Whether you’re feeding two people or mass-catering for 20, cooking Christmas dinner can be one of the most stressful things you’ll do all year.
Research shows that almost half – 47 per cent – of us feel anxious about the festive feast, with concerns over tasteless turkey, soggy sprouts and timings going awry.
But just imagine having a helping hand in the kitchen on Christmas Day.
And not just someone peeling potatoes or stirring the gravy, but a celebrity chef who’s prepped every ingredient and will show you how to cook it like a pro.
Better still, you can get it all delivered to your door – in a handy box containing everything you need for a haute cuisine Christmas. It’s a decidedly more upmarket take on the trend for Christmas meal boxes that has seen supermarkets launch their own three-course Christmas kits this year.
From Tom Kerridge’s traditional turkey feast to Michel Roux’s beef wellington in a box, there are plenty to choose from – many of them part-cooked so, rather than slaving away for hours, you can follow a few simple instructions and put your feet up.
So should you forget the supermarket shop this year and order a cheat’s Christmas dinner from your favourite star chef instead?
Here, SARAH RAINEY puts their festive boxes to the test.
Mail reporter Sarah Rainey tries a selection of celebrity chef Christmas meal boxes
Tom Kerridge’s turkey feast
Delivered December 21, biggreenegg.co.uk
He’s been slated for his uber-expensive festive food: last year’s Christmas Day menu at Kerridge’s Bar and Grill in London cost diners £275 per head.
This year, the celebrity chef has pared things back, with a Christmas box containing all the meat (plus a few cheffy condiments) you need to feed 15 people.
But there’s a twist. The (still whoppingly expensive) £280 box is, somewhat bizarrely, designed to be cooked on the barbecue. Thankfully, the instructions say you can do it in a conventional oven, too.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX: A 6kg free-range turkey, a 3.5kg 28-day dry-aged rib of beef, and various condiments: marmalade (to glaze the turkey, interesting); a spice mix for bread sauce; pastrami spice rub, English mustard, wholegrain mustard and horseradish cream for the beef.
Both beef and turkey can be frozen if you don’t fancy doing two at once – and, given I’m only having six for Christmas dinner, I put the beef in the freezer for New Year’s Eve.
You’ll need to buy your own trimmings, and rustle up a long list of ‘store cupboard staples’ required for the recipes: butter, oranges, rosemary, rye bread, caster sugar and mayonnaise.
COST PER HEAD: £18.66.
TIME TAKEN: 3 hours for the turkey (plus 45 minutes resting), 2 hours for the beef.
HOW TO COOK IT: I don’t fancy getting my rickety charcoal barbecue out of the garage in December, so the oven it is.
I rub my turkey with beaten butter, orange zest and rosemary, then stuff it with orange halves and roast at 180C for three hours.
With half an hour left, I brush the bird all over with marmalade – Tom’s secret to a sweet golden glaze.
While the turkey rests, I make the bread sauce: toasted rye bread blended with warm milk, cream, butter, lemon zest and spices, which fill my kitchen with festive aromas.
VERDICT: Though there isn’t a lot in the box – you’ll need to spend more on veg, for example – what it does contain is top-quality meat, simple cooking instructions and a few clever touches that banish any prospect of a dry, bland bird.
The turkey is juicy, tender and bursting with delicious flavour. Throw in a few potatoes, pigs in blankets and sprouts, and if I were hosting a big group, I’d give this full marks. 4/5
Michel Roux Jr’s french feast
Delivery or collection December 22-24, waitrose.com
This luxury French feast from TV chef Michel Roux Jr is the ultimate in Christmassy decadence.
The two-course set menu for four costs £150 (or you can buy one for eight, at £275) and can be ordered from the Waitrose website, in association with at-home dining experts Dishpatch.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX: Everything you need for a two-course set menu, comprising champagne and saffron soup with scallops and succulent beef wellington with chestnut mushroom duxelle and buttery puff pastry.
There are trimmings aplenty: a celeriac and potato dauphinoise, heritage carrots and chestnuts glazed in garlic brown butter, and a rich red wine jus in place of bog-standard gravy.
COST PER HEAD: £37.50.
TIME TAKEN: 1 hour 15 minutes.
HOW TO COOK IT: I start with the beef, which – like the rest of the ingredients – comes pre-prepared in a paper liner, inside a bamboo dish (all recyclable), and needs 45 minutes in a 200C oven.
After 15 minutes, the dauphinoise goes in, followed by the carrots and, while those cook, I heat the red wine jus in the saucepan.
It sounds straightforward, but the staggered timings mean the components all finish at different times – and the wellington needs 10 minutes’ resting time – so I end up feeling frazzled.
The soup, mercifully, couldn’t be easier: all I have to do is empty the bag of orangey liquid into a saucepan and lightly sear the scallops.
VERDICT: The wellington is perfectly pink in the middle, the pastry golden and the trimmings gorgeously indulgent: creamy, cheesy potatoes and caramelised, herby carrots in a lovely sauce.
But the whole thing is extremely salty – I find myself gulping water after every bite. The soup is a let-down: it’s insipid, with a greasy layer on top, and the scallops, though nice, are bland and small. I’d expect more for the price. 2/5
Tommy Banks’ turkey wellington
Delivered December 23, madeinoldstead.co.uk
Tommy Banks, a Michelin-star chef with a huge social media following, does food box delivery all year round. You can tuck into three or seven-course menus, Christmas Eve fish, New Year’s Eve venison or one of his £32-apiece legendary pies. Tommy’s Christmas Day turkey menu feeds two and costs £175 for four courses.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX: A tiny ‘amuse bouche’ (pre-starter) of cauliflower soup, followed by a starter of sourdough, salmon and pickled veg, then a turkey wellington with duck-fat roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, veg, bread sauce and cranberry.
Finally a delicious-sounding dessert of choux buns filled with Christmas cake-flavoured crème.
It all comes in numbered boxes, each containing neatly packed ingredients, sauces and finishing touches in vacuum-sealed bags.
There’s well-paired wine, which comes – controversially – in cans.
COST PER HEAD: £87.50.
TIME TAKEN: 1 hour 40 minutes.
HOW TO COOK IT: The sheer quantity of containers seems overwhelming when I first open the box, but the instructions are easy to follow.
The soup, which comes with herb oil and fancy harissa dressing, needs three minutes in a pan, and the starter involves arranging a few cold cuts on a plate.
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For the main, there are staggered timings for the turkey, potatoes, veg and sauces, but these are all clear and even my husband, who has never cooked a roast, has no problem getting it to the table on time.
The pud, a sophisticated choux bun, looks MasterChef-worthy but takes just ten minutes from packet to plate.
VERDICT: Delicious, a bit different and so well explained that, truly, anyone could follow the instructions. The portions are generous and putting it all together makes me feel like a Michelin-star chef. It’s pricey – but it includes wine and it is Christmas, after all. 5/5
Rick Stein’s fine dining fish
Delivered December 24, dishpatch.co.uk
Seafood connoisseur Rick Stein holds a collection of festive mince pies
Seafood connoisseur Rick Stein has all the components you need for a seafood-based feast – ideal for non meat-eaters or turkey haters. The £142 box feeds two and contains three courses, delivered by Dishpatch.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX: Scallops with toasted hazelnut and coriander butter, followed by an extravagant lobster thermidor, with crispy new potatoes and a herby salad. For dessert, there’s a dark chocolate pavé with cocoa nib crumb and Cornish clotted cream.
COST PER HEAD: £71.
TIME TAKEN: 20 minutes.
HOW TO COOK IT: This is an astonishingly quick meal – pretty much everything has been done in advance and all I have to do is pop a few ingredients in the oven. The scallops, which are huge and juicy – bigger than any I’ve seen in restaurants – come in their shells and go under the grill for five minutes with a bubbling nutty butter.
While the lobsters – a whole one per person, ready-steamed – need just eight minutes in the oven. The thermidor sauce comes in a little pouch, as does a portion of Stein’s favourite tangy vinaigrette for the salad. Pudding takes mere seconds to plate up: a velvety set chocolate mousse with nuts and cream.
VERDICT: There is something so wonderfully indulgent about tucking into a seafood feast at Christmas, and this really hits the spot when it comes to fine dining made easy.
I don’t need anything from my own kitchen and it’s on the table in under half an hour. The only downside is that the portions aren’t huge – but the luxury ingredients are genuinely top notch. 4/5
Angela Hartnett’s posh porchetta
Delivery or collection December 22-24, waitrose.com
Inspired by her Italian heritage, Angela Hartnett has created a family-style sharing feast with a difference. Available from Waitrose online, her Christmas box costs £190 for two courses and feeds eight.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX: A huge rolled porchetta (boneless pork roast), which has been prepared and slow-roasted in advance, stuffed with focaccia, citrus zest, fennel and sage.
On the side, there’s a luxurious potato gnocchi, laden with cheesy bechamel, and slow-braised cavolo nero with pine nuts and chilli, plus ingredients to make salsa verde for drizzling.
For dessert, Angela’s made a mouthwatering panettone pudding with lashings of pistachio custard.
COST PER HEAD: £23.75.
TIME TAKEN: 3 hours.
HOW TO COOK IT: Joyously, most of the hard work has already been done – all I have to do is take the porchetta out of its plastic wrapper and put it in the oven at 220C, for 2 hours 15 minutes.
The gnocchi, which comes in two bamboo trays, needs just 10 minutes in the oven, while the cavolo nero takes another 10 minutes in a pan with 100ml water. I make my salsa verde by whizzing up the herbs and sauce provided – and it’s done. While we’re tucking into the main, I put the panettone pudding in the oven – it needs 45 mins at 190C – and gently heat the custard in a pan.
VERDICT: With minimum fuss and maximum flavour, this is the ultimate Christmas dinner in a box.
Sure, there’s no traditional meat or trimmings, but every single element is delicious and I barely had to lift a finger. Plus, if you’re hosting a big group it’s a surprisingly decent price.
My favourite of the lot. 5/5
Simon Rogan’s solo celebration
Delivered December 22-23, simonrogan.co.uk
Simon Rogan has been doing at-home dining for years. Conveniently, this Christmas feast – which costs £95 a head for four courses – is priced and portioned up per person, so whether you’re eating alone or have to do dinner for 12, it’s a great option.
There’s a standard or vegetarian menu, and options to add on everything from a wine flight (£68) to a cheese board (£25).
WHAT’S IN THE BOX: The meal starts with a pickled mushroom dish, followed by oak-smoked mackerel with cucumber jam and sour cream.
Main course is Goosnargh turkey – but not a whole bird or even a crown; this is a ‘turkey terrine dome’, which won’t be to everyone’s taste. On the side is cabbage, celeriac terrine, pigs in blankets and pumpkin puree. Pudding is a classic Christmas cake, with chocolate mint fudge to finish.
COST PER HEAD: £95.
TIME TAKEN: 1 hour.
HOW TO COOK IT: Everything comes in numbered pouches. But I find the instructions quite hard to follow: they tell you which numbered bags you need for each dish, but not what each one contains, so I end up guessing.
The two starters are easy to construct, and the turkey and sides only require eight minutes in the oven. Far from looking golden and delicious, however, mine looks anaemic and unappetising – only the pigs in blankets have turned out how they should.
The pudding – a dense, spiced fruit cake with fig-leaf infused gin and cream – is a saving grace, and the little stars of chocolate fudge are like bites of heaven.
VERDICT: An awful lot of money for one meal, and there’s a reasonable amount of faff before you can eat. Though there are lots of tempting ingredients, the portions aren’t huge – and nobody wants to skimp on Christmas dinner. 3/5