--- Learn endless cooking tips and tricks on which airs weeknights on SBS Food at 7.00pm and 10.00pm, or stream it free on . Catch Pamela Clark on the Christmas desserts episode Thursday 16 December. ---
What's Pamela Clark, chef, editor, food presenter and author of some of Australia's most beloved cookbooks, serving for dessert on Christmas day lunch? Something wildly inventive and experimental?
"It's hard to beat Christmas pudding," she tells SBS Food with a laugh.
While it might not rival the creativeness of the choo-choo train or jelly swimming pool cakes (yes, one of the cookbooks Clark is responsible for is the iconic ), traditional Christmas pudding is a brilliant idea.
"Pudding does need reheating, but it stays hot for quite a long time after it's been heated," explains Clark. "It's quite happy to sit there for almost an hour and settle. You can take it out before you serve the main course and then it's ready to serve for dessert."
Start making this pudding... now. Find the recipe .
All hail the traditional Christmas pud! Source: SBS Food
When it comes to hosting Christmas, it's not just the pudding that Clark has sorted. You get the feeling that a Christmas hosted at her place would run as smooth as the finest .
"Hosting is really a series of lists," Clark emphasises. "Menus, orders, timings, guests..."
Here's what Clark recommends you put on those lists.
Plan well in advance
The sooner you start planning, the easier things will be on the day. Clark advises that you map out your menu, ingredients and cooking times so you know exactly what you're dealing with.
"Get orders together well in advance as things get busy," she advises. "You just have to get organised and have things ready to be picked up."
Where you can, prepare food in the days before Christmas day.
"There was a time when a lot of people felt they had to have Chrismas dinner prepared before the day, ready to be reheated on the plate after mass on Sunday," Pamela recalls. "It's a big ask. When I was at the Weekly, there were some very scary phone calls..."
Pamela Clark and her husband Paul will celebrate Christmas at son Robby's place this year. Source: Supplied
Catering for the masses
Prepped fully in advance or not, deciding on your menu is one of the more testing aspects of hosting.
"Catering is different today with vegan, vegetarian, non-dairy, gluten-free - you need to know who you're feeding," says Clarke. Her best tip for keeping on top of everyone's individual requirements is to make at least one main meal that suits them all.
If you're stumped for a main meal that ticks all the boxes, try one of these gluten-free vegan meals:
Grilled summer vegetables with cumin dressing recipe .
A fresh and festive vegan offering that's nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free and fuss free. Source: Adam Liaw
Cooking on the day
Here's an excellent tip from Clark for freeing up some precious oven space: do your ham on the barbecue.
Her instructions are to prepare your ham as you would for an oven dish but set it into a disposable foil tray. "Glaze it the day before," she advises.
On the day, preheat your barbecue to a very low temperature - as low as it will go - and set the tray straight onto the barbecue plate (no need for a rack) and close the lid.
"It works a treat, just leave it alone and it takes about an hour and a half and it comes out beautifully."
Try this method with of these delicious glaze recipes and see for yourself:
A is always a hit with the glazies.
Let's face it, a Christmas glazed ham is just an excuse to eat a massive slab of almost-bacon without judgment. Source: Ben Dearnley
Oven management 101
Anyone who has ever catered a baked dinner for a crowd will know that mastering your oven timings is key.
There's never enough oven space and definitely never enough oven racks, says Clark. "If you've got a fan-forced oven as most people have, they always come with two oven racks, but it's quite a wise investment to buy another rack for your oven."
Clark also suggests preheating the oven to maximum temperature before reducing to the required cooking temperature. You'll lose more heat from opening and closing the oven door than you think, she says, and preheating to maximum compensates for that.
Hint: you have to plan ahead Source: Supplied
It's all about the timing
After that, it's all in the timing. Write down your cooking times and map out what needs to go into the oven from the longest cooking time to the shortest.
Clark jokingly suggests that if you can create a flow chart of what you need to cook and how much precious oven time it needs, so much the better. She's actually not joking - make the flow chart.
"It's all about the timing. It's all about how long that turkey's going to take to cook, how long the roast potatoes are going to cook... it's a matter of whatever you've got in the oven, working out how long things are going to take to cook and work backwards from there," she advises.
Get the spuds right
As everyone knows, when it comes to the oven one of the top priorities is producing the most amazing roast potatoes you possibly can. Judgment is always passed on the spuds. Does Clark have any tips to get us across the line?
"Put your potatoes into a flat tray, not a roasting tray; they'll crisp up much better that way. They won't brown in a deep pan. And roast them for an hour minimum. Good roast potatoes take longer than people think."
So, note to self, the potatoes go a the very top of the flowchart...
Get the roast potatoes right and everyone's happy. Recipe .
These crispy-edged roast spuds are a potato lover's dream. Source: Norton
Go easy where you can
Even a stellar host like Clark isn't opposed to cutting corners. Sometimes, a pudding is a dish too far and Clark suggests skipping traditional desserts like and puddings and making a instead.
"Trifle is always popular and you can make the entire thing in advance and just pull it out when it's time for dessert," she says.
Try one of Pamela's recipes
Rosewater cranberry fool
Better yet, serve a fruit platter and hand out some luxury ice creams. You can make your own, or just buy an assortment at the supermarket.
"All sorts of ice creamy things, people like," Clark says. "We're in the middle of an Aussie summer and let's hope it's hot. Hand out ice creams on a stick - people love that."
are quite a lengthy shortcut, but fun nonetheless.
Obviously buying in a box of Magnums and Cornettos is easier, but is it as cute? Source: China Squirrel
Cleaning up the joyful mess
Ah, the fun part of the day is here: the clean up. With a bit of luck, you'll have Pamela Clark hosting your lunch because she confesses that she always does the cleaning. All of it.
"I don't think there's much fun in it, but I like doing it myself," she says. "I'm a bit of a control freak, but don't tell anyone. I know where stuff goes and I know how I like the dishwasher stacked. I'm a bit of a pain in the neck, really."
This year, however, she plans to do nothing much at all.
"My son is hosting Christmas this year and I'm taking the ham and glazing it," she explains. "Otherwise, I'm sitting back drinking Champagne."
So don't feel defeated if you're still feeling stressed about the prospect of hosting on Christmas day. Even the most accomplished of hosts will get out of it if they possibly can.
Festive fodder
Baked heirloom tomatoes
