I agree about turkey. But for the shackles of Christmas tradition I'd never bother with it. A five-pound corn-fed free-range chicken is infinitely superior, and a huge shoulder of lamb on the bone, slow-cooked for at least six hours, is better still. That's the acme (sorry, Acme). Mrs Steve, unfortunately, is a little averse to properly-cooked beef (which means very pink in the middle), and I can't countenance "well-done beef." So we never do roast beef, though I have several exceptional beef stews and casseroles in my repertoire, the best of which is Elizabeth David's daube from her book French Provincial Cooking. You could google that and you might get it on the Guardian website. But I have ze book!