How to ace Christmas in the kitchen

Don't buy too much cheese. Do buy enough washing-up liquid. Keep the big day stress-free with our tips from top chefs

Festive shifts at a butcher's shop are exhausting, with customers at their best and worst. Ben Curtis, previously a butcher, now head chef at Smoking Goat in Shoreditch, remembers people asking, What should I have for Christmas?", without saying who they were cooking for or what they liked, so you could never give a helpful answer". Butchers, fishmongers and cheesemongers want you to have delicious food, but give them something to go on.