Too many cooks: how top chefs handle festive food feuds at Christmas

How exactly to cook the sprouts, what types of potatoes to use for roasties, and how long you should really roast the Turkey... it always gets heated in the kitchen at Christmas – even for the country’s top chefs, as Emma Henderson finds out. Here are their top tips for keeping tensions from bubbling over at the ‘happiest time of the year’

Even the country’s best chefs are chastised by their families for their Christmas cooking methods (Getty)

The annual TV Christmas adverts paint an idyllic scene of festive family joy and happiness but, in reality, it’s not always plain sailing. Not long into the holiday, and you’re already fighting for the remote, the in-laws overstay their welcome, and the “avoid at all costs” topics keep popping up. You’ve been to the shop for the sixth time in two days (admittedly, sometimes just for some peace), the board games are getting wildly out of control, and you keep having to hide the sherry from Auntie Susan.

And we’ve not even started on the food arguments. When do the sprouts go on? Are we having turkey? We better be having Yorkshire puds! Which recipe are you using for the spuds? What time are we eating? Is there a starter? Who’s doing the washing up?

It’s something we can all relate to. But even professional chefs still have to contend with family gripes, bowing to specific wants, tackling heated debates on whose cooking method works best and even being banned by their children from cooking the vegetables.