Rick Stein’s top Christmas tip? “Do as much as possible in advance”
The celebrity chef loves Christmas and has learned how to make it go with a swing in both the UK and Australia. His secret, he says, is preparation.
The celebrity chef loves Christmas and has learned how to make it go with a swing in both the UK and Australia. His secret, he says, is preparation.
Rick Stein may have opened his first eatery, The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall, more than 50 years ago, and he may have written more than 25 cookbooks in the intervening years, but it’s taken him until 2025 to write his first one about Christmas.
As well as including fabulous recipes to appeal to fans of his cooking – covering the lead-up to the festive period, Christmas Day, the in-between days, and New Year – Rick Stein’s Christmas is interspersed with emotive essays by Rick on everything from memories of childhood Christmases to festive number ones and New Year’s resolutions.
Some are poignant, others are humorous and, as we’ve come to expect from this graduate of English literature from Oxford University, who will be turning 79 on 4 January, all are beautifully written.
“I’ve really enjoyed working on this book as it’s allowed me to reflect back on my whole life,” says Rick. “Christmas is a time when we all tend to get together with family and those most important to us, so my memories are tied up with all the people I’ve loved.”
He says that the lead-up to Christmas is the most melancholy time of the year for him as November, “a bugger of a month”, is the period when his father committed suicide – back when Rick was just 18 – and when his sister, Janey, died from cancer, when he was in his 30s.
“And in the UK it’s also so dark and sombre,” he says. “I feel I personally really need Christmas and think we all do – everything is lifted by it and it comes at the point of the year when we need it most.”
Even in Australia – where he now spends half the year (his second wife, Sas, is Australian) and every alternate festive season – Rick thinks that Christmas falls at the perfect time, being the high point of the summer holidays. “Everyone is cheerful anyway and it has more of a holiday feel, but it’s still that perfect moment to come together with family and friends.”
This year is going to be an Australian Christmas, and will begin with Rick and Sas’s festive tradition of a swim on Sydney’s Balmoral Beach at about 8am, followed by breakfast at the swimming club. “I always have scrambled eggs, bacon and a flat white there on Christmas morning," he says, "and it sets me up for the day!”
The couple will then host about 12 people for lunch, including Sas’s grown-up children from her first marriage, Zach and Olivia, plus her mother, brother, sister and their families.
Rick says he’ll be responsible for the starters – really good prawns and oysters from Sydney Fish Market – as well as cooking the turkey, roast potatoes and one other veg.
“Christmas lunch in Australia contrasts to the UK in that the cooking doesn’t fall just to one person,” he explains. “Everybody brings something, so someone will bring a ham, and other people will bring salads and desserts. It’s more of a shared meal, so there’s less pressure on me.”
That said, Rick’s best advice for anyone who does get stressed by the prospect of playing Christmas host at home is to do as much as possible the day before – even the gravy.
“I used to think the gravy had to be made at the last minute because of including the lovely juices and bits from the turkey’s roasting tin," he says, "but I’ve realised it can be made the day before and the juices just added at the last minute.”
As for his sensational roasties? “I use Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes, which I peel, cut to the right size and parboil the day before," he explains. "I tumble them in a colander to rough up the edges, sprinkle on some polenta, and they can be just kept out in a tin – I don’t even put them in the fridge.
“Then, on Christmas Day, once the turkey is out of the oven for resting, I add some goose fat to the tin and pop it in the oven for about an hour, turning them a couple of times. Perfect!”
Rick insists that if there’s ever a mishap in the kitchen, it just adds a wonderful memory, and there’s not really such a thing as a 'Christmas disaster'.
He recalls one Aussie Christmas when guests arrived with the first courses about an hour and a half later than anticipated, by which time everything else had been cooked and left hanging about for too long. In addition to those things, he cut his finger badly, Sas fell out with one of her children and the dog appeared to have eaten some rat poison, so there was doubt as to whether he’d even survive.
“We finally sat down to eat about three hours later than planned," he recalls. "But by the time we were into the second bottle of champagne, we started laughing about all that had gone wrong, and the food was still delicious. Once the tables had been cleared, we were all dancing to ABBA, and we agreed it was one of the most memorable Christmases we’d ever had.”
As for his resolutions for 2026, Rick declares: “I’m always determined to do better next year, and have resolutions like tidying a drawer every week, or sending seven pieces of clothing to a charity shop every six months, or creating a priority list every few days. These are all things that never happen.
“The one resolution made this year that I will stick to is: try not to do too much after lunch.” A resolution we can surely all buy into.
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