Festive Food and Cooking, Christmas Countdown and Recipes
By Elaine Lemm, About.com Guide to British & Irish Food
With the Christmas festivities comes a lot of hard work in the kitchen planning recipes. British Christmas cooking can be made so much easier with a little forward planning and making the freezer your friend. These Christmas recipes are for a traditional British and Irish Christmas with a time plan to make your holiday so much more fun.
- Christmas Recipe Box
- Christmas Gifts
- Top Tips for Stress Free Christmas Cooking
- Two Months Ahead
- One Month Ahead
Christmas Recipe Box
All the Christmas Recipes you will need for a great British Christmas.
- Brandy Butter
- Bread Sauce
- Buttered Brussels sprouts, Chestnuts and Bacon
- Christmas Cake
- Christmas Cookies
- Christmas Pudding
- Cranberry Sauce
- Glazed Gammon and Apricot Stuffing
- Mince Pies
- Pickled Onions
- Pigs in a Blanket - Bacon Wrapped Sausages
- Roast Parsnips
- Roast Potatoes
- Roast Turkey Cooking Times Calculator
- Roast Turkey, Sage and Onion Stuffing
- Smoked Salmon and Dill Sauce
Christmas Gifts
Find a foodie gift this Christmas with my selection of favorite cookbooks, food gifts, restaurants, hotels and kitchen ware.
Top Tips for Stress Free Christmas Cooking
Christmas is a time of celebration, sharing quality time with family and friends. If you are the cook in the house let me guess, by the time the revelries begin you’re too worn out to enjoy them. Here are some of my top tips to have a stress-free time cooking for Christmas.
- Step by Step to a Perfect and Stress Free Christmas Dinner
- Ten Top Tips
- Time Planner for Christmas Day
- Save Money on Christmas Food
Two Months Ahead
Planning and cooking for Christmas can begin up to two months ahead. A traditional British Christmas Cake needs at least 2 months to mature with plenty of time to keep it topped up with brandy.
Stocks for gravies and soups at Christmas can be made now as they freeze really well and are always a job worth doing in advance.
Christmas is a time not only for the traditional lunch but over the holidays snacks and buffet foods are always needed. Pickled onions are a perfect pickle to serve with cold cuts, cheeses and pies. Making them ahead of time gives them plenty of time to marinade in the jar to ensure a sweet flavor.
- Two Months Ahead - Christmas Cake Recipe
- Two Months Ahead - Make Stock
- Two Months Ahead - Pickled Onion Recipe
One Month Ahead
Now is the time to begin filling the freezer with Christmas dishes and also the time to make Christmas Puddings.
No British Christmas is right without trays of home-baked Mince Pies. Make batches of pastry and freeze so Mince Pies can be made quickly and easily throughout the Christmas season or if you are in a baking mood, make trays of Mince Pies and freeze.
