Many years ago I was asked to contribute to an article regarding what chefs prepare for the families/eat for Christmas. I’m sure that at the time, I composed some God-awful list of “fancy” and “gourmet” foodstuffs that I would be embarrassed to publish now. [Give me a few days to dig and I will start the holiday season shame spiral myself by putting it online]
Years later I realized that my Christmas family meal was the one shared with my team members; a group of people from greatly varying social, economic, ethnic, and religious backgrounds all brought together by the common bond of food.
Now I have come to reckon that all of my food wishes for the holidays were forged in the crucible of central New York: I always associate Christmas Eve with Italian food [Feast of the Seven Fishes}; December, 24 remains one of the only days of the calendar that I intentionally cook a menu with an Italian focus.
Christmas…definitively shaped by my two grandmothers: one who cooked from a straight-up Victorian English cookbook, and the other who was Southern and cooked from the 1950’s and 1960’s standard repertoire of American cuisine. So what do I cook now?
Appetizers:
You really can’t go wrong with shrimp cocktail, (I have a major soft spot for the kind with little salad shrimp tossed with cocktail sauce and served on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce), cheese, vegetables and dips, fruit, relish trays, olives, pickles, salads…cold/finger foods work the best because they can be done ahead of time, no additional cooking is required when guests are in house and everyone can help themselves.
Main Course
I am a big fan of the roast beast: ham, goose, venison, beef, turkey…again, items that can be seasoned and cooked ahead of time with little to no extra work needed except for carving the meat to serve it.
Side Dishes
While this is where I take the most liberties with tradition, I still refrain from straying too far from tradition. [The tradition I keep referencing is my/my family’s tradition, and not some worldly ideal]
My memories are of a dinner table brimming with family favorites and seasonal bounty from the local store, (creamed pearl onions, anyone?) I really like to keep it simple here too: roasted root vegetables, caramelized Brussels sprouts with maple syrup and bacon, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, pureed celery root, or sweet potato souffle. All prepared ahead of time and bunged in the oven to cook or reheat for Christmas dinner.
Desserts
I will forever associate cheesecake with the holidays, (my grandmother’s recipe made too much batter for “her cheesecake pan” and she subsequently would bake the extra batter in a small loaf pan…which became MY cheesecake). I also love eggnog…so I have started making an eggnog flavored cheesecake as of late…
This year I am serving warm gingerbread with whipped cream, (thick ginger cake…not gingerbread cookies), no-bake eggnog cheesecake with graham cracker streusel, and dark chocolate mousse with candy cane crunch at the hotel.
As I wrote this I realized the irony: for a chef who proclaims to “hate repeating dishes” I sure do cook the same thing year in, and year out for holiday meals. I really do feel that tradition is more important than innovation when bringing family together; that is not to say that you can’t put interesting wrinkles into tried and true favorites, (candied ginger-cranberry sauce).
My only advice is to make simple and delicious food, taste and season/re-season your food as you go, and enjoy the time spent with friends and family.
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