behind the scenes of a caterer in Joué-lès-Tours

Foie gras, Christmas logs… How are the essential New Year’s Eve meals prepared? At the Super U in Joué-lès-Tours, many of the party dishes are homemade. In the kitchens on the upper floor of the supermarket and in the pastry area, employees have been concocting dishes since November that the people of Tours will eat at Christmas. Report in kitchens where organization is essential for “not to be overwhelmed” on December 24.

Hundreds of logs and foie gras

“Last year, we produced 60 kg of foie gras, but we quickly ran out and we had to reproduce 24 of it live. So, for this Christmas, we weigh 170 kg”explains Adrien Huguet, the manager of the catering and pastry kitchens. This time, he hopes not to have to work extra hard on New Year's Eve. For the 2024 holidays, macarons, foie gras and logs should still be the end-of-year bestsellers.

But even with more than 2,000 logs manufactured – including mousse and butter – production requires adapting to customer requests. “We have more apricot vanilla logs!” »announces Owen, one of the pastry chefs. From July, Adrien chooses the desserts that will come out of his kitchen in December and the raw materials arrive accordingly. This year, more than the passion fruit log, it is this novelty which was acclaimed by customers. To the surprise of Adrien, the manager and trained pastry chef.

Master the end-of-year rush

“Sunday was our biggest day”he says. For the final stretch before New Year's Eve, the manager works around 48 hours per week. But all the preparations are thought out to the millimeter. “We have had a production schedule since November. We really have to be organized. It’s been a little over a month since we started preparing everything”he explains.

For its logs, Super U receives the sponge cake from the Loire production site of Mademoiselle Déserts. “We would need more space or more material to make the sponge cakes too”explains Adrien. Then everything else is cooked up by the two pastry chefs. “We put an apricot insert on the sponge cake, cut it out and place it in a mold. Then we put it in the freezer and make a mousse that we put on top. In fact, the log is made upside down”shows Jean-Claude, one of the pastry chefs. Then come the stages of icing and decoration.

“Often, clients think that we do everything on the night of the 23rd to the 24th, but no. We just place the logs in the freezer once finished”jokes Adrien. Once cooled, they can be kept for three months, but the store prefers not to exceed two months to prevent the cake from drying out.

“There are quite a few orders”

Upstairs in the catering kitchens, three employees are busy. It takes them two days to cook foie gras, because it must rest in the fridge overnight before being cut and placed in a tray. “In our recipe, I preferred to add Armagnac. But we could add other alcohols”says Adrien, his hands in a large bin full of foie gras arriving straight from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

To prepare everything, and especially the desserts, help is expected on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24. A cook will come down to the pastry room to help. “In addition to production, there are quite a few orders,” assures Adrien. More than 120 customers will come to collect their dessert before Christmas Day. Especially since in addition to all this, you will also have to make birthday cakes and catering dishes “classics” like paupiettes and chicken tikka masala.