Roast pheasant

When buying your pheasants, try to buy ones that are drier to the touch, rather than sticky. If packaged in dreadful plastic, whip them out and wrap with some greaseproof paper – they will be happier with a little air getting to them. To avoid dry and stringy pheasant, I suggest you confit the legs separately. Roast the breasts on the carcass and serve with braised sprouts and the baked stuffing scones. Rather than just one brace, a pile of breasts and legs will add to the air of festive celebration. If you have too much, use leftovers in a salad, or pies, or even cheeky toasted sandwiches.

SERVES ABOUT 8 WITH SOME LEFT OVER

pheasant 4 brace

bulb of garlic ½

thyme, sage, bay leaves bundle

goose fat 1kg

butter 100g

olive oil a little

verjuice 2 splashes

chicken stock 2 ladles

white wine ¼ cup

Maldon salt

fresh ground black pepper

Begin boning the pheasants by chopping the legs off. Simply follow the hip bone and cut through the joint. For the breasts, cut away the central part of the frame (the spine) with a sharp knife or scissors. The breasts will still be attached to the frame, which will stop them shrivelling up and help with flavour.

To confit the legs, first preheat the oven to 90C/gas mark ¼. Find a suitable heavy oven dish. Season the legs. Place them in the dish, snugly, with half a bulb of garlic and a handful of herbs. Cover with the goose fat – you may not need it all. Cook for 1 hour. Cool in fat and leave to the side or refrigerate until needed (at least an hour, perhaps even a day before roasting the breasts).

To roast the breasts, first preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. In a pan, heat the butter and a little olive oil. Season the breasts. Place them breast-side down in the sizzling pan and brown gently. Tip off the fats, and add the verjuice and a splash of chicken stock. Transfer to the heated oven. Cook for 10-15 minutes, add the legs to brown and heat through. Take out and rest on a platter. Put the pan with the juices on a medium heat, add another ladle of stock and a splash of wine, and reduce.

After resting, carefully slice the whole breast away from the frame and serve on a platter with the sauce poured over.

Roast turkey

turkey, hopefully free-range or organic 6 kg (not too big, not too small)

unsalted butter 375g, softened

lemons 2, zest and juice

Maldon salt

fresh ground black pepper

slices of streaky bacon 400g

water or chicken stock a little

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. For 7kg of bird and stuffing it should take approximately 4½ hours to cook, working on 40 minutes per kg.

You can prepare the turkey several hours before it goes in the oven. Take it out of the fridge at least an hour before to bring it up to room temperature. Untruss the bird's legs.

In a bowl, squish the softened butter, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper together. Gently slide your hands in between the skin and flesh of the whole bird, separating them. Make a thick blanket of the butter, between the flesh and skin – this will help protect the breasts and legs and keep them moist. Season the skin and cover with bacon, like an overcoat.

Generously fill the body of the bird with stuffing (see below). Place the bird in a baking dish. Pour in some water or a little stock to keep the juices flowing. Top up the juices at the bottom of the pan so they don't burn and baste once every hour or so.

Check the bird is ready by piercing deeply into its thigh with a thin skewer – the juices should run clear when it's ready. If you are using a thermometer, it should read 80C internal temperature when you stick it in the thigh.

Move the bird on to a platter – don't be nervous, just lift and move. Wrap it up in foil and leave to rest, at least half an hour.

Hopefully everything else is going well, the bread sauce is gently blipping away and there's enough time for another glass of champagne or, even better, Black Velvet.

Carve thin, happy slices and serve with stuffing, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, brussels sprouts, potatoes, prunes in bacon. Follow with Stilton, Christmas pudding and brandy butter, then die.

Gravy for turkey

Tip the juices from your roasting pan into a jug and leave to settle. Once the fat has risen to the top, skim it off and discard. You want to be left with just the lovely juices.

Meanwhile, heat the oven tray over a medium heat, add a little stock and loosen any bits that are baked on the bottom. Then pour in the juices, turn the temperature up a little, add a few splashes of white wine, and cook down for a few minutes. Add a pint of stock and simmer, whisking until you have a smooth gravy.

Stuffing

unsalted butter 1 tbsp

goose fat 1 tbsp

onions 4 medium, thinly sliced

cloves of garlic 2, chopped finely

leek 1, sliced into thin half moons

thyme 2 tbsp, chopped finely

leaves of sage 6, chopped finely

port ¼ cup

chestnuts 200g, vacuum-packed, chopped roughly

sausage meat 1kg

apples 200g, chopped into small chunks

eggs 2

Maldon salt

fresh ground black pepper

sourdough breadcrumbs 500g

In a medium-sized pot, heat the butter and goose fat together, then sauté the onions and garlic. Once softened, add the leek and chopped herbs. Add the port and bubble away for a few moments. Cook until unctuous.

If you buy the vacuum packs of chestnuts they can be blanched for a moment in their plastic, then chopped up in small chunks.

In a large bowl, make your stuffing. Mix all the ingredients together, adding the breadcrumbs last. The mixture should be sticky and moist, not too dry.

If you have too much stuffing you can make stuffing scones. Just shape the mixture into smallish blobs and bake on a greased oven tray for 20 minutes at 220C/gas mark 7 until firmish, brown and crisp. Keep warm, or flash in the oven just before serving.

Braised brussels sprouts with chestnuts

sprouts 2 stalks or 1kg

shallots 6

carrots 3

thyme 2 sprigs

bay leaves 2

sage 4 leaves

pancetta 200g

duck fat 2 tbsp

garlic 4 cloves

wine a splash of white

chestnuts 200g

stock 1 ladle

Maldon salt

fresh ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Shred the sprouts roughly with a small knife – generally a job for many hands around the table. Peel the shallots and slice into quarters lengthways – not too thin, you want a textured weave. Peel and slice carrots into half moons. Tie the herbs into a bundle. Slice the pancetta into cubes.

Use a pot large enough for the ingredients to move around in. In the duck fat, gently sauté the shallots, pancetta, carrots and garlic. Cook away for about 15 minutes on a gentle heat until they soften. Turn the heat up, add a splash of wine and bubble away.

Add the sprouts and chestnuts to the mixture with a ladle of chicken stock. Season. Cook until the sprouts are tender, about 5 minutes, check your seasoning, add a blob of butter and stir in.

Serve hot or cold the next day.

Devils on horseback

Agen prunes 24

rashers of streaky bacon 24

cocktail sticks

For the pickling liquor:

sugar 250g

white-wine vinegar 200ml

water 200ml

cloves 2

coriander seeds 1 tsp

cinnamon 1 stick

allspice ½ tsp

lemon 2 slivers of peel

Pickle the prunes the week before. Make up the liquor by heating up all the ingredients in a pan and simmering for 20 minutes so all the flavours infuse. When cold, add the prunes and leave to pickle in the juice for a week or more.

Have your butcher slice the streaky bacon from its best and happiest side – it's easier if the slices are long and thin.

Take the stones out of the prunes. Lay the bacon under clingfilm and roll over it with a rolling pin to flatten slightly.

Neatly wrap a strip around each prune – you may need to trim the bacon if it's too long. Keep in place with a cocktail stick. Bake on a tray at 180C/gas mark 4 for about 15 minutes.

They can be blistering hot and burn mouths, so let them cool a bit before serving.

Roast quails

Quails are a brilliant crowd pleaser – straightforward to cook, they have a robust nature, which makes them difficult to overcook, and everyone loves them, especially kids. A large pile of quails with legs a-go-go are a festive moment at any time of the year.

Generally I cook them whole – this will keep them succulent. Season them well and rub with olive oil. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and roast the little darlings until the legs will pull away easily – they shouldn't be pink. If they are cooking too fast, turn the temperature down a little (about 15-20 minutes). Leave to rest and serve with lots of napkins, roast pumpkin, shallots and a watercress salad.

As it's Christmas, you might want to be a bit racier – stuffing your birds with Italian black rice adds a certain glamour. Black rice can be found in some Italian shops. There is also an Asian variety, but I prefer the Italian in this dish. If you are struggling to find fresh mushrooms, dried porcini work well, giving off the flavour of the forest.

The French seem to be able to breed a superior bird – they are plumper, with a little more fat. But then again the English quails I used this week were delicious.

Quails stuffed with black rice and girolles

quails 1 dozen

Maldon salt

fresh ground black pepper

extra-virgin olive oil

For the stuffing:

black rice 200g

olive oil ¼ cup

butter 1 blob

leek 1, sliced

shallots 4, sliced

sage leaves 2, chopped

thyme 2 tbsp, chopped

cloves garlic 3, minced

pancetta 100g

chestnuts, vacuum-packed 100g, sliced

girolles 150g

marsala ½ cup

lemon one half, squeezed

chicken stock 1 ladleful

Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Bring to the boil 1 litre of water with the black rice and a pinch of salt. Turn the temperature right down to low and simmer with the lid on for 50 minutes. The rice should be well cooked, and slightly sticky. Leave to the side.

In a pan heat the olive oil and butter. Add the leek, shallots, sage leaves, thyme and garlic, and sauté for a few moments. Add the pancetta, turn the heat down and leave cooking. Add the sliced chestnuts and sauté.

Clean the mushrooms (if you can't get fresh mushrooms, dry porcini would suit). Cook the mushrooms into the above mixture, turn the heat up, add a splash of marsala and let it bubble away for a few minutes to reduce.

Add this mixture to the rice with the lemon juice, and season. Then stuff the rice into the body cavities.

In a pan heat a little oil and brown the breasts. Once you have a good colour, transfer them to a baking dish, season the birds and add a ladleful of chicken stock.

Cook in the oven until lovely and brown (about 20 minutes).

Serve with brussels sprouts, blanched and browned off in a pan with a little garlic and chilli.

Roast forerib of beef

Beef glorious beef. My favourite breed is the huge, wonderful White Park – one of the oldest breeds, and it has a fantastic flavour. Good flavour comes from good farming, happy beasts, ageing and good cooking. Recently I managed to buy a hind quarter, quite an undertaking for a small restaurant like the Canteen. Over two weeks many people got to eat this fine beef, mouthwatering. We prepared each cut carefully. We minced, braised, roasted and cured.

It's good to chat to your butcher: make sure the beef has been aged and also has a good marbling through it and you have enough to feed the masses. I prefer grass fed to grain fed.

Either have the joint chined or French trimmed – this will make carving much easier. If it's not chined, roast it on the bone and then carve the whole piece away from the bone before slicing.

SERVES 8

forerib, French-trimmed 3kg

sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

olive oil

Remove the forerib from the fridge at least an hour before cooking. It should be at room temperature before cooking, especially if you like it rare.

Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7. Season with sea salt, pepper and olive oil. The fat likes a good crust. Seal the piece of meat well in a hot pan – it should have a good colour and will keep the juices from escaping. Cook for 20 minutes per kilo, turn the temperature down to 180C/gas mark 4 and cook for a further 2 hours and 10 minutes. Press a long thin knife into the centre – it should be warm when held against your lip. A temperature gauge should read 62C. Wrap in tin foil and leave to rest for at least an hour. The meat will relax and retain the juices.

While the meat is cooking you can get on with the vegetables. It's lovely to have shallots and potatoes cooking with the beef, supping up all the fat and juices.

Carve, serve on platters with gravy and horseradish and piles of roast vegetables and brussels sprouts, of course.

Gravy for beef

mustard 1 tsp

red wine a couple of splashes

chicken or beef stock 1 pint

Once your beef is resting, take the roasting pan and heat the pan on a medium heat on the stove, add the mustard and a little wine and whisk, loosening any yummy bits left behind. Add the rest of the stock and reduce down. Bubble away for a bit. Pour into a saucepan. Reduce for 20 minutes. Season and serve. If you haven't got stock tucked away, a chicken stock cube is brilliant. Simon Hopkinson swears by them.

Horseradish sauce

fresh horseradish 1 stick

creme fraiche 1 tub

lemon 1

salt and pepper

Peel and grate the horseradish and put it in a bowl. Fold in the creme fraiche. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season. Serve in a bowl.

Roast ham

If you don't want to brine it yourself you could buy a cured ham (but not smoked), and in this case leave to soak overnight in plain water.

green (unsmoked) ham on the bone, skin on 4kg piece

For the brine:

caster sugar 2 cups

salt 2¼ cups

juniper berries 8

cloves 12

bay leaves 4

water 4 litres

For the poaching liquor:

onions 2

celery 2 stalks

leeks 2

herbs, bay leaves, thyme, sage a bundle

cloves 6

peppercorns 6

For the ham glaze:

Dijon mustard 3 tbsp

English mustard 3 tbsp

pomegranate syrup or honey 3 tbsp

fresh ground black pepper 2 tsp

Bring all the brine ingredients up to a simmer. Once sugar and salt have dissolved, let the liquor cool. Once cold, add the ham and leave overnight or for 2 days. This will enhance the flavour of your ham. Take out of the brine and rinse with running water .

Place all poaching ingredients in a pot large enough for your ham and vegetables. Bring to the boil, skim and simmer gently for 2 hours. A knife should slide in (about 20 minutes per 500g).

Leave the ham to cool in the liquor so it's not too hot to handle. Peel the skin. Take a knife, slice down the skin lengthways and cut under the skin, neatly peeling it away. Try to leave as much fat on as you can. Cut a lattice pattern into the fat. Place on a roasting pan.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Mix all the glaze ingredients together and spread over the ham. Bake for 40 minutes until you have a good brown colour.

Leave to cool and serve with baked potatoes and raw beetroot salad.

Ham supplied by the Ginger Pig,