Mark's tips to spruce up your Christmas Dinner.

We caught up with Chef Patron, Mark Birchall on his hints for elevating Christmas Dinner at home…

Easy ways to zhoosh up Christmas vegetables…
A good way to add theatre but with relatively little effort is by salt baking your root veg. Everyone has the ingredients for salt baking in their cupboards (especially at Christmas), it just requires salt, egg whites and a few herbs. I often do this when I'm cooking celeriac, beetroot, parsnips and even carrots. It makes them extremely moist and perfectly seasoned.
Tips for elevating your Christmas turkey…
I think it's really important to brine a turkey before cooking it. It keeps the meat tender as well as adding flavour and texture. I use a 10% brine solution (1 part salt to 9 parts water), which you can add bay leaves, peppercorns and orange zest to. People think it's something you have to do the day before but actually just brining your turkey for a couple of hours makes a big difference. When the turkey is ready to be cooked, I also add a simple breadcrumb and herb stuffing under the skin; this will also stop the breast meat from drying out.
A good last-minute Christmas day dessert…
If you're not going to cook the Christmas Day dessert then I would suggest buying one of the Moor Hall Christmas Puddings, they can serve 6-8 hungry people and feature Alsace bacon caramelised in maple syrup. Or if you want to cook for your guests but don't have much time then something like a Tarte Tatin is great because you can get shop-bought pastry and chances are you'll definitely have some apples at home.
Please note our Christmas Puddings are on sale now. Click here to buy yours.