I'm a private chef – here are the crazy food trends my super rich clients want me to serve at their Christmas parties By ALASDAIR GILL FOR YOU MAGAZINE Published: 03:01 EST, 14 December 2024 | Updated: 03:01 EST, 14 December 2024 e-mail View comments For a private chef, Christmas is a month-long showcase: our equivalent of Frieze art fair meets Sundance. The challenge lies in nodding to tradition while incorporating the year’s viral food trends – if it was big on TikTok you can bet an ambitious host will want it as a canapé. Creative thinking is required.
Last year, for example, small bowls of venison ragù were the closest I could get to a client’s request for reindeer meat (you’d be surprised how many people want Rudolph on the menu). FROZEN TOMATO SALAD WHY IT'S HOT Frozen tomatoes were huge on TikTok this year, with foodies shaving them on to toast. In fact, frozen everything was hot – try frozen peach on vanilla ice cream for a sweet take – although tomatoes kicked things off.
INGREDIENTS 1 little gem lettuce 4 radishes, chopped 2 tsp capers olive oil, for dressing 1 ball of burrata 1 large vine tomato, frozen salt and pepper METHOD 1 Finely chop the lettuce, add the radishes and capers, dress with the olive oil and season. Slice the burrata and add. 2 Grate the frozen tomato over the salad and serve.
THE VERDICT It works in a quirky way and will keep kids happy for at least two minutes. It makes a mess when it defrosts. Eat immediately, or else.
BASQUE .
