This Christmas, it’s out with the celebrity chefs and in with the everyday home super cooks.
Whether it’s a home-cooked banquet or a booking at the local pub, every family has their own Christmas traditions.
Ahead of December 25, A Current Affair met with some inspiring home cooks who are all sharing their own special recipes and tips with the country.
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Lisa Fudge
For home cooks like Fudge, a tradition that began with her grandmother is a requirement to make Christmas a success.
Fudge cooks up a traditional Indonesian layer cake known as a Spekkoek every year for all her family and friends.
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“Spekkoek is very, very important in our family and if I don’t make it, (it’s) not Christmas,” she said.
Fudge has come up with a dish for almost every appliance, so she can have the oven, slow cooker and air fryer all on the go at once.
Fudge’s Menu
Main
- Slow cooker turkey breast
- Air fryer crispy skin pork belly
Sides
- Prawn and mango salad with coconut-lime dressing
Dessert
- Spekkoek (Indonesian spiced layer cake)
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Adele Mowlai
Mowlai brings fusion to the festive season with Persian and Filipino-inspired dishes.
Mowlai said all of her dishes are fuss free so she has more time with the family, come Christmas day.
“I think you’d have to keep it simple,” she said.
“There’s nothing worse than planning everything, you know, grand dishes and then you can’t deliver on the day.
“You have to think also of your resources. You have to have something that goes into an oven, you have to have something that’s been prepared beforehand.”
Mowlai’s Menu
Starter
Main
- Baked Persian-style orange chicken roast
Sides
Dessert
- Tropical fruit salad semifreddo
Charlotte Pinkstone
Pinkstone has a ham glaze recipe that’s inspired by an old plum tree in her childhood home.
“It’s been a recipe in my family for quite a long time,” Pinkstone said.
“When I was a child, we grew up in this beautiful house that had an insanely big plum tree in the back garden.
“It must have been almost 100 years old.”
Pinkstone is now sharing her recipe with Australians in hope of getting their taste buds going on Christmas Day.
“It just brings such a balance to the table,” she said.
Pinkstone’s top tip for the perfect ham is simple.
“Use half a cup of water that you pour into your ham pan just before you put the ham in,” she advised.
“It actually prevents the glaze from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning in the oven.”
All of the recipes mentioned in our story can be found in the December edition of Coles’ free magazine.
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