Christmas dinner can be the most stressful meal of the year, but chef and broadcaster Mark Moriarty has tips to keep festive cooking simple and achievable.
Speaking on The Anton Savage Show, Moriarty said:
“It's the only time of year people at home basically have to turn into a professional chef and cook for a crowd once a year. That brings a lot of stress.”
He emphasised that the key to a successful Christmas dinner isn’t perfect turkey or gravy, but organisation and preparation ahead of the dinner:
“What Christmas dinner really is all about is just planning and bringing things together. It's not about the temperature of the turkey, that's the easy part.”
Moriarty shared practical advice for roast potatoes, his only dish made from scratch this year:
“Peel the potatoes, put them in cold water with 2% salt, bring them slowly to the boil and then simmer. Steam them for five or six minutes to get them really dry, then roast with a little vegetable oil. For extra crispiness, I add a bit of polenta.”
For those skipping turkey altogether, the chef suggested alternative mains for Christmas dinner.
“I’m doing a free-range chicken this year, slow-cooked with truffles under the skin. For beef, use a reverse sear method , cook low and slow in the oven, then char on a hot pan or barbecue. For fish, monkfish works like a piece of meat, firm and doesn't stick to the pan.”
When asked about festive desserts, he admitted that he had a soft spot.
“I made trifle for the first time ever for the Irish Times magazine, but I’ll still do my sticky toffee pudding every Christmas."
Mark Moriarty
Moriarty also touched on the scale of work behind his upcoming book and studio launch, revealing that he creates between 300 and 320 new recipes every year across his cookbooks, TV work and weekly Irish Times column.
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While not every recipe is entirely new, he said most are fresh takes on classics, noting that “if there’s a recipe you’ve never seen before, there’s often a reason you haven’t seen it.”
With a new studio set to open later this spring, he said his focus will increasingly turn to fine-dining dishes and menu development, adding that constant exposure to food, from eating out regularly to photographing dishes while travelling for work, is essential to staying creative with food.
