In the first of two special Christmas issues we give you our 50 Christmas tips
Welcome to the first of our festive issues. At the heart of this month's magazine is our own Christmas list – the 50 things we love about Christmas. We start with four of our favourite chefs and their Yuletide birds, from Bruno Loubet's roast pheasant and René Redzepi's goose to José Pizarro's partridge and Sam Harris's mallard. We then build around them with our list of the best cheeses, fishmongers, cocktails and even mince pies to complete the feast. It's a fabulous wish list of all that is great about this time of year.
We have also asked what some of our friends would like in their stocking, so we have gift ideas from Nathan Outlaw, Ruth Rogers and a host of others that may help solve the annual dilemma of what to get for foodie friends.
As a break from our own festive table, we get Claire Ptak to tell us about her Californian Christmas, with its crab cakes and kale, its spicy roast pork and pomegranate-poached quince. Her food dazzles and shines its way to the table. Other guests include Birgitte Sørenson from Borgen, the Nordic noir that is back for its final season, and Andrea Bocelli, who shows us his Life on a Plate.
In some ways this is the best part of Christmas, the time for making plans and enjoying the start of the season. The weeks when we, possibly mistakenly, feel there is plenty of time before we have to think about the guests, gifts and good food that go to make up an unforgettable string of celebrations. So sit back with the first of our OFM Christmas issues and enjoy it while you can. OFM