Tips and tricks for hosting your first Christmas lunch. A guide for super beginners (don't be afraid!)

To impress your guests the first time hosting Christmas lunch and keep the festive spirit intact, we're sharing a handbook full of tricks, methods and tips.

The key to hosting your first Christmas meal: keep calm

If this is the first Christmas preparing the most emotionally charged meal of the year and you are feeling under pressure, here are a few tricks to ease the tension and put a perfectly good meal on the table. Here are a few tips to keep you steady:

• Try to think of the task as a more generous Sunday lunch and don't focus on what could go wrong;
• Arrive at the time of preparing the Christmas lunch well rested, relaxed and organised: take a hot bath, an Ayurvedic massage, or half an hour of meditation or whatever helps you drop your shoulders to get your mind and body ready for the feat;
• When preparing and cooking dishes, wear casual leisure wear and an apron;
•  Work slowly, methodically, and without frenzy to avoid cuts, burns and bruises;
• Cooking a Christmas lunch by yourself, especially if it is your first, is too ambitious: enlist a lieutenant among relatives, partners and friends, and assign tasks. The people who love you will be happy to help you and share the success
• Most important of all, don't expect it to be a perfect meal on the first try. It won't be. Something will go wrong, but if you stay calm and face any unforeseen events with a smile, you will be fine

Write everything down on paper

Prep is the foundation of a successful celebration. A few days before the big date, start by making a list, or rather, make several lists. Even if the items listed below seem like insignificant details or premature actions compared to the monumental work that awaits you in the kitchen, they are important steps that deserve attention:

• Write a draft menu on a sheet of paper. Correct, revise and adjust this draft until the final menu is defined;
• Make a note of any of your guests' intolerances when drafting the menu;
• If you have unlimited funds or have saved up for a Christmas banquet, good for you. If, on the other hand, you intend to stay within a certain budget, here you will find inspiration for a Christmas menu for 8 guests under 100 euros
• List the ingredients of all the dishes, and tick off what you already have in your pantry. Check that what you have in your larder that is not expired, or in smaller quantities than the recipes call for;
• On holidays, shops close, so it is better to stock up and abound with the ingredient quantities;
• Study table seating, or if you prefer to serve a buffet, count the number of seats for your guests;
• Make an inventory of crockery, glasses, serving dishes, cutlery, chairs, napkins and tablecloths, making sure everything is clean;
• Borrow what you are missing;
• Write down the cooking times of all the dishes you intend to prepare, including how long the oven takes to reach the desired temperature, as well as the cooling, post-cooking resting and serving time of each dish you are going to prepare. If the sum of the times exceeds 6 hours, you will know that you have to start preparation and cooking at least 1-2 full days before you set the table. Time is your most important resource, even more so than cooking skills!

Prep on the day: give yourself plenty of time

Do not leave things to the last minute. Invariably, even with all the planning, prep can take longer than expected. It sounds absurd, but working in a hurry will waste your time. Leave some buffer time in case of unforeseen events.
Another important time-saving trick that makes organisation and preparation run more smoothly is to thoroughly clean the kitchen before starting. But that's not all: to work better and avoid The Bear's nightmarish Christmas dinner effect, the trick is to keep the kitchen clean and tidy, especially while cooking, as you wash dirty dishes, pots and pans. If you have a dishwasher, plan to run several cycles to keep your utensils, plates and pans clean. If, on the other hand, you wash by hand, get some help so as not to prolong time at the sink.
One last time-saving stratagem: clear out the refrigerator, a good opportunity to throw away expired jars and out-of-date products, and tidy up the shelves by wiping with a damp cloth. Move tubs and containers of leftovers to make room for plates and bowls of preparations and marinades. If you have a small fridge, ask neighbours for some of their fridge real estate.

Get the line ready

It is no coincidence that restaurants manage to serve dishes in short order. In professional kitchens, cooks have a great ally: the mise en place, i.e. the organisation and preparation of everything needed in the kitchen. This process considerably shortens preparation time, makes the space in the kitchen tidier, and the movements and stages of preparation smoother. Some examples of actions that can be done in advance:

• Wash all the vegetables, dry them and portion them;
• Marinate the meats;
• Grate the cheese;
• Gut fish and poultry, burn off any feathers; fillet and strip fish with tweezers; shell and gut crustaceans;
• Dice/julienne/brunoise all vegetables for sautéing, side dishes and bases;
• Peel potatoes, squash, fruit, etc;
• If using, trim artichokes and soak them in water and lemon;
• Separate the florets of broccoli, cauliflower and whatnot;
• Bake the bases of cakes, pastries or tarts (or even complete them)
• Prepare broth;
• Prepare sauces, bases, bechamel and gravies; put them in containers with cling film and store in the fridge;
• Knead pasta sheets, wrap in foil and refrigerate;
• If homemade pasta is on your menu, roll out the pastry sheet, cut it to shape and dry it on tea towels or special pasta drying racks;
• Assemble lasagna, cannelloni, crepes and other baked casseroles and put in the fridge, depending on the quantities and directions in the recipe, just bake 30-40 minutes before serving;
• Refrigerate wine bottles that need to be served chilled;
• Defrost any preparations you have stored in the freezer;
• Invest in a kitchen thermometer: a simple meat thermometer indicating the internal temperature of your roast, or indicating the temperature of the oil is enough. Among kitchen gadgets, it is one of the most useful because it will avoid mishaps

These actions, on the other hand, can be done a few hours before the arrival of guests:

• Remove cheeses from the fridge, they should not be served cold;
• Bake savoury pies, canapés, and any other quick baked dishes;
• Set the table, doing so well in advance gets it out of the way
• Set up the drinks/bar area with bottles, glasses, mixing utensils, lemon slices, olives, salt, etc. At the last minute, add ice in a glacière

Shortcuts (don't be a snob)

We have elevated the concept of cooking "homemade" to extremes, but on this special day, it is acceptable to lighten the load and consider using some ready-made preparations. There are excellent versions of ready-made foods or that only require a short run in the frying pan/oven, such as frozen battered fried foods, packaged pastry sheets and buns, sauces and gravies, flavoured butters, custard creams, and then sponge cake bases, cake icing and other shortcuts.

Countdown

Remember the cooking time list? Take that sheet of paper and count down all the items on the final menu, so that the dishes are put on the table in the desired order.

Keep in mind that an overloaded oven will take longer than expected to cook things. Keep in mind the precedence of what dishes are served first. However, once cooked, meat can rest much longer if covered by a hot plate, than the average suggested 15-20 minutes. While your main course rests, you can raise the oven temperature and finish the side dishes or your baked pasta casseroles. Serve the dishes in well-heated plates and pans, also consider reheating the sauces and condiments well, thus enabling you to serve hot dishes like in a restaurant.

Pasta should be cooked at the moment. While guests are nibbling olives and canapés with their aperitifs, put the pot with hot water on the stove, or salted water that you have kept simmering. The cooking time for dry pasta, depending on the format chosen, usually does not exceed 14-15 minutes. Fresh pasta takes much less. Keep the sauce warm, drain, season, garnish and bring to the table.

Keep the pace

Adrenalin will help you maintain the pace you set for the final stages of preparation. Every now and then, however, take a break, catch your breath.
Get help from your guests, especially if they have brought drinks, food to heat up or flowers to put in vases. Tell them where to find what they need and delegate the task to them.
Do not overindulge in alcohol too early or too much. You risk having slightly blurred reflexes and everything else will become more stressful. Reward yourself with a well-earned glass when you are all seated at the table.

Key details

It is easy to forget the following things while concentrating on cooking, but having these things at hand makes everything run more smoothly:

• Plenty of ice;
• Non-alcoholic drinks, tonic water and soda, fruit juices for the little ones or all necessary elements for making cocktails, and lots and lots of water;
• Plenty of rubbish bags;
• Lighter or long matches for lighting candles;
• Extra large roll of alluminium paper;
• Giant roll of paper towels;
• Dishwasher tablets and dishwashing detergent;
• Plenty of clean tea towels and cleaning cloths;
• A multipurpose detergent for cleaning floors and worktops;
• Anti-stain spray or talcum powder;
• Finally, to exorcise minor mishaps, get a basic first aid kit: painkillers, indigestion remedies, antihistamine cream or spray, gauze, plasters
• Congratulations, you have successfully passed your first Christmas lunch test. Now sit down at the table with your guests and enjoy. And don't forget to eat.