Traditional Christmas Feast for 8

Traditional Roast Turkey with Pork, Sage and Onion Stuffing (including gravy)

Cooking a turkey for the first time at Christmas, when in-laws and other guests are probably milling around, can be quite a traumatic experience. I think the secret of success is to give the turkey a good blast of heat to begin with, and once you've got it going you can then turn the oven down.

Traditional bread sauce is one of the great, classic British sauces, but I think it has suffered from either not being made properly or – worst of all – being made from a mix or packet. The real thing is beautifully creamy and the perfect accompaniment to chicken or turkey.

In our family there are those who like bread sauce as the accompaniment to turkey, and there are those who prefer cranberries. For the latter I always make the following sauce, one of the very nicest and one that can be made ahead without coming to any harm.

The amounts here are not vital because it depends on who's greedy and who is on a diet and so on, but I find that 8 oz (225 g) per person is enough – yielding three each and a few extras for inevitable second helpings! I like Desirée best of all, but my second choice would be Romano.

This is one of the nicest ways to serve parsnips, baked crisp and golden brown in the oven with a Parmesan coating. They can be prepared well in advance, up to 24 hours, or they can even be prepared and frozen and will then cook perfectly if allowed to defrost first.

This recipe makes one large pudding in a 2 pint (1.2 litre) basin. If you have any left over it will re-heat beautifully, wrapped in foil, in the oven next day. If you want two smaller puddings, use two 1 pint (570 ml) basins, but give them the same steaming time.

An all-in-one version of a traditional sauce, this is best made not too far ahead. A good rule of thumb is to make it when you put the Christmas pudding on to steam on Christmas Day.

Cumberland Rum Butter is excellent not only with mince pies but also with the Light or Traditional Christmas Puddings or the Apple, Mincemeat and Nut Strudel.

I have been making the same Christmas trifle for years on end – but recently I decided to experiment with something new, without totally sacrificing the traditional qualities we've grown to love. This fits the bill perfectly.