Episode 10 Christmas Kitchen

'Twas two nights before Christmas, when all through the house,

not a creature was stirring... except my TV spouse.

The dishes were placed on the table with care,

in the hopes that delicious food would soon be there.

And it will, because this is Christmas Kitchen.

Hello and welcome to Christmas Kitchen, I'm Matt Tebbutt.

And I'm Andi Oliver.

And we're here with all the festive recipe inspiration you need

for the coming weekend. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

-Are you about to sing?

-Almost, I was just stopping myself!

Here's today team.

One of the nation's best-loved actors and comedians,

Ronni Ancona, is making an impression on us.

She's starring in a Christmas episode of Last Tango In Halifax.

And French chef Amandine Chaignot is providing

our international festive gift.

And what more could you want on Christmas day than to open

-a present handmade by Bake Off star Selasi?

-Yay!

He's here with a great little gift,

Parmesan and poppy seed biscuits and chorizo chutney.

And of course we all need something

to wash that delicious food down with

and Olly Smith is here,

with his selection of wines, cocktails and mocktails to suit every budget.

Plus, we unwrap the Christmas archives to find recipes from

the Hairy Bikers, Nigella and Delia,

who is cooking her traditional ham recipe.

Here it is, beside me, soaking away here.

It's actually ready now to be cooked.

-That looks inviting!

-Is it meant to be green, is it meant to be green?

Look forward to seeing that a little bit later on.

Right, now, let's get on with the cooking.

We've covered all sorts of festive food on this series, but today,

we're going to cook the most talked about dish,

the most controversial dish, and also the most divisive dish.

-The turkey.

-There's a lot of turkey.

-Where do you stand on turkey?

It's not my favourite thing.

But I have worked out if you treat it right, you can make it delicious.

OK, I'm going to do it three different ways,

then we're going to taste them

and then you can decide whether to try one of these methods

or do what you've been doing for generations, basically.

-Ronni, would you like to join us?

-Come over here, Ronni.

Come over here, come near the turkey.

Can I just say, when you say treat them right,

can I suggest that killing them and...

It was a bad start.

..plucking them isn't necessarily the best start?

I did mean a relationship, it was a relationship, I meant, really.

Just a thought.

-Are you a turkey fan?

-No, I'm very like you in that, sometimes...

-Take a seat over here, my darling.

-Oh, I'm going to have a little seat?

I think that if it is not done properly,

-and I'm not the person to do that, it can be...

-Horrendous.

Christmas dinner can be like it's chicken with hot jam, really.

-Chicken with hot jam. Cardboard with hot jam.

-It needs lots of work.

So we've got three different... This is the, kind of,

the quite popular one now. This is brining.

-OK?

-I brine.

-You see this quite a lot, Nigella brines.

-Do you brine?

-I brine. I'm a briner.

-All the greats.

-This is like a brine-off.

-Yes!

-It does feel like...

-Do you brine?

-No. I've never brined. No. Not at all.

-I feel incompetent.

-See, we're all...

-Stick with me!

It's going to turn into a big fight.

OK, so, this is brining.

So, basically, what we need to do,

all these ingredients here, nice Christmassy ingredients.

We've got cinnamon, we've got a few star anise down here, garlic,

thyme, bay leaves, sugar and salt. Equal quantities, basically.

Put it in here, cover it in water, dissolve it, over heat if you like,

and then when it's cool, push the bird down, breast side down.

And then you keep it somewhere called... Called? Cold.

-Like your garage. Cover it.

-Or your balcony or somewhere outside.

-Your balcony?

-Well, I haven't got a garage.

-Not everyone's got a garage, Matt.

-OK, all right.

We're not all living in mansions on the hill, Matt Tebbutt!

Some of us don't have a garage.

So, look, couple of days, two days, that'll probably do it.

-And all those flavours will get in there.

-Two days?!

-Two days.

I don't think you realise the organisation involved in that.

-No, but, do you know what?

-Put it in tonight, it'll be done already.

If you start early, it takes the strain off.

Of course I know that's a good thing, starting early, but just...

Right, OK, so that's brining. So this is another method.

This involves making a butter, just a nice herb, lemon butter,

-something like that.

-What herbs you got in there?

Bit of parsley, bit of tarragon, some bay leaves in there.

Garlic, thyme. Bit of lemon. And then, this is the interesting bit.

This is where it gets a little bit brutal.

-This is when you stuff it under the skin.

-Oh, matron.

It is a bit matron.

-You need to get your hand in there and loosen...

-Oh, wow.

I noticed that they're going for close-ups.

The good thing about turkey is,

the skin is actually quite thick so it's not that hard.

When you do that with a chicken, it's a bit more delicate.

Is this suitable for daytime viewing? I just wanted to check.

It's a turkey, not a glove puppet!

LAUGHTER

So, just ease the skin away. Down to the legs.

-It's a good thing, though, it makes it really luscious.

-Look at that.

-Ohh!

-It looks a little bit medical. Right. And then...

-You're going to squeeze that butter.

-We saw Fanny do this.

We saw Fanny Cradock do this in a recent episode. Very impressive.

-Under the skin.

-I think it's really appealing.

-And then just mash it.

-Am I quite weird?

-All over.

-Look at that!

The idea being that this is nice and moist

and it'll baste from the inside.

-Buttery, lovely, gorgeousness.

-I had an old aunt who...

-Shall I move that for you?

-I'll move this.

-You move that.

I'm going to find out about Last Tango In Halifax if it kills me!

Last Tango In Halifax.

-Last Tango In Halifax.

-Your character.

-Judith, yes.

Who, can I just say, used to be a screaming drunk.

But she's not, she's not in these last two episodes.

-And she's cleaned her act up.

-Oh, I'm glad, actually.

She's cleaned her act up and it's quite unusual

when you've played somebody drunk for the entire, for several series,

to suddenly, you know, she's sober.

I found it quite difficult to know what to do.

It's good to evolve the character, to move her on.

-All the women are brilliant characters.

-They're very strong.

And the great thing is, Andi, we're incredibly close,

the cast are really, really, very, very close cast.

Wonderful, Sarah Lancashire.

Sarah Lancashire and the fantastic Annie Reid,

-and Derek Jacobi, Nicola Walker.

-Brilliant.

And the wonderful Tony Gardner who plays my kind of, sort of,

hapless on-off lover.

And so it's a great... It really is, it's a very great cast.

Brilliant actors, sort of royalty at this point, we're talking about.

-Yes, well!

-It's on the iPlayer now because it's actually been on?

Yeah, it's been on, it's been on so it's on the iPlayer,

so if you've missed that, I know it's a very busy schedule.

-We've got a clip of it.

-Oh, my God, have you?

-We have a clip, have fun.

Gosh. Wow.

Well, of course, she started out in the state sector

all those years ago. In the '80s.

When we were both young enough and stupid enough

to imagine this country was capable of achieving something resembling social justice.

-Why is he dressed like James Bond?

-Why are you dressed like James Bond?

Oh, there's a car coming to take us to London, I did tell you.

Judith's...

She's been nominated for the Carnegie medal for children's fiction.

Are you ready?

Him and his little friend better not mess up the house while we're out.

-They do know that, don't they?

-Of course they do.

APPLAUSE

-Oh, I can't wait.

-So this is the last one. This is a glaze.

We're going to take the legs off,

because the legs are going to cook at a different rate to the breast.

Which is why legs are usually good to eat,

breast is usually overcooked.

So we're going to take the legs off and poach them in duck fat,

-or goose fat.

-You're going to confit them?

-Confit the legs.

In here, I've got some whisky, some soy sauce,

a little bit of butter, some paprika and sugar,

and then I'm just going to glaze it for the last hour of the cook.

-OK?

-That's a lot of whisky.

-It is.

I'm so glad you confit the legs,

because I thought I was the only person who did that.

I'm a big leg confit-er.

-All about the confit, darling.

-All about the confit.

-So, you just...

-So, what have you got in that oil in the confit?

You lay the legs out in some salt, with some herbs, bay leaves,

garlic, and then press them down. Leave them for about 24 hours.

-Draw the moisture out.

-Exactly.

And then you take them out, brush them off,

and then drop them in fat, bring them up to simmer and then just

tick it over very gently, probably for about going on two hours.

Have you put any spice or anything in your...?

You can put that in the salt, a little star anise,

peppercorns, coriander seeds, things like that,

anything you want, or nothing at all. Just need the salt.

Can I just say that you chefs,

you always throw away all these amazing herbs and spices, like,

us lesser mortals, when you go,

"Oh, it's just got a little bit of coriander,

"star anise, cinnamon, garlic, a bit of this, a bit of rosemary."

That involves us lesser mortals going,

I thought I knew I had it somewhere!

Looking in the fridge. Not having the stuff.

If you look at your spice cupboard, have you got a spice cupboard?

-Yes, yes, I have.

-I'm assuming. I don't want to assume.

You just pick things off.

It doesn't have to be those. It can be whatever you like.

Doesn't have to be fresh?

Well, seeds and stuff last for ages.

Yes, no, I've got... I'm embarrassed, I asked the question.

Ronni, across the whole of your career,

what is the performance that you're most nervous about, most keyed up?

Doing stand-up or even the live, the clubs, can be phenomenally scary.

You know, it's quite terrifying.

I think stand-up has to be the most terrifying notion

of any kind of performance.

Terrifying, and in fact, there are some great stories about.

I mean, I died a death that was so bad, once,

I just literally ran out of the club,

ran onto the closest bus I could see,

I didn't even know where it was going.

And everybody the next day sort of rung me, who was on the bill,

just to check I was still alive!

We've all done it. We've all done it.

You know, there are some legendary stories on the circuit.

How are you doing there, Matt?

OK, so, look, I'm getting there, these are my turkeys.

-So, shall we have a look at the brined one?

-Can I just say?

I do all these things, I brine it, then I butter it, then I glaze it.

-So I do all of them.

-Do you?

-Yes, I do.

-That's just totally boasting now.

-No, no!

It's only because that's...

It gives you the optimum turkey experience.

Do any of you just take it out of the cellophane wrapper

-and shove it in the oven?

-Very, very juicy.

-It does look amazing, that's just the brine?

-That's the brined one.

So that's the brined one.

I'm now wondering where my roast potatoes and stuff are.

I suppose it's fair enough.

I just cooked three turkeys, give me a chance.

-Absolutely gorgeous.

-So, what else is up for you next year?

Well, I'm actually doing a Hollywood film which is quite exciting,

but it's actually filming in Wales.

-Oh!

-Not that...

It's just, any time I've ever done any exciting films or anything,

you know, like I did one that was set in the Hamptons,

I was only... And I thought, "Oh, I'm going to America!"

Packing my bag, and they're... "Actually, Ronni, we found somewhere

"that looks like the Hamptons, it's called East Grinstead."

LAUGHTER

And I thought, of course you are! Because this is my life!

Would you guys like to come over?

We're going to start trying turkey any second now.

Matt, I have to say, it's quite impressive.

-They all look really juicy.

-They look delicious.

-OK. So let's...

-Just dying.

-If you could just... So, that's the glazed one.

-This is the buttered one.

-Seriously, really want a potato.

-And that's the... That one is the brined one.

-Need some gravy.

So, dive in and see what you think.

-Now, which one is this one?

-That's the brined one.

-Oh, Matt.

-Yum!

-The glazed one, this one, right?

-That was the glazed one.

That's so delicious.

I've just had some of the buttered one, it's really gorgeous.

I think I'm loving the brine, the glaze is good,

they're all brilliant.

Get involved with some of that.

Yeah, I think you've converted me to brining. You have.

-To brining, really?

-Moist, as well.

-I think you have.

-Selasi, what would you do?

-Um... I'd go for the brine.

-I'll go for the brine.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-OK.

I tell you what I'd do, I'd try not to burn it.

That's a good starting position.

OK. So, all those recipes are on the website, obviously.

-I salute your industry, Matt.

-Thank you very much.

-Did a lot of work.

Now, every good Christmas dinner deserves some wine to go with it,

-and Olly, you've got something a bit luxury, and a bit less.

-I have.

OK, you go and get that.

While he gets those from our wine tree, it's Christmas quiz time.

Now, chefs get so obsessed with food,

it's sometimes hard to know what they're going on about.

So, for a bit of fun, we want to see if you can guess

what some of the nation's favourite chefs are talking about.

Today it's Nigella. Listen up.

'These are my ultimate Christmas treat.

'That's what I always want to find in my stocking.'

Socks!

Is it a Letts boy diary and a satsuma?

Chocolate truffles.

-How would you do Nigella?

-It's sort of...

-AS NIGELLA:

-I love bread. It's so primal.

It is just the very basic essence of life.

-LAUGHTER

-And when it's cooked, it's called toast.

I actually love her dearly, she's such a wonderful woman.

What do you think she was talking about just now?

-I have absolutely no idea.

-Mulled wine sachets.

-Mulled wine sachets?

Let's have a look.

These are my ultimate Christmas treat.

That's what I always want to find in my stocking.

Some marron glace, that's candied chestnuts,

that are dense and grainy and sweet and really unlike anything else.

-Do you like those, marron glace?

-Yeah. I wouldn't have guessed that.

I said chocolate truffles. I wasn't too far, well, it was quite far!

I find it very relaxing watching Nigella.

If I get any more marron glace from my in-laws this year...

-Trouble!

-Year after year after year.

-You're going to kick off.

Right, Olly, it's wine time.

-You're going to talk us through two wines...

-To go with turkey.

One's a bit more expensive, luxury, and one's a bit less.

That's it, Christmas time,

a savoury red is absolutely the answer with turkey.

And savoury reds generally are reds

that have been aged a little bit in oak barrels.

Young wines tend to taste fruity,

older wines get a bit more savoury and rich.

So I've got two here.

One from Spain, one from Italy, one is less, one is luxury.

Let's go with our robin first of all. This is a Rioja.

A Rioja reserver, it's been in a barrel for over a year,

and then aged in the bottle as well for another couple of years.

Aged in American oak which is actually

a bit sweeter than French oak.

But, for me, as kind of... Yeah, Christmas time,

Rioja has that mellow, easy richness.

I think appeals to people who like wines that are

actually really finely balanced between full-on and more elegant.

Rioja just nails it for me.

-Yeah.

-But let's have a little taste of our Santa hat.

This is a slightly different style of wine. This is from Italy.

-This is a Brunello...

-Is it?

-Yeah.

It's been aged for a bit longer, four years in barrel.

-If it's a Reserva, it will be five.

-Mmm!

-Very savoury. Very rich.

Lovely, that's almost like port-like.

It's so velvety, isn't it?

-Very smooth.

-These wines are made from the sangiovese grape.

They are historic, I mean, they've been going since the Middle Ages.

They're very hot in the Appalachian about standards,

about making sure that it has typicity and... Yeah, what a...

-How are you getting on down there, guys? Any favourites?

-Santa hat.

Santa hat.

-Santa hat.

-That's the one you prefer.

-Yes.

-Do you think that's less or luxury, out of interest?

-Um...

-Luxury.

-You think the Santa is luxury. Could be.

-It's tense moments, here.

-I'm more into the robin, actually.

-Really?

-You're into the Robin.

-I like it.

Which one do you think is luxury and which one is less?

I think maybe this one.

-The Santa hat.

-Yeah.

-Is more luxury.

-But you prefer...

-I prefer the other one.

-RONNI:

-I like them both.

-This does taste exceptionally smooth.

-The Santa hat?

Yeah, the Santa hat.

-It is very velvety.

-OK, I'm going to put it out there.

-I think Santa hat is the luxury.

-So do I.

-Shall I reveal? The Santa hat...

-is indeed luxury.

-Ah!

-It's the gold medal-winning wine.

This is going to sound like it's a lot of money, and of course it is.

-£17.98 from Asda. It's an awful lot.

-It's Christmas Day, though.

It's Christmas Day. What I will say, though,

is Brunellos do actually cost even more than that quite often.

And actually, as a glimpse of the style, I think for

Christmas Day, it's a fitting celebration to crown the table.

-It's gorgeous.

-But actually, there's another brilliant option,

which Amandine loves.

Our robin is less, and it's a complete steal.

Another medal winner, silver medal winner, but still brilliant.

And that's £8 from Tesco. Tesco Finest, Vina del Cura Rioja.

THEY ALL TALK AT ONCE

So, listen, Olly, if you weren't drinking at Christmas,

what would you pair with turkey?

With turkey, do you know what? I'm a massive fan of tea,

-and there are some incredible...

-Tea?!

There's a really beautiful savoury Chinese tea,

especially from Wu Yi.

You get these wonderful, rich savoury flavours,

and they echo the umami richness, exactly the same kind of thing...

Get you! That's a bit left-field.

Wu Yi tea with turkey, trust me, it's absolutely gorgeous.

-Is that hot, cold, warm?

-Absolutely have it hot.

And it is one of the most comforting winter drinks. Not with milk,

you just have a black, it's beautiful.

Come to mine, I'll make you tea and Turkey, mate, you'll love it.

All right, wonderful. Now, thank you so much, Olly, lovely, delicious.

I like this feature more and more every time.

Now, Selasi caused quite a stir in the tent this year,

and he'll be serving up a delicious home-made gift for us later.

Selasi, what are you making?

I'm making my savoury Parmesan, rosemary biscuits with

poppy seeds in them, and also accompany them with chorizo chutney.

-Oh, look at your little chutney, it's so cute.

-A little chutney jar.

I like a little, mini jar...

And Andi and I will be taking part in

a bit of friendly festive competition,

a cook-off where we both create our own version of a dish,

festively titled Yule Decide.

And today, we're using a very seasonal fruit, clementines.

Now, let's have our daily visit to the Hairy Bikers.

Today, Si and Dave are making Thai inspired canapes

to get the party started.

Heavens.

-Well, they say that travel broadens the behind.

-That's mind, mate, mind.

Years ago on our travels,

we fell in love with the great flavours of Asian food.

So, when we discovered Tuk back in Barrow,

we were excited to have some of her fantastic Thai food here in Blighty.

She cooked up a storm on the Christmas programme a while back.

I even got her to cook for my wedding banquet.

You can tell you're at Tuk's house, look at the gates!

-I know, she made them herself, you know.

-Did she?

-Yeah.

But there's one thing you can guarantee,

there's always a party at Tuk's house.

You're not wrong there, man.

-Tuk!

-BOTH:

-Merry Christmas!

Come on, come in.

-Come on.

-Oh, Tuk, this looks good.

Yeah, I've prepared all the ingredients

for the cooking for today.

Today we're going to cook all of the finger food, or party food.

Food you can pick up and carry.

Before we cook up the wonders of the East,

Tuk has a little spiritual exercise for us.

-Now we've fed the spirit, it's time to feed the belly.

-Let's go.

-Yay!

Yay!

-What's first, Tuk?

-We are going to do the chicken wing first.

So the chicken wings,

-they need to be marinated in a nice Thai curry paste.

-Yeah.

-So we've got lemon grass, garlic.

-Yes, and some piece of ginger.

-And I just start.

-Yes, start trying.

Two tablespoons of soy sauce.

-That's a dark soy.

-And oyster sauce.

I tend to put a little bit of dark brown sugar.

-It balances with the soy, doesn't it?

-Yes, that's right, yeah.

-There's your wings.

-OK, then.

-And there's your marinade.

-Stick your head in that, Kingy.

-Oh!

Lemon grass, ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, soy, oyster.

The chicken wings are crispy, Tuk, because of the plain flour that we've just sprinkled on the top.

-Brilliant.

-We can leave that to marinade to make something else, can't we?

-Yeah.

'Whilst those fabulous wings do their thing,

'I'm make an assault on a mountain of prawns.'

-Self-raising flour.

-Yeah.

-Some ground black pepper.

-Yeah, that's right.

-Salt.

That's it, lovely. Teaspoon of salt.

And now we're going to mix the egg with really cold water.

That's it.

We're going to mix them really, really well.

'These Japanese breadcrumbs are known as panko.

'They give the prawns their light golden colour and crispy outside.'

You put in there, just to make sure they... Yeah.

And just drop in there.

And that's it, just to get that breadcrumb everywhere.

-It's seasoned flour. It's the iced water and egg.

-Yes.

And then the panko.

Simple as that.

'Now that's how you can have a Thai nibble that your local

'restaurant would be proud of.'

Try. Go on, try. Yeah, you don't try, you don't know.

Look, the prawn's cooked right the way through, just.

The batter is so thin, you feel you're eating the prawn

and not the batter.

Nice to hear.

'Time to get the marinated Thai chicken wings cooked.'

-Look at that.

-Aye.

-Wow.

-They're beautiful. Aren't they?

Absolutely beautiful. Merry Christmas.

'Whenever Tuk rustles up the simplest of nibbles,

'it's an excuse to party.'

ALL: Hi!

Oh, wow, hello, girls.

'There's quite a strong Thai community around Barrow.

'Most of which appear to be in Tuk's conservatory.'

-Can we try it?

-Yeah.

-That's Tuk's chicken wings.

-Thank you. That's nice.

Thanks, guys. Time now to bring an international flavour

to the Christmas kitchen.

Amandine Chaignot has a great recipe.

Amandine, tell us about it. What are we doing?

So we're going to do a ravioli with the langoustine and bring

a bit of really different influences through ginger

-and the wonton dough.

-Yeah.

-First, you can peel the carrot.

-OK.

-So, as you can see...

-These are heritage carrots, right?

-Yeah, different colours.

-Mm-hm.

And then you're going to use the mandolin, do really nice slices.

-Wafer thin?

-Erm...

LAUGHTER

And this is for you too.

And especially when they're big like that...

-So with the head and everything, we're going to do a broth.

-Mm-hmm.

-A bit like a bisque, you know?

-OK.

And you're not using the meat from the claws,

-you're going to put those in the broth.

-In the broth,

-everything in the broth.

-OK.

-Simple. You know, it's Christmas, you don't

want to spend hours in the kitchen.

Is this sort of typical of the dishes that you do?

-Try to be simple?

-Yeah.

Simple but kind of seasonal, or sort of many influences?

Efficient, seasonal, yeah, straight to the point. Not overcomplicated.

-Definitely.

-Tell us about this vanilla pod.

Vanilla pod and langoustines, I mean, it's unusual, no?

Yeah, I don't know if you remember, long ago, Alain Senderens

at the Lucas Carton, he used to do a really beautiful recipe

-with lobster and vanilla.

-OK.

-It was kind of...

-Which then got widely copied, didn't it?

Never copied. Just influenced. Yeah.

So, I think, actually it works really well,

the vanilla and crustaceans.

If you add a bit of acidity with a lime or lemon,

it's really interesting.

I'm just incredibly impressed that Amandine is cooking in

four-inch stilettos. I just think it's amazing.

It hadn't slipped my...

I thought you might have noticed that, Matt.

Show the shoes.

-You've got to show the shoes.

-Show us the shoes. Check those out.

Can you see them? Look at that. I'm just very impressed.

-As women we're very impressed.

-A bit of butter.

-It's always better with butter.

-Too thick?

-A bit thicker.

-A bit thicker.

-Yeah.

-OK.

So, the whole vanilla langoustine thing,

you were just talking about, is that quite difficult to balance?

You're never going to put, like, 100 beans of vanilla anyway.

-Just a little touch.

-Just a little touch.

A bit of... A touch of sweetness.

-Would you put it with any other fish?

-Yeah.

-What would you do?

-John Dory, for instance, works really well.

-OK.

-We used to have...

We're using a lot of vanilla in pastry, but actually it's really

interesting in cuisine as well, in the kitchen, the savoury.

Good. So I'm going to keep all the trimmings.

The carrots are very pretty.

Going to put in the broth.

-OK.

-OK? What else can I do?

Now you're going to cut this like that.

It'll be the garnish, actually.

And, Amandine, can you get these carrots these days?

You can. In most supermarkets, they sell them these days, right?

You can find all of those pretty easily and if you don't find

carrots like that,

you can do almost the same recipe with roots like

chervil roots, celery,

maybe not beetroot because it's a bit too strong.

-It's your turn.

-Shall I carry on?

-Yeah!

Any other roots but nothing too strong that's going to overstate...

-Not too strong, yeah.

-Right. I'm loving the colours.

And all the trimmings, you put them in the broth anyway.

So what do...? What would your average sort of French family

sit down and eat and enjoy on Christmas Day?

Really simple things actually.

It's the only occasion that we have to meet and gather,

because we're all spread everywhere

in Europe and France, so we go for simple things,

the sort of thing that you can prep in advance, either a chapon.

-OK. OK.

-What's a chapon?

-It's a chicken that you...

-Oh, like a capon!

Oh, OK. Now I'm with you.

I was pretending I knew what you were saying.

Ronni thought you were talking about a hat.

She thought you said a chapeau.

A chapeau? No, no, no. Well, you can try,

but I'm not sure that it's really tasty.

So you don't really do turkey so much?

It's not really popular in France. We never do turkey.

Don't you do something at midnight on Christmas eve?

-Is it Le Reveillon...?

-Le Reveillon.

-Le Reveillon de Noel.

-Yeah.

What happens then? Is that, like, a party or...?

Depending on the family's traditions,

either you go to church or you just enjoy a nice chimney and...

with roasted chestnuts or something.

Everybody else's really good at doing Christmas Eve apart from us.

We just don't do anything, do we?

Apart from row about who's going to watch what.

Who's cooking what the next day.

I do think it's a nice thing to kind of ease your way in.

Yeah, make the most of the two days.

So these little ravioli,

this is a bit of a sort of cheat's ravioli in a way.

-Yeah, it's the lazy option.

-But it works, doesn't it?

-These are little wonton papers, right?

-Really, really efficient.

-Taste great as well.

-Yeah.

It's the perfect thing that you always have, like, in case, in your freezer,

you have some friends around, take them out, perfect.

Sorry, are you kidding me?

Is this the sort of thing you might do at the last minute?

This you can do it and freeze it.

You say you've got friends coming over, you don't know what to cook

for them, I'll pull out some langoustines and ravioli. Really?!

-You can have this ready in the freezer. Yeah, sure.

-OK.

Where do you live?

I am so coming round at the last minute to your house!

Seriously, it's really convenient to keep in the freezer.

Just a bit of salt. Simple. And you put the other one on top.

-Yum!

-That's really complicated(!)

This is it.

So, here we're going to do just three pieces, because I would

consider it as a starter, but obviously if you want to be

a bit more generous...

You can add a bit of basil in it, you can have fun.

Is there anything I can do to help? I feel I've just done some carrots.

-I feel a bit useless.

-You can cook it now.

-I can cook the carrots?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Cook the carrots. We can pass the broth as well.

With the heads and stuff, you're making a broth, are you?

Yeah. Kind of a bisque.

Actually, it's not really a broth, because we're going to keep

-the butter in it, so it's more like a bisque.

-This is good news.

There's butter going in - yay!

OK, so we're going to pass it through. This, we can keep it

on the side, going to use it at the very end.

-How long does this cook down for?

-Not too long.

For everything with a crustacean base like that,

if you cook it too long, you're going to have a bitter taste,

a bit like... Almost like concrete, something really stony.

-You start getting the flavour of the shell rather than the...

-Yeah.

-So I reckon, like, half an hour, to me, is far enough.

-OK.

So you pass it through.

-So when does the vanilla go in?

-Erm...at the very end.

And is there a reason for that? Is that to keep the freshness?

To keep the freshness and to make sure that it's not over-infused

-as well.

-OK.

And then in your broth,

we're going to put...

We're going to cook the ravioli directly in the broth,

so they're not going to be washed, you know...

-How long will they take?

-Not too long.

It's just one langoustine in each, so I would think...

-maybe three minutes on each side and we're going to turn it over.

-OK.

In the meantime, we're going to put the vanilla in the broth.

-Into the broth, the soup, the sauce.

-Yeah.

They are great, those little wonton skins.

And it makes less things to wash after it.

I use those wonton skins quite a lot actually,

I keep them in my fridge. They're brilliant.

They're just so great, you can do little spring rolls, you can

make little gyoza, ravioli, anything, really, really fast.

-It's a really good short cut.

-Do you poach these quite gently?

-Yeah.

-Just a couple of minutes.

-OK.

-Look at it.

-So, you see, it's really, really quick.

-And that's it? We're done?

-Yeah, super easy.

-OK.

Oh, we were getting on so well, we're going to have such a row.

-There's only three.

-I can't bear it.

-You could maybe cut it in half and share it.

-What?

-How about that?

-How about sharing?

-It's Christmas. Sharing is caring.

Ooh, a little lime to kick in with that ginger. Nice.

This is it.

-And that's it.

-Voila!

-So remind us, remind us what that is.

Langoustine ravioli with a carrot and ginger broth

and just a touch of vanilla and lime zest.

All right! Let's get over there. There's only three.

There's only three. I'm going to get some cutlery.

-Amandine, these are beautiful.

-It's so beautiful.

And all done five-inch stilettos. So impressed.

Very sweet. It's delicious.

-Delicious.

-Just unbelievable.

-Oh, wow!

-Oh, it's so light.

-Very difficult to...

Delicious. The vanilla's interesting.

It's really fragrant but you don't really identify it as

-vanilla necessarily straightaway.

-No.

-That's really nice. That's absolutely lovely.

-Absolutely delicious.

-That's really delicious.

-That's lovely. Lovely. Lovely. Right.

It's hard to escape chocolate at this time of year.

It's everywhere in the shops and you're bound to be given some.

Here's Nigella with a great recipe to use up some chocolate.

A chocolate salami.

I do know that this is supposed to be the season of peace and goodwill,

but I've always got time for a little bit of kitchen violence.

I am bashing 250g of amaretti and they are for my salami,

and I haven't gone completely mad,

because the salami is not made out of pork, but out of chocolate.

Really glorious dark chocolate, 250g as well.

It is cooled but I'll let it cool a little bit more and I can get on

with creaming some butter, I've got 100g of butter,

soft and unsalted...

..and 150g of sugar.

And I want these to be mixed until they're light and fluffy.

Three eggs go in.

Couple of spoonfuls of Amaretto. Mm!

Before I add a chocolate, I want to add a couple of spoonfuls of cocoa.

Stir this in.

This recipe is an indulgence in more than one way.

It's both deliciously decadent and also just a bit of whimsy,

and normally I don't go in for whimsy, but at this time year,

I feel a certain amount of playfulness is to be encouraged.

And now I can add the chocolate mixture.

And this smooth mixture is now going to be roughed up

by 75g of chopped almonds.

I like the almonds which still have their skins on.

75g of chopped hazelnuts.

And a bit less, 50g of chopped pistachios.

I've got one more ingredient to add,

but I think it would be more pleasurable to do so by hand.

The remaining ingredient is this bag full of crushed amaretti.

I need it to sit in the fridge just to firm up a little

and then, all will be made clear.

So my chocolate mixture has firmed up just enough.

I'm hoping to be able to turn it into a salami.

This doesn't require magic so much as a teeny bit of patience,

but a tolerance for getting a bit messy.

I've overlapped two pieces of clingfilm and now I am going to

form this roughly into a log of about 30cm long.

Now I'm going to wrap it in the cling

and roll this rather as if it were itself a rolling pin,

because this is what will make it look more like a salami later.

I want to get the tapered ends almost as if it were

a proper salami.

And now this goes in the fridge to set and then, the magic happens.

Once the chocolate salami has been in the fridge long enough to

set solid, I sit it on some baking parchment.

I then snip away at the clingfilm,

removing all except for the two pieces at either end.

Then I douse and dredge liberally with icing sugar,

and I do this for two reasons.

One, it really does start making this chocolate log look like

a salami and also it stops it being too sticky as I tie it up with string.

And I string it up by first cutting a length of string,

about six times as long as the salami. I tie string to one end of

the salami and then I start looping it around and threading it through.

I carry on for as long as my patience and time allows.

Once it's fully stringed, it really does look like the sort of

salami you would see in an Italian deli with the meats,

but, of course, it is deliciously sweet

and is the perfect treat to slice

whenever a friend comes around, or to eat by yourself

should you be lucky enough to have any time alone in the kitchen.

Mm!

-Nice idea. I like that.

-It really looked like salami actually.

-It did.

-It properly looked like salami.

-Really, really nice. Right.

Still to come, Olly's got some mocktails and cocktails for us

-and today, he's got a selection of hot mulled drinks. Delicious!

-Yum!

And Bake Off star Selasi is showing us how to make a home-made gift -

Parmesan and poppy seed biscuits and chorizo chutney.

Who wouldn't want to get that?

Absolutely. And we'll be stepping into Christmas past with Delia

and rediscovering her classic ham recipe.

Now, if you've ever been given a hamper at Christmas,

then there's probably quite a few things in it that you

don't know what to do with. So every day, we're giving you some

recipe suggestions for those foodie gifts to make sure you actually

use them and not just put them in the cupboard and forget about them.

So, Matt, here is the last gift of our little party that we've been

-having. It's our last gift.

-I know.

-It's gone quickly, hasn't it?

-What have we got today? Ginger.

-Crystallised ginger.

Crystallised ginger. OK.

This is a good one, because really,

people do not know what to do with it. Fancy a bit? Not really.

-I eat it. I love it.

-Do you quite like it?

-Love it. Love it. Scoff it.

-I think you might be the only one.

-Am I the only one in Britain? I'm the only man in Britain.

-Seems so, Olly. Seems so.

-So, shall we cook together today?

-Yes, as it's our last one.

-I like that, that's fun.

-OK.

What I thought I'd do with it is a little sort of seafood salad,

a little bit sort of Asian, so we've got some soy sauce,

a bit of palm sugar here, some vegetables, got the seafood and then

I'm just going to chop that up and just basically make a nice little...

Where is this going to go, in with the vegetables or the seafood?

-This is going to go into the sauce.

-Right. OK. What do you want me to do?

-I'll start sauteing this.

-If you could... We need to chop up the palm sugar.

-Yep.

I need the garlic microplaned, chop up a chilli, quite nice and

fine and some of that ginger, a good sort of four or five heads of that.

I'll start with this.

Let me get a plate out, because I'm going to saute the seafood

and just put it to one side.

-With a little bit of oil.

-Garlic?

-Yeah. A bit of garlic in there.

-Garlic. Do you want both of these chillies?

-Yes.

Let's just take that off there for now.

Those chillies and chop those up as finely...

-Leave the seeds in.

-..as you can go.

And then you've got to peel the carrot...

-The carrot and the courgette.

-..and the courgette,

-and just sort of strip them down into ribbons, really.

-Yeah.

-Rather like you were doing earlier, sir.

-Exactly.

-Just one of these chillies?

-Exactly.

-Um...yeah, that's good.

-Enough?

-Just a bit finer, finer, finer.

-A bit finer, finer, finer.

-Yes, please.

-Finer, finer.

Yeah, go over that.

So I'm using quite a lot of this ginger.

-Nice. Have you tasted any of it?

-Yeah. I quite like it.

-Is it quite nice?

-It's, um...

-Mmm! It is quite nice, actually.

-It's good, isn't it?

-I stand corrected, I forgot that I liked it!

-Marvellous.

Just looks like it's going to be a bit Turkish delight-y,

-and I'm not in it.

-Yeah.

-Not in with the Turkish delight.

-Is that not your thing?

-No.

The bite of the ginger, though, I think it's gorgeous. Love it.

-Yeah, that is nice, actually.

-Love it.

-Great chopping. I wish I could chop.

-Some of the best.

-Skills, man.

-I wish I could shop.

-How's that, Chef?

-Yeah, great.

-Is that all right?

-OK, so, here, take some of this oil here.

Thank you.

-OK.

-Look at us, sharing oil at Christmas.

There you go, put that in there. So start...

Do it over a slow heat,

just to start pulling out the flavours, without burning it.

So in there with the prawns.

Spread them out nice and evenly, and then leave them alone.

And when I turn them over, I'll throw in the squid,

and then take it out.

We're not doing badly for good seafood today, are we?

-Loving the seafood.

-Yeah.

Well, it's kind of... I think it goes well at Christmas.

It's so great at Christmas, because you just...

You know, you have that thing, running up to the one enormous meal.

And it's really great to have something lighter and fresher

and sort of zingy, I think.

-Get rid of these two bits.

-OK.

So in the pan with the tentacles.

Need a touch more oil in there, actually.

A bit of that.

So in the pan with the ginger.

What is the very, very first thing you both eat on Christmas morning?

-The very first thing what?

-You eat on Christmas morning.

-Champagne.

-LAUGHTER

-I have a good old...

-Not a food group, I'm sure.

I have champagne and we do...

You know, we like a poached egg, smoked salmony, you know,

-cured fish kind of vibe.

-Hang on, hang on, that's wrong, that's wrong.

-Oh, sorry, I thought you wanted it in!

-No!

-LAUGHTER

-I thought you told me to put it in!

-No, not in there. No.

-Oh, all right.

Keep that separate. So keep... Keep...

Not used to following orders, you know.

-All right, let me take it back then, Chef, yeah?

-Take that to one side.

-That's going to go in this pan...

-Oh, I see, Chef. Sorry, Chef.

..when the seafood's done. So, in here...

-So I've got the ginger, the garlic and chilli.

-Oh, I see. OK.

-All right.

-A bit of sesame oil in there, not too much.

-That's really, really strong.

-There you go, that's enough of that.

Right, so in there with some...

Put this to one side, I'm not throwing them away.

Are we finished with the ginger now?

-Finished with that for now.

-So I can leave a couple of pieces here,

why don't I give it to our illustrious guests?

-Why did you have a little...?

-Yes!

-It's quite pretty, actually.

-Oh, it's lovely stuff.

-I don't know why I was so anti-ginger.

-I'm liking the ginger.

-I'll just have a little bit.

OK, so let's put the veg in there.

-Put the vegetables in there now?

-Yeah.

Oh, that's for the seafood pan.

And, of course, all of today's studio recipes,

including this one, are on the website. Go to...

OK, I'm just adding a bit of butter at the end,

just to smooth it all out. It's very strong, this sauce.

It's all about that sweetness. There's a lot of chilli in there.

-But it's quite sweet as well.

-There's a lot of chilli.

-Nice.

But you've got that nice, sweet ginger, so I'm sure it will...

OK. We're good to go.

So...

..get a little pile of the vegetables.

Nice vegetables. Smell gorgeous.

Just very simple, very straightforward.

-Yeah, smells lovely, though.

-I like a bit of bok choy as well.

-I love bok choy. It's nice. I like gai lan.

-Do you?

You know, the Chinese broccoli, they call it.

Really dark green and really vivid, and the flavour is great with it.

-I love that mixed in with the bok choy.

-OK.

-Beautiful.

Right, some of that.

-Here we've got our, um...

-Gorgeous seafood.

-..our seafood.

-Quite a lot of seafood here.

-We're so lucky.

-We are very fortunate!

-LAUGHTER

-I mean...

-God bless us all.

-Isn't that nice?

-It's just too gorgeous.

-Oh, it smells brilliant.

-And then finally...

just a bit of this dressing.

And that dressing's got chilli, garlic, ginger, sesame oil.

Sesame oil, and then a little butter at the end...

-A little bit of beurre.

-..just to mellow...

-Mellow it out.

-Buerre.

-Buerre.

OK. So that's that. That's that. Little bit of...

There's your zest, babes. Zest it up, babes. Lovely.

-MATT LAUGHS

-Don't know who that was, sorry.

-Not sure who she was, but she's gone now.

-Gone all urban.

There you go, that's how to do... How to use up your ginger.

-Beautiful.

-That's a little seafood salad with the ginger.

-Lovely.

-Right.

-Delicious.

-Let's go.

-Here we go, from both of us.

-Oh, it's quite pokey, that chilli.

-It's quite strong, isn't it?

It is quite strong. But they vary so much, don't they?

But you've got the lovely palm sugar and the ginger sweetness and heat,

different sorts of heat. I think that's good.

-What is everyone else having?

-LAUGHTER

-Oh, wow!

-Oh, my gosh. Are we allowed to try this?

-Yeah, please get involved.

-Are we serious? That looks so delicious.

Look at that.

Yes, you may move the biscuits.

-Mmm!

-You can taste the ginger.

-You can definitely taste the ginger.

I would sacrifice my Christmas ginger for that dish, definitely.

I like that there's two kinds of heat.

You get the heat from the chilli,

and a get this sort of warm, different ginger heat.

-A golden glow, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-It is incredibly soothing, that ginger heat.

-That's so delicious.

Now, tell me, what's your favourite thing to eat at home at Christmas?

Well, I think I quite like things

that you would only get at Christmas.

I do quite like some of the really unusual stuffings you get,

sort of, you know, like apricot and chestnut stuffing, things like that.

-Exotic stuffing? LAUGHING:

-Exotic stuffing!

We made exotic stuffing this week, didn't we?

This has got a little ominous, this show, hasn't it?

Thanks for that, Ronnie(!)

Now here's some of our favourites celebrities

telling us what they like to eat at Christmas.

Oh, well, I think turkey and all the trimmings, really.

It's my favourite meal of the year.

I look forward to turkey with, you know, all the...

The stuffing and the gravy, particularly,

made with the giblets and all that.

And the roast potatoes and the Brussels sprouts.

That's my favourite meal of the year.

As a child, I always looked forward to that most.

But now you can have it any old time of the year, really.

But I don't generally have it unless it's Christmas Day.

To be honest with you, I don't like turkey,

and my wife is not keen on turkey.

So we usually...

I'd much prefer to have a ribeye steak.

Me favourite things to eat at Christmas

is the whole of the Christmas dinner,

which has to be turkey and it has to be all the trimmings.

And I associate a cranberry sauce with Christmas. It has to be there.

Nothing looks more thoughtful than a home-made gift.

Bake Off star Selasi has a dazzling idea for a gourmet gift.

Selasi, what are we doing? How can I help?

We're making rosemary and Parmesan biscuits.

Quick and easy, you can just put that in a gift,

-in a gift bag for neighbours, friends, you know?

-Right.

That goes well with chutney.

-So if I can get you to just chuck all that in the pan for me.

-OK.

-Actually, do you want to chop this for me as well.

-Yeah, yeah, OK.

No worries. So when did you get into baking, then? When did that...?

I picked up baking at university, actually.

Just watching my friend bake while we were both at university.

We used to make fairy cakes and nice little pizza doughs,

-put some ham and pineapple on there.

-Right.

So very simple stuff, but... Yeah.

And I haven't looked back since, to be honest. I love it.

So what prompted you to go into the Bake Off, then, into the tent?

-Put yourself through that?

-Oh, I don't... Yeah. I've always baked.

You know, for friends, for charity, etc,

and I've had people sort of say, "Oh, why did you try it?"

And I said, "Actually, I might as well give it a go."

So I did and I was lucky enough to be, I guess,

selected for the Bake Off. And it was a really great experience.

-Really, really loved it.

-Yeah?

-Massively.

I mean, you became a bit of a heart-throb, didn't you?

-Mm, I don't know.

-So I've read!

So you've read, yeah. So I've read as well. So, yeah.

But you're also... You were known for being pretty cool,

chilled out the whole time.

Yeah, especially in the kitchen. You know, you got professional chefs.

She's watching, she's probably going to start shouting at me now.

There's a lot of pressure in there so, you know, I guess it helps

-when you're in the tent cos the last thing you want to do is panic.

-Yeah.

-It just makes it easier, basically.

-All this in at once, yeah?

All this in at once, just chuck it all in.

It's fairly straightforward. It's Christmas, so, you know...

make things easy for everyone at home.

-Just go through some of these ingredients. What's this?

-Um...

-That is balsamic vinegar.

-Balsamic vinegar.

So we've got balsamic vinegar, we've got some red wine,

-we've got apple juice.

-Apple juice.

Tomato paste, and we've got some herbs just to keep it nice.

And you stew this down? How long?

Yeah, just stew it down for 30 minutes or so,

just to reduce it a bit, just to get a bit thick and syrupy in there.

And we've got our dough ready here - you just rub that up.

So you're finding it quite a nice way to relax, baking?

Oh, love it, yeah. So I could go home

-and literally just go straight into the kitchen and just...

-Yeah.

Do you think you'll make more of it or are you going to stay...?

-I've been baking more ever since the show.

-Really?

-I can't stop.

-I literally stay up till God knows - 1am in the morning...?

-Really?

-Yeah, exactly. So it's pretty fun.

-OK.

So we've got one dough that we've...

..I guess...chilled, so it's best to obviously chill your dough first,

-so it's easier to roll and just bake.

-Sure.

-Do you mind grabbing me the flour?

-Did you have any disasters?

Cos I always think, on Bake Off, there's all those cameras,

the stress of that, if something's going horribly wrong,

which can happen quite easily with baking...

-All the time.

-..did you have any big disasters on Bake Off?

-Loads! Did you not watch the show?

-LAUGHTER

I just remember you being really sort of smiley and funny

and having a lovely time. But I was thinking, "He must have had..."

Yeah, I mean, I went in there to have fun.

So I genuinely just enjoyed it, regardless of how bad it went.

And I personally found that's a learning curve

rather than, you know, cry over it.

I moved on, learned from the feedback that the judges gave,

and, you know, it made me a better baker.

It's made me a better baker, actually. So, yeah...

You roll this to about, I guess, about half a centimetre,

depending on how you like it.

One tip is you can obviously add the Parmesan to the dough,

and I like it a bit crumbly.

But if you don't want it, you want it a bit more crunchy,

-you can just top...

-Finish it off?

-Finish it off with the Parmesan on top.

-So we've got that.

Easy thing to do as well, you can dip that in the flour

-before you cut it so it just stops it from sticking.

-Righto.

-Yeah?

And we've got quite a bit there to do.

And the great thing about these is obviously,

if you're making it for friends and neighbours, you can personalise it.

-Sure.

-So I've got my own fancy cutter here.

-Fancy!

-You can just make circles on top.

-Right.

And again what you can also do with the dough,

you can prick them to stop any aeration when they're baking out.

-We've got an S there.

-A little S.

-A little s there.

And you just stamp it in the middle.

And that's quite personal and thoughtful, obviously,

-when you give it to your neighbours.

-Like the style!

They're well impressed with that.

-They will be well impressed with that.

-OK.

So then we need to chill these down?

Yes, you do need to chill them for about...

15 to 20 minutes, just before you bake.

Obviously, one of the disasters was in week two,

when I was making my Viennese swirls, I forgot to chill the dough.

-And it just literally...

-It just spread!

-Yeah, exactly.

So that's why you need to chill the dough

before it goes into the hot oven.

But obviously, while it's chilling, you can just preheat your oven

at 180 fan, and then just bake it for about 12 to 15 minutes.

So this chutney will take how long?

About 25 to 30 minutes or more, depending on how much liquid.

This is literally enough for the biscuits.

If you want to make more, you can do that.

-The whole thing is pretty quick, right?

-It's pretty quick and easy.

I guess, less pressure, obviously being Christmas.

People worry about presents, family, who to buy, etc,

so you don't want too much going on.

So, again, you can just get nice gift bags or tins, etc -

just get your neighbours to return the tins.

LAUGHTER

-And then you can...

-Maybe you can charge them a deposit!

Well, yeah, exactly! Return it for more gifts.

We've got our chutney here, of course.

And, again, you can just jar this and keep them in the fridge,

-use them for other things. But they do go well together.

-Beautiful.

So just remind us what those are, then.

We've got rosemary, poppy seed and Parmesan biscuits

with a chorizo chilli chutney.

Right, if you bring that,

let's go and see what these good people think of this.

-Right, tuck in.

-Yum!

-Don't be shy.

-OK.

-Lovely.

-Oh, wow.

-And you can give these as presents, or you can just eat them.

-Eat them, yeah.

-Very short. Delicious!

-That's lovely.

-Oh, yum.

Mmm. They're delicious. That'll be a nice little snack.

-How do you apply to be your neighbour?

-Yeah!

LAUGHTER

Now, Selasi, what are your tips for Christmas?

Plan ahead, so know what you are cooking for family,

-friends or for yourself. Planning, planning.

-Is the key.

-Make sure you know what you're cooking.

-There you go.

Well, thanks for that. Now, one good tip deserves another.

So here's some of my chef friends with theirs.

In my home, we inject a little bit of brandy or whisky,

whatever you have, a few hours before you roast your turkey,

all over the thighs, the breast. You know, literally maybe a glass.

And then you roast it - you'll see how juicy and moist it becomes.

And really tasty as well.

My Christmas tip would be to make a marinade for your turkey

using cumin, coriander, cloves, peppercorns

and lots of coriander stock.

Just blitz it all in, smear it on the turkey and roast it.

It's beautiful.

Often, people get dry turkey, and that is because you've got legs

and breasts, which have totally different cooking times.

Take the legs off, just take the thigh bone out,

fill it with a lovely stuffing that you're going to make,

roll them in clingfilm and tinfoil and roast them in the oven

for about three or four hours and you'll get this wonderful sausage.

So what you do is get a big bucket, if you have one,

put some water in there, loads of salt, sugar and herbs

and then you brine it for 24 hours

for a perfectly moist, golden turkey.

I always cook my turkey on a rack with water underneath.

It really helps to keep it moist,

and the other thing is it forms the basis of your sauce.

When it's cold outside, I do love a hot, mulled drink.

-Olly, what have you got for us? I love a mull.

-I love a mull.

It's marvellous this time of the year.

I'd say red wine is the traditional.

But if you're making a red wine mull, don't boil it,

you'll lose the booze and you'll make the spices bitter.

-But also, rather than add brandy, I always like adding port.

-Yes!

It increases the colour, increases the flavour, makes it a bit sweeter.

-Nice.

-And a vanilla pod in there as well!

Delicious! However, I'm not going to do that!

I'm going to do a white wine mull,

because I think it takes brilliantly to it.

Fruity white wine, pineapple, pineapple juice,

a slice of lemon, some cinnamon into the pan,

sugar to taste and then honey is the absolute...

-I've never had a white wine mull.

-Have you never?

-No.

-You make them, don't you?

-I make a white wine mull.

What kind of fruit juice are you using?

-I don't use any fruit juice, just wine!

-None at all?!

I'm coming round your house!

It's delicious, though.

I think, as long as you're using a fruity, young, white wine -

nothing to oaky, nothing too heavy - there you go, Matt -

and, obviously, nothing too expensive.

-You're going to heat it up and infuse...

-I love that!

-It's delicious.

-Oh, my gosh, that's gorgeous!

-Delicious, isn't it?

-So moreish.

-That's gorgeous, and the pineapple, oh...!

-Yeah, the pineapple makes it.

-Very nice, very nice.

If you're driving, you can also mull.

You don't have to have an alcoholic mull,

you can use some brilliant cordials.

This is a winter spiced berry cordial,

there are some fantastic ones on the market.

You can, of course, make your own. Cordial's pretty simple.

You can make rhubarb, any flavour you like.

That, with a bit of orange juice, we've got fresh orange,

fresh lemon, cloves, cinnamon, again. And sugar to taste.

Some people don't like it that sweet.

It's these kind of Christmassy spices, isn't it?

That's exactly what it is. Exactly, Matt.

It's a tradition across Europe that has grown up.

I mean, it was very popular in the Middle Ages.

But today, I think there's no frontier to mulling.

Whatever you think belongs in it, probably does. Give it a whirl.

You know, I think people forget to sweeten it a lot of the time.

-Yes.

-I think that's one of the problems.

You get really excited, go to the pub, get the mulled wine,

it's really not very nice. They haven't put anything sweet in.

-Give that a try, guys. Let us know what you think.

-Oh, yum!

-Bit of sweetness, that's what it's all about.

-Isn't it?

Do you know what, I couldn't tell that there wasn't alcohol in that.

-Really? That's brilliant.

-That's delicious.

Winter spiced berry, it's a great...

Because you've got the spices,

therefore you've got the connotations with mulled drinks.

-It's gorgeous.

-And warming outside as well. Phenomenal.

Bit in a thermos flask for a walk.

-That's the best mocktail that we've had.

-Yes, I concur.

-I'm taking a bow.

-So simple as well.

-Really easy to do.

And one for all the family.

So, finally, I'm doing a mulled cider.

And, obviously, there's cider, muscovado sugar,

we've got some honey there. Some apple juice if you want.

Cointreau, I'm actually going to add a little tiny bit more

Cointreau here, for that. Or triple sec,

there's lots of different orange liqueurs you could use.

-What's this?

-Honey, yeah.

And, my secret ingredient, a lemon and ginger teabag.

Obviously, but I was doing it for longer,

I'd leave it to infuse, but it's a real short cut.

Lemon and ginger teabag into a mull,

-it actually goes an awfully long way.

-Really?

Yeah, great for flavour. It's ginger, isn't it?

-It's Christmas-time.

-You're crazy.

-I'm absolutely crazy.

LAUGHTER

You know what is nice also in a white mull, is maple syrup.

Oh, yes. Yes. Maple syrup.

You get that lovely depth of sweetness with maple.

It's all very good.

It's very good, very delicious.

There's not a lot left!

-Yum! Delicious. I think my favourite is this one.

-Mulled white?

That pineapple, it's really unusual, really unexpected,

-and it works beautifully.

-Thank you.

Right, here's our last treat from the archives of Christmas past.

It's Delia with her classic ham recipe, a must for Boxing Day.

Traditional hams come in a variety of cures,

and close to where I live,

Nigel Gerry and his father before him have the Royal Warrant

for producing the traditional Suffolk cure.

Here at the back of his typically Suffolk house, the whole process