Episode 7 Christmas Kitchen

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Delicious smells wafting by your nose.

Yuletide food cooked to your heart's desire.

Please draw this ditty to a close.

Welcome to Christmas Kitchen.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Hello and welcome. I'm Matt Tebbutt.

-And I'm Andi Oliver.

And we're here to bring you all the cooking tips, advice and recipes

you're going to need to get you through the festive season.

Think of us as your guiding star.

Now, coming up today,

he's got one of the most famous moustaches on the box,

David Haig is here to tell us all about the new Agatha Christie drama

that is a must-see part of Christmas TV schedules.

Every day we like to bring you an international flavour of Christmas.

-Today Olia Hercules has a great...

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

..great Ukrainian veggie dish for us. Can't wait for that.

And if you're struggling for gift ideas,

then we have a brilliant home-made present from Bake Off finalist

Andrew Smyth, and he's showing us how to bake Black Forest macarons.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-And Jane Parkinson has some festive drink suggestions.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Wine cocktails and mocktails.

Plus we're unwrapping the Christmas archives

with festive recipes from the Hairy Bikers, Delia Smith,

and beauty tips from Mary Berry.

Now, if you're worried about my nails,

they're gel and they won't come off.

I was brought up not to ever wear nail polish when I'm cooking,

and at college it was absolutely forbidden,

but things have changed, and it is Christmas.

There's more from Mary's nail salon a little bit later.

So, let's get on with our first recipe.

Now, everyone should have a standby hangover recipe

for the festive period, and this is mine.

So, I'm going to be doing fried chicken.

-Are you a fan of fried chicken?

-I love fried chicken.

Good fried chicken. There's some pretty ropey fried chicken.

Hopefully, this is. Lots and lots of spices in there.

Got some buttermilk just to break it down, a bit of five spice to finish.

-Are you shallow frying it or deep frying it?

-I'm going to deep fry it.

-Delicious, I love a good chicken.

-I'm not shallow frying it.

You've got a little tiny pan there -

I don't know what you're going to do with it.

-Hi, David. Want to come closer to the food?

-I certainly will.

It's the optimum spot in the kitchen. Come and join us.

We'll have a chat while he's getting on with his lovely chicken.

So, now, you're doing Witness For The Prosecution.

Yes, apparently THE Witness For The Prosecution.

Is it THE Witness For The Prosecution?

Yes, I've been reliably assured by my publicity department

that it is never Witness For The...

But, anyway, it's a terrific adaptation

of the Agatha Christie short story

that, as we know, was filmed years ago,

but the writer, Sarah Phelps, always gives it a new slant,

and on this occasion, a darker seam to it.

It's the same team that did And Then There Were None

a year or two ago, which was hugely successful.

Is it difficult to take something that's quite...?

I mean, I'm personally really familiar with the original version,

the movie version with Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich

and Charles Lawton.

You're playing the same part that Charles Lawton played?

-Well, I am and I'm not. That's the point.

-That's the twist.

I mean, when you see this,

it maintains the essence of the original story,

but her great freedom as a writer, Sarah Phelps,

is that she can reinterpret it

and reinvigorate it for a modern audience.

Quite difficult to do,

-but, you know, Agatha Christie, she's...

-Yeah, great storyteller.

-A brilliant, brilliant storyteller.

-Yes.

How are we getting along there, Matt? Tell us what you're doing.

I just put some chicken in the fridge.

So, here I've got chicken in buttermilk,

-a bit of Tabasco and seasoning, OK?

-Oh, delicious.

So stick that in the fridge for about a couple of hours, preferably,

just so the chicken starts to break down.

And buttermilk - that counts as a yoghurt, right?

Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

But the longer the better, so overnight, it'll be great.

In here I've got some flour and I've got all these spices,

so cayenne, smoked paprika, got some five spice

-and some Sichuan pepper, so lots of, kind of...

-Fancy!

-THEY LAUGH

-Fancy fried chicken!

When is a pepper Sichuan pepper?

-Other than the fact it comes from Sichuan.

-I think that.

-Have you tried Sichuan pepper?

-I don't think I have.

-If I have, I haven't been aware of it.

-Have a little pinch.

Is this going to be the end of my appearance?

It's delicious. Just have a little bit.

-It's very fragrant, isn't it?

-Oh, great.

-Kind of floral.

-A lot of salt.

-Yeah, there's a little bit of salt in there.

-Oh, right.

THEY LAUGH

-You're good.

-Well recognised.

-Well spotted.

Finely tuned palate you've got there.

-It's just very numbing.

-Yeah.

-It's delicious. I love that stuff.

You know what's really nice in shortbread?

You know that, Andrew? A little baking tip.

Sichuan pepper shortbread's absolutely delicious.

Similar way that pink peppercorns work, you can use Sichuan pepper.

So, Witness For The Prosecution - I believe we have a clip.

I'd like to have a little look at it,

-cos I am obsessed with the original.

-Very good.

Leonard Vole did not kill Emily French. He can't have done -

he wasn't there.

And despite my learned friend's thrilling rhetorical bombast,

it overlooks the basic law of physics.

A man cannot be in two places at the same time - it's impossible.

Leonard Vole was a foolish young man.

He is most emphatically not a murderer.

And you will find him innocent of the charge.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Excellent stuff.

-Thank you.

So, I mean, you've got a brilliant cast that you're working with there.

-Kim Cattrall.

-Kim Cattrall, who I'm very fond of.

Played my wife years ago in a telefilm that I wrote

called My Boy Jack. She's a wonderful, exciting...

-Oh, so you know her of old?

-Yeah.

-And Andrea Riseborough?

-Andrea Riseborough, yes.

Toby Jones. And a young actor called Billy Howle.

-I don't know...

-If you don't know his name now, you will soon.

Oh, we will do soon, we will do soon.

Now, of course, we can't have you on

and not talk about Four Weddings And A Funeral, of course.

-I mean...

-Yeah, OK.

-I expect you're thrilled about that, aren't you?

-Exactly!

Is that the one question you go, "Oh, God..."

It's the one question I'm absolutely certain I'm going to get!

-Yeah, yeah!

-If nothing else.

I mean, is it one of those things that follows you round

and it's a bit of a pain in the neck,

-or is it a happy memory?

-Why should it be a pain in the neck?

I mean, the most successful film of its time.

Incredibly wittily written, and...

and the fascinating thing was that none of us had any awareness

-of its potential success.

-Yeah, I mean...

-It wasn't massively high-budget when you made it.

-No.

So did you all do deals?

No, very low-budget, depending on brilliant direction,

great cast, but essentially the writing was so witty and universal.

-Yes. So great.

-I mean...everybody...

And travels well, it stands the test of time.

It appears to, yes.

OK, so let me just return to Matt in case he gets carried away with this.

-What are you doing now?

-OK, so very simply frying the chicken in here.

I've got some sliced green chillies -

just going to fry those off just to crisp them a little bit.

I'm going to get those out, drain them and dust them in the five spice...

Not the five spice - the Sichuan and the salt.

That's my garnish, a bit of sour cream there to go alongside.

-Like I said - fancy!

-I was going to ask David about...

You're quite a prolific writer as well, aren't you?

I write as much as I act now, so...

Is that something that you enjoy,

almost taking the back seat, as it were, steering?

It's not the back seat.

It's just that I suppose about 15, 20 years ago,

I was suddenly aware that, as an actor,

you're always part of a picture, a visual series of images,

rather than behind it intellectually, aesthetically.

As a writer, you get, potentially, at least,

more control of what you're doing,

and you can create the whole entity rather than being part of it.

So it's more empowering for you as an actor

because you're involved in different ways?

Well, not as an actor, but it's more empowering as

a person trying to create interesting material and stuff.

In the same way, does it work in television as it does in films?

Whereby an actor will then get into directing and then, sort of,

do the whole sort of shebang.

I've never wanted to direct television or film.

If you watch the hours they work,

the level of obsessive attention to detail

and care that they have to... I mean...

It's just a different discipline...

A very particular skill and discipline.

A lot like this show, I think.

THEY LAUGH

It's a lot like my dedication...!

Utmost professionalism that we employ!

Now, tell us about your Christmas, David. Are you very Christmassy?

-I'm quite annoying and Christmassy.

-I don't think I'm annoying, but...

Well, I may be annoying to my family,

and the family is the essence of my particular Christmas.

-I've got five kids.

-Oh, have you?

They all live quite locally in south-east London,

so we'll all be getting together.

Just all together. And do you cook?

Only a very rudimentary spaghetti bolognese...

LAUGHTER

..a chicken chorizo stew and nothing else.

Scrambled egg. Yeah.

-Matt, how's your chicken looking?

-OK, chicken is good.

-I think we're ready to go.

-How long does that take then, do you think?

Well, it takes a good, sort of, five minutes, five-to-eight minutes.

-Check it, cut it in half and give it a good look.

-Lovely!

-OK, so just...

-I sometimes do oven-fried chicken.

Obviously, it's not really fried, but you put it in the oven.

Ever done that? It's really nice.

you do the same thing that Matt's doing -

drizzle a bit of oil and put it in, and it's an alternative.

I get that, but if you've got a hangover, you know,

-you want something from a fryer, right?

-Yes.

-I often want something from a fryer!

-Exactly. So...

-Lovely.

Yeah, I mean...this is kind of the upside of fried food,

that the proteins in chicken, once they're fried,

-your body turns them into this powerful antioxidant. ALL:

-Ooh!

-It's kind of...

-Good knowledge.

So, that's what we're telling ourselves?

So, it's kind of guilt-free, I reckon.

OK, I'm going to go with that. Let's just go with that!

-I mean, it's a bit tenuous.

-It looks lovely.

-Right.

-Yeah.

Big old dollop of that.

Let's have a little bit more of that.

-Your favourite - more Sichuan pepper.

-Yeah.

-This is going to be delicious.

-Yes.

So, there you go, that's my festive cure for hangovers - fried chicken.

Lovely.

Anyone want a taste?

ENTHUSIASTIC RESPONSES

Come and eat some chicken.

Come and eat some chicken. It's good here, you'll like it.

This happens all day long. Help yourselves to some cutlery.

-Can I go with my hands?

-You can go with your hands.

It's quite hot, so be careful.

We'll have to separate your chunk, then.

-Here, do you want me to cut some up?

-Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

Come to momma.

"Come to momma"!

-She's been saying that for the last five minutes.

-I have.

-Shall I push it this way a bit?

-Yeah, push it this way.

Yeah, really, you've got to be quick.

-DAVID:

-You've got to be quite...

-OLIA:

-I'm trying to get to the mayo.

You've got to be quite aggressive actually.

I like it.

I don't have a hangover, but I like it.

-What do you feel about that?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-I just want a loop of chilli.

Have a loop of chilli. How do you feel about that, Andrew?

That's the professional term.

There's just a little bit of Sichuan pepper, it's really nice.

-It's quite a nice little zing.

-Some more?

-Good. I think she likes it(!)

-All good?

Right, now it's wine time.

Jane's got two great matches for this dish.

one's luxury and one's a little bit less, I do believe.

I have indeed, I'll go and get them.

Now, while Jane sorts the wine, it's time for our daily Christmas quiz.

Sometimes chefs get so involved with their descriptions of food,

it's hard to actually tell what they're going on about,

so our challenge is to guess what food a chef is describing

without actually seeing it. Got it?

So today, it's Heston's turn,

and I'm going to give you a bit of a clue as it's quite a hard one.

He's talking about something you only hear about this time of year.

Let's have a listen.

'It was bitter, but at the same time it was really complex.

'It had a wonderful, aromatic fragrance to it,

'a fruity note as well,

'but more than anything else,

'I just found there was something... mystical about it.'

-Frankincense.

-Turkish delight.

-Frankincense.

-Yeah?

-Well, I don't know.

-Where did that come from?

-It sounded good.

-ANDREW:

-I'll jump on board with that.

That's actually, properly brilliant, cos yes, it is. Let's have a look.

It was bitter, but at the same time it was really complex.

It had a wonderful, aromatic fragrance to it,

a fruity note as well.

But more than anything else,

I just found there was something... mystical about it.

It's... I know what frankincense tastes like,

but from being there, from that tree,

it was something you couldn't put your finger on, otherworldly.

-How did you guess that?!

-I think it was the music.

-Really?

-Have you ever come across it, used it?

-No, I've never used it actually.

Just very good food knowledge.

So, Jane, you have found two wines from the supermarket

that could match Matt's dish.

One that's luxury and one that's a little less.

That's exactly right, but they're both sparkling wines,

so it might seem a bit strange for me to choose fizz

to go with your chicken, Matt,

but actually, sparkling wine is quite high in acid,

so it's great for cutting through fried food.

So chicken when it's fried, or fish and chips, anything like that,

it's brilliant.

So two very different ones for you to try.

I think we'll kick off with the Santa hat one,

so if you want to dive into that one first.

This is a sparkling wine called a cremant,

the style is called cremant, it's from France.

But what that means is,

it's a sparkling wine that's not

made from the region of Champagne,

but it's made in the same way as champagne,

so you usually get a real depth of flavour from that same way

it's made of Champagne.

-Really toasty, really fresh. Do you like it?

-I love it.

Could you find a bargain in this cremant?

You can sometimes, some of them can be expensive,

some of them cannot, I can see where you're going with this.

LAUGHTER I'm not fishing at all!

But I'm not rising to the bait whatsoever.

I see what you're doing.

-It's very nice, that.

-It's good.

Yeah, you like it?

-That's a nice breakfast!

-Like that.

Kind of lemon-ey, toasty, refreshing.

And so the robin one... Look, you're so well-behaved!

Come on!

So the second one is a bit closer to home,

so this is an English sparkling wine.

So, made with the same grapes they often make in champagne,

so Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, but it's from Kent,

-so it's a fantastic producer.

-Very smooth.

Usually you get a bit more freshness in English sparkling wines

cos it's colder here, so you get even higher acidity.

So again, similar taste profile, but slightly fresher in my mind.

Yeah, this one sort of lays on the palate

for a little longer afterwards, this is really bright.

-Yeah.

-Bright and shiny.

-Bright and zingy.

I'm going to take the English one home.

I'll fight you for it!

-So it sounds like you like both of them?

-Yes, I do.

-Tick that box.

OK, but now I'm going to get you to work out -

it doesn't necessarily mean it's the one you like -

which one you think is luxury, which one you think is less.

So maybe we'll have a quick little vote.

-The English one is the luxury.

-OLIA:

-Definitely.

-JANE:

-Yeah, which one...?

If you think the Santa hat one is more expensive...

say so now, stick your hands up.

-No? You all think the robin is more expensive?

-Five gloomy faces.

LAUGHTER

We think the robin one is more expensive.

I like it when we put our hands up, let's do it.

Yeah, put your hands up.

The robin one is luxury - is that what we're saying?

-Yes.

-The robin one is luxury.

-You are all such expert tasters.

Yay!

The English sparkling wine. so this is the Tesco Finest

English Sparkling Wine, it's £17.50, and then the bargain one,

which you also really liked,

is £7.50 in Aldi.

-That's amazing.

-But it also looks pretty smart as well.

-Yes, it does.

-But the only reason you can't call it champagne

is cos it's not made in Champagne,

they're making it exactly the same way?

Yeah, there can be other things as well.

It's made in the same way, but they don't age it,

there are minimum stipulations in champagne,

you have to age it for a certain amount of time,

and when you make cremant, they don't have to.

But it's also from a completely different region,

it's from the Jura, which is close to Switzerland.

Thanks for that, Jane.

Coming up, one of this year's Bake Off finalists, Andrew Smyth,

is making a beautiful gift. What have you got for us, Andrew?

I'm making a retro version of a French classic,

it's a macaron, Black Forest macaron.

Black Forest, very nice.

Plus, Matt and I are going head-to-head in a cook-off,

a bit of friendly festive competition,

-and we've called it "Yule Decide".

-Yeah, good.

Today, we're going to battle it out to prove

who has the best recipe idea for mincemeat.

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

They're working their way through the 12 Days of Christmas

and are cooking a version of "eight maids a-milking",

which sounds a bit tricky,

but apparently nothing is too difficult for Si and Dave.

We've created a spicy panna cotta

made with raisins and festive spices.

Yes, mate, it's got all those Christmassy flavours,

but it's modern, light and sexy.

Ooh-hoo, bit like us, dude, eh?

'Ah, but the key ingredient is lots and lots of fresh cream.'

Wahey. Yee-ha, partner!

Oh, there's only one place to go for cream, and that's our Jess.

She's the best there is, man.

Jess helps run the family farm, and she has

lots of lovely dairy cows which she calls her "ladies".

# Eight maids a-milking. # Well, we've got one.

Oh, I know, but she's a belter, int' she?

Absolutely, it's our Jess. How big's your farm, Jess?

-220 acres.

-Are you married?

-No, no, not yet.

-You are now.

-SHE CHUCKLES

-It's a rural idyll, isn't it?

-It is a gorgeous place, yeah.

So what makes good milk and cream, Jess?

I think as fresh as you can get, cows are happy,

grazing pasture in summer,

in the barns in winter but on clover silage.

Yeah, happy cows make good milk,

and all the ladies here are very, very happy.

And those happy ladies make great cream,

so let's go and produce pudding perfection.

-Look, behind you!

-And there's the ladies who make this all possible.

Merry Christmas, girls, and thank you for your donation!

And this is what we're using - liquid gold.

If this was oil, that'd be Texas.

Start off with about 500ml - that's a pint in old money -

of the girls' finest. It's just so luxurious.

-(Look at the way that pours.)

-It's so Christmas.

Our trick with the panna cotta,

just to give it that little extra Christmas feel to it, is some rum.

Now, "How do we apply the rum?", I hear you cry.

-What are they?

-With raisins. Rum and raisins - classic combination.

Pour a little bit of rum just to rehydrate those raisins.

Look at that.

If you leave them for an hour or two, they'll swell up.

Gelatine.

We found out by great experimentation,

trial, tribulation,

three and a half sheets of gelatine works well.

Put three and a half sheets in some cold water

until it goes flaccid.

-Flaccid.

-By flaccid, we mean get a bit of a wobble on. Soft, loose.

While we're waiting for that to go...

Let's put the cream on to warm.

-Why not?

-Cos what does panna cotta mean?

-POSH VOICE:

-It means cooked cream, you know.

When we invented this dish,

we thought of "What are the flavours of Christmas?"

-Well, we thought ginger.

-Gotta be, hasn't it?

Bit of ginge, warming spice, nice on those cold nights of loveliness.

Ground allspice, for that perfect Christmas pudding-esque...ness.

Do you know, I think it's our best dish we've ever done.

-It's simple enough, isn't it?

-Yeah, but we've done some belters!

We have. It's a good 'un, you're going to like it!

Cinnamon and nutmeg, freshly grated.

You're going to get a lovely speckle in your panna cotta.

To the speckle, add four tablespoons of caster sugar.

Uno... Rudolph, Donner, Blitzen.

The cream, the Christmas spices,

the sugar are coming to a boil. It needs to come to a boil.

And don't forget, you do need to simmer nice and gently

for three minutes.

Take it off the heat, then put the gelatine in.

The gelatine...is now limp.

Look at that.

-Just pour that in.

-That's great.

Now, just bung in the rum-soaked raisins.

We just need to fill the moulds.

It can be a mould of choice, it can be non-stick, sticky.

We'll show you how to get them out of the mould,

but these are kind of just classic dariole moulds, nothing fancy,

just the ones you use for your little steak and kidney puddings.

-Now, look at the texture of this.

-Oh, it's like Anaglypta.

The raisins have gone to the bottom of the jug.

We will rake them out and distribute them evenly.

Remember, these are flavour bombs.

SI GASPS

-Look at that.

-Ooh.

-Oh, man.

Just let that cool completely.

-Stick it in the fridge.

-It'll set solid.

And honestly, if you cook nothing else this Christmas

that you've seen on the telly,

please cook this one - it's brilliant.

Oh, and into the fridge!

Now, once the panna cotta is set,

put hot water in a bowl and place the moulds in the water.

Leave for a few seconds so the panna cotta becomes loose,

and then serve.

We're trying out this fantastic dish on Jess, her dad and a friend

to see if they too are bowled over by our gorgeous festive pudding.

Here we go, the spicy Christmas rum and raisin panna cotta.

-Let me know what you think.

-Lovely job.

-Made with your cream.

-JESS' DAD: Fabulous.

-Beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful.

So, do you think that's a good alternative

to your regular Christmas pudding?

-Definitely.

-Definitely.

Lighter after you've eaten too much at Christmas.

Thanks for that, guys.

Now, if you're fed up with the usual Christmas dishes, then every day,

we have a chef who brings an international flavour to the studio,

and today it's the turn of Olia Hercules,

with some Ukrainian ideas.

-Interesting.

-Hello.

Yes, it is quite an interesting recipe,

even for Ukrainians, I think, this is an interesting one.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-Cos normally we just use normal cabbage leaves.

-OK.

But the fermented one...

Normally we use tomatoes sauce as well,

but this one is white sauce and fermented leaves.

And what are we making, we're stuffing this cabbage?

Yeah, so they're called golabki, basically, or golubtsi,

which means "little doves".

And what we're doing here is, I'm going to hand-mince this meat.

-So, this is pork belly.

-OK.

And this is my grandmother's recipe, and basically,

when you ferment cabbage, when you make sauerkraut,

you just put some leaves underneath it,

so they kind of acquire that sour taste as well.

-With salt?

-Yeah, yeah, just like you'd do sauerkraut,

so just massage cabbage with salt.

Leave this underneath, that's it.

-Within two weeks...

-Can I do anything?

Yes, please, actually, could you do some celery for me?

-That'd be amazing.

-Like this?

-Yes, please.

-OK.

So, for people like me, and those who don't know at home,

give me kind of an overview of Ukrainian food,

what sort of forms the basis of it?

It's very regional, you can't talk about...

It varies.

So, in the south, you get tomatoes and aubergines,

things like that.

The colder it gets, up north,

you get things like mushrooms and earthier kind of flavours.

-Yeah.

-But we do love our broths and soups. Clear with bits in.

-And we make a type of lardo, basically...

-Nice.

..with salt in the fat, and it's the most delicious thing.

-Do you make it better than the Italians do?

-Yes.

THEY LAUGH

-That's a big claim.

-Yeah.

Is it largely a farming, or rural background?

Yes, it is, so, yeah, we live off the land.

And my mum still does, my mum...

So basically, sorry, this pork is going into the pan.

This one, yep.

So we're just going to release the pork fat

and then fry all of the other things.

And normally, my grandma used to use wheat berries,

but we're going a little bit...

-What's this?

-Freekeh.

-Freekeh? OK.

So this is kind of like the ingredient in vogue

at the moment, isn't it?

Smokey kind of grain, and it really works here, I think.

But, yeah, berries or any other grain,

-or buckwheat as well could work.

-Right.

Quite interesting, isn't it, Olia?

Because the whole stuffed cabbage rolls,

there's loads of different versions all over Europe, aren't there?

Yes, there is, and this is, like, more of an unusual recipe, actually.

For people at home who wanted, again, sauerkraut, choucroute,

fermented thing, very, very popular at the moment.

For people at home, I mean, how would you go about doing it?

You buy a white cabbage, then what you do?

You shred it and then you take some salt and then you massage it

and that's it, and then you leave it.

So no kind of quantities, just a good handful of salt?

-Just a good handful of salt.

-OK.

-Yes.

And then it sits in its own juice.

Yes, it releases juices and then it just sits in your warm kitchen

for a bit, so, yes, and we've actually got a cold mix

which I'm going to get now.

Over here.

And then... So my grandma used to make tiny ones.

She literally, like, finger kind of....

-Right.

-Yeah.

-But I'm going to make bigger ones.

-It's got a great...

-It's got good flavour, hasn't it?

-It's got a great flavour.

So this is what... I mean, yeah, I mean, I know fermentation is

healthy and everything, and that's amazing, but it's also very tasty.

Yeah! Health aside!

Yeah, it's just this is why I love it so much,

it's just because of the depth of flavour that you get.

So basically, then you just...

What about spices or other flavour, do you use caraway?

Yes, we do use quite a lot of caraway actually,

but mainly it's just that the flavour of the ingredients,

-and when the ingredients are so amazing, that's all you need.

-Yeah.

-So, there you go, you just make little parcels like that.

-OK.

Put them in here.

And then...

And you could do this with no meat quite easily, couldn't you?

Yes, and in fact Christmas-time in Ukraine is all kind of pescatarian,

-we don't eat meat.

-Really?

-Yeah. I'm a bit naughty here.

I'm supposed to be making a mushroom one probably, traditionally,

but, yes, you could make a vegetarian version with mushrooms

-and that would be delicious.

-Or anything you like, I guess.

And your Christmas is a little bit later, isn't it? In January?

It is, it's actually on the... Yes, 6th of January.

6th, 7th of January so... And we make 12 dishes.

Traditionally you are supposed to make 12 vegetarian or

-pescatarian dishes basically. Oh, thank you.

-So just show me one.

Yes, so, I mean, these are a bit irregular but, you know,

inside, da-da-da-da, and then just wrap. Don't worry.

-It's a bit short, Matt.

-Lacking in length.

-Just...

And then you tuck them together

and then they don't fall apart hopefully.

Do you make the 12 dishes for the 12 days, or just for the one?

-I think it's 12 apostles or something like that.

-Right, right.

Do they seal themselves sort of thing as it cooks in the pan?

Well, you know,

by the time we will be finished they'll kind of be tucked together.

-Set.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Nice.

-I think we're good, aren't we? Almost there.

-Just make another couple and then we're done.

-OK.

Have you ever tried stuffed cabbage leaves?

Only in the French way, you know, when you sort of braise the leaves

-and then you stuff it with pork mince and lots...

-Delicious.

Yeah, I mean it's amazing,

and then serve with a nice sort of tomato sauce.

Only in that way, but never with fermented cabbage.

I love fermented cabbage.

Do like fermented stuff, it's good.

And then, obviously, dill. Of course you are going to need to have dill.

And so this goes in the oven for how long, Olia?

So, about 40 minutes.

-40 minutes.

-So, so hot. So, so hot!

-OK.

-OK, good.

-How would you serve it?

-You use just...

So, let's put a little bit of dill on.

-You just serve it as it is really.

-They look amazing.

I love the way the sour cream has sort of thickened.

Yeah, yeah, thickened and...yeah.

-This like a main course, then?

-Yes, it is.

-Lovely.

That looks delicious.

-Right, remind us what that is.

-They are called holubtsi.

-Holubtsi.

-Yeah.

There you go.

Let's try, let's try Olia's taste of Christmas.

I'm very excited about this.

Oh, these look gorgeous. They are so pretty actually.

-They are really pretty.

-They're really cute, aren't they?

They are really appealing. Lovely.

Cabbage is a much maligned vegetable, isn't it?

-And the word means "little doves".

-Little doves!

THEY ALL CHATTER

-Really is like food scrum.

-You snooze, you lose.

Somebody was here the other day

and I was like, really, you're being way too polite,

you're not going to get anything to eat.

-Do you find fermented things hard to pair?

-It can be.

With something like this, I don't think so,

because you're tasting the sort of creamy filling

and the pork and everything so I'd kind of match more with that

than the actual fermented cabbage, so it wouldn't be difficult at all.

-It's delicious, isn't it?

-It's great.

-Absolute wonderful.

What are you trying to say, Andi?

I'm trying to say that's really hot, and it's absolutely delicious.

-Really good.

-Really interesting.

The fermented cabbage, the little spike you get from it is amazing.

-There's so much flavour in those kind of old peasant dishes.

-Yes.

-So much flavour, I love that kind of thing.

-Beautiful.

-Delicious.

Anyway, while we dig in, is a festive recipe idea from Mary Berry,

a great way to use up leftover ham - a raised ham pie.

There's something really spectacular about a raised pie.

When you cut the first slice it's a real show-off pie.

I'm going to make hot water crust pastry.

You may not have made it before but it is very easy to make,

and it is the traditional one for a raised pie.

Dissolve 100g of lard in 100ml of hot water,

then add it to 250g of plain flour.

And I'm going to just finish that off by putting my hand in.

Now, if you're worried about my nails, they're gel,

and they won't come off.

I was brought up not to ever wear nail polish when I'm cooking,

and at college, it was absolutely forbidden,

but things have changed, and it is Christmas.

Put aside one third for the top of the pie

and roll the rest quite thinly.

I think that's about right.

And now for the filling.

I've got some gammon here, some chicken,

pickled walnuts.

I think they give a lovely texture, lovely flavour.

Hard-boiled eggs and sausage meat.

Cut the gammon and chicken into strips.

Then add lemon zest and fresh thyme to the sausage meat.

Don't use dried thyme.

Dried thyme is a totally different thing

and I don't think it adds to recipes at all.

Mix a third of the sausage meat with the gammon strips

to make the bottom layer of the pie.

Then, you can imagine, as you cut through, you get beautiful results.

Press it down firmly to remove any air before poking in

a few of the pickled walnuts.

If you don't like pickled walnuts you could put pistachio nuts in it,

you could use stemmed olives.

Lay the trimmed hard-boiled eggs along the centre

and surround them with the sausage meat.

And then press it down very gently, but firmly - no arguments.

So I've got here the chicken, and it's the same principle,

I want long pieces of chicken so that when I cut through the pie

when it's cooked, it looks good.

It takes time, but it's very rewarding.

And the last third of the pastry will become the pie lid.

That looks about the right size to me. Let me just check.

It would be very stupid if it didn't reach, wouldn't it?

Stick the lid on with a little beaten egg and then crimp the edges.

You can do any decoration that you like.

I'm going to do three leaves over the top.

Make a small air hole in the top

and bake at 180 fan for half an hour and then 160 for the final hour.

When it's ready let it cool and then leave in the fridge overnight.

And this is it.

I think it looks pretty good.

I can tell you I'm chuffed to bits with that.

I think it looks really perfect.

What could be more impressive, more Christmassy?

It really shows that you pushed the boat out

for all your family and friends.

Still to come we have a sugar rush, Bake Off style.

Andrew Smyth is making an edible gift, Black Forest macarons,

and Jane Parkinson will be making

some dessert cocktails to wash them down with.

And we're going back to 1990

to get a classic Christmas recipe from Delia.

It's a stunner. She says so herself.

Now, at this time of year the supermarkets are packed with

seasonal foodie gifts like cheese, chocolates, chestnuts, all that lot.

So every day we'll be bringing you a recipe idea to use them up

should you find one under your tree,

and today it's Andi's turn to cook with a gift I've given you.

-How thrilling, thrilling.

-OK, so here's your gift, Andi.

-Lovely.

-What could it be?

-So thoughtful!

-So thoughtful.

-Liqueur!

-A beautiful bottle of liqueur.

-So I've chosen this, OK.

So this is Nocino, which is a black walnut liqueur but,

as you know, in a hamper, or at any time of year

you can get any kind of liqueur. Dark berry ones...

I mean, I wouldn't use a banana liqueur for this,

but anything fruity and dark and rich will work with this recipe.

I know about Nocino. I only found out about Nocino this year actually,

-because somebody gave me some for my birthday.

-Really?

-Quite an acquired taste, I think.

-It is an acquired taste.

It's kind of beautiful, it's a black walnut liqueur,

I mean, it just sounds quite appealing to me

sort of immediately, so I've got a beautiful pork chop here.

Really I'm making a sauce with prunes, liquorice,

because the other thing that happened this year

was that I went to Pontefract.

-You went to where?

-I went to Pontefract..

-Right.

-Where they make...

-I've been there.

-It's amazing, and that's where, it's the town of liquorice.

-Yes.

And I came away just thinking about stuff, and I got home

and I had the Nocino and I came up with this recipe.

But you could use pretty much any liqueur in this recipe,

-within reason.

-You could use any liqueur, definitely.

I got this incredible liquorice paste.

I'm just going to stick that in like that because it's very hot.

I got this incredible liquorice paste,

-but what I've done here is just melt down Pontefract cakes.

-Yes.

-You know, the little black...

-ALL:

-Yeah.

..liquorice cakes and you could also use just,

not sweetie shop liquorice cos it's too sweet,

but health food shop liquorice

that hasn't got any stuff in it, so you don't have to have loads

of specialist items or anything like that, it's quite easy to do.

-So we're going to get our pork chop nice and golden.

-OK.

-And will you finish off the mash for me, Matt?

-Yes.

I've got a potato and parsnip mash there.

I want you to just put some buttermilk into it,

and I am going to get this sauce on. I've got some chicken stock.

-Buttermilk in there?

-Buttermilk.

-Slight acidity?

Yeah, it gives you a little sour note, which is quite nice,

-I think, in a bit of mash.

-Yeah.

And then I've got this much liquorice going into here.

Get it into there.

I'll turn it down a little bit, that's quite perky, isn't it?

So what's the name of the dish then?

-It's pork with what? With liquorice?

-It's not called anything.

I made it up the other day so it's called Andi's pork and creams

-and liquorice and Nocino.

-LAUGHTER

It's a snappy title, do you like it?

So we've got just normal prunes, out of tin, in prune juice though,

not syrup.

And then we're just going to reduce that down and let it cook away.

Now, this is, that is the only amount of liqueur that you need,

-the black walnut liqueur.

-It's quite strong.

It's quite pokey, and liqueur is, isn't it? It's very concentrated.

It's a kind of triple hit of whatever it is

you think you're sort of having.

What's similar to that, then, if you don't have that?

-You can use a dark berry one, like a cassis...

-Yeah.

..or one of the raspberry ones.

You could go any kind of berry flavour, I think. Pork likes fruit.

-Yeah, it does.

-So you could go with anything

that works in that kind of area.

There's all kinds of liqueurs these days.

There's so many, so many.

I mean, you could even mix a berry one

with a tiny bit of chocolate liqueur, actually,

it would work really well in this.

I'm just going to slip this into the oven.

Yeah, so why do you think this works so well with pork, then?

I think the depth of it.

Pork, because it's so fatty, can sort of take richness and fruit

and sweetness without it becoming sickly, do you know what I mean?

With chicken it might be a little bit much, I think.

Chicken can go with fruit but it's not the same.

It's nice and quick, this, too. Which I think is...

At this time of year,

I think it's really good to have things that don't take

your whole day to make, and you can wrap up.

So there we go, we've got a little bit of kale soaking there.

We've got our sauce on. See, there's not many steps to it.

I just want to check my sauce. That's getting thick.

I don't think we eat enough liquorice in this country anyway.

It's one of those things, I didn't really like it when I was a kid.

-Yeah.

-Do you use it in your baking?

No, I tend to avoid it actually.

It's usually the sweet stuff that I avoid.

So, maybe this might be something a little different.

-It's quite a grown-up taste, though.

-It is!

I lived in Denmark for a couple of years.

You go into any sweet shop, and you have 50-100 varieties of liquorice.

-It's an absolutely standard...

-Really?

-Yeah.

That Scandinavian liquorice is horrible.

LAUGHTER

Not to upset anyone!

Honestly, if you're not from Scandinavia,

it's really hard to eat, because it's salted liquorice.

-Have you ever tried it?

-No.

-It's not just normal liquorice.

You know, I have a lot of Scandinavian family and friends,

I love them dearly, but I'm not eating your liquorice.

LAUGHTER

"I'll use your saunas, I ain't going to eat your liquorice."

That's the end of a flourishing relationship.

-Right, I'm just adding a little bit of butter to your mash.

-Right.

Just to richen it a little bit.

And don't forget, all of today's studio recipes,

including this one from Andi, are on the website.

Go to...

All right, this'll be ready in two seconds.

Let's just get this kale a little bit...

Get it onto a bit of a hotter heat.

Do you want the butter in there as well?

There's some butter underneath, it's quite good.

We could put more in a second. You love a bit of butter, don't you?

Yeah! LAUGHTER

He's a butter boy, you know? Right, I'm just go to let that...

-So what's in the kale? Is it...?

-It's just butter. And a little salt.

-Doesn't need anything else?

-Doesn't really need anything else.

And also, with kale, that's another thing.

There's a lot of kale around. Some of it is really, like, woody?

Have you noticed that?

So you have to be really careful about what you're getting,

I think, with the kale. Right, this'll be ready in two minutes.

Nearly there.

It's very festive-looking, isn't it, the bottle?

-Would you like to try some?

-I would!

If you've got a few little shot glasses around.

Is that mash ready, my love?

I'm so intrigued by the black walnuts...

-Is that ready?

-Yeah.

Righty ho.

-I think it's great.

-Yeah?

-Yeah!

Here we go, this is all coming together.

Now, here is a lovely bit of kale.

Watch your back there, my darling, that's rather hot.

And then we're going to just spoon this lovely sauce over the top.

So the sauce is ready. Get some of the little prune bits out of there.

I love prunes as well, with fatty meat.

And there we have it.

That's a pork chop with prunes and black walnut liqueur,

a parsley and potato mash, and some buttered kale.

Would you like to try some?

-Yes, we would!

-Absolutely!

-Lovely.

I'm going to give it to you guys first.

There we go.

-Pass that...

-Oh, right, the...!

LAUGHTER

"Could I just have that liqueur? That would be great, thanks."

-The classic match with this recipe.

-Mmm, that's lovely.

-It's nice, isn't it?

-Yeah, really good.

-Is it quite pricey?

You shouldn't have given it away, you should've kept it for yourself.

Well, I might take it back.

-It's almost dessert-like.

-Yeah, yeah. Puddingy.

-That sweetness, yeah.

-Oh, my God, this is so delicious.

-Do you like that?

-Mmm!

You taste the nuttiness as well,

you can definitely feel that savoury edge to it.

-The liquorice works very well with the prune, right?

-Mmm!

It's really good.

Liquorice is actually one of the things that I strongly dislike.

-Yes!

-One of the only ones. I really hate it. And this is just... Yep.

I used to be like that as well, and then I started cooking with it,

and I realised I can have it like that.

I didn't like to eat it straight up.

-Works well with fat as well, doesn't it?

-Yes, beautiful.

Now, in just a moment,

one of the finalists in this year's Bake Off, Andrew Smyth,

has a money-saving idea for a home-made Christmas gift -

Black Forest macarons. Delicious, they sound, as well.

And Delia's got a great dish for a Christmas dinner party,

her Chocolate Stunner.

Now, David, have you got any fond or dark Christmas memories?

-Both.

-LAUGHTER

-What would you like to start with?

-No, I'll save you from the dark one,

-because it's affected me for so many years.

-Oh, right, OK!

Bit more than I was looking for!

Or, like heavenly and hellish food,

you could choose whether you want my dark or my...?

OK, let's keep it light.

Well, after 30 years of living together with my now wife,

and having five children between us, we decided to finally get married.

-And so we went down to Burgh Island in Devon.

-Oh, nice!

The Agatha Christie...

The Agatha Christie hotel on the little island.

We had Christmas in a house over the peninsula,

and then went and got married on Burgh Island on the 27th.

-And that is the Christmas...

-ALL:

-Aw!

That's a nice memory, there we go.

Right, let's hear from some more of the nation's famous faces

with their reflections on Christmas.

We're going to try to get together, as we do every Christmas,

get all my kids and grandkids, and it involves

a lot of opening presents, a lot of eating and drinking wine,

and finishing off, hopefully,

with a very, very nice malt whisky at the end.

What would I like this Christmas?

Stuff! I just want stuff. I like lots of it, and I like opening it.

I don't care how cheap it is, I just want more.

CREW LAUGHS

The thing I'm looking forward to most is not doing anything.

For me, I'm constantly running around the world

in different places.

So I'm hoping to be home with my family and just have a nice,

quiet time for a change. And possibly be somewhere warm.

If you're struggling to find a gift for that special someone,

then why not bake them something instead?

Every day we have one of the stars of The Great British Bake Off

to show us how to make the perfect edible gift.

Welcome today's chef, Andrew Smyth. Thanks for coming on, Andrew.

-Pleasure to be here.

-What are you going to make for us?

I'm making some of these Black Forest macarons.

-They're kind of a retro twist on a French classic.

-Nice, nice.

-And people spend a lot of money on these, don't they?

-Yes, they do.

And you know what, they maybe have a bit of an unfair reputation

for being a bit tricky to do at home.

But hopefully, with a few tips and tricks,

you'll be having great macarons at home as well.

OK, what can I do?

Can you just blitz together, just in a food processor,

-some ground almonds and icing sugar?

-Mmm-hmm.

As well as some cocoa powder as well,

just to give us a bit of a chocolaty hit. OK.

If you blitz those together.

All I've got over here is just a sugar syrup.

It's some granulated sugar and water,

which I'm bringing to 118 degrees.

Very important, the temperature for this,

and this is going to go into an Italian meringue.

-And that's going to stabilise it, right?

-Yes, absolutely.

Now, there's several different ways you can make a macaron.

-You can do the French method, the Swiss method.

-What do you prefer?

Well, I like the Italian,

which is making an Italian meringue with sugar syrup.

It gives me a much more stable and reliable macaron.

-A bit more washing-up, maybe, but...

-Yeah. So where did you learn?

-Did you just go through books and teach yourself?

-Yes.

My family got me into cooking at an early age,

but it was only really recently that

I got more into baking full time, I suppose.

And Bake Off required a lot of practice for that,

pushing my skill set a bit more to what it was from before, I suppose.

And was it a surprise to reach the final?

It was, it really was a surprise to reach the final.

It was my aim to not go out the first week,

which I very nearly did, and after that, anything was a bonus.

So, getting past the halfway point was amazing.

-Star Baker in week seven was great.

-Yeah.

And then, yeah, going towards the final, fantastic.

And how did you get on with Berry and Hollywood?

You know what? They've very different judging styles.

Paul Hollywood, he's always fair.

I think the good thing, I would say, if you get praise from him,

you know it's well-earned.

If he's not happy, he'll make it very clear.

Mary always tries to seek the positives in everything.

Didn't you get Star Baker a couple of times, though?

I did, I got it in week seven and also the semifinal.

That was great, getting it in the semifinal as well, it was fantastic.

Because it was a double whammy, really.

I got into the final and I had Star Baker. So it was fantastic.

-And you're an engineer by trade, aren't you?

-Yes, I am.

So I'm still engineering four days a week.

And then I've got one day for Bake Off opportunities.

Hopefully building up to go into science and engineering TV,

-hopefully.

-Oh, really?

So your baking's not going to be a full-time thing -

that's just going to be a hobby...?

Yeah, it's something I love to do as a hobby, on the side.

Just quickly, all I've done here is whisk up half my egg whites.

And then I've got sugar syrup, which has got to 118 degrees.

Now, you want to be quite careful with this bit,

you just pour it down the side of the bowl, very carefully,

just watch the speed on the mixer.

-Yeah, otherwise you're splattering yourself with hot sugar.

-Exactly.

-And just down the side of the bowl.

-Nobody wants that at Christmas.

Exactly. All this will do is just whip this up.

You do this for six or seven minutes

until it's really glossy, firm peaks.

What we'll do with the ground almonds and icing sugar,

we'll mix in the other egg whites, and then you fold those together.

-OK. So that's done, then egg whites in here?

-Yep, absolutely.

The other egg whites go in there. I'll just put that mix away.

-Other egg whites can go in there.

-Right.

You want to mix this to a paste,

so sometimes it requires just a bit more or a bit less egg white.

You just want to gently mix that together.

Generally, with the meringue, you want to be quite careful

to keep as much air in it as possible.

The trick with a good macaron is to try and knock as much of

the air out of it as you dare.

That's how you get that lovely dome on top,

-cos you don't want any peaks at all.

-Right. OK.

What's your favourite thing to bake? Is this one of them?

This is something... I've always had a bit of a soft spot for macarons.

Just because they're a bit technical,

but I just love the taste of them.

Any time I've been to Paris or anything,

I've always done some macarons on the side.

Andrew, is it one of those things, the more you do it,

-the less intimidating it becomes?

-Sorry?

Is it one of those things that becomes less intimidating?

Because it is a bit scary,

there's loads of different levels to it, and things happening.

-Practice makes perfect.

-Yeah.

How many times have you made these? Lots?

I've made these quite a few times, actually.

It was one of these things I was determined to get perfect.

So all I'll do is add a bit of the macaron...

Not the macaron. A bit of the meringue around there,

just to slacken it up.

Coming from an engineering background,

do you look more into the science of baking, would you say?

Erm...yes.

I tried to bring my strengths into the tent.

I take a real interest in why that side of baking works.

So why meringues rise,

-what are the different raising agents and everything.

-Yeah.

I think it actually helped me get a bit further in the tent.

You've got to bring your strengths into the tent

cos there's so many great, competent, amateur bakers there.

You did that really complicated thing

with all the cogs and the wheels.

Yes, my rotating pies, I know!

What was it, rotating pies?

It was rotating cog pies, interlinked.

It was for Tudor week, it was very Tudor.

So, baking aside, tell us about this jumper you're wearing.

LAUGHTER

So, my jumper, I've gone very jazzy, very jazzy for Christmas!

LAUGHTER

You know, if you can't go camp at Christmas, when can you?

That's what I say, all the time! LAUGHTER

How do you wash that?

You have to make sure you take the battery pack out -

I think that's the key.

You have to take the battery pack out when you're doing it.

All I've done, I've just mixed this together.

You want to mix it until, if you drop a drop of it,

it sinks into the mixture in about 20 seconds, and that's when

you know you're going to get those nice dome tops on.

There's your engineering coming out...

I'm just going to show you how to do a couple of these.

So just cut a hole in the end.

I've only put a wee bit of mixture in here, just to demo it.

But, if you pipe out...

Now, I like quite a generous macaron.

So try and pipe a couple like this.

-Science!

-Quite a soft mixture.

It is a very soft mix. And that's the key.

So you pipe your soft mix, and if you do that,

you'll see, the dome comes out the top.

-So that's just holding its own shape.

-Exactly.

You leave those for about half an hour, just out in the open.

That forms the skin,

so it means it's less likely to break open on top.

-That's an amazing tip!

-So I'd leave those, half an hour, and then,

just before they go into the oven,

drop it, three times.

Get all that Christmas frustration vented out.

That'll give you the nice feet on the bottom...

What is that doing? Just knocking some of the air out?

On macarons, you have this beautiful shell,

and then you have the feet on the bottom,

-and that's just to help those get started growing.

-OK.

And they go into quite a cool oven, about 150, for 14-15 minutes,

and then just leave them to cool on the tray.

Now, all I've done, I've just whipped up a bit of a...

Because it's Black Forest, we've got a dark chocolate ganache

-with a bit kirsch in there, bit of liqueur as well.

-Nice!

Then all I'm going to do is we'll have a little bit

of morello cherry jam. It's really in vogue at the moment.

-You can get it really easily in all supermarkets.

-What is it, sorry?

-It's morello cherry jam.

-OK.

And then if you just pipe a ring of that.

-Is there a wee teaspoon there?

-Teaspoon, yeah.

Over here, lovely.

Just a little teaspoonful of that in the middle.

And you can twist this, if you want to do an Amaretto version,

-you might hide something else in the middle.

-I would like that.

And then just sandwich those together,

just give them a little wiggle.

I like how sciencey you are, Andrew.

You know, I love the precision, I love the precision.

And there you go, that's how you do your Christmas macarons.

So it's quite labour-intensive? Takes a long time.

It's labour-intensive but, you know, they keep really well,

and, actually, they're better the day after.

Cos macaron shells soften slightly,

and absorb some of the flavour of the filling.

So just keep them away in the fridge...

You've got to be patient, haven't you?

And, obviously, if you're giving this as a gift,

-you've got to love them, haven't you?

-Yeah, you really do.

But, you know, macarons are very popular at the moment.

The amount you pay the shops for them - cheaper making them at home.

-Over a quid sometimes.

-Yeah.

But, you know, if you put a bit of effort in,

-it shows you love someone at Christmas.

-ALL:

-Aw!

-We're all about that!

-..all this soppy Christmas stuff!

That aside, remind us what these are?

These are my Black Forest macarons

with a morello cherry jam and a kirsch ganache.

Delicious, they look amazing.

Right, let's go over and share the love.

-Mmm!

-Ooh, yes, please!

Delicious looking, look at these. They're so pretty.

Do you eat a lot of your own...?

Yeah, absolutely, but you need to be careful, I think.

Bake Off made me a bit paranoid,

that I was going to put on a lot of weight.

So just one of everything and share the rest of it.

-That's gorgeous!

-Oh, my God, so good.

And, do you know, Andrew, I don't normally like macaron?

I was a bit like, "Oh, no, not macarons," but these are beautiful.

Not to fill him up too much!

-These are really gorgeous.

-They are just great.

I love that jam in the middle, it's just delicious.

-And the chewy thing.

-Cuts through the sweetness a bit, actually.

-Incredibly rich.

-Mm.

-It's a great recipe.

I take my hat off to all of you,

cooking at speed under pressure like this.

Incredible.

-I mean, my chicken chorizo takes a lot of time.

-I can imagine.

I can imagine. They're delicious. Now, listen, Christmas...

You know, a lot of baking going on. Give us a tip.

What's your best tip for Christmas baking?

So my tip would be, especially when it comes to Christmas Day -

get a spreadsheet going.

Have a good plan in order of how you're going to organise

Christmas Day, cos it actually takes a lot of the stress of it...

-Sorry, "Get a spreadsheet going"?

-No, but...

-Isn't this about Christmas and fun?

-I did it in the Bake Off.

But it enables you to have all that free time for fun as well.

You know, if you've got organised cooking,

-then you can maximise your free time.

-It's the engineer in you.

Sensible though it is, I've gone right off you, to be honest.

Right, that's Andrew's tip.

Here's more of my chef friends with their cooking advice

to get you through the festive season.

There won't be a spreadsheet in this, I tell you.

THEY LAUGH

My top tip for Christmas is -

late-night chestnuts, fresh on the open fire.

Wrap them in some foil, a little bit of sea salt.

If you don't have a fire, pop them in the oven.

Cook them until their soft, and eat away.

My Christmas tip - lay off the booze

until your friends and family are sitting at the table.

The worst thing that can happen

is that you'll have a bit of catching up to do.

Go easy. Trust me, drinking and cooking doesn't work.

Spanish Pedro Ximenez, a sweet sherry wine,

is my favourite choice for this Christmas.

I use it either to poach pears and use it as a dessert

or I can make a reduction and drizzle it over a salad

or with any starter, or as well to splash it over the roasting tray

with the turkey and make a lovely gravy.

Feliz Navidad.

Now, earlier, we showed you what you could cook with liqueur.

But now it's time to drink some.

-Jane, you got liqueur cocktails for us.

-I have indeed.

-Good!

-Do you like those?

-Yeah, I do.

-Are you a fan?

-Yes.

Liqueurs are really nice in cocktails, because they...

They're good for dessert cocktails especially, as they're more viscous,

they give that extra texture in it.

So I'm going to get going with this one, called Melted Snowman.

This is Baileys, but it's the chocolate Baileys,

-so you could add creme the cacao to, like, the normal one.

-Mm-hm.

But I've gone for a lazy version cos it's Christmas.

So I'm just mixing this in with a bit of brandy.

It's super, super simple. In this shaker, I've already got some ice,

about half-filled with ice. Bit of brandy.

Shake it up.

And that's literally it.

Oh, nice.

But you want to shake it for quite a long time,

until your hand is basically frozen off, because you really want to...

You can do that.

You really want the chocolate to be foamy,