Ian Orr’s Top Ten Tips for the Perfect Christmas Dinner

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also be very stressful when it comes to serving up a festive feast for the family.  Ian Orr, Chef Patron of the Browns Bonds Hill Collection believes it should be about spending quality time with family and friends and indulging with traditional festive fayre. 

Ian Orr from the Browns Bonds Hill Collection
Ian Orr, Browns Bonds Hill Collection

Ian shares his top ten tips for the perfect Christmas dinner:

  1. Keep things simple and don’t try to do too much
  2. Prepare your potatoes and veg the day before
  3. Boil your ham the night before and leave in water to cool, add cloves, garlic, sage, thyme and an orange cut in half
  4. Don’t score your sprouts, there is no need
  5. When roasting vegetables there is no need to boil them, just roast in the oven with honey, thyme & rosemary
  6. Use duck fat for roasting potatoes in the oven, once they are crispy finish with sea salt – Maris Piper is my recommendation
  7. If cooking a turkey crown, leave it to rest for 30 minutes before carving
  8. If serving a cheeseboard, leave it out of the fridge three hours prior and serve with a glass of port
  9. Use tin foil trays to keep the washing up to a minimum
  10. Cook extra on Christmas Day so it can be easily reheated on Boxing Day

Hopefully these top ten tips will inspire your Christmas dinner and help keep stress levels to a minimum.  Check out Ian’s fantasic recipe for cooking the turkey & ham:

Ian Orr’s Christmas Turkey & Ham Recipe

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