French Christmas Food

A French Christmas dinner is traditionally shared en famille* on the evening of the 24th December. True traditionalists will have a light supper before attending la messe de minuit*, then return home to the real sit-down dinner, which can last until 4am!

Florence from My Parisian Kitchen, a bilingual French cooking blog, has published her top picks for a traditional feast below, and though times are changing in France as everywhere, a quick straw poll au nid* revealed the team were plus ou moins* in agreement. Bon appétit*!

And let’s not forget le champagne*, of course! As per the My Parisian Kitchen article:

“This is not a dish but is actually something you definitely have to serve for a classic French Christmas eve dinner. You may want to pour in crème de cassis blackcurrant liquor to make a Kir Royal. But if the champagne is good, there’s no need!”

— Florence (My Parisian Kitchen)

[Read full article]

*with the family | *midnight mass | *the champagne | *at the nest | *more or less | *Happy eating!

French 75

Tiring of the (now) ubiquitous quarantini? Feel like expanding your cocktail répertoire* without expending too much effort? Enter the French 75, a classic cocktail français* invented by Harry MacElhone from Harry's New York Bar de Paris who named his creation after a 75mm French canon, a blast from which he believed produced a similar effect.

*list | *French

Madeleines

As you may know, Deborah is on lockdown in France, and while we’ve been in regular contact and I can tell you her physical and mental health is in tact, her comportement* has undergone a radical change. Oui, tout le monde, Deborah cuisine*.

To be fair to Deborah, she did have a foray into cooking last year with the help of Hello Fresh, and quite possibly she has kept it up since her return to France, but this goes above and beyond the call of duty: baking madeleines.

These little French cakes have a literary link, as it was in dipping a buttery madeleine into tea that the adult writer Proust was able to unlock childhood memories, as he evoked in “À la recherche du temps perdu” (“In Search of Lost Time”). He must have had quite some memories to draw upon, as the work runs to 4 215 pages over seven volumes and weighs 3.9kgs. Et voilà*, some light confinement* reading ideas. Don’t say we don’t look after you.

If you’re after a more modest challenge, try translating the ingredients below, and then, if you’re feeling confident, keep going with the instructions. If you need a good dictionary, we recommend www.wordreference.com.

By the way, head chef Deborah didn’t have a madeleine moule* so she just used a muffin tin instead and she reports they were nonetheless délicieux.

Bonne cuisine*!

*behaviour | *Yes, everybody, Deborah is cooking | *isolation | *And there you go | *mould | *delicious | *Happy cooking!