‘Christmas dinner is about who’s around the table, not what’s on it’, says TV chef Paula McIntyre
For those who are less than culinary minded, however, cooking The Big Dinner is fraught with challenges. Never fear, Paula is on hand to answer the most frequently asked questions when it comes to a festive feed.
“I wouldn’t think there’s a safe way,” says Paula about what to do if you’ve forgotten to defrost your turkey and guests arrive in an hour.
“Leave a yellow sticky note everywhere saying ‘defrost the turkey.’ There’s no way you can really force that; you can’t put the turkey in the microwave to defrost.
“Everybody has a story about leaving the giblets in the turkey in the bag and it never killed anybody, but you could maybe taste it a wee bit,” she says of forgetting to remove the giblets.
When it comes to ensuring your Christmas dinner fits comfortably into your too small oven — once adequately defrosted, of course — the key to fitting in is cutting up.
“You can take the crown off, and that’ll give you less height, then remove the legs and cook them separately,” advises Paula.
