Mary Berry reveals how to nail your Christmas spreads

Does Christmas induce fears of soggy roasties, dry turkey and general kitchen chaos? We put your cookery dilemmas to the fountain of festive wisdom that is Mary Berry. Here’s her advice for making this Christmas the most delicious yet.

On Wednesday 13 December, home cooks across the nation will be tuning into watch Mary Berry’s Highland Christmas on BBC One at 9pm.During the hour-long special, we’ll see Mary make her way to Scotland and prepare festive recipes with celebrity special guests Andy Murray, Iain Stirling and Emeli Sandé.

You don’t have to be famous to get advice from this seasoned cook for Christmas, though. We took to Instagram and Facebook to ask for your Christmas cookery queries, then put them to Mary herself. Here’s what she had to say.

Pre-Christmas prep

What’s the best way to get ahead, and should I start now?

“I do an awful lot of preparing in advance over the festive season. I start by making my list of who’s visiting and how many meals I’ll need to make. Then I list all the meals over Christmas and what ingredients I’ll need.

“Any of the things that I can put in the freezer that tend to run out in the supermarket – like chestnuts – I’ll buy straight away. You can also buy your tinned goods now and order your turkey.

“Then, I make a timetable for the week before Christmas and see how many things I can do ahead.”

Turkey troubles

Can you cook your turkey on Christmas Eve if you’re travelling the next day?

“I would prefer not to cook it the day before and reheat it. However, very often I go to my daughter’s for Christmas and bring the turkey, so need to cook it before I travel.

“What I do is cook the turkey completely on Christmas morning. Then, I wrap it in foil and cover it with some towels and put it in the boot of the car and drive to my daughter’s house, so it’s resting on the journey. It can rest for up to two hours, so it’s all about getting the timings right.”

How can I stop my turkey from being dry?

“This is a common problem when roasting turkey and the reason is normally the same. A dry bird is an overcooked bird, so you just need to make sure you take it out of the oven as soon as it’s cooked through.”

“Cooking times depend on the size of your turkey (BBC Food has a roast calculator showing what temperature you should cook your meat at and for how long), but you also need to remember that it continues to cook after you’ve taken it out of the oven.”

Show-stealing sides

How can you avoid soggy roast potatoes?

“To get extra crunch on your roast potatoes, you can add a little semolina. And what I do is cook the potatoes the day before and then re-heat on the day. Then they won’t need to be in the oven for as long on Christmas Day, meaning you free up oven space for things like the pigs in blankets and stuffing balls.”

What can you cook sprouts with instead of bacon if you’re vegetarian?

“I would start off with shallots and fry them in butter or oil along with chestnuts – I use frozen ones. Cut the sprouts in half and boil them just briefly before adding to the shallots and chestnuts in the pan, making sure they’re well coated in the butter.”

Can you prepare stuffing balls ahead and, if so, should you freeze them raw?

“You can make your stuffing balls the day before and keep them in the fridge. Or, if you want to do them further in advance, you can freeze them – I think it’s a good idea to cook them before putting them in the freezer and then just reheat them on the day.”

What’s your advice for Christmas gravy?

“If you’ve got giblets with the turkey, you can take them out the day before and make a good stock with them. If you haven’t got them, I’d suggest creating a stock using some chicken wings and vegetables on Christmas Eve. Then, on the day, you can add the juices from the turkey into the stock and of course, add red wine or port to it too. Together, this will make a very good gravy which should be fairly thin.”

Will everything cook properly if the oven is filled up?

“Yes, you do need to remember that a packed oven, in fact, will slow down the cooking process. So either turn the temperature up a bit or cook things for a little bit longer.”

On-point puds

What’s the secret to making a yule log that doesn’t crack?

“Well, the yule log I make does crack and I like it – it’s part of its charm! But then I pipe ganache on top and you don’t see the cracks anyway. On top of that, you can make it feel more festive by adding a sprinkling of icing sugar.”

I want to make a trifle but fancy something a bit unusual. What would you recommend?

“Sometimes I do a pear and ginger one and I also like making an orange trifle. Either way, what I always like to do is split the trifle sponges and put a red jam in the middle of them, then on top you have the fruit (pear or orange, say) and jelly, and finally custard and cream, which you can add extra flavour too, like ginger.”

Do you have a special chocolate dessert recipe that could be frozen ahead?

“I’d advise doing a chocolate roulade, which freezes beautifully and is perfect for the occasion. I usually serve it with a raspberry coulis which you can also make in advance.”

Food for the festive period

What is an easy canapé to make?

“I make smoked salmon canapés, and do this the day before I plan to serve them. I start with a light rye bed and slice it into little pieces. If you don’t use all of the loaf, put the rest in the freezer. Then spread the bread with a full-fat cream cheese and put smoked salmon on top. Sometimes I put some prawns on top of the salmon.

“I then put them on the serving plate, cover it with clingfilm and keep it in the fridge. When you’re ready to serve it, just add a squeeze of lemon to the top.”

What should you serve on Boxing Day if you haven’t had a roast the day before?

“Everybody likes shepherd’s pie, so I would make that. It’s warming but a nice break from having so many rich foods on the other days. You can make it feel special by topping it with filo pastry which is delicious. I do that and everybody enjoys it.”

What’s an easy meal for a large group of people on Christmas Eve?

“Oh, without any doubt, a fish pie. Use smoked fish – like haddock – as well as unsmoked fish and add hard-boiled eggs into it. That, combined with a very creamy mashed potato, will be very popular.”

Mary’s favourite festive tip

“It’s important to do a little bit of planning so you don’t spend all your time on Christmas Day cooking. Do as much as you can ahead and use your freezer, so you can enjoy the day.”

Watch Mary Berry’s Highland Christmas on Wednesday 13 December at 9pm on BBC One, or catch up on iPlayer.

Originally published December 2023