Guide to cooking Christmas dinner

Rick Stein on tips and tricks for everything from the turkey to the sprouts

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Rick Stein

In a restaurant kitchen, even professional chefs don't have to make every element of a three-course meal.

But at Christmas, “When you're cooking at home, you have to do everything,” says Rick Stein, “therefore your timing has to be really good. In a restaurant kitchen you're doing four or five things really, and nothing else, also they're all part of the same course.”

The popular TV chef, who has published his first-ever festive cookbook, Rick Stein's Christmas, including how to organise your time “to do it all painlessly”.

He advises: “Don't leave everything until Christmas morning, there are many, many things that you think need to be done at the last minute - they really don't.”