James Martin tells us about Christmas meals from his childhood and how he will be celebrating this year. What are your memories of Christmas when you were young? “Christmas was a big family thing, with grandparents and aunties and uncles. After the dinner, my grandad and my uncle would argue over whether to watch the Queen’s speech or the Bond film. I wanted Bond.” What about food? “We’re Yorkshire folk, we like our food. I cook the same quantity of food at Christmas that my parents did when I was little. I cook for 500! I always like to think that people haven’t eaten for a week. As a kid there was turkey for the women and roast beef for the men, so I still cook a turkey and a whole leg of lamb or fore rib of beef for Christmas lunch, plus stuffing and veg.” And pudding? “My mother would always make Christmas pudding for the old folks, but my sister and I would have Vienetta with double cream, because we loved it.” What about now? “My mother always says, 'I want proper gravy, I don’t want that jus stuff you make with shallots and port.' Her idea of gravy is Bisto with a bit of Marmite, a bit of Bovril and a few caramelised onions stirred together with the water from the cooked veg.” Anything special happening this year? “I’m hoping to christen my new kitchen at Christmas, but at the moment they’re still putting the roof on the house. You never know, we might be having a take-out in my motor home on Christmas.”
