FESTIVE ANTICIPATION

If any time is worth making a special effort, it’s the festive season. Two top chefs give their tips on buying their seasonal favorites

platter: capon supreme grilled on the “plancha”, along with a “fricassée” of wild mushrooms and chestnuts.

Grouse

“The breast of young grouse is tender, with a mild gamey taste. The legs and the rest of the bird have a more pronounced flavor. Grouse meat is often mixed in with other fowl, so that the gamey taste is more muted and can act as an accent, such as in a pate, a pie, a stew, a braised dish or a casserole. In any event, the meat from older ones usually needs treatment like this simply because it is tougher.” Recommended platter: wild Scottish grouse grilled and smoked with Lebanese cedar wood, pumpkin velouté and sautéed wild mushrooms.

Foie gras

“Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of an ordinary duck or goose liver. Our way in preparing the foie gras is a technique called “torchon”. “Torchon” means “dish towel” in French, since the foie gras was traditionally wrapped in a towel for cooking. Cheesecloth is now used to form the raw foie gras into a cylindrical shape, and it is this oblong bundle of cheesecloth and foie gras that gets gently poached in a pot of water or stock to cook it. The process of making foie gras torchon takes a few days, as there is plenty of resting the liver between steps.” Recommended platter: semi-cooked foie gras in a cloth, rhubarb marmalade and toasted brioche.

Smoked salmon from Kaviari

“Kaviari salmon is smoked in the pure traditional way and then delicately handsliced by experts. Kaviari offers you salmon from three origins: Norway, Scotland and the Baltic Sea. Each has its own particular texture and flavor, with tender succulent flesh going from pale pink to darker orange, revealing all the finesse of the delicacy.” Recommended platter: dillflavored smoked salmon, lemon confit and crunchy vegetables. For Chef Cynthia Bitar of Nazira Catering in Lebanon, there are a few choice products that make a grand appearance during this time of year. An optimal selection that will debut this year on the menu includes: poivre de timut, fève de tonka, poudre de thé vert matcha. “Given that we are a gastronomical and artisanal catering company we do everything ourselves. We never buy finished products and we don't look for something to cut time out in the kitchen. We treat every ingredient with respect in order to deliver its full taste.”

Fish and meat specialties

"Oysters and sea shells (huitres et coquillages), caviar, lobster or King Crab are equally good recommendations for a successful meal as the finest seafood specialties. Whether you opt for a veal tenderloin, Black Angus or waguy beef ribs, roast pork leg, venison, wild boar leg or partridge (perdrix), you're sure to be spoilt for choice when choosing premium meat specialties."

Not just entrées

"Together with the right side dishes for the main course, I always opt for delicacies including butternut squash, chestnuts, cranberries, wild mushrooms, black truffles, sweet potatoes, Burrata cheese, and Vacherin du Mont-d'or cheese."

nd to nish?

"Specialty coffees served with the finest chocolates and desserts round off the perfect festive meal. And finally, treat your clients to a marrons glaces, mont-blanc, buche de noel, ginger bread, pain d'épices, chocolate truffles, and mandarines et citrons givrés."