As a kid, what was your Christmas Day routine?
I grew up on an estate in a single-parent family, so it was just me, my mum and my brother. Sometimes, when we were much younger, we would be at my grandparents’, but not very often. Most of the time it was just the three of us, playing with new toys and hanging out. I loved it. My mum would do a proper roast – one of those turkey rolls. My brother wouldn’t eat Christmas cake, so there’d always be a shop-bought yule log or something. That was it – a roast dinner, and then you’d sit down and watch whatever movie was on TV in the afternoon. There was no on-demand telly in those days!
At what age were you first roped into helping out with the cooking?
I think fairly young. I quite enjoyed being part of it – doing bits and bobs the night before, peeling potatoes and putting crosses in sprouts.
Ah yes, the sprout crosses. A dying craft. What was all that about?
Well, in those days all the sprouts were really big. They used to grow them until they were massive. People used to be convinced that the best way of cooking them was boiling them, and to speed it up a bit you’d cut this little cross in the bottom. I don’t know how much it helped – I think it’s a complete fallacy! Now, sprouts are much smaller, much sweeter, absolutely delicious, and you can cook them really quickly. I fry them in a wok; that way they stay vibrant, green and crunchy. Maybe some little bits of bacon: delicious. And chestnuts – a little vac pack of chestnuts is really nice. We never had any of that, though – my mum would just boil them for ages!
For a restaurant chef, what’s the buildup to Christmas like? Love it or loathe it?
Really love it, because it’s super busy. You’re always chasing your tail, but it’s exciting, it’s vibrant, it’s fun. Everyone’s out to have a good time. When I first started out, I was working in hotels, and you’d be in on Christmas Day, which was always quite a cool one to work – good atmosphere, good energy. It’s simple: you’ve got all your prep work done, someone’s roasting the turkey, someone’s on the roast potatoes, someone else is doing the veg, you’ve got your infrastructure, you know what you’re doing, so it’s a good day – you can have a bit of fun. These days, all the restaurants are busy in December but everything else I do has calmed down. The restaurants pretty much run themselves anyway, so they don’t necessarily need me to be making big decisions over Christmas. It’s a lovely period, actually – I look forward to it a lot.
When Christmas Day comes around, are you the one taking over the kitchen at home?
Always. It’s what you do, right? It’s a lot easier than somebody else doing it. You know what you’re doing, you’re good with the timings, you can get it all structured and organised. Most of the prep work, I’ll have done the week before, so it’s pretty stress-free. The rhythms you work to as a chef are very different. You might have four or five things going at the same time but you’re completely in control. The moment somebody messes with the system, it gets in the way. I think everyone realises that it’s a lot easier if they leave me to it, pour themselves a gin and tonic and just enjoy the day.
What are your top tips for making the day run as smoothly as possible?
Keep it really simple and don’t overthink it. Don’t try to do huge amounts. Great roast potatoes, lovely roasted veg, maybe some cauliflower cheese. There’s no point in having loads of everything of if you haven’t got it cooked in time and things are going cold. Four dishes done really well – that’s enough, otherwise it can be very stressful. You’ve got all these people coming round your house, family you haven’t seen for ages, and you’re cooking for 12 in a kitchen that’s set up for four. That’s where the Big Green Egg is fantastic for us. I’ll always do the turkey or the beef outside on the EGG, partly because it frees up oven space.
Not many people fire up their barbecue at Christmas. Other than creating space, what’s the appeal of Christmas dinner on the EGG?
When people talk about ‘barbecue’ they assume it’s like an open grill, with one source of direct heat. A Big Green Egg is different. You have to view it as a convection oven. You’re shutting the oven door and letting it cook, the same as any other oven. But what the EGG does is provide an incredible dry heat, which is fantastic for roasting poultry – it gets amazing skin, crisps it up beautifully – but it also has a smoky undertone coming up from that lovely lumpwood charcoal. The turkey is on for probably three and a half hours, slowly cooking in all that gentle smoke. It turns out beautifully. If you’ve bought good charcoal, you haven’t got to worry about the temperature dropping. Just regulate the temperature and it works really, really nicely.
So, despite the bad rep it’s picked up, you’re still committed to the traditional Christmas turkey?
I am. Partly because it’s the best one when it’s cold. Everything is else is great hot – a bit of beef, a beef wellington, even a beautiful piece of pork – but leftover turkey on Boxing Day is amazing. Cold turkey with bubble and squeak: just brilliant. The thing is, too many people massively overcook them, so they go dry and crumbly, a bit cotton wooly, a bit sawdusty. Cook it properly and rest it properly and it’s amazing. The trick is to buy a good quality turkey. You can have two 6kg birds that are very, very different – one might be 6kg because it’s a big bone-structured bird and most of the weight is bone, while the other has a smaller bone structure but weighs 6kg because it’s been allowed to develop and grow and have those amazing flavours and loads of meat. The more money you can afford to spend on a turkey, the better quality it’s going to be.
The two recipes you’ve created for us – the turkey and the beef – are both amazing-looking centrepieces. How important is that visual impact?
I think Christmas, when you’ve got guests round, is all about those showpieces in the centre of the table. It’s part of the entertainment. Don’t try plating up everyone’s plates. It takes too long. Stick stuff in the middle of the table and let everyone get on with. It’s up to them to put what they want on their plate. Everyone’s chatting and laughing, passing things around – it’s all part of the atmosphere.
