Christmas lunch - arguably one of the best events of the year. And there’s a lot of work that goes into that one meal! But don’t let cooking stress get in the way of the big day - there are loads of ways you can use kitchen tech to make this Christmas a breeze.
Get your timings spot on
One of the biggest challenges with Christmas lunch? Getting everything in and out of the oven or hob at the right time. And no wonder when you’ve got about a billion sides or sauces on the go! The solution? Get organised with your smart assistant.
If you’ve got an Amazon Echo, Google Home or even just a smart assistant on your phone, you can get your timings sorted ahead of time. Have a sit down a couple of days before the big day and work out exactly how long each dish is going to take. Then once you’ve written it all out, on Christmas morning you can set alarms for each item.
The best part is that you can label all your alarms too. Let’s say you save an Echo, just run through your list with things like: ‘Alexa, tell me to put the potatoes in the oven at 12:15pm’ or ‘Alexa, tell me to start prepping the turkey at 10am’. That way there’s no drama or forgetting the gravy!
Sort the stuffing in a slow cooker
When it comes to stuffing, everybody knows homemade is better. But who can be bothered with the faff? Or has the space in the oven? Well, good news – a slow cooker or Ninja Foodi makes it unbelievably easy to make delicious stuffing from scratch.
Just get your ingredients ready the day before and chuck them all in the slow cooker on Christmas morning. Set, forget and when your turkey’s ready so’s your stuffing. Guests wowed, job done, tuck in.
Here are some of our favourite slow cooker stuffing recipes:
Make space!
Like we said, come Christmas day you’re probably going to have loads of stuff on the go. So, sometimes your standard four hobs just aren’t going to cut it. To avoid playing stovetop Tetris, get yourself a multi-tier electric steamer like this Logik Steamer.
You can have your gravy, bread sauce and whatever else you need on the hob. Meanwhile, you can get three different types of veg in this steamer on your countertop. That’s brussels sprouts, broccoli and carrots sorted!
Don’t leave the turkey to chance
It’s the centrepiece of your Christmas day, so let’s avoid any nasty surprises come lunchtime! A dry, or even worse, undercooked turkey can really put a damper on your day.
Whatever bird your eating, it’ll keep cooking once you’ve got it out the oven. So to get the perfect balance of crispy skin and tender meat you’ll want to get the timing just right. And you can’t always tell from the outside how it’s doing on the inside.
Use a super duper meat thermometer to know exactly when it needs to come out and rest. It’s got a bunch of pre-programmed settings for different types of food. Stick it into the thickest part of the turkey breast and it’ll tell you when it’s ready. Or, if you want absolute control, you can manually set it to tell you once it’s reached 75 degrees- the optimum temperature for a perfect turkey!
Bag a breadmaker for cranberry sauce
Once again, this is a great one for saving space on the hob. If you’ve got a breadmaker with a jam setting you can make your own scrummy cranberry sauce with minimum fuss. Just bung 800g of cranberries, 75g of castor sugar and 75ml of orange juice in there. And, et-voila! You’ve got cranberry sauce.
Take this Panasonic breadmaker. It’s got 30 programs, including sweet ones for jams, compotes and cakes. Plus, you can use it to make homemade bread for your leftover turkey sandwiches on Boxing Day!
