Christmas Special The A to Z of TV Cooking

you're in the right place.

We've chosen the very best dishes from some of the nation's

favourite chefs, and we're serving them up alphabetically

here on The A To Z Of TV Cooking.

And so it's Christmas,

and everything on today's show has got a festive feel.

And here's just some of what we've got on the menu.

A pudding-y party piece from Jamie Oliver.

Just plop 'em into the chocolate,

give it a little shake.

Give it 15 minutes. The chocolate will harden.

It's nice and Christmassy.

Nigella Lawson has a festive take on rocky road.

Now, a usual rocky road has digestive biscuits.

This special Christmas version has amaretti.

And Lorraine Pascale shares her top tips for the perfect turkey.

I've got my sage here. There's no need to chop them or anything.

Just rip them up and then just shove them underneath the skin.

Let's start with the letter C,

and an absolute classic clip from the 1970s.

We're joining the fabulously fantastic Fanny Cradock

and her take on Christmas cake.

And I want to say straightaway to you that,

as some of you may already know,

the finished appearance of your iced

Christmas, birthday or other celebration cake MUST depend,

and does wholly, upon the preparation of the tin in the first place.

So, let's take that for a start.

This is a sliding base cake tin,

which is the ideal kind to have if you can manage it.

I'm not going to push it up now,

because it's just got the papers inside and it'll all collapse.

And inside is the paper, cut to the depth of your cake,

which you measure, plus its diameter and one inch.

All this is written down in this booklet,

which has so much in it, it's not a booklet, really.

It's a small book.

And you cut it an inch and a half higher than the depth

of the cake, and then you oil it on both sides, not just on one.

See what I mean?

If you oil it on both sides, then that side sticks to the tin,

and this side is oiled so that the mixture won't stick to it.

It makes the whole thing easier.

So, that's how we're going to have our cake tin, you and me both,

when we make our Christmas cakes.

Now, obviously, I've done the buttercream.

I've creamed that until it's loose and floppy.

And I want you to see just how easy it is to make up these mixtures.

In here I've got four lots of things.

Sultanas, chopped seeded raisins,

glace cherries and peel.

You don't want to make any mistakes with this cake, because it's a pretty

naughty one for this price range that we're living with at the moment.

But on the other hand, we do want one piece of decent cake in the year.

This is a few walnuts going in,

and then the flour, which is

mixed with cornflour, and I want you to have one decent piece of cake,

and I think we can all save and sacrifice for that.

And you see, everything can go in absolutely pell-mell.

Plus a little bit of chopped angelica,

a little bit of glace cherries from the sweet shop,

a little bit of glace ginger from the sweet shop, all diced up.

Then you have your fluids, all mixed up together in a jug.

Now, these fluids are the eggs, well beaten up,

a little bit of cheapest cooking brandy from a miniature bottle,

a drop of orange flower water and rose water from the chemist,

and I'll have more to say about that, so, please, wait for it,

but I've put it in the booklet as well.

And finally, the strained juice and the grated rind of an orange.

I thought I'd have this here to show you I have strained the juice,

and that the rind has already been grated.

And don't grate it down to the dead white,

because then it makes the cake bitter.

And then you slosh all that mixed pell-mell of fluids in there.

And I have scrubbed and scrubbed downstairs in the make-up room

and got my fingernails and my hands spotless,

and, of course, there's no nail varnish on them, and I'm going to

use them, unashamedly, because that's the best way to make a good cake.

And you work up your mixture like this.

You take it and squeeze it through your fingers.

I hope you can see this really well.

I'm tipping it as far as I dare

without tipping the entire contents onto the table.

And you simply use a squeezing motion

so that you bring the flour into everything else.

I'll hold it like this so that you get a really good view.

Work it up,

and then once again, that same old thing

that I've said about somebody that you've never really liked,

and you give it a good slosh like this.

But you've really done the work. Come on, Sarah.

You know my Sarah, now, she's going to help me with this next stage.

And then you dump that into there like that.

One bit on the table, Sarah, but that's not bad, is it?

That's it. And the filthy hand.

Would you take that, darling? Thank you very much.

Now, you bang that down... No! Sorry for that noise.

Bang that down with your knuckles,

and make sure that when you've got it in - I'll clean my hand presently -

when you've got it in, you use a spatula.

I'll show you this, because I must do this vertically,

and then I'll tip it up for you.

You run it round with a spatula,

and you make sure that there is the faintest of indents in the middle.

Very, very faint.

And then, like that, with my filthy hand,

we can't waste that glace cherry.

I can lift it up and show it to you, and you can see what it's like.

And like that, it goes into the oven, which has been preheated for me.

It's now at low.

One shelf below centre, Gas Mark 4.

And that stays for exactly one hour.

You don't mind, do you, if while I'm talking to you, Sarah puts

the next lot of things in for me, and I'll use the bucket.

It's impossible to go on cooking with that hand.

Now, the Gas Mark 4 - I've written all this down too,

lasts for exactly one hour,

after which you turn it down to Gas Mark 3.

And you leave it for 20 minutes.

I've timed this with the one I made for you, you see,

and you'll be looking at that so I can't get away with very much!

And you leave that for 20 minutes

and then, you turn it round in the oven

so that what was the front is now the back and vice versa

and you leave it for another 20 minutes.

And there are two tests for baking -

if you're not deaf, I think the very best is that you listen to it

and you hear it singing faintly.

That means it isn't quite cooked, but if it's stopped singing

it's perfect and if you ARE deaf you use a skewer driven in.

And what I didn't do, Sally, was to put it on my cake tin,

cake base, which was very naughty of me.

You want four folds of brown paper to stand it on

and then it never gets burnt on the bottom.

It won't hurt to snatch it out. That's my girl.

Now, these are two cakes that we've done.

There is the white Christmas cake and that is the old one we did before.

I thought you'd like to see two ways of icing that are really easy.

This is nothing more or less than florists' paper.

You know, the kind you have the bows on bouquets?

And Johnny, who's terribly good at these things,

has pressed it into pleats and stuck it with a bit of UHU

and made it into a lovely cake band instead of buying one.

Now, I'm going to move that cake. I'm going to pull it out of the way

because I'm going to cut you a slice of my white Christmas cake

and then you really have seen it from the cradle to the grave.

Well, not exactly to the grave, cradle to the tongue, shall we say?

There it is.

And what's this bit about fruit sinking in the middle

and going down to the bottom?

It's money for old rope, isn't it?

I do hope you enjoy making it and even more I hope you enjoy eating it.

Bye.

Another C now and it's time for cannoli

which Jamie Oliver is laying on as part of a Christmas party.

Right, so I'm going to do some party pudding.

Basically, it's a really simple dessert.

It's an Italian dish called Cannoli Siciliana.

A cannoli is one of these biscuits.

You can get these in delis and supermarkets, on the posh shelves.

Let me show you.

They're basically pasta which is fried and they like turn them into

these beautiful little biscuits so you stuff this with various different

fillings but I'm going to do one of the most classic ones with ricotta.

Look at that. That is beautiful.

That is a kilo of ricotta.

It's a great cheese that you can use for pastas and desserts.

It is crumbly and creamy.

You want about 500 grams of ricotta which is normally two tubs

if you're getting it from the supermarket.

I want to just sweeten this, yeah?

All you need is about three tablespoons of icing sugar

and, funnily enough, it completely transforms it

into being quite custardy and sort of quite Mr Whippy,

do you know what I mean?

Give a little whizz.

I'm going to get rid of this cheese, get it into the fridge

because the boys are going to finish this off.

I just want to put, like, two teaspoons of vanilla extract,

not the essence, it's like, extract - it's the nice stuff.

Lovely.

When you've whizzed it up and it's gone nice and shiny,

what you want to do is just get all of that into your bowl,

every last bit.

All we need to do is we need to flavour this cheese...

..and one of the things they do very well in Italy is, like, glace fruits.

Look at these.

We've got pineapple, figs, cherries, mandarins, all sorts of things.

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

Aye, aye! Hello!

-How's it going?

-Yeah, good, babe. You all right?

-Yes.

-This looks nice.

-Look at the size of that ball, darling!

Yes, it's massive. Better get it strung up somewhere.

-I can't believe the size of that room, it's massive.

-It's huge!

Have you got enough stuff? I've got some more stuff turning up as well.

-Yeah, we got some more. I just brought the basics.

-Crack on.

Can you bring some of that in for us?

You got the munchies again, girl?

Yeah, Jules is, like, you know she's pregnant and that, yeah?

Basically, she's got these terrible cravings.

You know those little pots of chopped up mint that you have

with your roast lamb, in vinegar. Ugh.

Well, she has one jar of that, neat, a day

with, like, a big bag of nachos. Disgusting, isn't it?

So, we've got about 100 grams of glace fruit there.

I've got some pistachios too.

Prick your pack, just put them in a tea towel like this.

And they're not salted, by the way.

Here we go. So, I've done much more than I need, here.

Just get a nice little handful.

Put them in there. Then, I'm going to save these for later.

I've got some more chocolate here. You just want to bash that up.

Just get all the little bits into there. And that's it, mate.

-You just mix it up.

-What else could you put in it?

You could put a bit of orange zest in there,

you could put a little swig of booze in there.

Toasted almonds, just do chocolate, you could do chocolate and coffee.

Chocolate orange and coffee. Anything you like, really.

What I want to do is fill these little biscuits.

Get my tray and some grease-proof.

Now, you get some of your filling

and you just kinda push into there like that.

You don't have to pack it completely solid because it's quite rich.

If you can't find the cannoli biscuits

you can get, like, brandy snaps,

which are basically completely different tasting

but the same sort of shape.

That's just a little cheat if you can't find them. There you go.

Just fill them up like this, it's pretty simple.

How far in advance can you make these?

You can make these in the morning for the night.

Easily 4-5 hours before.

So, I've basically just melted a load of, like, good cooking chocolate

over some simmering water.

Tray and a rack.

All I do now, right, is I've got these filled biscuits,

just plop them into the chocolate, give it a little shake.

Give it 15 minutes, the chocolate will harden.

It's nice, nice and Christmassy.

There you go, I love that.

Hey, boys!

-Hey, Jamie.

-How you doing, man? Oh, you've started already!

-How you doing, bro?

-Sweet, man.

-How are you, Jamie?

-You all right?

-Yeah.

I've just done a load of cannolis,

I've just done some little monkfish skewers.

Get a bit of a production line going.

You've made this before, haven't you, Tiger?

And, big boy, rosemary and garlic's over there.

Everything else is in the fridge.

Right. I'm going to go and do some decorations. I'll be back in a bit.

Let's move on to the letter F

and look how they do things at this time of year in France.

Here's Raymond Blanc with his festive fruits de mer.

"Fruits de mer" means "fruit of the sea".

What a beautiful word.

Only the French could think of those wonderful romantic twists.

It's an intimidating dish, but most of the fish

on a plateau de fruits de mer

can be bought ready-to-eat from a fishmonger.

Raymond is preparing his himself.

-Crab.

-Nice pot crab.

A Cornish pot-caught crab.

Not easy for a Frenchman to say, all these words in succession.

We just throw it in.

The crab is boiled, along with two lobsters,

some barely cooked mussels and clams.

There you go. For you, perfectly formed.

I know my French friends would rather even have it raw.

Oh, my God, what's going on here?

I've seen something.

It's a haunted cuisine.

The clams and mussels are covered in a damp cloth

and set aside in the fridge.

By the way, that is for Adam.

-Adam?

-Oui, Chef.

My lovely Adam.

Here is your Christmas stocking.

-You never thought I would think of you, eh?

-No.

-Well, here we are.

-What did get? Don't spend them to fast, OK?

-Is that my bonus?

I know you love your sugar. But that's your bonus at the same time.

-I thought I would hit two birds with one stone!

-Thank you.

-OK?

The lobster and crab are set aside to cool.

While they cool, they'll be cooking at the same time

because the cooking does not stop just like that.

It goes on very quietly so the flesh is absolutely unctuous and delicious.

With the seafood prepared, it's time to think about an accompaniment.

The mayonnaise, an extremely simple affair. Very simple.

A few rules as well of engagement.

To three egg yolks, Raymond adds a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

And then a neutral-tasting oil.

He's using virgin rapeseed oil.

Don't go too fast.

But if you go for it too fast, like that, for example,

don't worry you can just put a tiny bit of hot water on the side

and you can easily bring it back together. I'll show you.

Pour a little bit here. Enough!

C'est tout. And look.

And I'm re-emulsifying my dressing.

I used to do it for my mum, and at home, believe me, it was a big bowl.

A whole bottle of beautiful oil would go into it.

Gorgeous. Lemony, thin, very fresh.

I think they will love it. Completely.

Mm. I do.

Voila! C'est bien.

With everything prepared, all that remains to be done

is place the seafood on the traditional two-tier dish.

The height creates a magnificent centrepiece for any table.

Et voila.

So, now really you have a spectacular feast.

That's the kind of feast which my friends will grab with two hands.

I know that.

Thanks, Raymond.

Now, something for those who've cooked their goose,

eaten most of it for Christmas dinner

and are now wondering what to do with those leftovers.

Here are the Hairy Bikers with this G for goose risotto.

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 is, a 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 because of health and safety, you see.

Oh, I feel so safe(!)

Hurry up. Oh, man, look, there's loads of folk.

-Keep me decent, Kingy.

-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 it here.

Get it... Lift your choller up.

He goes 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 the heat, don't you?

-No.

-I'll show you.

-Out of your butt crack!

-Argh!

-It'll be all right.

-Oh!

-OK.

Glasses!

Right. Go on, dude, go! See if it works.

It's lovely!

# Born free

# Free as the wind blows. #

It is supposed to be swans a-swimming, dude.

Elegant. Lovely. You know?

-Does it work?

-No. Not really.

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.

I do it 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!

Oh, I don't know about going south for the winter.

Everything has gone north! That smells great.

Oh, man, it's smashing. It's smashing.

-Dude!

-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 got hypothermic!

I'm feeling a bit kind of clammy.

-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.

It's lovely because 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 it al dente, not in our opinion anyway.

Some people like it, we don't.

But you want it to still have a structure.

The rice grains to still have a structure,

and when you bite through it it's just soft.

-It is al punto though, isn't it? Just at that point.

-Fabulous.

Stir the mushrooms in.

Oh, yes!

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 as good as well

-if you don't want it quite so sharp.

-Yes.

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

-Lovely.

To finally finish it off, some fresh herbs.

I have 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

# Six geese a-laying

# Five golden rings... #

We've reached the I on our Christmas list

and we are looking at ice cream.

More of a summer pudding, you might be thinking?

Well, not when it's the Two Fat Ladies

and their Christmas pudding ice cream. Take it away, ladies.

As a variant on the ordinary Christmas pudding,

I thought it would be a nice treat for the boys

to make a Christmas pudding ice cream.

And I'm going to make it in the form of a bombe so that it's round,

like the traditional Christmas pudding.

And what I've got in here is some soft brown sugar and some egg yolks,

and I'm just going to beat those together until they ribbon.

And on here I've got some milk and sugar.

They've just come to the boil and heated through,

and I'm just going to pour this in, whisking as I go.

Rather a wonderful thing instead of Christmas pudding.

-I think I'd rather prefer this.

-I personally love Christmas pudding.

I love the whole ritual of Christmas pudding.

I remember when we were children

the cook used to make the Christmas pudding,

-and then we'd all go and stir it and wish.

-Yes, for good luck!

That's right.

Now, I'm going to transfer this to a double boiler,

which is one of these useful saucepans that has...

..boiling water in the bottom just touching it.

If you can't get one, the thing to do is use a bowl over boiling water.

Now, I've got to cook this until it forms a custard.

I've got a very nice little bowl which you can fit into saucepans,

and it's got a rim round so it holds.

-That's very useful.

-It's excellent.

-That IS a good thing to have.

There, you see, now that will just hold a line.

Oh, I see!

I'll take this off to cool it.

So, here I've got my custard

that I've just chilled, just cooled it down.

And I'm going to mix that with some whipped double cream.

Mix it all in well together.

And a tablespoonful of brandy.

Don't overdo the brandy, because...

firstly, alcohol affects the freezing qualities of ice cream,

and secondly, when it's frozen, it intensifies in flavour,

so you really don't need very much.

Will the little boys be all right on this?

I think one tablespoon of brandy is not going to have them falling about.

I remember when we were children...

You remember those toffees flavoured with rum - I imagine essence -

-and we always said, "Oh, I feel quite drunk after that!"

-Oh, yes.

A glass of water and a packet of wine gums! Yes, absolutely!

And I'm just going to put this into

my incredibly superior 1920s ice-cream machine.

This is pure masochism.

Go out and buy yourself the latest hi-tech ice-cream machine

and use that instead.

I love this one!

A friend of mine found it in his house and cleaned it up.

I have the use of it provided I make him ice creams on a constant basis.

And into it, I'm going to put six ounces of Christmas pudding,

which I have carefully crumbled.

I'll just put it in.

-JENNIFER LAUGHS

-That's a wonderful sight!

There we are.

-Like a mine!

-And then you put the lid on, you see?

There we are. And into this little tray here you put some crushed ice.

-I don't believe this.

-Oh, yes!

You see, this is high technology circa 1920.

And then the scientists among people will know

that you then put onto that some salt.

Yes. I know that, because we had a churny-churny one, you know,

the one that we used to have to pack.

It's the same principle. It's just high technology.

And you pick up the little flap.

And you slot that in.

And then you just churn away, you see? Rather more than half a minute.

And what I'm going to ask you to do is play with it.

-I'm going to ask you to churn it for me.

-It's a left-handed churner!

Well, of course, you need the right one

for biting your fingernails in case it doesn't work.

-Just churn away?

-Just churn away.

Fortunately, I've got some that I churned earlier,

because, you know, we're going to need several bombes for the boys.

And here is a nice little modern ice-cream bombe...

..which I'm going to line...

..with the mixture. Now, you spread this round the sides of the bombe.

-You should also, really, chill the bombe itself.

-I'm sure!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

-It looks awfully good.

-Mm!

-Delicious!

I'm now going to put in a brandy butter filling.

Brandy butter's made just by mixing together butter and sugar and brandy.

My brother and I used to compete

to see how much brandy we could get into half a pound of butter.

You can get a lot more in nowadays

-with, you know, one of those food processors.

-Absolutely!

And then you just clamp the two halves together.

-Whoosh!

-Whoosh.

You can - and in fact, it's a good idea - freeze them separately

and then put them together, but just to save time...

There, now, I want to freeze this good and hard

so I can turn it out, and you'll have a sort of perfect ice-cream bombe,

-so I'll go and put it in the freezer.

-And the best of luck!

CHATTER

An explosive alternative Christmas pudding.

-Well, haven't we had a lovely day?

-Yes, absolutely splendid.

I loved it. I love it here. It's so wonderful, isn't it?

-I loved all the little boys.

-I know. Weren't they sweet?

-So well mannered.

-I know, terribly polite.

-Yes. Your very good health.

-And you.

-And a very happy Christmas.

-Happy Christmas, dear!

-Bon Noel!

And cheers to you!

And we're staying with desserts as we head for the letter R,

and Nigella has been Christmassing up

her favourite recipe for rocky road.

Well, rocky road is a well-travelled terrain for me.

I'm talking about the confectionery bar full of crunch, goo and chew.

But I've got to do my special seasonal version.

Start with butter - a promising start.

And next, chocolate, dark.

And milk.

And to help the butter and chocolate melt together...

..an amber swell...

of golden syrup.

How beautiful!

I LOVE this.

So, heat on,

and while everything melts together in the pan over that low heat,

I can get on with some heavy-duty bashing.

Now, a usual rocky road has digestive biscuits.

This special Christmas version has amaretti.

And these are so strange, they taste a bit of almond and apricot kernels.

And now...

bash them.

You don't need to be too fanatical and pulverise all of them,

however stressed you're feeling.

The idea is to get rubble, flavoursome rubble.

And a bit of sandy grit will help the chew factor as well.

C'est fait.

Now, a rocky road crunch bar doesn't normally have nuts in it,

but you've got to have brazils at Christmas.

There's something about that waxy chew that's just so familiar.

Now, it might be more logical to chop these with a knife or in a machine,

but this is just easier.

And infinitely more pleasurable!

So, again, I want some large pieces and some smaller.

It's variety in texture that makes this.

I think everything should be just about melted together now.

Mm! That is perfect!

I could dive in right now, frankly.

But to become the rocky road, we have to add everything.

So first, my Christmas nuts.

And the special party biscuits.

In go some glace cherries, as red as Rudolph's nose.

And, well, you couldn't have a rocky road without marshmallows.

And in they go.

Difficult to stir everything together, but not impossible.

It may feel as if there's not enough chocolate to bind everything together

but there is.

SCRUNCHING

Well, that's it.

It probably makes your life easier if you get a throwaway foil tray...

CLATTERING ..to put it all into.

So, clatter it down.

And although I make a perfectly respectable effort

to smooth everything down,

the real truth is, the surface will be a bit bumpy.

But the point about this Christmas rocky road

is that by the time it's had

its thick blanket of icing-sugar snow on top,

you won't notice, you won't care.

So, this needs about an hour or two in the fridge just to set,

and then it can be sliced, adorned and made festive.

# Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly

# In the arms of the evergreen trees... #

I like to cut the cooled slab into squares

before I dust with a snowy flurry of icing sugar.

# The world is your snowball, see how it grows

# That's how it goes whenever it snows

# The world is your snowball just for a song

# Get out and roll it along

# It's a yum-yummy world made for sweethearts

# Take a walk with your favourite girl... #

I think the expression "as camp as Christmas" comes to mind.

# ..In winter it's a marshmallow world. #

Thanks, Nigella.

OK, we've reached the letter T, and it is of course for turkey,

the big one when it comes to Christmas cooking.

And to get things started, here's Lorraine Pascale.

On Christmas morning, I like to get up early

and get the turkey out of the fridge so it comes to room temperature.

But the problem is when you're cooking a turkey,

the breast is always ready before the legs.

And that's when it sometimes dries out.

So I've got this little trick that I've found which works quite well.

I get some frozen peas...

..and put them on the breast

just whilst the turkey comes to room temperature,

and then this way the breast cooks more slowly

and is ready at the same time as the legs.

Great, that's me back to bed for an hour!

# Our cheeks are nice and rosy And comfy-cosy are we

# We're snuggled up together Like two birds of a feather would be

# Let's take the road before us And sing a chorus or two

# Come on, it's lovely weather For a sleigh ride together with you

# Outside, the snow is falling Friends are calling you

# Come on, it's lovely weather For a... #

Right, time to stuff the bird.

So, always remember to give these a rinse off

before they go back in the freezer.

So...

from the neck end, just loosen the skin.

OK, it looks a bit scary, but...

..it's all right.

And then just get your finger in

and really gently loosen the skin away from the flesh.

And there's no quick way of doing this.

But the trick is...

..not breaking the skin.

I'm happy with that.

Now I'm going to take some herbs. I've got my sage here.

There's no need to chop them or anything, just rip them up

and then just shove them underneath the skin

all the way in.

It's just quite nice to see...

bits of the herb through the skin.

I love rosemary and I love sage, it's a great combination.

But too much sage can taste a little bit soapy.

Now, when I do roast turkey,

sometimes I do actually pierce the skin

and just put bits of rosemary in, but this is kind of nice for Christmas.

That will be enough.

OK, I'm just going to wash my hands and then season it.

So, whenever my dad cooks poultry,

he always puts lemon or lime in the cavity,

so I'm going to adopt that tradition.

There.

So, just pop those in there. And that is ready.

I don't put any tinfoil on or anything like that.

I'm going to roast it for about 30 minutes per kilo.

The first 30 minutes, it goes in at 200 degrees,

and then I turn it down to 180. OK!

SHE STRAINS

That is a big bird! There'll be loads for leftovers.

The bird is ready. This is smelling so good!

And it's very heavy!

Look at that.

OK, so...

My mum used to tell me when I cooked poultry,

to check if the bird is ready,

just insert a knife into the thickest part and squeeze it,

and if the juices run clear, then it's done.

But I have my trusty thermometer. And it's really easy, it's instant read.

And what I'm going to do is stick it into the thigh,

making sure I don't hit the bone.

What I'm looking for is an internal temperature of about 70 degrees.

Many chefs will argue about temperatures,

but just to keep it nice and easy, 70's good for me.

Perfect.

So, I want this to rest.

It's so important to rest all meat when you cook it, really.

You can rest this up to an hour, but I'll rest it for half an hour.

I don't think anyone's going to wait longer than that.

Try not to drop it. Won't be popular if I do.

There!

And just cover it with tinfoil.

Now, the only thing about resting it and covering it

is that the skin can sometimes go a little bit soft.

And it's lovely and crispy now.

So I am going to leave sort of some gaps for the air to circulate.

And the smell is just beautiful.

There.

Now, I've already done the stock for the gravy, and this is how I made it.

Rinse the turkey giblets and place them in a large pan

with onions, carrots, celery, thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns.

Pour over the water and slowly bring to the boil.

Then simmer for between 30 minutes to two hours

before straining through a fine sieve.

So, I've got the roasting juices here from the turkey for the gravy.

And what I need...

is about three tablespoons of the fat.

You get great flavour from this rather than just using butter.

And I don't need the rest of this fat.

OK.

Put the roasting tin with the turkey fat on a high heat on the hob,

add three tablespoons of plain flour and stir to form a paste.

Add a glass of wine and allow it to bubble down until reduced by half,

scraping in any sticky bits with a wooden spoon.

I'm going to get it really boiling.

Just going to bubble away nicely, and it will intensify the flavours

and drive off that really strong alcoholic smell.

Then gradually add the rest of the turkey juices

until the floury paste is dissolved

and then finally add the stock made from the giblets.

Now, one final thing that I really think adds great flavour to gravy...

..rosemary.

Such a beautiful, aromatic smell and flavour.

So, I'm just going to throw a couple of those in.

And I'll leave that to bubble away.

Bring to the boil and simmer

for 20 minutes or until thickened and reduced by half.

And then check seasoning and adjust as necessary.

If you do as Lorraine did there,

you'll have the perfect Christmas turkey

and a plate of leftovers for the following days, too,

which is where Nigel Slater steps in.

All the flavours of Christmas Day are very traditional.

They're very... much the flavours we grew up with.

We know exactly what to expect.

So, for any of the days that follow,

I want something completely different.

So, the garlic is going to form the base of a very un-Christmassy sauce

and transform my leftover turkey.

So, I've mixed that with a little bit of salt

and turned it into a garlic cream.

And then I'm going to put some flavours from the cupboard with it.

I'm going to start with some soy.

It's dark and aromatic and quite salty.

And to that a little bit of chilli sauce.

It can be a very sweet and mild one

or, if you like, something really fiery.

And then some honey. I could use maple syrup.

I just want something very sweet

to balance the saltiness and the heat...

..of the other ingredients.

A dollop of grainy mustard will add a bit more heat.

Finish off with a drop of groundnut oil.

Your sauce just needs to be runny enough to coat all of the meat.

Now, to wrestle that turkey.

The lovely thing about taking turkey off the bone

is that there's all these little bits that lie at the bottom of the bird.

And so everything that's hiding away here...

..is full of flavour, and it's just too good to waste.

Drizzle your sticky sauce over the shredded meat

and toss so that all the turkey is well covered.

I'll leave that cooking just until the sticky seasoning's caramelised.

All of the flavours in the oven are very hot and sweet and aromatic,

and I want something completely different to go with them.

Blushed blood oranges.

They are so beautiful.

This is a great excuse to throw in my favourite festive fruit.

I know it's Christmas when there's a pomegranate around.

When I was a kid, my father used to sit and eat them with a pin.

And the juice is amazing.

In those days after Christmas,

sometimes if you squeeze a pomegranate in the morning

and then put a little bit of fizz in with it,

it's a fabulous way to start the day.

It's just a matter of putting your salad together,

starting with a handful of peppery watercress, the fruit

and then your sizzling turkey.

With the hot stickiness of the turkey...

and the bite of the fruit...

those pomegranate seeds add that little bit of sourness

and just really finish that off.

The trick to perking up the turkey is to leave it in the oven

long enough for the sauce to get really sticky.

I promise it'll be worth the wait.

Well, what a delicious way to end today's show,

and I hope you all enjoyed it.

Thanks again to our wonderful chefs, and I'll see you again next time.