Christmas cooking SOS: Adam Liaw's last-minute tips and helpful advice for hosts
Take a deep breath, because it's going to be OK. Christmas can be a stressful time, but I'm here to solve your problems, before they happen.
If any of these five Christmas emergencies sound like they might happen to you, read on…
It's my first time hosting Christmas! Help!
The first time I hosted Christmas lunch felt like a coming of age moment. The most important thing I learned in the process is to make sure you're looking at it as an overall experience – it's not just about the food.
Make a Christmas playlist. Put out a few extra rubbish bins. Get the Esky ready for drinks and make sure someone is bringing the ice.
Just about every "perfect" pavlova you've seen is gaslighting you.
If anything, the food is the easiest part. The key to that is to delegate like your life depends on it. Talk to your guests. Ask them to bring something.
Find out what it is, and even send them some suggestions and specific recipes if you want to. People are grateful for the guidance.
Plan your cooking based around your kitchen equipment. Don't have three things on the menu that need to go in an oven, but choose things that can be spread out across cold dishes, barbecue and oven.
But if you really want to host Christmas like a pro, the secret is cleaning. Every time you see an empty bottle, pick it up. Get someone on washing up duty, and run those rubbish bins outside at every opportunity. It makes all the difference.
I don't know if I have enough food
Firstly, you almost certainly do. It's human nature to over-cater every bring-a-plate event, because everyone thinks they're feeding a big crowd. Couples bring enough food for four. A family of four brings enough food for eight. Singles bring an entire cake that would serve 10. If everyone brings just a little more than would feed themselves (which they always do), there'll be a mountain of leftovers.
If it's not bring-a-plate and you're looking after the whole spread, you just need to turn to the maths. Under normal conditions, about 200g of a main dish such as ham or turkey (excluding bone weight) is plenty for an average adult. So if you've got 10 people coming, 2kg of whatever it is you're serving should be plenty.
Remember, however, that at Christmas people are in for the long haul and will likely stretch out their eating over the course of a couple of hours, and eat a lot more than usual. Double that 200g to 400g and you'll be fine and have leftovers, too.
For big eaters, go a little more again, but for a foolproof failsafe grab a few good loaves of sourdough. I spritz them with a little water and refresh them in a hot oven for about 15 minutes so that they're warm and delicious, before serving them with some good salty butter. Good bread and butter will fill even the hungriest guest without complaint.
Oh no, my turkey is dry!
The reality of a turkey is that it's nearly impossible to stop the breast from drying out a little if you want the whole thing to be stuffed and cooked through. They key is to bring the moisture back, and that's what gravy is for.
Get yourself some chicken frames or necks and make your gravy ahead of time, rather than waiting until after your turkey is cooked. A packet gravy is fine, too.
If you're not all that into gravy, drizzle the sliced breast generously with pan juices, olive oil or brown butter before serving.
How do I fix a pavlova fail?
Just about every "perfect" pavlova you've seen is gaslighting you. They'd have you believe every good pavlova sits proud and tall, snow white and free from any cracks or sinkage in the middle.
As someone who has made more than his fair share of pavlovas over the years let me tell you that almost all of them will have a few cracks and perhaps a little "compression" of the marshmallow. These shouldn't be seen as imperfections at all.
A cappuccino-coloured pavlova is the easiest problem to prevent. Just keep the oven at 110C or below (don't use the fan) and test the internal temperature with an oven thermometer if you can. Don't leave the pavlova to cool overnight in the oven (that can turn it brown), but instead take it out after about 2 hours of cooling.
A bit of sinkage is fine, but if you want to minimise it, the best way is to make sure the sugar is dissolved into the meringue as part of the beating process. My all-in recipe (the only one I use now) uses icing sugar mixture which dissolves a lot easier than caster sugar.
A few cracks is entirely normal and should never be considered a failure, and even if it's brown, sunken and full of cracks take heart in knowing that even the biggest pavlova fails are absolutely delicious. Stay the course and don't be tempted to switch tack to an Eton Mess or something like that.
Serve your pavlova proudly, because you only ever serve pavlova to people you love.
What do I do with all that leftover ham?
Boxing Day ham sandwiches are a part of Australian life, as is trying to convince guests to take home a bit of ham for the road, but if you're wanting to try something else, "Christmas carbonara" can be made from the leftover egg yolks from the pavlova, and any leftover ham. Add some cream in there, too, if you like. I won't judge you. It's Christmas, after all.
- Or serve it like a hot dog (recipe here, pictured)
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Adam Liaw is a cookbook author and food writer, co-host of Good Food Kitchen and former MasterChef winner.