Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt shares tips for ‘the best Christmas dinner ever’

During Saturday Kitchen Live this morning (December 21), Tebbutt said he was going to teach viewers how to cook “the best Christmas dinner ever”.

In today’s episode, he was also joined by chefs Anna Haugh, Poppy O’Toole, Owen Morgan and comedian Harry Hill.

A variety of dishes were cooked on this morning’s show including Anna’s lentil ragu with goats cheese and squash plus smoked salmon and scrambled eggs – Harry Hill’s favourite breakfast on Christmas Day.

A decadent Christmas Day starter from the brilliant @Anahaugh 👏

If you want to mix it up this year, why not make Anna’s lentil ragu with goats cheese and squash?

Full recipe on the @bbcfood website now! pic.twitter.com/vhouHEddCE

— SaturdayKitchen (@SaturdayKitchen) December 21, 2024

Owen cooked a Spanish Christmas dinner with whole brill, jamón ibérico and green herb butter with crispy quisquilla prawns.

Poppy used a slow cooker to cook honey-roasted ham with confit potatoes, pickled onions and sprout remoulade.

Mary Berry was joined by singer Emeli Sande as they baked a Buche de Noel, ideal for the Christmas table for those who like to indulge in a sweet treat after dinner.

In a pre-recorded segment, the Hairy Bikers, chefs Si King and the late Dave Myers, visited Yorkshire to learn more about how a local company makes rum.

What are traditional Christmas foods around the world?

Nigella Lawson also featured, cooking Dutch mussels paired with fennel as she visited Amsterdam.

You can find all the recipes from today’s episode on the Saturday Kitchen website.

Matt Tebbutt’s Christmas dinner tips

Whether you always host on Christmas Day or you’re in charge for the first time this year, you can try these tips to make a tasty Christmas dinner for guests.

Tebbutt and Owen cooked a turkey and the traditional trimmings including vegetables and stuffing.

He said the turkey had been brined for two days with salt, sugar and aromatics (black peppercorns, coriander seeds, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, white wine and white wine vinegar.)

He advised submerging your turkey somewhere cold “for a couple of days”. He said 24 hours “is fine” but two days is “better”.

You should do this if you want to “get a lot of flavour into a bird”, he explained.

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Dry the turkey off when it comes out and put a pack of butter up under the skin.

Remove the legs of the turkey to “open up the bird to be cooked a lot quicker” as the heat transfers easier. It also reduces the cooking time.

He added bay leaves, thyme and garlic to the tray with the turkey and the legs. Covering it with chicken powder, which he calls the “flavour bomb”, adding flavour but also helping the turkey crisp up.

Harry Hill called the chicken powder Matt’s “secret ingredient” as he was adding it to the dish at different stages.

He added “a little bit of wine” to the Brussels sprouts which he said isn’t “totally necessary” but helps steam the vegetable.

Matt said he rests a turkey of the size he had for “at least an hour” but this will depend on the size.