Every family has its own Christmas tradition when it comes to what’s on the table for festive lunch or dinner, and chefs are no different. One might crack mud crab instead of a turkey wishbone, or truss a vegan turkey instead of the poultry kind, but one thing rings true: they’re all dishes that bring people together.
1. Ben Shewry: lasagne
Lasagne is the special occasion dish for my family. My mum learned to make it in the 70s in New Zealand off a packet of Diamond pasta. We have it every single Christmas – it doesn’t matter if it’s 35C and technically too hot for lasagne.
Back then lasagne was exotic but practical – we lived on a cattle farm and there was an abundance of mince. Lasagne was the solution. I remember fighting my sisters for the caramelised crispy bits and waking up early the next day to beat my dad to the leftovers, which I ate straight out of the fridge with a spoon.
I make mine with bolognese that’s cooked down for hours, and a good bechamel. I always use fresh pasta and do five layers, alternating bolognese and bechamel.
Ben Shewry is the chef and owner of Attica in Melbourne and author of Uses for Obsession
2. Blanca Perera: ensalada de Noche Buena
In Mexico we celebrate on Noche Buena (Christmas Eve). The meal is very European – turkey, bacalao, no corn tortillas. My family always makes ensalada de Noche Buena, which is peculiar because salads aren’t typical European Christmas dishes.
Ingredients that must be included: thinly sliced beetroot, oranges, apples, jicama (which is sort of like turnip), banana and peanuts. It’s arranged on a platter and sprinkled with pomegranate, with a dressing of orange juice, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt and lime for acidity. Even though it’s a fruit salad, it’s served alongside the rest of the meal rather than as a dessert. I love that some of the elements celebrate indigenous ingredients: cacahuetes (peanuts) are originally from South America, and jicama or yam bean comes from Mexico.
Dinner is at 8pm then we open presents. After that many families put baby Jesus into the nativity scene and go to midnight mass. Usually you cannot sleep because you’ve eaten so much.
Blanca Perera is a co-owner of the Sydney taqueria Olotl
3. Nagesh Seethiah: cari poule masala
Around the time I decided I wanted to be a chef, I helped my mum make cari poule masala, or Mauritian chicken curry, for Christmas. It involves a whole chicken butchered down, cooked with liver, giblets and heart in Mauritian masala spice.
My mum asked me to break down the chicken and I did it the way I was taught as a chef, ending up with 10 pieces. She didn’t approve. She took over and all of a sudden there were 24 uniform pieces.
I remember watching, trying to figure out the proportions for the dish. I think every child of migrants has this experience where they’re told not to worry about a recipe.
The protein is cooked in stages so nothing is overcooked. You fry the base ingredients, then the chicken, giblets and heart are layered in with liver cooked at the end. Then you add fresh tomatoes and enough water to make a sauce, and serve it with rice. It’s fitting for Australian summer because it’s zingy and bright.
Nagesh Seethiah is the chef and owner of Manzé in Melbourne.
4. Shannon Martinez: vegan turkey
My family does a traditional northern hemisphere-style Christmas with ham, turkey, potatoes and roast vegetables. I’ve started doing vegan turkey for my mum, who eats a mostly plant-based diet.
We make it at the deli, from seitan wheat protein. The dough is kneaded underwater until all the starch is gone, then rolled out, stuffed and trussed. It’s poached in vegan stock powder, which is where the flavour magic happens. Seitan takes up flavour well, so we go hard on aromatics. On Christmas it’s glazed multiple times.
My mum has cooked her whole life and I couldn’t stand seeing her only eating sides. Christmas is an important time for everyone to get together and food choices shouldn’t be the thing that makes people feel left out.
Shannon Martinez is a chef, author and owner of the plant-based restaurants Smith and Daughters and Smith and Deli in Melbourne. Her book Vegan Italian Food is available now
5. Louis Tikaram: Fijian mud crab curry
Growing up in Fiji, Christmas was really special, with the meal centring around my grandmother’s mud crab curry. It’s something my dad always requests so I make it every year.
I start with a paste of ginger, garlic chilli and coriander leaves, then I prepare the crab, which gets cooked with fresh curry leaves and coconut cream. The thing that makes the dish special though is Fijian curry powder. It’s very fresh, with lots of turmeric.
Our Christmas dinner is usually 12 people, and we do four mud crabs – they’re the showstopper. I also do whole fish and wagyu steaks on the barbecue. It’s funny, everyone always says they’re going to help but, when it comes to the day, it’s all on me. I guess chefs are control freaks so everyone stays out of my way.
Louis Tikaram is head chef and partner at Stanley in Brisbane
6. Illa Kim: Weihnachtsente mit Rotkohl und Knödel
I grew up in Germany, so for Christmas we make something that I know from my time there: Weihnachtsente (roast Christmas duck) with mushroom cream sauce, Rotkohl (red cabbage) and Knödel dumplings. It’s the one time of year I go to a non-Asian deli and buy ingredients.
The recipe I use came from my best friend’s mum. Usually Germans make goose but they had a small family so they did duck to avoid leftovers. It’s a whole roast duck, stuffed with apple, bread, onion, carrots and pear. The most German parts of it are the sides.
We cook mostly Korean food at home, so our family Christmas tradition is a bit strange. But I think it’s also very Australian, coming together and finding new traditions.
Illa Kim is a co-owner of Soul Dining in Sydney
7. John Rivera: leche flan
People always expect leche flan from our family. It’s my mum’s recipe, and we also use it at Askal. Leche flan is a traditional Philippine dessert that’s like a steamed custard but much fudgier. Ours is made from evaporated and condensed milks, vanilla and egg yolks. It’s velvety with a distinctive caramelised flavour. We also add lime or dayap zest, which cuts through the richness and sets it apart on the dinner table.
When I was three, I was obsessed with condensed milk. I was fighting my mum to lick the can and, when she pulled it away from me, she cut her hand and needed stitches. It’s her running joke now: “I almost cut my finger off for this leche flan because of John.”
John Rivera is the chef and a co-owner of Askal and Kariton Sorbetes in Melbourne
