Christmas is coming soon, and as you may have noticed, I am continuing my series of articles on this theme. Today, I am going to make you drool (well, I hope so…) with my selection of gourmet products to enjoy during the holiday season.
Personally, I find that one of the great pleasures of this festive period is gastronomy. It is the perfect opportunity to delight our taste buds and eyes with refined dishes that are often more expensive than what we usually eat. But hey, these are exceptional moments and you have to know how to enjoy them!
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Table of Contents
Would you like some Caviar?
Two years ago, I wouldn’t have really known how to tell you if I liked caviar or not. It is such an expensive delicacy that it is quite unlikely to be able to taste enough of it to form an opinion on the matter. Well, after a few tastings, I’ve made up my mind: I have expensive taste and I really like caviar, especially Beluga, which is the most expensive (because it is rare) of them all.
Regarding caviar, you should know that the size and color of the eggs vary depending on the sturgeon breed they are extracted from, but also according to the preparation method and the selection of the eggs. These changes affect the taste and texture of the caviar. The price is obviously set based on the rarity of the production.
Like all seafood, it is a delicacy that smells of iodine and salt, so that can give you a little hint about your taste in the matter. Personally, I find it a very fine and tasty dish, but I completely understand that some people don’t like it at all; when it comes to our palates, we are all different.
My tasting tip: the royal way, on the back of the hand so that the aromas of the caviar are not interfered with by the taste of a spoon, for example.
Le Caviariste
The start-up Le Caviariste proposes to become the “caviar merchant,” selecting a few caviars that offer a very good quality-to-price ratio from all over the world.
In 2018, the caviars they select come largely from farms located in Poland, China, or Uruguay. They are also of very good and consistent quality, and unlike the era of wild caviar, the volumes and prices are stable.
To taste:
- The Baerii from Poland (entry level): €83 for 50g
- The Osciètre from Uruguay: €98 for 50g
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Winter recipes by Saint Jean-Pastier
For the holiday season, Saint Jean-Pastier unveils fresh pasta and sauce recipes crafted with noble and festive ingredients.
On the menu:
- Ravioli with Périgord Black Truffle (€4.50)
- Polenta with parsleyed porcini mushrooms (€2.65)
- Crayfish soufflé supremes (€4)
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The winter menu at FrogPubs
This winter, all FrogPubs (a brand I really love and talk about regularly on the blog) are offering an event menu, available during the winter season:
- the Alpine burger, with beef, reblochon cheese, Serrano ham, marinated red cabbage, and beer mayonnaise
- the Polar Beer which is a red amber winter beer with seasonal notes of pine and citrus provided by Chinook hops
Information for New Year’s Eve:
The Frog at Bercy Village and The Frog & Underground will offer entertainment and a special menu for New Year’s Eve, which you can discover here. Also, all FrogPubs will be open on January 1st and will offer brunches!
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Christmas teas
I am a tea lover, you’ve known that for a long time, and I love giving quality tea to people I love. The Christmas period is a great time to discover the limited edition Christmas teas offered by major tea houses and brands.
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Papillotes
I don’t know if this is a tradition particularly deeply rooted in the Lyon region, but I cannot imagine a Christmas without papillotes, simply because it is unthinkable in my family!
And then again, because of my Lyonnais origin, for me, papillotes mean Révillon, since the chocolatier also comes from the capital of the Gauls.
Assortments with 4 different types of chocolate (€8.49 for 400g)
My little pleasure:
eating the papillotes placed at the foot of the tree, on Christmas morning, while opening my gifts with my parents.
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The Sève house, another Lyon institution, also offers its papillotes, wrapped with rebuses telling the history of illustrious Lyonnais figures.
Price: 250g tube, €25.30
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Some chocolate sweets and other delicacies
What would Christmas be without some chocolate-based sweets… I dare not imagine it…
Nutella collector jars
These collector jars feature Christmas characters
Price: €5.17 for the large jar with the snowman
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The roch|er| gift box by Le Roch Hôtel & Spa
For the 2018 holiday season, Chef Rémy Bérard has imagined an original delicacy to crunch on with your sweetheart or to enjoy in solitude… An edible ‘rocher’ (available in two flavors, passion berry for the gold one and Batak berry or Andaliman wild pepper for the blue one) made with chocolate from Ghana.
Price: €25 for the box of 3 rochers
Le Roch Hôtel & Spa
28 Rue Saint-Roch, 75001 Paris
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Delicacies from Chocolaterie Monbana
Famous for their bars to be broken with a mallet (it’s stress-relieving!), for the Christmas version you will have the choice between dark or milk chocolate with caramelized hazelnuts, orange bits, caramel, and meringue.
Price: €26.90 for the 600g bar
As for the cute little tins, there is a hot chocolate powder with notes of gingerbread (€6.95 for 250g) and small marshmallows covered in dark chocolate (collector’s tin of 20 mini marshmallows, €5.60 for 90g).
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The red Christmas Tree by Léonidas
Inside, you’ll find pretty chocolate trees in 4 varieties: almond cream, coffee macaron, mandarin, and speculoos.
Price: €15.90
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Lutti Christmas chocolates
Every year since 1949, the Lutti candy factory transforms into a chocolate factory for the Christmas holidays, and this year it offers the Arlequin rocher box (those little tangy candies I love) and the Splend’or caramel chocolates.
Price: €6.60 for the Splend’or and €6.80 for the Arlequin rocher box
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The Delacre Christmas collection
Delacre is indeed offering two Christmas collections this year:
- The Festive collection, which comes in two green and gold designs with winter motifs and a selection of Tea Time biscuits
- The “Star” collection, a brand-new collection containing a selection of 7 biscuits with revisited recipes (produced in only 25,000 copies and sold exclusively in Auchan and Simply Market stores)
Price: €13.49 (for the Star collection) and €11.99 (for the Festive collection)
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The Mon Chéri & Sweet Cherry Limited Edition
Mon Chéri offers a new experience this year with Sweet Cherry, a variation of its famous chocolate bite with a fruitier and tangier heart. I must admit that I haven’t tested it because I’m not a fan of Mon Chéri to begin with…
Price for the box of 20 chocolates (12 Mon Chéri and 8 Sweet Cherry): €6.90
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Chocolate snails from the Lanvin house
This gourmet tradition that dates back to my childhood is, in a way, my very own Proust’s madeleine. When I was little, every Christmas, my grandmother would give me a box of Lanvin milk chocolate snails, and this tradition continues to this day!
I always ate them very slowly (no more than one per day) so that they would last as long as possible. This house, which has been around for over 80 years now, remains for me the inimitable Christmas praline chocolate.
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Christmas Yule Logs
Here is my selection of Christmas logs to joyfully finish this festive meal. The quest for the Christmas log is a bit like hesitating between Ladurée and Pierre Hermé macarons; it’s a matter of taste…
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The log from the Hôtel de Crillon
The Christmas log created by the hotel’s pastry chef Pablo Gicquel (available in versions for 6/8 people or in individual portions) is reminiscent of the colonnades of the hotel’s facade. It is delicious and light, and I particularly appreciated its crunchy yet melting texture.
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The Snowball (Boule de Neige), by Créations Intermarché
Made in Masevaux (68), it is a round-shaped dessert, vanilla ice cream with a strawberry heart, all coated in shredded coconut and topped with a white chocolate decoration.
Price: €9.50 (for 8 people)
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The organic fruit ‘Douceur fruitée’ log by Tourpagel
This log made with organic products is composed of several layers: an almond succès biscuit, an apricot jelly, and a pear mousse.
Price: €16.95 (for 6 people)
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Christmas drinks
Christmas is also the season for limited editions of Christmas beers, for example, and it is also the time of year when Champagne generally flows freely…
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Champagne and sparkling wines
Regarding Champagne, you know it is a subject close to my heart and one I have covered several times on the blog.
On one hand, you have the big, well-known Champagne houses, but there are also more confidential ones that work differently to offer unique and original tasting experiences. And this year, I discovered that even the liquor retailer Nicolas makes its own Champagne…
I found the shape of this ‘Prestige Evidence’ 100% Chardonnay cuvée from Champagne Grémillet (price €45) to be magnificent. This cuvée requires aging of at least 3 years on lees and has a low dosage.
For the record, this is a family house located in the Côte des Bars (which I have already talked about specifically on the blog).
- Another possibility is that you can opt for sparkling wines which will give you the bubbly aspect, but at much more reasonable prices if you don’t have the finances for Champagne. For example, it can be a very good idea to consider Crémants: Crémant d’Alsace; Crémant de Bordeaux; Crémant de Bourgogne (Caves Bailly Lapierre, ‘Vive la Joie’ 2010 Brut Millésimé blanc to pair with foie gras, for example); Crémant du Jura; Crémant de Limoux; Crémant de Loire…
Below, I suggest a selection of 3 Crémants de Bourgogne rosé to pair with your holiday meals:
- The Crémant de Bourgogne rosé ‘Perle d’Or’ 2014 vintage from the Louis Bouillot house (€14.90 per bottle) which pairs very well with veal sweetbreads, for example
- The Crémant de Bourgogne rosé brut 2014 vintage from Domaine Gruhier, which pairs well with langoustine (€12 per bottle)
- The Crémant de Bourgogne rosé ‘Opalone’ from Cave Oedoria, which will be perfect for an aperitif (€7.50)
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Albert Ménès Mulled Wine Mix
This mulled wine mix makes it easy to make this lovely, comforting winter drink yourself (€4.90).
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Dessert wines
This year I discovered Christmas Muscats. These are sweet natural wines produced from Muscat de Rivesaltes, traditionally marketed on the third Thursday of November.
We generally serve this wine during the holidays, with foie gras, cheese, or to accompany the Christmas log, but it is also enjoyed until February, with crêpes for Candlemas, Carnival fritters, or the Galette des Rois (King Cake).
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The Mon Petit Panier Christmas gourmet basket
is a gourmet grocery store that revisits and freshens up the concept of gourmet baskets by highlighting exceptional products from both ancestral houses and young passionate artisans.
Inside this “L’Exquis” gourmet basket:
- a whole 100g duck foie gras, La Drosera Gourmande (2018 gold medal at the General Agricultural Competition in Paris)
- a goose terrine with foie gras prepared with truffle juice and truffle bits from the Wurfel house
- artisanal organic plain toast, La Chanteracoise
- black truffle-flavored salt by Le Goût
- an assortment of Fruidoraix nougats
- a bottle of Château La Roche de By (Médoc) wine or Brut Duval-Leroy Champagne depending on the basket choice
Price: L’Exquis basket with wine €97 / L’Exquis basket with Champagne €114
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MON PETIT PANIER GIVEAWAY:
To celebrate this festive period well and to keep you waiting until Christmas, Mon Petit Panier is partnering with the blog to give away 10 gift cards of €10 each, which means there will be 10 winners!!!
The prize: 10 gift cards worth €10 valid for baskets on the Mon Petit Panier website.
To participate, just leave a comment below this article telling me which dishes you prefer to enjoy during these festive periods.
A random draw from the responses to this question will determine the 10 winners of the gift cards! Good luck to everyone, and all that’s left for me to do is wish you all very happy holidays!
Rules:
– Giveaway limited to Metropolitan France
– + 1 entry if you are a fan of the blog’s Facebook page; + 1 entry if you are a fan of the Mon Petit Panier Facebook page; + 1 entry if you follow the blog’s Twitter page; + 1 entry if you follow the Mon Petit Panier Twitter page; + 1 entry if you follow the blog’s Hellocoton page; + 1 entry if you follow the blog’s Instagram page; + 1 entry if you follow the Mon Petit Panier Instagram page; + 1 entry if you follow the blog’s YouTube channel; + 1 entry for every share of the article (don’t forget to leave your usernames in your comment if you want to take advantage of extra entry/entries)
– 1 entry per IP address
– Giveaway start date: Thursday, December 20, 2018 – closing date: Saturday, December 29, 2018, and the results the following day on the blog in an edit of this article.
Edit from January 06, 2019:
Following the random draw, I announce that the 10 winners of the gift cards are Nymphee, Papillonmyosotis, Anges06, Viviane MOLERO, HERRANDO Marie Therese, eyhpos, nicolas534, Deléglise Florence, maudmaud, anais ledieu.
Congratulations! I will contact you shortly via email. Thank you all for your numerous entries and have a great day!
Photo credits: Nicolas Diolez Photos are not royalty-free, the photographer's authorization is mandatory before any use
