Great British Food - Christmas 2025

6 GRAVY Do this as soon as you possibly can before Christmas Day. Roast 500g each chicken wings and chicken legs in a large stovetop safe roasting pan until caramelised. Shred the meat from the bones (you can use that for a meal, or keep it in the gravy). To the roasting pan add 200ml Port or sherry and pop on the hob on a mediumheat, using a wooden spoon to scrape the meat juices from the bottom. Reduce by half. Sieve in 1 tablespoon of cornflour and use a fork to mix it into the liquid. Then whisk in 200ml water. Scrape the lot into a stock pot with 2 large peeled carrots, 2 large halved onions, 1 halved bulb of garlic, 1 chicken stock cube, the juice of half a lemon and a bouquet garni. Just cover with water, bring to the boil, then simmer until reduced by half. Cool, then sieve. Store the gravy base in the freezer, defrosting the day before Christmas and adding to the turkey roasting tin once the bird is cooked and rested. Season to taste. 7 BR EAD SAUCE Make this on Christmas Day as it can turn claggy over time. Simmer a pint of milk with a large peeled onion studded with cloves, a large bay leaf, a generous pinch of nutmeg, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for a few hours – we recommend doing this step in the morning so it can sit for most of the day. Close to serving time, remove the bay leaf and onion, and add 110g fresh white breadcrumbs. Stir over a gentle heat on the hob until it’s the thickness you prefer. Season to taste with salt. 4 STUF F I NG You can’t beat homemade stuffing. To do it, roughly chop 450g onions and sauté in a generous splash of olive oil until softened but not coloured. Remove from the pan and toss in a bowl with 225g rough white breadcrumbs, 250ml water, and a few tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs. You can jazz it up at this stage by adding cooked snippets of bacon, dried fruit – anything you like. Sprinkle into a dish, dot with butter and bake at 200ºC for 20 to 25 minutes. Again, this can be made a couple of days before. 9 T RUF F L ED CAUL I F LOWE R CHE E S E To save valuable time on the big day, prepare and bake this up to two days before. Break two large cauliflower heads into pieces just a bit bigger than a 50p coin. Plunge into boiling water for five minutes, drain, then drizzle with oil and roast at 210ºC for 10 minutes. The pieces should be dry and tender. To make the sauce, melt 50g unsalted butter in a pan and beat in 3 tablespoons plain flour. Mix until combined. Lower the heat on the hob and little by little whisk in a pint of milk, beating thoroughly to prevent lumps. It’s ready when it coats the spoon thickly. Add 150g very strong grated Cheddar, andmix in until it's fully melted. Season to taste; you might like to add a pinch of nutmeg for a little extra special touch. Finish with a few shavings of black truffle or ½ tablespoon truffle oil. Combine with the cauliflower, top with white breadcrumbs and a drizzle of truffle oil, and bake in a hot oven until golden. 5 P I GS I N B L ANKE T S For the best piggies, don’t overwrap in bacon. Choose a thinly sliced air dried or dry cured smoked variety and the best chipolatas you can afford. Cut the bacon in the middle lengthwise, so you get two pieces out of each slice. Wrap the sausages so the bacon only just touches – don't overlap too much. Cook alongside the turkey in its last 30minutes in the oven. 8 CRANB E RRY & POR T SAUCE In a pan simmer together 250g fresh or frozen cranberries, 50ml Port, juice and zest of 1 orange, and 100g caster sugar until thickened. Make this several days before 25th December and keep in a sterilised jar in the fridge. P R E PAR E YOUR SAUCE S All your Christmas sauces can be conjured a few days in advance – in fact, the gravy base can be made many months before the day, and stored in the freezer. MI X AND MATCH YOUR S I DE S As we’ve already said, cooking at Christmas shouldn’t be stressful. Ideally, choose three extra side dishes to sit alongside your centrepiece, classics and sauces. All of our recipes serve six people but can be scaled up. 101 greatbr i t i shfoodawards.com FEATURE | FEST IVE S IDE DI SHES