Does Bertie knock up a mean egg-nog? Can Michael O'Leary do a no-frills mince pie? Hmm. They won't say. Catherine Cleary asks a variety of people about their favourite festive traditions and Tom Doorley collects tips from restaurateurs
ROSS O'CARROLL-KELLY
Schools-rugby legend and failed estate agent
"It has to be the hand in the tin of Quality Street and a can of Heineken in front of a James Bond movie. Did I say can of Heino? Hello? At least six cans of Heino and possibly, since it's Christmas, a Baileys or Sheridan's chaser. I can't stomach being at the table with the old pair much past the starter. So it's into the sittingroom with the big drum of Quality Street and maybe even some Winter's Tale. Sorcha goes home for Christmas, and her folks won't have me in the house - even this year, now that I'm the father of their granddaughter. In fact, especially now that I'm the father of their granddaughter." Ross's alter-ego, Paul Howard, is a self-confessed Christmas nut who goes full-on festive as soon as December rolls round. For him the key food is spiced beef. "I've never cooked Christmas dinner, but on Christmas Eve I'll always make it my business to be in somebody's house when their mother cooks spiced beef. Last year I had the most delicious spiced-beef sandwich of my life."
COLUM McCANN
Novelist
"It's rather old world of me, but I recall those cold and lovely Christmas Eve afternoons, many years ago, when nothing was done, and little was bought, and the prospect of getting presents seemed like a far-off thing, and I would dip into McDaids for an afternoon pint, and an hour would slide away wonderfully, and I would emerge for the last couple of hours of Christmas shopping in a blind panic - not so much to buy the presents as to get back to the taste of the pint before the day ended. And then, in that early-evening pint, with the shopping done, was the prospect of the best tastes of all the following day."
FIONA O'MALLEY
Progressive Democrats TD
"I have two things that always remind me of Christmas. The first is celery cooked with the Christmas dinner. With all the heaviness of the turkey and the traditional meal, it's the one thing that's really healthy, and dinner wouldn't be the same without it. The second is my mother's lemon souffle. She has always made the most delicious souffle. It's really light and airy and cuts through the heaviness of the Christmas pudding. My sister is hosting Christmas dinner in Dublin this year, and my parents are coming home from London. I've never hosted the Christmas dinner. It is a big Rubicon, and I don't know if I'd want to take it on. For one recent big family dinner I put in a request that I could have the lemon souffle, and Mum went and bought one. I hope she won't be making that mistake again. Bought lemon souffle doesn't cut the mustard."
FR ANSELM HURT
Benedictine monk
Fr Hurt and his fellow monks at Glenstal Abbey, in Co Limerick, will be sitting down to a traditional Christmas meal. "There will be roast turkey, boiled ham, both chestnut and forcemeat stuffings, roast and boiled potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts with bread sauce and cranberry sauce," he says. "But before that we will depart from tradition, starting with provencale tartelettes of onion, tomato and black olives, and an Austrian cucumber soup called gurkensuppe . . . There will be red and white wine, of course, and Christmas pudding with brandy butter. And, I very much hope, some brandy to follow."
MAUREEN GAFFNEY
Psychologist
"I love the ritual and tradition of it. On Christmas Eve we always have spiced beef and red cabbage with beautifully fluffy mashed potatoes and home-made mince pies. And that sets the tone. I cook very traditional things, but there's always one element that has to be different. Last year, along with all the ordinary stuff, I did home-made jellies, and they were absolutely beautiful, so light and sweet at the end of the meal. With just five of us it's too much of a monster task every year, so another family and ourselves get together; they cook one year, and we cook the other. My friend is the best cook in Ireland and really puts me to the test to find that surprise highlight. She did a fantastic orange cake one year. The surprise is usually something beautiful and light. We had oysters for a starter one year, and I did a gin sorbet between courses. These are the things that totally lift the meal."
PAUL FLYNN
Chef-patron of the Tannery Restaurant, in Dungarvan, Co Waterford
"I like to twist things around the place. When people come to me looking for Christmas menus in October I think: 'Are you mad?' I like to take something traditional, like turkey, and see what I can do with it. One year we did a confit goose leg. It's a cliche, but any recipe with cinnamon, cloves and orange in it is automatically Christmassy, and that's why those flavours shouldn't be used together at other times. One thing I used to do with turkey was slice an escalope from the breasts, dredge it in beaten egg with Gabriel cheese or some sage, then put it in a hot pan and quickly grill it. Another year we made warm apple and Bacardi martinis. They were a great hit. I think they were three parts warm apple juice, one part Bacardi, a pinch of sugar and some cloves."
JOSEF FINKE
Finke, of Ballybrado organic farm and Good Herdsmen, the organic meat people, has given up his turkey this year, because "a very nice lady from Longford wanted one, and we only had our own one left". So he and his wife, Marianne, will sit down to roast leg of lamb with a Roquefort and white-wine sauce, with roasted scorzonera in herb butter, mashed potatoes and caramelised onions. "Before that we'll have organic prawns seared in walnut oil with avocados in a balsamic vinaigrette," he says. "We went off prawns because of the environmental devastation that intensive prawn farming causes, but now, with the organic version available, they're back on the menu." They will finish off with a Rumtopf, or rum pot, which has been in the making for months. "We started with strawberries and then added all sorts of fruit in season. They are preserved in rum and sugar and will be nicely matured for Christmas."
ROSS LEWIS
Owner of Chapter One restaurant, Dublin
"Christmas is about recovery for me, after the busiest weeks of the year. I spoil myself with good old claret and some port and good food. My number-one cheese is Vacherin Mont-D'Or, made from the summer milk of the herds in the Swiss Alps. And I love Stilton. We'll also usually have some truffles ready. We cook them in good brandy and have them in a jar in the restaurant, so I'll take a few home. My kids got their letters from Santa the other day. I got two letters from AIB. They wanted to know were my letters from Santa Claus, too. I do a pickled-red-cabbage recipe which is very redolent of Christmas. You fry an onion and a head of red cabbage together, then add a pinch of cloves, junipers, black pepper, cinnamon and a bay leaf. Next you boil up a syrup of red-wine vinegar and sugar, then add a good amount of red wine and port to the syrup. Keep cooking the liquid until you reduce it by half, then add it to the cabbage with some grated cooking apples and bake in a medium to hot oven for half an hour."
JAY BOURKE
Restaurateur and bar owner
"It has to be German biscuits and German Christmas cake, because my mother is German. Everything is different compared with Irish biscuits and cake: the taste and flavour. You have those lovely chocolate-covered ginger biscuits that we used to buy from a German bakery at Sandymount, but only at Christmas. My mother was a great cook. She made everything - jams, moulis, apple purees, everything - and we grew a lot of our own fruit and vegetables. It was a very traditionally German way of life. The Christmas-party season started in November this year, with offices having their outings. When people say they're tired of turkey and ham, I say what's wrong with it? If it's done well it's delicious. We are in Cork with my mother-in-law for Christmas, so there'll be spiced beef. It's a great tradition from the English Market at this time of the year."
RACHEL ALLEN
Cook and broadcaster
Rachel and her husband, Isaac, haven't decided on their main course - they are torn between turkey and beef - but will probably offer two starters. "There's a gorgeous salad that was invented by Alison in the Ballymaloe Cafe," says Rachel. "It's basically blue cheese, pecans and dried cranberries served on chicory leaves. And we'll have smoked salmon or smoked-salmon pâté. Instead of Christmas pudding we'll have bread-and-butter pudding with mincemeat - or maybe just make it with panettone - and serve it with boozy cream. Mince pies are a must, too: I'll be putting Grand Marnier in them and a little grated orange rind in the pastry." And Champagne is essential, she says. "Actually, we'll be having Nyetimber, an amazing English sparkling wine. It's made from the same grapes and in the same way. It's superb."
FR PETER McVERRY, SJ
Founder of the Aruppe Society, which runs hostels and drug-free houses in Dublin
"A solicitor friend of ours and his wife cook Christmas dinner for us a few days before and deliver it to the hostel on Christmas Eve. It's a large turkey and ham; we usually do the veg ourselves. There are usually about a dozen people for dinner. It's awful for everybody, because it's supposed to be a day at home. For weeks before Christmas there is enormous pressure on the lads to have money to tog themselves out and have presents for their families, because they feel they can't go home without a present. A lot of them would say: 'I'd love to fall asleep on December 1st and wake up on January 1st.' There's a myth that Christmas is a very happy time, when in fact it's the time when most rows occur and most drink is taken."
EAMON RYAN
Green Party TD
"The food is all very traditional in our house, but this year we're hoping to introduce a tradition that my wife's family had of trying to keep the presents until after we've had the dinner. With small children it's chaos, and after last year's fiasco, when there was fighting and things were broken by about 8.30am, we're going to try to save the moment. It means that you have Christmas dinner under control by bribery: if they don't eat what's on their plates, then no presents. We always try and sit down with them and eat. We don't go in for warmed pheasant or whatnot, but we do get an organic turkey. It costs a bloody fortune, but it's worth it, because it really does taste different. We order it through our weekly organic delivery. Only the select few get one of these turkeys, so you have to be virtually a godfather to the bird before you can secure it for the Christmas table."
DAVID NORRIS
Independent Senator
Dr Norris will be having Christmas dinner with friends in Monkstown, Co Dublin. "I believe they are cooking a goose, which is the most lovely traditional Christmas dinner. There's something about its delicious crispy skin and the basinful of fat that comes off it during cooking," he says. "And that can be used to make superb roast potatoes. There will also be Christmas pudding and, I hope, meringues. Lots of nice Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, too, as my hosts are very generous with drink." After Christmas he will be heading off to Cyprus, where he has restored a farmhouse in the Troodos Mountains. "My builder has just made me a traditional stone oven, which is usually used for kleftiko, the local lamb stew," he says. "I'll be doing a turkey in it at New Year, and this will be accompanied by the wonderful village wine, which has been made there since Roman times. It costs six Cyprus pounds [ €10.50] for five litres."
ALICE LEAHY
Director of Trust, which provides medical and related services for the homeless
"I have a lovely small brown Denby tea set that I bought in a sale, and every Christmas Eve it comes down from the shelf, along with a Bewley's Christmas-pudding teapot. They go back up after St Stephen's Day. Last year I found I had put it away with the tea bags still in it. My mother, Hannie Crean, who is in her 80s, is the founder member of the first branch of the Country Markets organisation, which was set up in 1947. She makes our Christmas pudding and cake. I rang her last week, and she had six puddings on the stove. My husband, Charlie, is a great cook, and we always eat well. He makes a huge pot of very nourishing soup with the turkey bones and vegetables, and anyone who calls gets a bowl. Usually in Trust on a Christmas Eve you would only get one or two people calling in. But for the last two years it was as busy as any other day."
JOHN McKENNA
Food writer
"Many, many years ago, in the middle of what is still my favourite book, Simple French Food by Richard Olney, I found a recipe for Brussels-sprout gratin. For most people the sprout is the quintessential hospital food, reeking of sulphur. With this you just parboil the sprouts for three to four minutes, then cool them and chop them. You quickly saute some lardons of bacon in butter and throw in the chopped sprouts, so they're coated in the buttery bacon flavour. Then put it all in a gratin dish, pour over a reasonable quantity of cream and put breadcrumbs on top, with slivers of butter to make the breadcrumb slightly crispy. Then you bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. It is to die for. Every prejudice you ever had about Brussels sprouts instantly evaporates. The Christmas meal is so complicated. If you can short-circuit it with a wonderful bird, a good bread sauce and this gratin, it's perfect. It's a warm winter dish that's wonderful at Christmas. But if you overcook the sprouts at the beginning, all is lost."
SEAMUS SHERIDAN
Cheesemonger
Although he eats meat, Sheridan will be cooking a vegetarian Christmas dinner, in deference to his partner, Miriam. "First, there'll be a light winter greens soup - basically leek and potato with chopped greens and a dash of cream," he says. "Miriam may be a herbivore, but she insists on proper old-fashioned stuffing. And there will be roast potatoes finished with Desmond cheese, roast butternut squash and roast carrots glazed with thyme butter. A sauce of chard, onions and cream will add to the winter warmth." Miriam doesn't eat Christmas pudding, so Sheridan will reheat one of his mother's, from last year, just for himself. He will also produce marinated dates. "You just poach the dates in strong coffee with two vanilla pods, then leave overnight," he says. "You reheat and serve with mascarpone." The cheeseboard will contain just one item: a piece of Colston Bassett Stilton. "That will go with vintage port, Quinta do Estanho 1945. We'll start with a glass of fino and have Chianti Querciolo from Cappella with the main course."