New Years Food Prep and Planner

Itinerary: What to do and when

Note: Times are based around the cooking of a 1.85kg side of beef (done rare-medium - pink in the middle).

When the majority of the festivities are over, we’re sick of turkey and are just about ready to wrap it all up for another year, we like to start the new year off with a classic - a Roast Beef Dinner! My sister and I always did look forward to this one. It’s not as daunting as it first was, especially as the to-do list is much the same as Christmas Day’s, which was “practiced” just a week ago! We follow the below schedule, which we find works very well for us! Something similar may work for you too. We normally work together but this can also be done by one person.

30th December

  • 9.45am - Peel and parboil 1kg sprouts, halved. 5 mins (tub in fridge for NY day and 2nd Jan)
  • 10.30am - Bake bacon x2 packs (16 rashers) cut into lardons (for waffles, sprouts - tub in fridge)
  • 11.00am - Cook Red Cabbage with Cranberries (tub in fridge)

New Years Eve

  • 9.30am - Defrost beef in fridge
  • 10.00am - Cook Bread Sauce/leeks in White Sauce (tubs in fridge)
  • 11.00am - Prep Paxo Sage and Onion Stuffing (11x8" Pyrex dish in fridge)
  • 11.15am - Peel, chop and boil 1.25kg potatoes, mash with gold top milk/Elmlea (smoky casserole dish in fridge)
  • 11.45am - Prep trivet veg (1 onion, 2 large carrots, 2 celery - tub in fridge)
  • 12.00pm - Prep Butter for beef (¼ block butter + ¼ block lard = soften, mix in salt, pepper, 1 tbsp parsley, 2 tsp garlic - tub in fridge)
  • 7.00pm - Tub of butter for beef, on plate, upstairs near radiator to soften. Defrost stuffing sausage

New Years Day

  • 9.30am - Prep beef on trivet (1 onion, 2 large carrots, 2 celery)
  • 10.00am - Oven on 180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6. Plates to warm
  • 10.30am - Beef in bottom oven. Peel/chop/submerge potatoes for roasting in large pan. Chop carrots and onion for roasting. Set aside
  • 11.00am - Baste beef
  • 11.30am - Baste beef
  • 11.50am - Boil full kettle for roast potatoes and gravy
  • 12.00pm - Beef out to rest, move oven shelf to middle, stuffing sausage in loaf dish, in bottom oven. Make Gravy in sauté pan with juices, parboil roast potatoes
  • 12.15pm - Add goose fat to roaster, put back in middle oven
  • 12.30pm - Drain and fluff roast potatoes in seasoned flour
  • 12.45pm - Add fluffed roasties, carrots and onions to roaster. Remove stuffing sausage to rest
  • 1.00pm - Prep Clementine Carrots in other 11x8" Pyrex dish. Slice stuffing sausage, cover with foil
  • 1.15pm Clementine carrots in bottom oven. Paxo in bottom oven, covered with foil
  • 1.35pm - Strain gravy. Transfer required amount to tiny pan. Store the rest In tubs
  • 1.45pm - Remove foil from Paxo
  • 2.00pm - Warm sauces in microwave, fry Sprouts with Bacon and Chestnuts in large frying pan. Warm mashed potatoes in large Pyrex bowl. Reheat gravy in tiny pan. Remove Paxo from oven
  • 2.15pm - Warm Yorkshire puddings in bottom oven. Remove clementine carrots from oven
  • 2.25pm - Remove Yorkshires and all roasties from oven
  • 2.30pm - Serve and Eat
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