Christmas dinner. We love all the trimmings, but not the slog of cooking it. De-stress with the right kitchen tech…
Make this most time-consuming of meals that little bit easier to pull together with the right kitchen tech and our top tips.It’s the most eagerly anticipated meal of the year but for those doing the cooking, it can be the most dreaded.
Your fridge freezer is your best friend
Give your fridge a good clear-out in mid-December ready for the chilled Christmas food. If you have the kitchen space, it’s worth considering a larger capacity American-style fridge freezer. With more space you can spread your Christmas food shopping – and the cost – over several months.
If you try to make everything from scratch on Christmas morning, it’s a recipe for chaos. Instead, make lots of the trimmings in advance and freeze them such as your gravy, pigs in blankets and braised red cabbage.
With 376 litres of fridge space and a 179 litre freezer, there’ll be plenty of room for turkey, chipolata sausages, pre-pre-prepared stuffing and veg and all that lovely party finger food. The Samsung Food ShowCase American-style fridge freezer has enough space for the biggest of festive feasts. Whatever you have in your fridge or freezer, the temperature will remain consistent thanks to the digital invertor compressor
Another Christmas tradition is trying to fit all the bottles of fizz, white wine, Baileys and beer in the fridge with the food.
The innovative Samsung Food ShowCase is great for keeping your favourite food and drinks at the ready.
The fridge compartment features a stylish door within a door, with five separate compartments that keep everything organised. With the main fridge not as exposed, warm air won’t get in – and your drinks are within easy reach!
Get the Samsung ShowCase fridge freezer
Another option is a beer fridge or wine cooler – but which is right for you?
Use a spacious oven which heats quickly
Cooking Christmas dinner in one oven can be a hot-pan juggling act and a nightmare of timings and temperatures. The turkey needs to roast at 170°C, but the potatoes need 200°C to crisp up, and that’s before the canapés, pigs in blankets and red cabbage have been warmed through.
Here’s where a double oven can be a Christmas blessing. Roast your turkey in the main oven on a low heat while your potatoes and extra trimmings are cooking at a higher temperature in the other. Or keep your prepared veg and stuffing warm in the top while the turkey cools and the roasties finish.
Reviewers have praised both ovens in the AEG 49106IU-MN. The main oven has plenty of space for both your Christmas turkey and the trimmings.
Get the AEG 49106IU-MN electric induction cooker
Have a built in oven? This Bosch induction hob is perfect
Cleaning up after dinner
Having your extended family over for Christmas dinner means there’s loads of washing up to be done.
With the Smeg full-sized dishwasher cleaning up has never been easier. It comes with an A+ energy rating and with it you can:
- clean up to 13 place settings in a single wash – no more plates left out to wash by hand
- adjust the top rack to make room for larger pots and pans
- run a wash while guests are still there – it’s super quiet
- have sparkling clean dishes in less than 30 minutes using the quick wash setting
Plus, the stylish silver design will look great in any modern kitchen.
Get the Smeg dishwasher
The morning after
Christmas dinner challenges your oven and hob – fat splatters and smokes, gravy spills, and something inevitably boils over. The last thing you want to be doing on Christmas evening is scrubbing the oven or stove top. An induction hob simply wipes clean.
- As for the oven, how about one that cleans automatically so you don’t have to? Pyrolytic electric ovens can be set to auto-clean mode – they superheat up to 500°C, reducing food deposits to a tiny pile of ash.
- Leave it on for around 2 hours while you watch the Downton Christmas special and job done. All you need to do is let it cool down, wipe away the pile of ash, and clean the racks and glass door separately.