You can vary this according to the cuts of venison available. Even larger cuts that are still on the bone, such as shanks and neck, are good, not least as the bones will enrich the liquor as the stew cooks, so you probably won't need any extra stock. Another nice variation is to use chunks of spicy chorizo instead of pancetta...

This velvety-smooth soup, all creamy and comforting, takes very kindly to being garnished with a little of something salty, or spicy or tangy...

Easy peasy and very greedy. A proper dinner party pud that takes minutes, if not seconds, to put together...

I learned to make this piquant and bitter pasta sauce many years ago at the River Café in London. It still gets a regular outing at home, as it is very quick and easy to prepare. Put your chosen pasta (try using penne, ridged pasta quills) on to boil just before you start to fry the pancetta and by the time the sauce is finished, the pasta will be ready. I prefer not to serve Parmesan cheese with this dish but you can if you like.

This is not just a Sunday lunch, it’s a celebration of all that is exciting about good meat. Now that I produce my own beef, of such high quality (he said modestly), the roast beef experience is more celebratory than ever. In fact it’s about as special a meal as I can cook for close friends and family, and it now alternates with goose as our Christmas dinner.

I like to make a single pudding in a big roasting tin, then slice it, rather than create individual Yorkshire puddings. It looks better and feels more generous.

This is not really a gravy but a classic stock reduction that can be prepared well in advance.

This is not so much a recipe as a few tips for achieving the desirable crispy-but-not-black outside and fluffy interior that we all know we love.

Some people think they don’t like Brussels sprouts. Try this simple and delicious concoction on them and ask them to think again. It works as a great accompaniment to the Christmas roast, be it goose or turkey or (especially) a hot, glazed Christmas ham. But it’s also a nice winter supper dish on its own.

This is a really wonderful soft and gooey chocolate cake, which can be served warm or cold as a pudding. It makes a great alternative for anyone who’s not so keen on traditional Christmas pudding – and it’s also an absolute doddle to make.

This is a recipe from the good old days, when mincemeat was what it said it was – a highly spiced condiment containing meat. This makes some people squeamish, but really there is nothing to fear. The meat is ‘invisible’. But its inclusion means that mince pies made from this mincemeat are less sweet and sickly than the usual fare, and have more body and substance. I guarantee you will love them.

This is really a procedure to make a variety of hearty, soupy stews to warm your toes in bleak weather. It could easily be adapted to make a rabbit stew, or a mutton broth. Whatever your principal ingredients, you’ll end up with meltingly tender meat in a thin but very tasty juice. Bolstered with macaroni, and eaten in a bowl to catch plenty of the well-flavoured liquor, it makes a perfect one-pot winter supper.

You need a whole free range turkey (not a monster, 10-12 kilos is about right) and a whole goose (6-7kg). And then a selection of 8-10 smaller birds, all plucked and drawn (ie oven ready). You don’t need all eight birds to be different – you could use, say, three pheasants and five pigeons.