Caviar, truffles, champagne: how much is a fancy Christmas menu? – 12.02.2022, at 08:30

Want to indulge yourself during the holidays by choosing only unusual foods? What budget should you plan for a luxury Christmas party or Christmas dinner? Which suppliers and houses should be preferred? Discover our tips and exclusive addresses for preparing a menu worthy of a three-star restaurant.

Gastronomic festive dishes: quality of products above all

And if this year, you allow yourself to be seduced by luxury food? A few pearl caviar to start, truffle slices or garnish to enhance the meat: what you need to give an exceptional flavor to the New Year’s Eve. It is impossible to imagine a gourmet Christmas meal without quality products. Freshness, origin, labels (AOP, AOC, IGP…): make sure you choose only high quality foods.

From the aperitif, bet on festive products by offering your guests small canapés with smoked salmon or foie gras bites, two great classics of New Year’s tables. Salmon prices vary greatly depending on where it comes from, whether it’s wild or farmed, whether it’s organic or Label Rouge quality. The Monoprix Gourmet range (partner The Corner*) offers smoked salmon grown in Scotland, Label rouge,

€84.38

weight. Its Norwegian equivalent is shown here

€56.81

weight. There are also wild sockeye salmon native to Alaska

€78.17

weight. As for specialty brands, La Maison du caviar offers Scottish or Irish organic smoked salmon.

160 euros

per kilo, with firmer meat and a more distinct flavor than Norwegian salmon (

130 euros

per kilogram). For organic products, the Greenweez website (partner The Corner*) has a delicious food section as well as fresh produce.

Foie gras is one of the most iconic products of French gastronomy. Duck foie gras (among

50 and 100 euros

per kilo) is the most widely consumed but affordable gas foie gras due to its strong taste

300 euros

weight also has its followers. For a more premium product, choose whole foie gras. Make sure you choose a product with an IGP (protected geographical indication) for South-West or Périgord or, for example, Label rouge des Landes.

Accompany your party favors with a glass of champagne, the perfect celebratory drink. Quality brut champagne is between the average price

20 and 30 euros,

but at least it should count

40 euros

For big houses like Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart, Moët or Taittinger.

Christmas: what menu for an exceptional New Year’s Eve?

Why not choose shellfish for starters? With their delicate and tender meat, they will be perfect to whet your guests’ appetite. Focus on langoustines, fish fillets prepared as carpaccio for a play on simplicity, or lobster paired with champagne sabayon for 100% chic dining. Blue lobsters, or Breton lobsters, are a great holiday staple and are highly sought after by gourmets. The quality of its meat and its unique taste make it an exceptional dish. Prices start at approx

60 euros

per kilo and can easily reach

100 euros

. Calculate about 500 grams per person.

A poultry or game recipe for the main course would be ideal for a traditional Christmas meal. On the poultry side, capon or pullet are two quality dishes often served at holiday tables. You can offer a stuffed or even truffle capon, or you can offer a cognac flambé to play a surprise effect in front of your guests. A more classic, creamy and yellow wine chicken can be accompanied by fresh tagliatelle and pan-fried morels. Yellow wine nicknamed “Jurassic gold” for special occasions (dan

20 euros

glass). Count roughly

15 euros

per kilo for a Label Rouge chicken, around

30 euros

per kilo for Bresse chicken. As for the Bresse capon, it can be expensive

60 euros

weight.

Game is a rare meat to be reserved for special occasions. If you’re a fan, this recipe for venison with a gorgeous veneer sauce (made with a red wine and herb reduction) is a French classic. Serve the meat with redcurrant jelly or baked apples to bring a sweet and savory twist to this signature dish. You can also choose braised venison or venison with cranberry sauce.

For dessert, let yourself be tempted by the gourmet creations of the great pastry chefs. Pierre Herme presents the Tout-Paris yule log, a chocolate Haussmann building on the famous Pont-Neuf. In terms of taste, gingerbread, Viennese biscuit, puffed rice and cream (

120 euros

for 10-12 people).

Belgian chocolatier Pierre Marcolini offers a yule log of Grand Cru chocolate biscuit and Madagascar chocolate ganache with cranberries.

53 euros

for 6 people).

Maison Lenôtre and its new chef, world pastry champion Etienne Leroy, have imagined a chocolate chalet of three origins (Ghana, Sao Tome and Tanzania) with milky flavors that blend notes of cinnamon, vanilla and caramel.

180 euros

for 8 people).

Chef Julien Alvarez for Ladurée presents two signature logs: Empress almond log (almond, mango, yuzu) and Queen Saint-Honoré log (Madagascar vanilla and salted butter caramel). Price:

78 euros

For 6-8 people.

Finally, at Dalloyau you can enjoy the Starlite log (Tahitian hazelnut and vanilla mousse, muscovado sugar-flavored cookie, Piedmont creamy hazelnut and flowing hazelnut praline heart, all on top of crunchy caramelized dried fruit) and Hors-Piste sweets (Tahitian coconut vanilla mousse, creamy avocado – exotic fruit compote flavored with passion fruit and lime, vanilla and Timur berries, soft banana biscuit and crunchy coconut).

89 euros

.

Truffle and caviar, two stars of luxury food

An exceptional food, truffles are very popular with Christmas treats. It can be included in many recipes and a few chips are enough to spice up a meal. It reveals all its aromas in neutral products: just grated on mashed potatoes, it will give your accompaniment a festive look. Slide a few slices of truffle under the skin of the birds or drizzle with truffle oil before cooking.

Foie gras and Périgord black truffle lollipops as an aperitif (recipe by Hélène Darroze), lobster bites with truffles as a starter, chicken with truffles as a main course and even a chocolate cake, green apple and truffle according to chef Guy Martin’s recipe: truffle accompanies you throughout the Christmas meal . On the budget side, Périgord black truffles generally cost between

500 and 1000 euros

per kilogram (you will rarely need more than 50 grams for a recipe, ie

25 and 50 euros

).

Caviar is another star product of the fancy Christmas meal. No need to imagine complex or strongly flavored preparations, this delicate dish is enough on its own. Place a few grains on oyster or fish carpaccio for an elegant start, marry them with veal, king crab, cod or even avocado. The price of spawn varies greatly depending on the type of sturgeon. Prices start at Petrossian

69 euros

30 grams to reach

234 euros

For Beluga Royal caviar.

*If you are a Boursorama Banque customer, you benefit from the benefits of this brand through The Corner. Discover discounts designed for you: Monoprix, Greenweez.

If you are not (yet) a Boursorama Banque customer, discover The Corner tips here.

Also read:

Pastry chefs yule logs

Gifts, food, the Christmas tree… the recipe for an eco-responsible Christmas

Strasbourg, Lyon, Reims: the most beautiful Christmas markets in France