Episode 6 Christmas Kitchen

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, 'tis the season to be jolly.

We've got festive fun, celebrity guests and chefs whose cooking is the best of the best.

It's time for Christmas Kitchen.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hello, and welcome to Christmas Kitchen.

-I'm Matt Tebbutt.

-And I'm Andi Oliver.

And we're here all week in the build-up to the big day to

bring you all the recipes and inspiration you need to have

-a merry, stress-free Christmas.

-Now, let's meet our guests.

One of the most famous Brummies on TV,

star of the hilarious sitcom Citizen Khan,

is Adil Ray, and he's revealing what's in store for his Christmas episode.

And if you're looking for an alternative to Christmas lunch

with all the trimmings, Ben Tish is here

with an incredible Spanish-inspired idea -

roast goose with raisins and figs.

A Mediterranean festive treat.

-Indeed. Delicious.

-And if you're struggling for gift ideas and fancy

giving something a bit more thoughtful this year

then we've got the stars of The Great British Bake Off

to dazzle us with incredible edible gifts

that the whole family can make.

Today, former winner Jo Wheatley is making Rudolf mince pies.

APPLAUSE

And, of course, Christmas isn't just about the food,

so wine expert Jane Parkinson has searched the supermarkets

to find wines to suit every budget and cocktail ideas, too.

-She's an all-rounder.

-I am.

Plus we unwrap the Christmas archives to find recipes from

the Hairy Bikers, Nigel Slater and Delia,

who back in 1990 introduced us to some very exotic foods.

Mozzarella cheese comes in plastic packs. It's very moist.

And pesto sauce is absolutely wonderful.

You can serve it on pasta.

It's called Gravlaks and what it is is it's marinated salmon,

and it's marinated with a dill flavouring.

You can see the green dill round the edges there.

That's never going to catch on, is it(?)

Find out how Delia used those new foods a little later.

Right, let's get cooking.

Now, my first festive dish of the day is something kind of hearty

that everyone can pile into.

So today, I'm lightening the load a little bit with some salmon.

-Salmon in pastry.

-Beautiful.

-It's quite a classic recipe...

-A bit of fish.

-..with carrots and ginger. It's very old-fashioned.

-Gorgeous, I'm going to get Adil to come over here.

-I would love to.

Come closer to the food.

-It's always a good idea, you know.

-Yes, near the food.

-Good.

-How are you?

-I'm good, I'm very well, thank you, yes.

-Good.

Citizen Khan, massive.

LAUGHTER

-Yes.

-You're talking in bullet points.

-No, but it's just...

-It's huge.

-Your questions are now three words.

-Yeah. Fab. Yeah.

-Citizen Khan.

-How are you?

-Yes. Massive.

-Yeah. Great.

-Yeah, great.

Anyway, thanks for coming. Bye.

LAUGHTER

-So let me do it... Citizen Khan, hugely popular?

-Oh, yes indeed.

No. I'm very lucky. Yeah, it's doing very well.

We are in our fifth series.

Yeah, it seems like it's gone so quickly. It's unbelievable.

What's interesting to me is that you also did a live show.

How do you translate that? Is it the same gig entirely or...?

It was a one-man show, the live show,

and we did arenas and theatres.

-Just you?

-Just me, yeah. A one-man show.

-A bit alarming. A bit alarming.

Yeah. But, you know, it was great fun.

The thing is we perform the show

in front of a live studio audience anyway

so you've got to treat it almost like you're in a theatre.

So in a way, it was very much the same thing.

But I guess when you've got a character as big as Mr Khan

you can fill a room. But we use the audience a lot.

We did sort of game shows.

We had our version of The Generation Game

called The Immigration Game.

-And we did a Pakistani version of Mr And Mrs.

-OK.

-It was a lot of fun.

-It was a lot of fun.

-Let's have a look at a clip

while Matt gets on with this very noisy mixer.

SCREECHING

-Keep it down, will you?

-Matt!

Yeah! Hello, Sparkhill!

Ha-ha-ha! Merry Christmas, Mr Ali's Cash and Carry!

Ha-ha! Woohoo!

Merry Christmas, my Pakistani people! Ha-ha!

LAUGHTER

Woohoo! Merry Christmas, Tasty Fried Chicken.

Make mine a bargain bucket and six extra onions.

Whoo! Hey!

Argh! Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Ooh! Oh, no!

Argh!

LAUGHTER

Ha-ha! Merry Christmas, everyone! Ha-ha-ha!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

-He is a rather large character, isn't he?

-Yeah, yeah.

So how are you doing with this? Tell us what you're doing.

In here there's butter, there's dill, there's a bit of mace,

there's a few shallots and there's some currants. Oh, and ginger.

-That's the important thing.

-Quite an interesting mix.

Yeah, it's quite, like I said, it's deeply old-fashioned.

This was knocking around probably when Fanny was a girl.

-Miss Craddock, we're talking about, by the way.

-Right. Sorry, yes.

How Christmassy are you, Adil? Are you into it?

I do, yeah. I love Christmas.

If only the fact that it's down time

and it's a good time to spend with my family

and my mum and my aunts and my uncles.

-Are there lots of you?

-Yeah.

We're from a Pakistani background, so there's about 3,500 of us.

LAUGHTER

-For just the Christmas breakfast!

-That's just the immediate people around the table!

There's a few more in the living room.

And we have a marquee in the back garden.

There's quite a lot of us but we get involved and it's just...

Guess what, it's just like everyone else's Christmas dinner.

But with lots of spices.

Because there is that feeling in our house,

the turkey is too bland so we try and spice it up.

Do you do the cooking?

-I do get involved, yeah. I do. It's...

-I'm very surprised by that.

I love it.

I don't know, there's a kind of a creative thing in me

that if I'm not writing,

if I've got a moment when I'm not writing or I'm not performing,

I feel like I need to go and do something

so I'll then get involved in the kitchen.

I wouldn't say I'm the best cook in the world, but I get involved.

-That's good.

-Yeah.

I might get you to help with Matt's pastry!

LAUGHTER DROWNS SPEECH

-I'm better than that.

-It's actually his job! It's actually his job!

-Yeah.

Nothing to see. Nothing to see here.

-You just carry on.

-So what do you do now?

Are you just going to put the salmon in?

I'm just going to tidy this up so it doesn't look...

Looks less of a disaster. OK.

-Is that just butter in there?

-That's the butter, OK?

-Dill, currants...

-You've got your fruit...

-The ginger.

-Ginger and what have you.

-And the salmon's going in.

-OK. So then salmon.

-Tell you what, let's trim that.

-Are you a big fish eater?

I do like this, yeah, I love it. I love sashimi as well.

-So whenever I see salmon like that, oh!

-You could just eat that like that.

-I probably could actually.

-I love sashimi.

What about you guys? Do you sort of branch out a little bit?

-You're doing goose.

-Yeah.

But I mean other than the traditional foods

that we would normally be cooking at Christmas, what else do you go for?

We have a big breakfast in the morning.

Mine all love that as much as they like the dinner.

So we have like full English breakfast, fruit platters,

pancakes, muffins. Everyone turns up for ours for brunch.

-Then we have dinner much later in the evening.

-What's your address?

LAUGHTER

-Everyone's welcome.

-When you say much later -

my family always have a go at me because I take ages apparently.

There's 24 of them. I'm cooking for them. I'm on my own.

Sometimes it takes me a little while.

They still complain.

One year, we had Christmas lunch at midnight.

-Oh, no, not that late.

-What?

Well actually it was... It was one minute to midnight.

-I maintain it was still Christmas dinner.

-Why did you eat at midnight?

Because, you know... Because I did a really stupid thing.

-Because I always make everything from scratch because I just can't... You know, it's Christmas day.

-Yes.

But there literally were about 24 people

and I had a tiny kitchen and a very small oven.

And nobody helping you?

And nobody helping me. Just moaning and sort of hurling abuse from the sitting room.

-It's all in the prep really though, isn't it?

-It was all in the prep

and I did learn that year. Thank you for that pearl of wisdom.

I suppose you only do that to yourself once, like shoot yourself

-in the foot. It was horrible.

-Yeah, never again.

-The food was delicious.

-It was just very late. Is this going into the oven?

-Nearly.

-A little egg wash.

-Nearly. Bit of an egg wash.

Do you bother making things like puff pastry?

-I do make puff pastry.

-Wow. Are you a baker?

I make cakes, not with pastry, but...

Around Christmas I do this thing called a dark sticky ginger cake.

-OTHERS:

-Oh!

-Black treacle...

-That made my leg go and everything!

-Dark sticky ginger cake.

-I'll do it again. Dark sticky ginger cake.

-Oh! Let me take a step closer. That sounds amazing.

-It is nice.

-We have it with a dollop of ice cream or something. It's lovely.

-Have you got stout in it?

-No, no, no.

-Sorry.

-It's a Pakistani dark sticky ginger cake.

-Right, OK.

-Non-stout.

-It's got like Fanta in it or something.

LAUGHTER

Love ginger cake, though. Beautiful.

-It's great.

-Absolutely lovely. So that's going in the oven.

I'm done. That's my little fish parcel in the oven.

-Is your egg wash just egg or was it egg and milk?

-No, it was just egg. Just egg.

-Right.

Right, so in the oven for about 20 minutes,

25 minutes until it's kind of... Until it's cooked, basically.

-Until it's cooked.

-That's always good, I find.

It's always the moment when it's done is when it's cooked, I find.

Until it's time to take it out.

-What's this, what's happening in the pan?

-A very simple beurre blanc.

-Shallots in here. Shallots. White wine vinegar.

-Yeah.

OK, bring that down... There's a slug of white wine.

That's like a large glass, about 150ml. Something like that.

Then you bring that down to about a couple of tablespoons and

then slowly throw in your butter.

I was going to ask if Matt always measures his wine

in a Knickerbocker Glory kind of sundae glass.

-Say that again.

-In a Knickerbocker Glory glass.

-I insist upon it.

-Oh, really?

It's his favourite glass. He uses this one.

-Have you got a favourite glass?

-Let's have a look, please,

-at your beautiful salmon.

-That's what it looks like.

-Mm.

-Right.

-Wow.

-Right. That's going on here.

I'll tell you what. We'll put that on the side, shall we?

This will be interesting.

-Oh, yes. Look.

-Oh!

-Oh, no.

-No.

LAUGHTER

Do you want the fish slice? One of these?

THEY CHEER

-Right.

-Beautiful skills.

The liquor has come down to about just over a tablespoon, I'd say.

-Right.

-So, then, in with the butter.

-Just a little bit of butter(!)

Well, like half at a time.

LAUGHTER

-It is a butter sauce.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Off the heat,

-and then just add...

-Oh, let's put a bit more butter, shall we?

-LAUGHTER

-There's a bit left, there.

Open the fridge, see if there's any more...

What's so great, once you've got that,

you can add loads of stuff into that, can't you?

-So, different flavours and things like that.

-Exactly.

-Orange or mustard, or...

-So, you write, as well? I do write, yes.

So, tell us about your book.

Yes, it's called Citizen Khan's Guide To Britain. You know, so...

-The world's going to pot at the moment...

-It certainly is.

..so, Mr Khan, self-appointed community leader,

has got lots of advice on family, on immigration, on Christmas.

-Do you talk through him? As if you talking...?

-Yeah. Yeah, of course.

It's written as him, yeah, yeah. I had lots of fun doing it.

I just decided to have a lot of, lot of fun.

And fans of the show... There's a bit more in there

that you don't see on the show,

like a bit of his early life and early pictures

and what his life was like back in Pakistan,

and his passport and his marriage certificate.

-It's like a scrapbook, really.

-Are you very fond...? You look...

When you talk about him, you look really sort of happy.

-Oh, I love him!

-You do, don't you?

-I absolutely love him, yeah. I do.

-I'm sort of in love with him, I think, yeah. Absolutely.

-Cool.

-Right, so where are we now?

-OK. We're there, we're there.

-A little bit of mace.

-Oh, a little bit of mace going in there. Nice.

There's a little bit in the butter, little bit in the sauce, and that...

Are you going to add any butter in there, or...?

LAUGHTER

-It looks a bit healthy, doesn't it?

-Yeah, just put a little butter in, I think.

OK, that's pretty much done.

-Lovely.

-It's all emulsified, so let's serve it up.

On the side, not everyone wants a load of butter.

-You know what I love about this show? All the crockery's really nice, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

-This is a very nice jug, isn't it?

-Everything's really nice.

In my kitchen, that would be in something plastic, or something.

LAUGHTER It very nearly was, yeah.

-Well, there you go.

-So, what is that?

-Salmon in pastry with beurre blanc.

-Beautiful.

-Wow.

-Lovely.

-Right.

-Right, why don't you come over, guys, and have a wee look?

-We will, we will.

-Let's do it.

-It does look beautiful.

-It's very glossy, Matt.

-Just a bit worried about fitting through here.

-After the butter I may not!

-Yeah, yeah.

-The glaze on that. Look at that glaze!

-Wow.

-Ooh.

-It's quite old-school, that, isn't it?

-Yes.

-I like kind of nice, old-school...

-It's kind of comforting.

-Yeah.

-Do you just want to dive in?

-Yeah.

-Yes, please.

-Some sauce?

-You be Mum.

-Shall I pour, shall I?

-Be Mum, be Mum.

-A bit like that.

-That's what you want, isn't it?

Kind of a nice bit of pastry, lashings of butter...

-JO:

-Just a few calories in there.

-Go, go, go.

-Sorry!

-ANDI:

-Come on, my dear, don't be shy.

-Really nice.

-Yeah.

-That's amazing.

-That's really good.

-Spot on.

-Yeah.

-Mmm.

-Oh, that's so good.

-That mace.

-It makes a difference, doesn't it?

-Mace is really good. Adil, you like that?

-I love it.

Could have done with more butter, but, erm...

LAUGHTER

-Bit light.

-Bit light on the butter. No, honestly, it's lovely.

Now, for today's wine match, Jane...

-Yes.

-..you have found something that's a bit of a luxury.

-I have.

-And something else that won't break the bank.

-I have.

-Exactly. I'll go and get them.

-Exciting.

-Lovely.

Now, while Jane goes and gets the wine from our wine tree,

it's Christmas quiz time.

Now, TV chefs get so fascinated with food,

it's sometimes hard to tell what they're 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 without actually seeing them in action.

Today it's Nigella. Have a listen.

I dredge them, and all the women of my mother's family dredge them,

in semolina.

Is it staff?

LAUGHTER

-JO:

-Potatoes.

-Potatoes. Oh, I bet your right.

-Ahhh.

-I bet you're right, it's potatoes.

Right. Let's have a look.

This is my recipe for the perfect roast potato.

These have been parboiled,

but instead of dredging them in flour,

as is the usual practice,

I dredge them,

and all the women of my mother's family dredge them,

in semolina.

APPLAUSE

-Very good.

-Very good. You're right. Clever clogs. Clever clogs.

Right. It's wine time, Jane. Over to you.

So, at Christmas time,

people might want to spend a little bit more, go up to maybe

£15, £20 a bottle, and other people may want to

stick to under the £10 a bottle.

So, I've got two different wines,

both brilliant with your salmon in pastry, Matt,

but slightly different budgets. So...

You're being really well behaved. Go ahead and try them.

Adil, I know you're not drinking,

-but we've got some mocktails coming up later.

-Oh, great fun.

-I'll test the tea.

-Yeah, test the tea!

So, this first one we've got is from the south of France,

the grape used in it is called Viognier,

which is quite a rich sort of wine,

often known for having quite a peachy flavour,

but there's lots of rich flavours in that pastry and salmon of yours,

-so something quite robust.

-That's perked me up.

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

-I like that.

-You like it?

-It is perky. Uplifting.

-It's kind of rich but tangy and fresh at the same time.

-Yeah.

So, that's good. I'm just going to leave that there.

OK, so the Santa hat one,

if you have a go of that next.

So, this is our Chardonnay, so I hope you're all fans

of Chardonnay and not any of those ABCs, "Anything But Chardonnay".

-I love a Chardonnay.

-This is from the Mornington Peninsula,

so a region in Victoria, in Australia,

where they're really known for making fantastic Chardonnay

and Pinot noir.

Again, quite a rich style, but not too heavy,

and like the totally modern version of Australian Chardonnay.

Lots of people these days think Chardonnay from Australia

is massive, buttery, oaky things, but this is super elegant.

-It's nice, isn't it?

-I love that.

-Really good with salmon, I think.

I love that. I really love that.

So, do you have a preference? If you like them both, that's good.

I like the Australian one.

-You like the Australian one.

-I like the Santa hat.

-I like the Chardonnay.

-I like the Chardonnay.

-You like the Chardonnay?

But do you think the Chardonnay is our luxury or less one,

-because we've gone for a luxury price and a lesser price.

-I think...

-I'm a little bit torn.

-..the Santa hat is the luxury one.

-You think Santa hat's luxury.

-Jo?

-Yeah, Santa hat.

-I'd say not.

-Yeah.

-I think it's the cheaper one.

-OK.

Well, we'll find out very... I'm with you, Ben, I think it's the...

-So, boys think Viognier, girls think Chardonnay.

-Yeah.

And the girls are right.

THEY CHEER

Not very competitive, though, so it doesn't matter.

-BEN:

-Well done, ladies.

-Well done.

Mornington Peninsula wines really are generally

on the pricier end of the spectrum,

but they are super-elegant, super-sophisticated wines.

-So, really delicious.

-Two really nice wines.

So, that is about £18 from Marks & Spencer.

Fantastic bargain.

And from a winemaker who has won heaps of awards,

tons of awards, a guy called Tom Carson, he's a great winemaker.

And then the cheaper one, the Viognier

is the Truly Irresistible one from the Co-op.

-Viongier, from the south of France, and that is £6 a bottle.

-Nice!

So, a bit of a bargain, it's delicious.

You guys thought it might be the more expensive one.

-Great value for money. But both fantastic.

-ANDI:

-Both lovely.

-BEN:

-Both really good.

-Glad you liked them.

-We liked that.

-Good.

Nice one. Thanks very much for that, Jane.

Now, coming up, Bake Off champion Jo Wheatley is baking

a gift that every child would love to help make...

probably. What is it?

-I'm making my Rudolph-inspired mince pies.

-Oh, look at them.

Plus, Matt and I are having a bit of a friendly cook-off.

Today, we're going head-to-head, both creating our own version

of a potato dish, in our very festively titled

"Yule Decide" competition.

-ALL:

-Ahh!

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

And today, Dave is using goose fat, but not in a recipe.

He's going swimming,

while Si cooks him a warming risotto.

Now, for the next line in the song, "Seven swans a-swimming",

we've struck it lucky, and we'll be lapping it up later.

But first, there's another festive tradition I want to take part in.

And we've collected lots of goose fat just for the occasion.

Wee-hee! Wo-ah-ho-ah-ho-ah-ho! I'm all pantoed up!

-I love that, it's brilliant.

-Right, what's next?

-Seven swans a-swimming.

We've got the swans, we've got the swimming! Do you fancy a swim?

Absolutely not, no. What?

You cover yourself in goose fat from head to foot.

It's a great British Christmas tradition,

everywhere from the Irish Sea to the Serpentine. Everybody's doing it.

Layer of goose fat, go for a swim. Come on.

-Absolutely not!

-Come on.

-No.

-Just a dip.

-No. I tell you what, though.

I tell you - I will grease your bearings in a sort of goose-grease sort of way,

and then when you go in I will stand on the side to make sure that

you don't drown, cos it's health and safety, you see.

Oh, I feel so safe(!)

-Hurry up!

-Oh, man, look, there's loads of folk. Keep me decent.

-Give me these.

-Oh, sorry.

See, allegedly, it keeps you warm,

and you just don't feel the chill at all.

You're mad. You're mad!

Now.

So, no self-administration. Right.

I don't know how else to do it, dude.

God, that's cold.

-Oh, give us it here.

-Get it... Lift yourself up.

-Oh, my god, it's like a self-basting turkey.

-Call me Butterball.

Turn round, turn round.

Oh!

The thing is, right, there's people say

that you lose most of the heat out of your head.

Well, this is not true.

-You know where you lose most of heat, don't you?

-No.

-I'll show you.

-Out your butt crack.

-Ahhhh!

-You'll be all right.

-Owwww!

-OK. Glasses.

-Right.

Go, dude, go. See if it works.

It's lovely!

# Born free

# Free as the wind blows. #

It's supposed to be swans a-swimming, dude. Elegant! Lovely!

You know!

Does it work?

No.

It takes your breath away.

I'm not surprised.

-Will you cook me something nice to warm me up?

-I will.

-Thank you.

Don't worry, dude. It'll be ready for you when you come back.

It doesn't work.

Over Christmas, there's always lots of leftovers in our house,

but if you're clever you can make something even more interesting

and tasty than the original.

And using leftovers is low-effort deliciousness.

So, I'm going to prepare a leftover goose risotto.

Ideal for Boxing Day lunch,

or if, like Dave, you've just frozen your bits off

by taking a festive swim.

First, I'm sweating some onions in olive oil and adding

a few cloves of chopped garlic.

After sauteing a small bowl of arborio risotto rice,

I'm adding hot vegetable stock,

stirring all the time,

until the liquid is absorbed.

Phwoar! Phew!

Oh, talk about going south for the winter.

Everything's gone north.

-That smells great.

-Oh, hey, man, it's smashing.

-Oh. Dude, mushers.

-Yes.

-Will you stick the mushers on for us?

-Yes.

'Whilst the mushrooms are cooking away,

'I'm adding green peppercorns which have been soaked in brine.

'Then, I'm going to keep adding the hot stock and stirring

'until the rice is cooked.'

How are you feeling?

Are you still frozen to the bone? I thought you'd gone hypothermic.

I'm feeling a bit kind of...clammy.

-Ooh, yeah.

-You know? Clammy.

-Did you get the goose grease off?

-As much...

But I tell you what, I won't need to moisturise for a bit.

-Yes.

-Phwoar.

It's lovely cos the green peppercorns have just gone

through the rice, through the risotto.

And the risotto - you don't want a bite to it,

you don't want al dente, not in our opinion, anyway.

-No.

-Some people like it, we don't.

But you want it to still have a structure,

the rice grain to still have a structure. And when you bite through it, it's just soft.

-It is al punto, isn't it?

-It is.

-Just at that point. Fabulous.

Stir the mushrooms in.

-Oh, yes.

-Hee-hee-hee.

-Right, mate, I'm ready.

-Goose.

-Goose.

Now, what we're going to do, we'll put the goose in.

And what we're doing is,

we want to keep the integrity of the grain, so we're folding it in.

We're not stirring it in, we're folding it. OK.

Parmesan cheese. A good Parmesan.

-Pecorino's good as well if you don't want it quite so sharp.

-Yep.

-I think it's about ready for some butter.

-Lovely.

To finally finish it off, some fresh herbs.

Got some sage, some tarragon, some chives, some parsley.

Basically, anything you've got in your window box.

That's it, that's your risotto. It's done. It's finished.

Just serve that with a really, really nice salad.

# On the seventh day of Christmas

# My true love sent to me

# Seven swans a-swimming... #

But, after such a gorgeous meal,

it's time for us to conclude our search for seven swans a-swimming.

Thanks, guys. Right, time to bring an international flavour

to the Christmas Kitchen,

and Ben Tish has a great Spanish recipe for your Christmas table.

-Ben, what are you doing for us?

-Hi, Matt. So, I'm going to be doing a...

It's a slant on the classic Christmas goose dish,

so we're going to be...

Pan-fried goose breast, making it slightly quicker,

-a bit simpler dish.

-Yep.

-Goose breast,

got some beautiful cavolo nero,

and then we're going to make a sauce with some figs, some cinnamon

-some raisons, a little bit of sherry in there and some stock.

-Nice.

-And some potatoes cooked in the fat.

-OK, great.

-So, if you could blanche this for me.

-Mh-hm.

Just peel it down, take out any kind of hard stems in there,

and we've got a pan of water on there.

-If you could take that, that'd be great.

-No problem.

We've got this beautiful goose breast.

Would you say this was a preferable way...?

I mean, if people like goose?

Well, it's just a bit more manageable, I think.

-You know, a lot of people are... Goose can be a bit daunting.

-Yeah.

Cooking the whole thing and getting it properly brown and rendered,

-I think breasts are just quicker and easier.

-Yeah.

-And it's a nice thing to do.

-It's pretty sizable.

It's a good one, I think. That'll probably feed...

-I mean, that's probably one and a half, two people, maybe?

-Yeah.

-I don't know.

-Yeah, I would say.

-Garnish it.

-But, anyway, I've scored the skin.

-It's very rich.

It's very rich indeed, and there will be plenty of garnish with it as well.

But I've scored the skin and that's going to get

a little season in there. There we go.

-Do you want this cut up or just whole?

-Erm...

I think just very roughly.

Keep it quite rustic.

And then I'm going to pop that in my pan, and the idea is that we...

No oil in there, just some seasoning,

and we render the fat down of the breast,

-same as if you were going to do a duck.

-OK.

And there's some beautiful fat to be had there, you know,

for your roasting potatoes, which we're going to do as well.

Ben, is this the kind of thing you'd cook in the restaurant or at home?

We'd do this in the restaurant, but we'd also do this at home, I think.

I think, goose breasts are readily available,

and I just think it's, as I said to Matt,

it's quite an easy thing to do, cos it's quite a simple recipe.

And the breasts just make it easier and quicker.

And you could use duck or whatever else as well.

You could use duck as well, much easier.

That's... Slightly smaller breast, but, yeah.

I think goose is nice and seasonal.

-I love goose.

-So, just make a little sauce on the side.

So, I've got some figs into a hot pan.

-Mh-hm.

-And now I've got some raisins as well,

-so this is nice and seasonal.

-Yep.

And we want to get a little bit of caramelisation on there.

-OK. Whole figs?

-Whole figs.

-Oh, right. OK.

We're going to cut them later

so they don't break down too much in the sauce.

And then, also in there, as well...

-Little bit of cinnamon.

-Whoa!

-Sorry.

MATT COUGHS

What was in there? Was that a dry pan?

-No, I put a little bit of oil in there, as well.

-OK.

Can you just give that a little stir for me, please?

Touch of sugar.

There we go.

-Pop that in there as well.

-Right.

Give that a little stir round,

and then we're going to add a little splash of sherry into there as well.

-Oh, yeah, I'm waiting for it. Go on.

-Yeah.

There we go.

Getting all those kind of seasonal flavours in there.

Got to be careful with Matt,

-he might throw some butter in when you're not looking.

-Yeah!

-LAUGHTER

-There's no butter here!

So, you can see, already, all this fat come off the goose breast.

So, I'm just going to drain that off,

-and that is perfect for cooking your potatoes in.

-Wow.

So, these whole figs, do you want them to sort of squish down?

Yeah, we're going to squish them down. They'll cook down.

We're going to add some stock in there as well

when the sherry's reduced. Is that nearly there?

-ANDI:

-What kind of sherry was it, Ben?

-JO:

-That's just what I was going to ask.

-I think that was a Manzanilla.

Manzanilla sherry, so, quite dry but not too dry.

A nice dry one, but not... Yeah.

So, we turn this goose breast over. Good caramelisation on there.

Bit more of the fat out.

And that's going to cook through.

Goose, same as duck, I'd cook it nice and pink.

You know, nice colour of rosiness to it.

-Thank mate.

-Put all the...?

-Yeah, put all the...

Pop that in there.

-We're going to bring that to the boil...

-Yeah.

..and then we're going to cook it down, so sauce consistency,

it'll probably take about 10, 15 minutes.

We've got one that we've kind of been working earlier. That's great.

Just drain that off. Fantastic.

So, where did this come from?

Is this a classic recipe, or is this one you kind of played around with?

Yeah, it's one I've played around with. Kind of Spanish, it's got a...

-I suppose a Moorish element to it as well.

-With the spices?

Yeah, with the spices and the figs and the raisins, which is,

-again, something that I'm really interested in.

-Nice.

So, goose fat in there.

We just soaked it in the potatoes, get a little bit of colour on there.

-Mh-hm.

-And then we'll take this off to rest.

What's a typical Christmas day in our house?

Christmas day usually starts,

glass of champagne, and then we kind of...

-The day just goes on from there, eating...

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-I do like sherry, so a lot of sherry gets drunk on Christmas day.

-Really?

-Yeah, really.

-ANDI:

-I love sherry.

-In our house,

for Christmas, cos we're a Muslim family, we don't drink,

they drink Shloer. I mean, I'm sure there are other apple juices...

-Available.

-But, I kid you not, my mum and my aunt

still get drunk on it.

LAUGHTER

-It's amazing.

-Yeah.

-It's a psychological thing.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Just excited.

So, my...

-I've cooked the goose breast, it's rested, it's nice and pink.

-Yeah.

And the juices from the goose all rested in this pan,

-and we're just going to deglaze that with some of the sauce.

-OK.

We've got this nicely reduced sauce, now. Just pop that into there.

-There we go.

-Wow, look at that.

-You see how rich that's gone.

And you can smell the cinnamon in that. It's fantastic.

I'm just going to bring that to the boil.

Nice little bit of colour on these potatoes, now.

Put the heat down on there. There we go.

-Do you have to work over Christmas?

-I don't, to be honest, mate, no.

I mean, the restaurants are open, it's all operating,

but it's kind of down time for me, so...

I'm on the end of the phone, but, um...

LAUGHTER

OK, so...

I think we're kind of ready to carve and plate, Matt,

-to be honest with you.

-All right.

There you go, there's your cavolo.

If you could just drain those potatoes off for me, if we've got

a bit of kitchen towel, or just pop them on a plate, would be fantastic.

And this skin's beautifully crisp,

so that's because they've rendered the fat down.

You know, it's nice to have a bit of fat,

but there's too much on goose, that's why you render it down.

And it's really nice and pink,

which is beautiful.

Just slice that through.

-ADIL:

-I love the crunchy sound it's making.

-That sounds great.

-ALL: Yeah.

-Thanks, mate.

-There we go.

-What it is about the cooking from this region

that you love so much, Ben?

Well, this is... Kind of spans, you know, it's a bit of Spain,

a bit of Italy in there.

It's just what I've been cooking, concentrating on for 11 years,

you know? 12 years. So, I just kind of cherry pick the best.

But I just like the big, bold flavours.

-Yeah.

-And I like the simplicity of it, you know?

I don't overcomplicate dishes,

cos I don't really think it's necessary, to be honest.

So, is this the season for goose at the moment, then, Ben?

-Yeah, very much so.

-Right, OK.

-Yeah, yeah, very much so, yeah.

-And how long does that season go on for? What sort of...?

-Um.

-JANE:

-Until boxing day.

LAUGHTER

Till there's none left, basically, so, yeah.

Could you make it with duck, then, Ben, if you didn't have goose?

Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Duck would be, yeah, equally as good.

I just think goose is kind of nice.

And it's still considered a bit... a little bit unusual.

-I've never had goose. This'll be my first time.

-I've not, either.

-There you go!

-That looks delicious.

OK, so, it's roasted goose breast with cavolo nero, goose-fat

potatoes, figs, raisins and a rich kind of sherry sauce on there.

-Beautiful.

-Looks amazing.

-Right, come on over, come on over.

-Ben's Spanish Christmas!

-This look so yummy! I like that the figs stay whole.

-Yes.

Just aesthetically, it looks really kind of appetising, doesn't it?

Here we go.

-Wintry-looking!

-Wintry, a little scent of cinnamon in there.

-Very excited.

-Tuck in!

-# Very excited! #

-You notice I start singing again.

-# And potato... #

THEY LAUGH

-Come on, you lot, hurry!

-ALL TALK AT ONCE

-Don't wait, though.

-That is awesome.

-My mouth is watering.

-No, I love that.

-THEY LAUGH

-That texture, as well.

-That's pretty quick, right?

The fat is delicious, like, crunchy. It's rich.

-Adil, how are you enjoying that?

-I'm loving this.

-Loving it.

-It's so lovely. Jo, what do you think about that?

I think it's amazing. Absolutely amazing.

-Ben, what are you doing Christmas Day, mate?

-ALL: Yeah!

He's not cooking!

And that's the first time Adil's ever had goose.

-I'm loving it! It could be a new favourite for me, this.

-Yum!

-It's really flavoursome.

-Right, delicious, that.

Now, at this time of year, most of us have half a jar of mincemeat

stashed in the cupboard somewhere,

but here at Christmas Kitchen, we hate to see good food go to

waste, and Nigel Slater has a great idea for using it up in a trifle.

'This is my luxurious twist on the classic Christmas Day trifle.

'The secret is a home-made sponge base.'

The lovely thing is that if you make your own cake for a trifle...

..you can flavour it with whatever you like.

'The sponge doesn't have to be fancy.

'I use a basic recipe that I then add something festive to at the end.

'So, firstly, butter and caster

'sugar are beaten until light and fluffy.

'Then some eggs, followed by a mixture of plain flour and

'ground almonds, all mixed together until soft and luscious.

'Then I can start adding those extra festive flavours.'

I've only got to stick my thumbnail into a clementine

and suddenly it's this time of year again.

'The juice can go in, as well.

'Go easy, though - too much will make the cake mix wet.'

I want this trifle to have the essence of Christmas about it,

and clementine zest is not enough.

I'm actually going to put a bit of mincemeat in it.

It's sort of one of those bits in the fridge that's left over

from the mince pies, and it's such a delicious ingredient.

It always saddens me that it's used for such a short time each year.

Those wonderful dried fruits and sugar and citrus that's in

there, it fills the kitchen with the most amazing smell when it's baking.

Then that goes in the oven at 180 for about 35 minutes.

'While the cake's baking, I use the time to make the rest of

'my Christmas trifle even more special.'

I like my trifles to have layers.

But I'm not keen on a layer of jelly.

I did when I was about nine,

but now I want a layer of something a little bit more interesting,

and what I do is to make a home-made curd.

I could buy it - there's some really good orange and lemon curds about,

but I like making my own.

'To turn my zest and juice into a delicious curd, I heat it gently

'over a pan of simmering water along with some sugar and butter.

'Once that's melted, some whisked eggs go in - slowly.'

And I'm just going to keep an eye on this.

It doesn't need constant stirring, but you don't want it to curdle.

'While the curd thickens, I can get on with assembling my trifle.

'The cooled mincemeat cake gets broken up for the base,

'and I usually add a dash of alcohol.'

I know in our family there was always almost

a challenge to see how much booze you could get into a trifle.

I just don't think it does any favours at all to stick in

gallons of sherry or brandy.

You just want a light flavour of alcohol.

'I have to have custard.

'But this bit I'm happy to cheat - with a good ready-made one.'

So, I've taken this to the point

where it's on the verge of thickening.

Take this over to somewhere fairly cool...and then, as

it starts to cool, it'll thicken,

and it just needs the occasional stir.

'Make sure the curd is fridge cold

'before pouring over the cake and custard.

'That gets a final chill just while I whip up some fresh cream.

'Decorate your trifle however you fancy.

'For me, it has to be colourful and fresh, so clementine zest,

'pistachios and something that will surprise and intrigue.'

It's just...rather fun to have something on there...

..maybe that's a little bit different, that not everybody knows.

So some Cape gooseberries.

The kitchen is full of the most magical smells of baking,

of mincemeat, of lemon curd and of clementines.

No trifle, no celebration.

Still to come, Jane's getting busy with the fizzy when she shows us

how to make some sparkling cocktails.

And Great British Bake Off winner Jo Wheatley's showing us how to make

an edible gift, Rudolf mince pies.

Who wouldn't want to receive those?

And we'll be stepping into Christmas past with Delia,

rediscovering her recipe ideas for canapes, using what she calls

"exotic" ingredients - mozzarella and pesto, for example.

How times have changed!

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

there are probably quite a few items that you don't know what to do with.

For every day, we're giving you some recipe suggestions for those

foodie gifts to make sure you actually use them.

So, Matt, here is a gift for you today.

-What could it be?

-I don't know.

-THEY LAUGH

-It's shortbread.

-Ah!

-Now, aside from sticking it in tea, which I'd do...

-What, dunking it?

-..throughout January...

I don't hold with dunking of biscuits,

but that's another conversation.

-I love to dunk!

-It's all a bit gross, but anyway...

OK, so, look, I'm going to take these biscuits and smash them up

in the base of this gratin dish and I'm going to make

a little baked kind of banana/amaretto affair.

-ALL:

-Ooh!

-Yummy!

-Go on, then! Go on, then!

Do you want me to help in any way?

No, you're all right, just keep chatting. Keep that lot happy.

Just keep chatting to this lot!

Matt, can you twist the rolling pin, like Richard Burr did?

-He was really good with a rolling pin!

-See?

-It's not quite as good as him.

-Yes, it is.

LAUGHTER

Yes, it is, cos he's not here.

Oh! All right! He's attacking me with shortbread now!

-Another novel way to use it!

-That's a nice idea with the shortbread.

You could put them in the bottom of a cheesecake.

-Yeah! There's loads you can do with shortbread.

-That would be nice.

Mix it with some crunchier biscuits, though, as well.

-Something oaty, maybe, or whatever.

-Yeah.

-Right, there you go.

You do that and you put it in the bin.

LAUGHTER

So, you don't have to put any butter or anything in that?

-It's not like a cheesecake...

-No, no, no, it's all going to get baked.

-It'll just do it to itself. Oh!

-Exactly. Exactly.

Right, so, a bit of sugar in there.

Going to put a little bit of butter at the bottom.

-What are these little things?

-Those? Little amaretti biscuits.

-Oh, little amarettis.

-I'm going to crumble some of those in there.

-Ooh, lovely!

-Right? And... Ooh!

LAUGHTER

Ooh, how exotic!

Next thing you know, Delia'll be using it!

Where did you get those? Europe?

Doesn't take much to impress this team.

-Right, so, bananas all over.

-This is very easy. I like it.

-Yeah, it is. It's really easy.

-I thought you were going to make

a sort of mousse or something a little more... Y'know.

Life's too short to make mousse! Oh, my God!

I mean, there was a stage all the chefs went through, making

mousses out of everything. You weren't one of those, were you, Ben?

-No.

-No.

-Not me.

-I can imagine.

-What about foams?

Never done that, either, to be honest.

-No. Wouldn't know where to begin.

-Yeah.

-Keep it simple.

-Right. OK.

-I quite like... Sometimes fancy can be nice.

But it depends what kind of fancy you mean.

-Well, as long as it tastes good.

-Smarty fancy's a bit annoying!

Fancy can be quite nice sometimes.

-OK, so more butter.

-More butter!

-More sugar.

-He loves his butter! There's a pattern here.

Butter!

Your food heaven.

More amaretti biscuits. OK.

Now, finally, the best bit, a shedload of amaretto.

-Oh, yes!

-Nice.

-So it's biscuits, butter...

-And booze.

-..bananas and amaretto.

-Biscuits, butter, bananas and booze!

-There you go!

-All the Bs!

-It's a book title!

-Alliterative dessert.

OK, that'll do.

Right, so, finish, a bit more sugar, and then chuck it in the oven.

-And then you just bake it all up?

-Yeah.

-What are these?

-Aren't they going on?

-I've run out of room, to be honest.

-They're going on at the end.

-OK. Now.

So... No, not now! When it comes out of the oven.

Right, so there you go, into an oven, about 190, for, erm,

about 20 minutes...

till it goes nice and golden. I'll get this one out.

So, all of today's studio recipes, including this one from Matt,

are on the website. Go to:

-Right. And then...

-Oh, look at that!

..20 minutes later...

Ow, ow, ow.

Do you think this is an inspired use of shortbread?

-Is it something you would do?

-Erm... Is my answer...?

-Tell the truth! Tell the truth, Jo!

-I think that's quite convincing.

-Yeah! BEN:

-That says it all.

So, no, then?!

-How very rude! BEN:

-I think it's inspiring...

Anyway, for those people at home,

this is my baked banana and amaretto...gratin.

Thing. Thingamyjiggy...

-Right! OK.

-The proof of the pudding is in the eating, right?

It is indeed!

I don't know why I'm saying pudding. It just feels like it is.

I've not put it in front of you. You're not going to have any.

Would you like to try some?

-Yes, please.

-Try it.

ALL TALK AT ONCE

It's got butter and it's got biscuits, it's got bananas.

-I'm all for it.

-And nuts, as well, hasn't it?

-It's got inspired use of shortbread.

-Blimey! It's quite chatty.

-"Chatty"?

-What does that mean?

-It's going on and on, talking to me in my mouth.

I'm not complaining!

I like that. That's very good.

Right, in just a moment, Jo Wheatley is going to have a great gift idea

that could also save you money, home-made Rudolf mince pies.

-But first, Adil, tell us your favourite memory of Christmas.

-Ooh!

Erm, God! So many! I mean, every Christmas is my favourite.

I don't know, I remember a couple of years ago...

Normally, they're sort of multigenerational,

nephews and young cousins around, but there was

one Christmas and it was just me and my elderly aunts and uncles.

So I decided to take over, and I just sort of cooked for them all.

And we normally don't do presents at Christmas, we just sort of have

the dinner and stuff, but we did Secret Santa and it was just lovely,

me and my elderly aunts and uncles.

And, you know, they were all in sweaters.

And it was the year I had Citizen Khan masks done, so they were

all sat round with their Citizen Khan masks, talking to me.

-Brilliant! Really creepy!

-Yeah!

-That's a little bit weird!

Do you take them around with you wherever you go?

If you come round to our house, you have to wear a Citizen Khan mask!

That's kind of creepy AND egotistical!

But there you go, there's a happy Christmas tale for you.

-And here's some more tales.

-But you have to pay for them, though!

-Really?

-Yeah. £2.99, Matt!

Here's more Christmas tales from some of our favourite celebrities.

My Christmas memory is of my dad making bubble and squeak on

Boxing Day morning and having turkey sandwiches and all the leftovers.

Oh, my Christmas memories are many, because I come from a very,

very big family, and they all used to come to our house for Christmas

dinner and then have a big party.

And then we'd all go on New Year's to me cousin's house.

So it's just having all your family around you, that's what it's for.

Any happy memories of Christmas, Monkey?

-Well, not when you use me to take something hot out of the oven.

-Mm.

Making home-made gifts is a trend that

has really taken off this year, so we're giving you some baking

inspiration to create home-made gourmet gifts of your own.

And we've invited the stars of the Great British Bake Off to give us

some ideas, and today we're joined by 2011's winner, Jo Wheatley.

-Jo, tell us what you're doing.

-I'm doing my Rudolf mince pies.

They're just little mince pies with a Florentine topping and then

a cherry on the top, to make them look Rudolfy.

-Is this something you developed years ago?

-It is.

I really like things with different textures,

so they're really soft, the pastry, and then nice mincemeat.

They're very tasty as well because I've just been eating them.

So my pastry, I literally use some flour,

half fat to flour, and then a couple of yolks, some milk,

put it all in the food processor, beat it up and then chill it.

-Left with that.

-Yep.

-OK.

Then, a really good tip is to use a couple of sheets of parchment,

because if you don't use that,

you need flour and then that sort of adds flour to the pastry...

-Which changes the recipe.

-Yep. Do you want to roll that out for me?

-Yeah, if you like.

-Perfect.

-OK.

While you're doing that, I'm going to make my Florentine...

-ROLLING PIN BANGS

-..topping.

-It's not a piece of meat!

-I'm ridging the pastry.

It's a technique.

-More rolling pin skills.

-Yeah.

-It's a very loud technique you have there.

-Do you not do this?

Do you think pastry is largely about technique

rather than sort of recipe?

I think it is about technique.

I think the food processor is the way to go, because, you know,

the more you handle it, the tougher it becomes.

So I've got the butter in there, some sugar and then some cream...

and then we've just got some honey here as well.

You have some quite interesting mince pie scenario going on.

This is extraordinary to me.

Did you not do the world's most expensive mince pie?

We had a go at it. Whether it was, I don't know,

but I had a go at it in a moment of madness. It was for charity.

-How do you get something that small to be really expensive?

-I know!

Chuck a load of gold leaf over it, you know.

There was some brandy in it and brandy served on the side.

I can't remember what it was, but it was incredibly expensive brandy

-and so that kind of hoicked the price up.

-Yeah.

And then you sell it to Kanye West. He's got silly money.

It was like a several thousand pound scenario.

Yeah, I think so, yeah, that's what they tot it up as.

Who bought that? It was auctioned for charity.

I don't know, it was anonymous. Yeah, it was good.

Once we've got that, you can see that's all melted now,

you want the sugar so it isn't granulated, you just want it

to bubble and then we'll pop that to one side.

Steady, Matt. Cool your jets.

LAUGHTER

Do you want some help there, Matt?

That's how my mum rolls her chapatis, like that.

Just like that, she is.

-Do you need some help there?

-No, it's a bit chilly, that's all.

He looks like he needs help, doesn't he?

You need to go to the gym more often.

I'm trying to get it a little bit thinner. It feels quite thick.

-You need a pound coin sort of thickness, I say.

-Cor blimey! Yeah, all right.

You do your job, I'll do mine.

Well, I'm waiting for you to do your job, so I can do mine!

LAUGHTER

-You just can't get the staff these days.

-OK.

-Come on, let's just pretend it's thin.

-I think we're there.

Let's just pretend the commis chef's scared.

I like these nice little, bite-size mince pies that you make actually.

-The only thing is you sort of eat too many, don't you?

-Yeah.

Every time you walk past, you eat one.

-There you go. Are you tired, Matt?

-You all right there sitting down?

Yeah, fine, thank you. With my friends.

-So let's just do four.

-Right.

So let's just squish them out a little bit more.

LAUGHTER

Let's just do two.

So then, make sure we push... the pastry in properly,

into the corners.

No bubbles. Perfect.

You could add some orange zest as well, or some flavouring into

-the pastry is always good.

-I could, but I'd probably do it wrong.

You probably would.

-Take him longer to get it finished.

-Do you know what?

My grandson, Harley, he's six and he can do this with me.

Can he? Yeah. He can't drive a car, though, can he?

LAUGHTER

-No.

-Can he do that? I can.

-So, there we go. We're good.

-Is that enough?

-Yeah, we're good.

So just a teaspoon of mincemeat into each one.

Try and make sure it stays in the middle, so that it doesn't

-go over the edge and stick to the pan there.

-OK.

So would you make your mincemeat quite a long time in advance?

Yep, I make my mincemeat sort of just before Stir Up Sunday

-and let it mature.

-Stir Up Sunday? When's that?

You know, when you stir up your Christmas pudding mixture.

-Do you not do that in your house?!

-Stir Up Sunday?

ALL SPEAK AT ONCE

Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Stir Up Sunday!

It's in November. Five weeks before, come on!

-I'm with you, Jo, I'm with you.

-OK, I'm going to guess, September.

No, it's November, it's five weeks before Christmas.

-Thank you. Thank you.

-Oh, no, we do ours in March.

LAUGHTER

So you lay it down a month or so before that and then you stir up

-your Christmas cake mix?

-Yes.

No, Christmas pudding, but I make my mincemeat the same day.

-Maybe it's a Bake Off terminology.

-It's a real thing, google it!

-Right.

-So we've just got our Florentine topping.

OK. So what was in that, there? That was just...

That's flaked almonds, some butter, some cream, some honey

-and some sugar and then they're going into the oven to bake.

-OK.

Once you pop those in... We've got some in here, I think.

OK, so how long do they get...?

About 12 to 14 minutes and then they go lovely and golden.

-Right.

-Oh!

-You don't want to touch this with your fingers, because it's

-really burny.

-Because it's like napalm.

-Yes.

Oh, look, hot mince pies. Oh, my God.

-So, here we have our cherries.

-Do you like a glace cherry?

Hm, I like the look of them, but then I sort of flick them off.

-Do you?

-Yeah.

You're really selling them(!)

LAUGHTER A key ingredient in your mince pie.

They look like a little Rudolph nose, don't they?

-Andi loves a glace cherry.

-No, no, no, they're the work of the devil.

-No, no, no.

-They're just weird. The texture, it's just too weird.

-I can't...

-I love them.

-I like them cooked in something.

-They're nice cooked in.

-In a Victoria sponge, a classic cake.

What is glace cherries doing in a Victoria sponge?

-With icing... I don't know, it's just a classic.

-Do you ever use green ones?

No, not green. They look like bogies.

That would be really weird!

Just mix it up a bit. JO LAUGHS

Brilliant laugh.

So we need to get these out of the pan, because that caramel is

-going to stick like glue if we don't get them out.

-OK. Let me have a go.

-Do we have a little... Do we have anything to put them on?

-Er...

Here. Yeah, I'll get a plate.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

-Oops!

-Let's not use that one.

THEY LAUGH

You all right there, Jo?

Someone's been on the sherry.

LAUGHTER

-It's that wine.

-Amaretto.

-It's that banana pudding.

-It probably was.

What do you do Christmas Day, then? Do you do all the cooking?

I basically cook, clean and clear up wrapping paper and then fall down

-exhausted at the end of the night.

-Sounds glamorous.

-Really glamorous.

-Yeah, the old-fashioned way.

-That's the one.

1950s housewife.

-Yeah.

-This looks yum.

-Right.

A bit soft.

There we go. Right. OK. You get the idea. Right. OK.

And then you pop them into your tins with some little, nice tissue paper.

Yeah. So for those people who haven't been paying attention,

remind us what these are.

-These are my Rudolf-inspired Christmas pies.

-Beautiful.

Right, come on. Let's go.

-Yum!

-Take a seat.

-Dig in.

-There you go.

Hot ones on top. I'll have that.

Smell the hot...

-Can't beat a hot mince pie.

-Definitely not.

-Right, I'm going to get rid of it.

-Oh, cherry down.

-They're quite hot.

They're really hot.

-Delicious and really hot.

-Good.

-The pastry's gorgeous.

-Have you knocked the cherry off?

-Yes.

-Did you flip it?

-We should've had a competition.

-I hurled mine right across the room.

You won. That's good. Give him a high-five.

-Do you like those, Adil? Really good.

-Very good.

-Good.

Raging success. Right.

Jo, can you give us your top sort of baking tip for Christmas?

What is your top tip for Christmas? How do you survive Christmas?

I have a plan always.

A written plan and I tick it off, that's my top tip.

Really? So you're quite methodical about everything.

I have a time plan. Before Christmas, I have lists for everything

and I'll make all pastry and stuff, and everything's in the freezer.

So on the big day, when you start drinking and it all starts sort of

-falling apart, how do you cope with that one?

-I don't really drink.

-Don't you?

-No.

-There's your top tip. Thanks, Jo!

Now, one good tip deserves another and here's some more of my

chef friends with theirs.

Everyone likes to make stuffing for Christmas, I'm no different.

I love making, not Cranberries, but with clementines, some clementines,

some chestnuts, some shallots, some sage,

make a wonderful stuffing with that, it goes very well with your turkey.

Nice and floral, nice and flavoursome,

and a little bit different also.

Parboil some of the vegetables first beforehand and then lots

of Chinese trimmings,

you know, full of umami flavour.

So think, you know, black bean sauce in some kale stir-fry,

or smoky bacon lardons with some

Brussels sprouts, splash of soy,

a little bit of black rice vinegar just to get a bit of tang.

Christmas is a big deal in my house,

my wife is Swedish and there is a huge tradition of making

gingerbread, so around this time of year,

we make big vats of dough which can be frozen for any impromptu

gingerbread-making parties.

No party is complete without a bit of fizz,

so our wine expert Jane has come up with three delicious

fizz-based cocktails perfect for seeing in the New Year.

-What have you got?

-I have...

-This is much more like it.

-We are quite excited today.

-I think this is my favourite.

-Chocolate and beer?

-Are you dissing my previous cocktails?

-He is.

-Right.

So this is going crazy in this country at the moment.

We're drinking so much of it,

it's so popular and it's also a fantastic base for cocktails.

So the first one I'm going to do is a buck's fizz, but with

a bit of a kick,

because it has a little shot of vodka in the orange juice.

-Is that orange juice?

-Yeah.

-There's juice in it.

There's juice in it, one of your five a day,

so I'm topping up with champagne.

It may seem a bit decadent to go for champagne, but, you know,

it's Christmas and these days,