This text is part of the special Plaisirs booklet
Creative genius, committed chef, inveterate hunter, curious fisherman, French by origin, Quebecer by adoption… Stéphane Modat can be recognized by many qualifiers, and it is quite easy for an avid reader to be aware of his philosophy of gastronomy and agriculture, but a big question remains: does he like Christmas supper? He who has always cooked every day, does he prepare New Year’s supper for his family? Interview with a medal-winning chef who has no tongue in his pocket!
Stéphane, you are from the south of France, but you call yourself a Quebecer at heart. What results from this crossbreeding with regard to your Christmas traditions?
It’s a bit of a gray area, because my family here is from Quebec, so Christmas culinary traditions are those here. But, at the same time, I have Christmas memories from back home: white pudding with truffles, for example, and oysters, like on a normal New Year’s Eve. Do I miss the traditions of France? Yes, but not to the point of sacrificing local traditions. So we eat oysters, but we also eat pie and turkey.
What is your day like on December 24th?
My day on the 24th consists first of sleeping [rires]. Later, we cook New Years Eve supper, but the food is only an excuse to get together, we are very social. I have a multigenerational block; with my in-laws, my four children, my girlfriend and me, that’s eight people. After that, we add friends and we quickly end up with 15 people. For the meal, yes, there will be oysters, tourtière and turkey. But it could also be a potluck with friends, where we eat tartare, wild meat, or we barbecue outside. Everything is possible with us, there is nothing crystallized when it comes to Christmas dinner, we do what we want.
For the holiday season, we often go to a cottage and eat when we feel like eating. There are always dishes with a Christmas connotation, like meat pie, cipâte, etc., but I spend my year cooking and my girlfriend too, so at Christmas, we relax, we get together and we eat.
So, you don’t spend all week cooking in preparation for Christmas Eve?
No ! My grandmother cooked for a week. She was 80 years old and she did everything! For Didier and Stéphane – Didier being my godfather – it took a log at the café; for Jean-Pierre and Michel – my uncle and my father – it took a chocolate log; for Nicole, it took a vanilla log; for the other sister-in-law, it took a gluten-free log and for Christophe, it took a saint-honoré. It was everywhere, it was rubbish! My grandmother started cooking two weeks before Christmas. We had an attic where she kept food cool.
It was like that with us. We were maybe 18 in the living room and we started with oysters, then there were the cold meats, foie gras, a little vegetables, but not a lot, small stuffed tomatoes, for example. Then we ate the American-style lobster – that was classic – cut in half and in a tomato sauce. Then it was the leg of lamb with the flageolet beans. Then there was the roast, because you have to, you know. Or a capon. We would start eating at 1 p.m. and finish at 5 p.m. After that, there were the cheeses – it’s still class – and then, it was the farandole of desserts. Then, it was the coffee, and there, my grandparents would say to us: “You will have good small dry biscuits!” »No, but wait, we’re going to die here! But there was all the love of a granny in these dishes, everything tasted of love, wow!
The question arises: do you love Christmas?
Of course, of course, of course! When my children were little, on December 24, there was supper, then the children would go to bed, then when I came home, they were woken up. Santa Claus had passed by. It was cool. Until 2 or 3 in the morning, we unwrapped the presents, Christmas stockings …
It’s a magical moment, Christmas, there is a special kind of energy. We could eat McDonald’s that day and it would remain Christmas, it would remain magical. There is snow, we play outside, we are going to slide. There’s a saying that goes, “Better to eat spaghetti with friends than caviar with assholes.” And that’s really it! You know, me, at Christmas, I can spag you, because the important thing is us.
This year, what are you going to eat on New Year’s Eve?
Of course there will be turkey! And it is sure that there will be a tartare and some wood meat. My girlfriend is going to make a cipâte, because we have to empty the freezer. And I hope my daughter will make me a log in the cafe. She has my grandmother’s recipe. If there is something that represents Christmas to me, it is my grandmother’s coffee log, that takes me completely elsewhere.
What recipes do you plan to offer our readers for the Christmas menu?
I’m a hunting and fishing lover, so I’ll give you my classic roast wild turkey recipe, with a nice technique. We often eat smoked salmon at Christmas. I ate a lot of it when I was young. This year, I’m going to give you my recipe for salmon bites with maple syrup.