Peel your veg on Xmas Eve?

[lynbrown]

I saw this tip in the paper today - to peel your veg the day before. Would they need to be kept covered in water to stop them going brown? Would that not make them taste too watery?

[sherrardk]

I cook mine on Christmas Eve and then plonk them in cold water until they are completely cold, cover with cling film, leave in the fridge and re-heat in the microwave the next day and they are just as good as if they had been cooked on Christmas Day. (Not the boiled potatoes though.)

[ethandron]

i have always peeled my veg on christmas eve, we make a thing of it in our house. get the wine open and sit around the kitchen table with the christmas music on.
i put them in the pan they'll be cooked in and put the amount of water in the pan that they'll be cooked in - enough to cover the carrots, a couple of inches in the bottom of the sprouts. my parsnips are already done and in the freezer, and we have aunt bessies roasties.
i've been doing this for maybe 30 years and the veg are fine :o)

[BetteK]

I have always, always, always done all my veggies on Christmas Eve ... don't keep them in water though but in those bags that you can seal (are they called ziplock bags?) Our veggies are always just fine - just would not have time to do it all on Christmas Day.

[Buenchico]

Er, which veg needs peeling anyway?

OK, you might need to peel spuds if you're mashing them but I just cut them up (without peeling them) to make wedges, chips, baked or sautéd potatoes.

Similarly it would never occur to me to peel a carrot or a parsnip.

There would seem to be little point in preparing sprouts in advance, since the outer leaves can be quickly ripped off when they're dropped into the pan (and cutting crosses into the base has been shown to be a completely pointless exercise).

Chris

[NazNomad]

pmsl ... I never understood this. It's JUST a roast dinner, why do people take 2 days to prepare/cook it? ... loooool

[pastafreak]

I agree naz...how long does it take to peel carrots for 8-10 people? 10 minutes?..and then the same or less for potatoes.
We prep things the day before at work,as we are cooking for anywhere from 20 to 40. But if needed-it could be done the same day. Anyway-nutrients are lost when veg sit in water over night.

[shivvy]

I dont think I fancy eating reheated precooked veg as sherrardk suggests. That is something that I would do midweek if I cooked too much of something and it never tastes as nice as it would when cooked fresh.

I also dont agree with Chris because I would always peel my veg for xmas dinner because the skin/outside layer can be tough when cooked.

I don't think raw (hard) veg like carrots, parsnips and spuds should go too watery overnight - however they might lose some of their nutrients and flavour.

If you do decide to peel them the day before then potatoes definately need to be kept entirely covered in cold water or else they will discolour.

[hammerman]

@ Buenchico...spot on there. the only thing that i peel is sweede...everything else has skin on including the roast spuds and the sprouts get a quick trim (no crosses in the bottom for me either)

[ethandron]

it may only take 10 minutes or so to peel the carrots (actually i don't peel carrots but they do need some preparation), sprouts, parsnips, whatever else you have with your christmas dinner, but add all that time up and if you're the one in charge of doing christmas dinner, every minute spent doing any of that on christmas day takes you away from your family/friends who are enjoying themselves opening presents, chatting, etc. if you use the veg water to make your gravy then you're using the vitamins which have leeched into the water from the evening before, and even if you don't use it, for this one day in the year my firm belief is to make christmas cooking as easy and stress free as possible and if that means sacrificing a few vitamins...
it's an entirely different scenario doing prep and cooking at home than it is doing it elsewhere but at the end of the day we all do what we're happy with :o)

[BetteK]

Am definitely going to take Eddie51's advice and pre-cook my veggies this year and then cook for a much shorter time on Christmas Day (we always steam our veggies so presume this will work just as well!) Have never done it this way before but will see how it goes. We also cook our turkey on Christmas Eve but this is just a personal choice as we hate hot meat and as hosts it means our guests get cold meat too! Never have enough room in my oven though to do roast pots and parsnips and stuffing and bacon-wrapped-sausages so if you have a solution to that one then HELP!!!

[ethandron]

bette, get a double oven ;o)

[angiealf]

I cooked our carrots the other day and put them in the freezer. All I have to do is take them out xmas eve and reheat xmas day. Same goes for the sprouts. Leaves more time to enjoy pressy opening with the family. Who wants to be stuck in the kitchen when all others are sipping sherry and having fun.

[ummmm]

I use to prep everything Christmas eve if I quite a few coming. The only reason is I wanted to join them down the pub :-)

[B00]

I'm with Nazzy actually.

Why do people panic about cooking the Christmas dinner?

I cook a sunday roast every sunday and I never start cooking, or prepping it on a saturday. What's the difference with christmas dinner? All you're doing is exchanging the normal roast meat with a turkey?

When all's said and done the prepping the veg takes 10 minutes tops?

[LoftyLottie]

I was informed that preparing veg and leaving them in water destroys some of the vitamin content. I just prepare them when I need them. I rarely peel potatoes or carrots, but roasties without skin and all crispy on the outside and soft in the middle are lovely. Roasties in the skins just aren't the same and, in my opinion, just don't go with Christmas dinner.

Would be interested if anyone actually knows about the vitamin thing.

[LoftyLottie]

Exactly BOO. Cooking Christmas dinner is not difficult at all. In fact I find that a roast is one of the easiest dinners to cook. I just hate people helping me in the kitchen though. To me it is very relaxing being in the kitchen on my own with a glass or two of wine preparing Christmas dinner with the radio on!!

[cazzz1975]

I agree with naz and b00, veg prep only takes minutes, essentially its a glorified sunday dinner

[naomi24]

I prepare everything on Christmas Eve. I've taken to buying ready prepared carrots, sprouts, etc, but I peel the potatoes and parsnips (and leave them in a pan of water the fridge with no ill effects), make the stuffings and cranberry sauce, wrap the chipolatas in streaky bacon, prepare the turkey crown ready to go into the oven on Christmas Day, and cook the beef, pork, ham, and the sausage rolls. That way I can be with everyone else on Christmas morning instead of being confined to the kitchen. :o)