Celebrity chefs' cracking Christmases

Q: What was your favourite Christmas?

A: I love this time of year and I think every Christmas is special. I always say after every Christmas that it was my favourite, but they do get better and better having the kids around. This year our youngest daughter, Daisy, will be much more aware of what's going on so it'll be great.

Q: What are you doing this Christmas?

A: We'll do what we always do which is have loads of friends and family over with all their kids and all muck in and have a great time eating and drinking - I'm cooking of course and I can't wait as we'll have about ten kids at our house on Christmas Day.

Q: What is your top Christmas recipe?

A: My latest favourites are both from Jamie's Dinners - roasted marmalade ham and baked pears with wine and a scrumptious walnut cream.

Q: What is your favourite Christmas meal/menu?

A: Obviously it has to be a lovely roast turkey with all the trimmings.

Q: What is your favourite Christmas ingredient?

A: Clementines and nuts are great this time of year, and I love all the seasonal root vegetables, and Christmas puddings. I've made my own this year and it's a bit different to the usual recipe.

Q: What is the Christmas dish you avoid or hate?

A: I hate to say it but I really am sick of the sight of mince pies! But I do like my own version, which is Baked Alaska mince pies made with ice-cream.

Q: What is your tip to avoid the stress of cooking the Christmas meal?

A: Get organised. Get all the vegetables prepared the night before and the table set and all that and just try to do as much as you can before the big day.

NIGELLA LAWSON will spend Christmas with her husband Charles Saatchi, and her two children, Cosima, ten, and eight-year-old Bruno. Her latest book is Feast.

Q: What was your favourite Christmas?

A: I am afraid they all blur into one another in my memory.

Q: What are you doing this Christmas?

A: Nothing much I hope! I just like eating, watching TV, and relaxing with the family, just like everyone else.

Q: What is your top Christmas recipe?

A: It has to be the spiced and super-juicy turkey from my Feast book.

You brine the turkey, by which I mean stick it in a clean, new bin, or large pan filled with water, salt, vinegar, sugars and spices and just leave it there for a day or so. When you roast it, it stays unbelievably tender and never dries out.

Q: What is your favourite Christmas meal/menu?

A: Again dishes from Feast. You can't beat maple roasted parsnips, perfect roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts with pancetta, chestnuts, marsala and parsley, green bean and lemon casserole. I have to have bread sauce, redder-than-red cranberry sauce, allspice gravy and gingerbread stuffing.

Q: What is your favourite Christmas ingredient?

A: Cinnamon. Just the smell of it puts me in a festive mood, especially when mixed with orange.

Q: What is the Christmas dish you avoid/hate?

A: I personally hate it when people do starters before the roast turkey and all the trimmings. Why take away your appetite before such a glorious feast?

Q: What is your tip to avoid the stress of cooking the Christmas meal?

A: I am afraid it is unavoidable, I think you just have accept it and not take it too seriously.

KEN HOM is the Chinese chef who's inspired the British nation to pick up a wok and learn to cook Chinese. His latest book is Ken Hom's Top 100 Stir-Fry Recipes.

Q: What was your favourite Christmas?

A: Every one with friends.

Q: What are you doing this Christmas?

A: Spending it with good friends in Bangkok.

Q: What is your top Christmas recipe?

A: Salmon with Lemon from my new Top 100 Stir-Fries book.

Q: What is your favourite Christmas meal/menu?

A: Peking Duck as the feature dish. I would start with my top recipe then the duck, lots of veggies, rice and noodles.

Q: What is your favourite Christmas ingredient?

A: Chilli... in everything.

Q: What is the Christmas dish you avoid/hate?

A: Definitely Brussels sprouts.

Q: What is your tip to avoid the stress of cooking the Christmas meal?

A: Relax, and have lots of champagne and wine.

RICK STEIN is famed for his seafood cookery, and is the author of many books including his three latest - Rick Stein Starters, Rick Stein Main Courses and Rick Stein Puddings. He and his wife Jill own The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow and run the acclaimed Padstow Seafood School.

Q: What was your favourite Christmas?

A: I suppose everyone remembers their childhood Christmases as their favourites, because they were so innocent and magical. I grew up on a farm in Oxfordshire, and my parents always celebrated Christmas in a traditional way.

Q: What are you doing this Christmas?

A: I will be at home in Padstow, Cornwall. I would never dream of going away at Christmas. On Christmas Day I love a long cliff-top walk in the morning, then dinner with friends in the evening. On Boxing Day my three sons, Edward, 25, Jack 23, and Charles, 19, will come over with their partners.

Q: What is your top Christmas recipe?

A: My favourite is the meal my mother used to make for Christmas which was a roasted ham with braised red cabbage, and it should be served with baked potatoes and a mustard sauce. It's absolutely delicious.

Q: What is your favourite Christmas meal/menu?

A: I love an appetising starter to the feast and would pick my salmon marinated with dill and Pernod, which uses thin slices of fillet of salmon and is served cold. It's in my new book, Rick Stein Starters.

Q: What is your favourite Christmas ingredient?

A: No question, an organic ham which I serve hot on Christmas Eve then have cold with jacket potatoes and assorted pickles whenever anyone feels peckish over the holiday.

Q: What is the Christmas dish you avoid/hate?

A: I dislike Christmas pudding because it is too rich and heavy for my taste.

Q: What is your tip to avoid the stress of cooking the Christmas meal?

A: Try to prepare as much as you can beforehand - it spoils the occasion if you're looking stressed and chained to the stove.