Check this out!!!

http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/poultry/turkey/uk-turkey.htm

Copy and paste

It looked like a good start on that Christmas dinner of yours.

Sheila or Sara will probably have some good advice.

Good luck

Oh, I never registered that you're English! (Or maybe I did, and forgot).

Although my Christmas dinner is now a combination of traditions, I used to keep pretty much to the traditional meal. The big thing for me, especially as a nervous newcomer to feeding the 5000, was to make a time plan: work out what time you want dinner to be served, then work backwards, working out what time to cook each thing. Then stick that time plan on the fridge door. It'll keep you on track.

If you haven't done it before, I wouldn't bother with an appetizer: just put nuts and nibbles on a platter and stick it in front of people, to keep them out of the kitchen.

Turkey: I follow the directions in my original Delia Smith cookbook. What size will yours be? I can check cooking times for you. We usually have 10-12lb turkey. The general guidlines are 20 minutes cooking for every pound weight. If you stuff the turkey, the weight will increase, and cooking needs to as well. Plus 20 minutes extra. I cook at 375F, but usually set the oven to 400F initially, then turn it down after 10 minutes, just to get it started with a blast of really hot air. Traditionally, you should place strips of streaky bacon over the breast meat, which helps keep it moist, and then remove them towards the end when you want to brown the skin.

I start by removing the giblets from the turkey (I buy a fresh one, so you don't have to worry about thawing times). I pour a little oil on the bird, then rub it all over the skin with my hands (wash your hands frequently when preparing the bird). Then I sprinkle some mixed herbs, salt and pepper. Then put the bacon strips on. I use a rack in a roasting pan: put the turkey on the rack. A tip I use, is to pour about two cupsof water in the bottom of the pan: it will steam and keep the bird moist, and it will take the dripping from the turkey, making the pan easy to clean later, and provide the basis for your gravy.

If you're anxious about stuffing, leave it out. You can cook it separately in a baking tin if you want. I've never been able to make a traditional English sausagemeat stuffing, because I've never been able to find the 'right' kind of sausagemeat, so we end up with Himself's recipe, using chopped up Italian sausage, onion and apple.

Cranberry sauce is easy, and can be made weeks in advance: buy a packet of cranberries, and follow the instructions on the packet. It's very, very simple.

Roast potatoes: My preferred way to cook them is to boil them for 7 minutes first (this gets them hot all the way through. At the same time as you put them on to boil, put a few tablespoons of oil in a roasting tin and heat in the oven. Ideally, the oven should be around 435F, but if you're still cooking the tukey, it may not be possible, although since the turkey will need to 'rest' for about 20 minutes, there is time to increase the heat and cook the potatoes then. Once the 7 minutes is up, drain the potatoes, and put them in the hot oil. turn them over and over until all sides have been oiled, and return to the oven for at least 20 minutes. It will take longer at 375. Stab them with a skewer to check when they're done.

Chipolata and bacon rolls: again, I've never found chipolatas in the US, but I use breakfast sausages (the thin ones). Roll a rasher of bacon around each one. The easiest way is to broil them, although traditionally people roast them around the turkey. I broil.

Bread sauce: it's a favourite in this house, and is very easy. You can make it an hour or so in advance too. Do you want a recipe?

Hmm. I think that's it. If you want roast parsnips (we didn't - my mum hated them), do them the same way as the potatoes.

Pudding: Hardly anyone makes their own anymore (see suzy's comments on another thread) but buys them in. My family eats it with vanilla ice cream, which is the Australian style (middle of summer over there). I don't know how to make brandy sauce, but there's bound to be recipes on the web.

These days, we never bother with the pudding, but just each mince pies instead. If you can't find mincemeat, I have an easy recipe (not as traditional as suzy's) which has no suet.

Most families eat the meal at around 2.00, followed later on by Tea, with more mince pies, turkey sandwiches, etc, and the traditional Christmas cake. Although I suspect most people don't have the cake anymore either!

If you want the meal to be grander, don't forget satsumas/clementines or whatever, nuts, and cheese - especially stilton.

That's all I can think of immediately, but keep posting questions, and I'll try and answer you. Or email me.

But I really recommend making the time plan.

Oh, and for the authentic touch, buy some Christmas crackers, and put one at every place. They seem to be readily available in the US now, so presumably they are too in Canada.

Old English has lots of good stuff. But if there isn't time enough to order -- or if you are handily crafty, check out how to make your own crackers on the link. Easy enough even I can make them (and have done so).

If you are going to include parsnips, make sure they have been harvested *after* a freeze -The cold seems to induce the plant to make more sugars. Around here, it is nearly impossible to locate good parsnips except at an organic foods store. Next year, I'll plant them, they are easier to grow than carrots, and DSIL loves them.

Sara - go online and google chipolatas +$ to find some stores that sell them. I found six just on the first page, but I haven't actually dealt with any of them, so I offer no references.

Here is a link that might be useful: christmas crackers

Cross and Blackwell makes a respectable hard sauce you could use on a pudding. My sil's family flames their pudding at the table and eats it with Bird's custard. I make my own hardsauce, but we use whiskey. It's very, very, very, sweet however and too rich for most people's taste. It's simply brown or demerara sugar simmered in water and after the sugar is melted in to a thin syrup a jigger of booze is tossed in. Don't add the alcohol as it is cooking, or it boils off and is gone. Our pudding is huge and it lasts for months if kept properly so many pans of hard sauce are made before the pudding is consumed. Pudding may also be frozen, I've found and resurrected later. A hint if you use suet in any baked/steamed or boiled item. The finished goods are meant to be resteamed, or you'll have a mouth lined in hard grease after you eat it.

Wow! thanks for the tips. Crackers, I had forgotten all about crackers and yes please Sara for the bread sauce recipe its going to be the clincher I'm sure. Do you use baco foil? and what is "a rack in a roasting pan"? The bacon rings a bell. There will be ten people what size turkey do I need? I think I should start now if I have to make pudding, bread sauce, crackers, cranberry sauce although I don't think I should start on calliopes sauce just yet, hic!

Wow! I'm impressed with all the wonderful input and I don't think I have a thing to add to this feast ~ except we always used to have a goose and I'm still very partial to that.

Oh, one thing. If you do stuff the bird remember to remove all of the stuffing after it's cook. Left in the bird there's a danger of contamination.

Please do let us know how it all turns out:)

Yes, I use bacofoil - I cover it for about two thirds of the cooking time, and then remove it. The meat looks pale at that point. Removing the foil helps to brown the skin - especially if you keep spooning that liquid in the bottom of the pan over the breast meat.
My roasting pan is just that: it has no rack, or grid in the bottom to support the meat, so I have one I put in the bottom of the pan, to keep the bird from sitting in the juices. If you haven't got one, shave two sides of some carrots (so they won't roll) and sit the turkey on them. It works just as well, plus they add flavour to the juices.

My cook book says 12-14lb is OK for "an average size family" - I have no idea what that means. It also depends on qhether you want lots of leftovers or not - perhaps someone else can advise!

Bread sauce:

15oz milk (that's 3/4 of a UK pint, slightly less than a US pint)
I medium onion, whole, but peeled
3 whole cloves
4oz white breadcrumbs (put some white bread in chunks into a Cuisinart)
1/2oz butter
salt and pepper

(This is from a book of mine. I don't think I make mine as 'milky' as this - I probably use about 10 oz milk and i cup of breadcrumbs - but keep some extra in case).

Stick the cloves into the onion. Place in a saucepan with the milk.
Bring it slowly to the boil. As soon as it boils, take it off the heat and leave it to infuse for at least 10 minutes (I often do this at the beginning and leave it for over an hour, because I need the stove).
When you're ready to finish the sauce, remove the onion from the milk, heat it gently again, and add the breadcrumbs, stirring. Allow it to cook slowly for 5 - 10 minutes or so. Add the butter and stir in, plus salt and pepper to taste.

I make this whenever we have chicken, because we love it, and even eat it cold. Sometimes it's too thick - add more milk. Sometimes too runny - add more breadcrumbs. I have reheated it from the day before, and it's still OK, but needs a bit more milk, so if you want to try it before Christmas Day, go ahead.

I usually make the cranberry sauce at least a week in advance, to get it out of the way.

I forgot the thickening to the hard sauce, if you ever make it. One must stick in some thickening. I use a tbs or so of corn starch. Also like a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon to the sauce, but don't overwhelm it. And my Daddy always added a dollop of butter. (I told you it was rich) LOL.

The very general rule of thumb for bird size is 1/2 pound cooked meat per person, remembering that the larger the bird is, the more meat there is per pound. My reality is that I've never figured out the weight difference between raw bird and cooked, so I just figure on 1 pound [raw] per person and then double that, since our family's tradition sends each person home with at least one full plate of leftovers. Last T-day, SIL roasted a 22-lb bird for 12 adults, and it worked out almost perfectly for the dinner plus a plate with a generous serving for each to take home. Over the years, we've learned that our family prefers the stuffing baked separately which is nice because an un-stuffed bird roasts much faster and more evenly-- also, he makes 3 *very* different stuffings (does that tell you of the different cultural heritages?) so that everyone has the perferred type (sausage, sage and onion; eggnog, fruit and nuts; and -don't laugh- StoveTop's chicken dressing).

You can roast without a rack (although I attached a link so that you could see the choices), but DO get a meat thermometer! I have several and like the convenience of the one that puts the sensor in the meat and has a wire leading to the digital gauge on the counter; but I most often use the tiny instant-read - just poke it in the meatiest part of the breast, count to ten and see the temperature.

It almost always takes longer than you expect to roast a big bird, but that is balanced by the fact that not only do you want the bird to set for 20 minutes between oven and carving knife, but a *big* bird will hold its temperature for longer. A 20-lb bird [unstuffed] will take about 5 hours to cook to 170F; new guidelines say that 165F is safe, but I've found there is a good chance of not-quite-cooked portions when using the lower temperature.

One of the secrets to fixing large meals is to do the prep-work in advance - sometimes wa-a-ay ahead. Prepare and measure the ingredients for each recipe, cover tightly and label so that you reach for the jar (bowl, whatever) and not for the measuring spoon when actually assembling the food. Refrigerate each container until used. Dry bread crumbs can be made a week in advance; chopped onions keep nicely for 3 days; diced celery keeps for 3 days if you rinse it just before closing the container; potatoes can be peeled and covered with slightly salty water for 24-36 hours in advance; scraped carrots keep for a week if covered with water. Dry ingredients should be measured and mixed into small labeled containers, so that you reach for the bowl with already measured and mixed salt, pepper, sage, sugar etc. instead of getting each item and having to measure just before mixing. I also pre-measure the butter, the milk, and even the water (yeah, I have LOTS of small containers) so that when it comes time I get the mixing bowl and line up the already-measured ingredients, scrape the ingredients into the bowl in the required order (dump the used bowls into hot sudsy water) and assemble. If something usually takes you a 1/2 hour to make, it's probable that 25 minutes is spent cleaning/peeling, dicing, and measuring --- do all that prepping in advance so that on the big day you only have to do the five minutes of dumping into the bowl and stirring.

Here is a link that might be useful: roaster racks

I'm still thinking about the crackers. You shouldn't have to make or order them. They are in lots of stores here now, although at this late date they may not be as ubiquitous as they were a few weeks ago. However, I did see them last week at Tuesday Morning, Stein Mart, Marshall's & Michael's. They've always been a staple of our Christmas dinner. It's hard to be too serious at a meal where you're wearing a goofy paper hat.

I got mine in Williams Sonoma, but I've seen them in Linens & Things and all over the place too.

Andie, you're so right: if anyone gets into those heated political arguments, it looks so ridiculous that they get laughed out of it.

And, YES! Prep. is everything. I'm actually going to make my breadcrumbs today, and will throw the bag in the freezer. You can use handfuls direct from the freezer. I usually peel potatoes and prepare sprouts etc on Christmas Eve, in front of an old movie on TV. Sprouts can be stored in a plastic box; potatoes in water.

Aren't we nice and helpful over here in the Garden Party?
I think a stuffed bird adds to the flavor of the bird and gives you a choice of wet stuffing (in the bird) and dry (baked seperately)