkshires! If you’re lazy like me then you brought pre-made and packages ones, these take four minutes in the oven and can be done whilst you are carving the meat up.

Once the meat is done, take it out and lest it rest of the side for a bit, then carve it up, take everything else out of the oven, drain vegetables, serve and enjoy.

Oops, almost forgot the gravy! You can use store-bought stuff, but making it from the meat juices is so much tastier. So save those meat juices, add a couple of appropriate oxo cubes and a little bit of cornflour (or a lot depending on how thick you like it) and stir til smooth(ish) and you have some awesome real gravy!

The key to a roast is timing. Work out when you want to serve up, and then work backwards from that time. Draw up a schedule, it helps.

And remember – don’t forget the cranberries!

Merry Christmas!