A chef’s Christmas! We caught up with our chefs from this years shows and found out what they’ll be eating and drinking on the big day and who they’ll be spending it with.

MAGGIE BEER

What will you be eating and drinking this Christmas Day?

It’s always traditional for own family. We have a big feast where all the food goes on the table at once! We have my daughter, Saskia’s corn fed turkey which is so beautiful, we also have a goose. And a glazed ham. Plus lots of yummy salads and veg from the garden.

Where will you be spending Christmas this year and who with?

Always at home. Always in the garden where we sit under a 100 year old wisteria! We’ve never had to go inside as the weather is normally very good in the Barossa at Christmas although we do have some very old big beautiful large garden sheds on our property that we could eat in if it were to rain. Never inside the house though!

What gift would you love to find under the tree this year?

Oh…. anything for my rose garden! New long gloves, clippers. Oh and books and music! They’re my thing! Music, books and things for my garden.

Given the choice, who’s Christmas would you love to gatecrash?

Oh my goodness! This is going to sound terrible but I don’t want to gate crash anyone’s as I love our Christmases at home so much! However if I had to gate crash anyone’s, it would be Matt Moran’s – as his will be a great big family feast as well!

Christmas dessert – pudding or pavlova? 

Pavola –  see the recipe here!

Hot tip for Christmas food leftovers?

Yes we ALWAYS have leftovers and are always looking for ways to use the ham up. Always have green tomatoes in the garden at Christmas so I do thick pieces of ham and fried green tomatoes. And we love gruyere and ham toasties – it’s important to use Pynera Gruyere from Tasmania – really important as its so delicious! I also like to make jamon persillade jelly – little set cubes of ham in a persillade jelly. Also usually have turkey left over so I like to do a warm turkey salad with little waxy potatoes from the garden. So lovely little warm potatoes and leftover turkey and some really good greens from the garden –  something like avocado and a roasted hazelnut dressing!

ALASTAIR MCLEOD

What will you be eating and drinking this Christmas Day?  

A bit of both. Fresh QLD seafood and a traditional glazed ham. In the subtropics, it’s often thought wrong to have a traditional Christmas meal yet we have BBQs all summer long. I like tradition. Carols, stockings all the memories

Where will you be spending Christmas this year and who with?

Christmas is always a busman’s holiday for a chef. We will be spending it on our back deck, feeding and spending time with 25 of our family. Our wee girl will be having her second Christmas.

What gift would you love to find under the tree this year?

We live on acreage so it would be lovely if Santa could do the lawn mowing for a week and tend to the animals!

Given the choice, who’s Christmas would you love to gatecrash?

I can’t think of anyone I’d prefer to spend Christmas with than my family. But if they could all be in the Maldives when I crash, that’d be awesome.

Favourite go-to Christmas Cracker joke?

What do snowmen wear on their heads? Ice caps

Christmas dessert – pudding or pavlova?

Pavlova. Can Maggie come and make the one she demonstrated at this year’s Good Food and Wine Show?

Hot tip for Christmas food leftovers?

For Christmas or any time of the year, our go-to is a frittata. Be it chicken or leftover roast veg, they all work well in a frittata.

MATT MORAN

What will you be eating and drinking this Christmas Day? 

In my household we love a traditional Christmas, despite the summer heat. We may have some oysters with a top-notch Champagne but other than that it’s all about roast turkey with classic bread stuffing (though I usually add my own twist to include some sausage mince to the bird). I do a goose too, egg nog, brandy puddings, and my favourite of all – a baked whole leg ham with maple syrup and a clove glaze.

Where will you be spending Christmas this year and who with?

I’ll be spending Christmas this year at home, with my wife, kids and a whole bunch of friends. People just pop in and out throughout the day, it’s great.

What gift would you love to find under the tree this year?

Anything Tom Ford or some Orelbar Brown Henley Black Shirts! I live in them!

Given the choice, who’s Christmas would you love to gatecrash?

I think we have a pretty great Christmas and wouldn’t want to change it – but if I had to then probably Maggie Beers in the Barossa. She’s a great friend and I think she does alright in the kitchen!

Favourite go-to Christmas Cracker joke?

They’re all so terrible, aren’t they? How about ‘what do you get if you cross Santa with a duck? A Christmas quacker!’

Christmas dessert – pudding or pavlova?

Both! But you can’t go past my Christmas pudding with brandy custard.

Hot tip for Christmas food leftovers?

Luckily ham lasts a while if it’s stored right. Cover it with a clean, damp cloth every time it’s removed from the refrigerator and carved. Many butchers will give you a drawstring ham bag otherwise, you can use a pillowcase. In the days following Christmas we love to make ham and gruyere toasties for breakfast and have classic ham sandwiches for lunch. It’s rare that my son leaves us any goose fat potatoes but if he does, I love smashing them into an eggy hash.

ANTHONY PUHARICH

What will you be eating and drinking this Christmas Day? 

I’m very traditional on Christmas Day, but I typically start Australian style with prawns, oysters, and champagne – nice, light, and summery. But then we launch into Kurobuta glazed ham as the centrepiece of the Christmas table. Every year we alternate between three birds – turkey, goose, or chicken. And we have a rib rack roast of pasture fed O’Connor beef.

Note: corresponding recipes in Anthony’s new book ‘Meat’  are glazed ham, roast turkey, roast goose with cider gravy, roast chicken and roast rib eye with Yorkshire pudding.

Where will you be spending Christmas this year and who with?

Bec and I love entertaining at our house. It’s a large gathering of our immediate family – it’s around 30 people.

What gift would you love to find under the tree this year?

I’ve got 11 of them. But another BBQ never goes astray in my backyard.

Favourite go-to Christmas Cracker joke?

Why did the turkey join the band? Because it had the drumsticks.

Christmas dessert – pudding or pavlova?

Definitely pavlova. However, Matt Moran sends me a homemade Christmas pudding and I love it. But I’m definitely a pavlova person.

Hot tip for Christmas food leftovers?

A Croque Monsieur with leftover ham is killer. Or if there’s any turkey, goose or chicken leftover, I make a wicked sandwich with by chopping up those leftovers and adding roasting juices.