The focus is on the turkey, gammon can be made ahead of the big day

Even though I always eat turkey, the trimmings are the tastiest bits for me.

The turkey dominates proceedings in every way – it takes up most of the room in the oven and for most people Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it.

It can be quite dry so don’t be shy giving it a good slathering of butter and throw a couple of onions and some celery in the bottom of the roasting tin to flavour your gravy.

So we can assume the turkey’s taken care of and can concentrate on the flavoursome sides. Gammons a good one to make ahead of the big day. Get it cooked beforehand – I put it in an oven proof pot with onion, celery, thyme and cover with water.

Cook until tender and then remove the rind of the fat and score the fat. When cool you can place in the fridge and finish it off in the oven the next day when the turkey’s resting.

Glazing it really does add to the overall taste and appearance. For the recipe here I’ve used whiskey, honey, brown sugar and allspice. Give it a good brush to begin with and then keep glazing to add a bronze hue.

Salty ham, with sweet honey and the spice of whiskey and allspice – it couldn’t be more festive.

Stuffing is a compulsory part of dinner on the big day for me and it has to be sausage based. In the recipe here it’s seasoned with fennel seed, garlic, chilli and onion with the addition of some crispy fried Parma ham.

Add breadcrumbs and an egg and mix well. Form into balls or into a sausage shape and bake while the turkey is resting.

Local carrots are tip top at the moment. Rather than boiling or steaming them here they’re braised. Slice them and fry in butter with garlic and onion for 10 minutes then cover with stock and cook in the oven until tender.

The butter really helps to give them a head start in the taste department and the stock really adds to the finish. They can be made the day ahead and flashed in a pan to heat up when you need them.

Last and definitely least for me – the sprouts! There are always people around a table who would boycott Christmas if they were absent. I’m not one of them but it’s the season of goodwill so I’ll go along with them.

I wasted a lot of my youth criss crossing the bottom of nets of sprouts which still doesn’t endear me to them. This is a nonsense – cut them in half, blanch in boiling water, drain well, toss in oil and roast them.

It makes them palatable and retains their vibrant green colour. Toss in a rosemary infused butter. To be honest this recipe might even convert me to them.