Who doesn’t love a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings? It’s a time of year when you go the extra mile to cook up a feast fit for a king and take your Sunday roast game to the next level. Our rubs and sauces aren’t just for barbecue and can help add that extra pizzazz you’ve been looking for! Although we have been known to light up the barbecue on Christmas morning and cook anything from porchetta, smoked turkey to rotisserie suckling pig, we wanted to share a few tips to pimp up your Christmas roast.

Next level roast potatoes

To get crispy roast potatoes, par boil them for around 3-5 minutes. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then give them a ruffle (toss) in the colander to get those edges fluffy. Sprinkle on some polenta/corn meal and give them another toss. Leave them for 5 minutes whilst the water evaporates off in the steam. Meanwhile get a tray heating in the oven with your preferred fat of choice. We used goose fat and a little olive oil. Once golden, crispy and about 10 minutes before they’re ready, give the potatoes a good covering in our Steakhouse Gaucho BBQ Rub. This is a great all purpose kind of seasoning and adds great flavour to the roasties.

Christmas stuffing

Our South Carolina BBQ Rub is a mustard based rub which lends itself perfectly to stuffing. It adds a savoury hit of flavour with a nice hint of mustard. We fried a small finely diced onion in goose fat until they were soft and tender. Added these to 500g of sausage meat, a packet of sage and onion stuffing mix and 1 heaped tablespoon of the South Carolina BBQ Rub. Once all thoroughly mixed together this was cooked loaf style rather than balls, which kept it nice and moist.

Pimped up pigs in blankets

Everyones favourite. Pigs in blankets. To add that extra level of flavour, dust your bacon with our Pitmaster BBQ Rub before rolling up your sausage. If you love a bacon butty at the weekend, we highly recommend giving the bacon a dusting of Pitmaster whilst the bacon fry’s in the pan. Once your pigs in blankets are cooked give them a brush with our Smokey Chipotle Chilli Jam. They’re delicious! You can also give your roast bird a dusting of Pitmaster towards the end of cooking to season up that crispy skin.

Mulled Syrup spiced carrots and parsnips

Our Mulled Syrup returns every Christmas as our customers love it. Where it’s perfect for mulled wine and cider, it’s so versatile and can be used in a variety of different ways. About 10 minutes before your roast parsnips and carrots are ready, give them a good coating in the syrup. Return them to the oven to finish until they get sticky and delicious. We finished them with some sesame seeds.

Making your own bacon

Our Make Your Own Bacon Home Curing Tube has everything you need to make your own bacon. Ready in a week, just add meat! Impress your guests with pigs in blankets wrapped in your own home cured bacon. Read our full blog on how to make your own bacon using the kit. Full instructions are provided with the gift tube. Read more here…