Food in Focus

Too many cooks: how top chefs handle festive food feuds at Christmas

How exactly to cook the sprouts, what types of potatoes to use for roasties, and how long you should really roast the Turkey... it always gets heated in the kitchen at Christmas – even for the country’s top chefs, as Emma Henderson finds out. Here are their top tips for keeping tensions from bubbling over at the ‘happiest time of the year’

Friday 15 December 2023 17:00 GMT
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Even the country’s best chefs are chastised by their families for their Christmas cooking methods
Even the country’s best chefs are chastised by their families for their Christmas cooking methods (Getty)

The annual TV Christmas adverts paint an idyllic scene of festive family joy and happiness but, in reality, it’s not always plain sailing. Not long into the holiday, and you’re already fighting for the remote, the in-laws overstay their welcome, and the “avoid at all costs” topics keep popping up. You’ve been to the shop for the sixth time in two days (admittedly, sometimes just for some peace), the board games are getting wildly out of control, and you keep having to hide the sherry from Auntie Susan.

And we’ve not even started on the food arguments. When do the sprouts go on? Are we having turkey? We better be having Yorkshire puds! Which recipe are you using for the spuds? What time are we eating? Is there a starter? Who’s doing the washing up?

It’s something we can all relate to. But even professional chefs still have to contend with family gripes, bowing to specific wants, tackling heated debates on whose cooking method works best and even being banned by their children from cooking the vegetables.

Being one of the UK’s top chefs doesn’t mean their families think they know best... Here are some of the festive family arguments they face, and their tried and tested tips to avoid disagreements.

Chantelle does all the cooking at Christmas
Chantelle does all the cooking at Christmas (Chantelle Nicholson)

Chantelle Nicholson: More is more! 

New Zealand chef-owner of Apricity restaurant in London, which has a Michelin Green Star

“We always argue about how much booze should be in the trifle, and I’m a fan of more is more in this respect! However, I do all the cooking at Christmas so it’s generally my veto.

“Traditionally cream sherry should be used, but it depends what flavour trifle I make and what booze goes better. I generally do a few good glugs.

“When I was younger, we all used to love having leftover trifle for breakfast on Boxing Day. My nana would make two trifles to ensure there would be enough. One year, my cousin ‘snuck’ the leftover bowl of trifle the night before. There was a mutiny in the morning…”

Romy Gill: TikTok’s way or the highway

Chef, author and broadcaster. Romy is a former IndyEats recipe columnist and is publishing her third cookbook next year

Romy has been banned from cooking roast potatoes by her children
Romy has been banned from cooking roast potatoes by her children (Kristie Young)

“I’ve been banned from cooking roast potatoes my way. Mine were crispy, crunchy and tasty, but apparently, I wasn’t doing it right. Instead, my daughters Reet, 20, and Neev, 18, have seen a different way to do them on TikTok. As they disagree with me about the potatoes, I leave it up to them as I think you have to listen to them as well. It’s a fun thing.

“The same has happened with brussels sprouts. I would blanche them (not cook them until they were mushy) and saute them in a pan with some walnuts, pomegranate molasses and then season. But now they have said you can’t do that because that’s the way I’ve been doing it for ages. Instead, they want them shredded like cabbage, otherwise, they say ‘don’t make brussels sprouts’.”

Sandy Jarvis: How to be the most annoying guest

Previously head chef at organic pub The Culpeper in London. Sandy is opening his first restaurant, Bavette Bistro, in Leeds next year

“My dad can get quite stressed when it comes to nearly serving time, in a slightly comical way. My sister’s favourite thing to do is to walk into the kitchen, and start asking if anyone knows what the wifi password is. She’s turned it into a years-long tradition, which is hilarious. It’s just in that pin-point moment, which stresses him out even further, which is possibly my favourite moment of Christmas Day every year.

“We’re at my sister’s this year though, so I’ll definitely be the one walking in the kitchen asking for a wifi password, 10 minutes before lunch.”

Roberta Hall McCarron: Why you should trust a chef’s timings

Chef and owner of The Little Chartroom and Eleanore, both in Edinburgh

“Last year, my daughter was still quite young so I didn’t do much of the cooking, but I did lay down the law on the length of time that the turkey should be cooked for. When you buy one from the supermarket it says to cook for X amount of time per the weight, but this is just to cover themselves. I usually cook it for about an hour less, which I think terrifies my dad.

“I think the turkey was cooked for the amount of time I said, and it was taken out to rest. But then… it got put back in the oven. I think it was my dad who did it. Funnily enough, no one else in my family is a chef and I think they forget that I am actually a professional. The meat ended up pretty dry, so I quietly mentioned that it shouldn’t have gone back in!”

Stuart Ralston: Brotherly spud rivalry

Stuart is the chef-owner of four restaurants in Edinburgh – Aizle, Noto, Tipo and the newly opened Lyla

“We’re Scottish, so at Christmas with everyone drinking, we all get into a bit of a fight. The main one is with my brother, who works with me as well – he’s the head chef at Tipo. We always argue about whose roast potatoes and whose technique is better. We have very different ways of doing them, and obviously, I’m convinced mine is the best, so we get into a heated debate.

“I have to use redskin potatoes. I parboil them, strain, then rough them up in the strainer so they fluff up a little, and lay them out flat so all the steam comes off them. My secret thing to do – which isn’t so secret – is to take a little bit of flour and then dust all the potatoes in it so they have a very light coating. Then potatoes go into the hot oil, keep them on a high temperature, then at the very last minute, when they’re nice and crispy and golden, I’ll put crushed garlic, thyme and bay leaf and mix them up.”

Tom says it’s his way or the highway
Tom says it’s his way or the highway (Duck and Waffle)

Tom Cenci: You’ll get what you’re given 

Executive chef of Nessa, Yasmina and 1 Warwick, all in London

“When it comes to trimmings, everyone wants something different as they’ve all got their own idea of what a traditional Christmas dinner should be. And as families grow, with in-laws, step-siblings, cousins and kids, the requests start coming – maybe it’s because I’m a chef. One person wants broccoli, someone else wants cauliflower cheese, I want crunchy carrots, but others want soft. My step-sister doesn’t like creamy food, so she wants something different too.

“It’s so hard to be able to compromise between that sense of nostalgia and that comfort at Christmas, but still not overloading where you’ve got about 43 different sides! But when I’m hosting it’s my way, and if I go to someone else’s and they’re cooking, I hate getting roped into cooking there.”

Douglas McMaster: No booze before yorkshires

Douglas will do anything to protect his yorkshire puddings
Douglas will do anything to protect his yorkshire puddings (Clare Lewington)

Chef, author and presenter, Douglas is the chef-owner of Michelin green-stared Silo in London, the world’s first zero-waste restaurant

“My family has a rule now – no drinking before the Yorkshire puddings are on the table. We’re from the border of South Yorkshire, and here, Yorkshire puddings definitely have a place on our Christmas dinner table.

“One year, I remember we all had a meltdown because we started having a few Newcastle Brown ales before we’d finished cooking. When we sat down to eat, we realised we’d never made up the Yorkshire pudding batter. The rule was put in place there and then.”

Tommy Banks: How to fob off fussy eaters

Michelin-starred chef and owner of The Black Swan pub in Oldstead, Roots in York and The Abbey Inn at Byland

“Last Christmas, I made some really beautiful beef wellingtons and my Nana, being my Nana (hopefully she doesn’t read this!), asked for hers to be well done. Obviously, there weren’t any well-done bits as I had cooked it to perfection – pink all the way through. So, I sliced off the very end of the Wellington, which was just pastry and duxelle, and with her dodgy eyesight, she didn’t notice there wasn’t any beef in it. She thought she had grabbed a well-done bit and was very happy with her dinner!”

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