the essential
Saving time and reducing stress during the holidays… Thanks to the home chef, freeing yourself from the stove has become possible. Here are some good tips for staying at the table with family or friends.
Agathe, a mother, will not be a victim of the stove for the end-of-year celebrations: “For Christmas, I transform myself into a real slave,” she confides. “I am a cordon bleu and I like to please , so obviously, I am condemned to spend New Year's Eve on December 24 and the day of the 25 preparing, cooking, going from the table to the dishes, from the dishwasher to the tea towels…” Tired of this culinary spiral, Agathe therefore decided this year to call on a chef at home, “he does everything, listens to me. The price is reasonable and I stay at the table with the family”.
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A home chef
For this first, this forty-something chose Laurent Salvador, ([email protected]), home chef since 2015: “For New Year's Eve on the 24th, I have twelve clients in Toulouse, he specifies. For the Christmas holidays end of the year, demand is strong. The formula is simple: Laurent goes to the customer with the raw materials and cooks on site with a pre-established menu. This chef works alone and there is no shortage of tasks, “that doesn't scare me. I like this activity. Today people want to spend time with their loved ones. I am happy to contribute to this pleasure.” The price for a Christmas meal is around €110 per person, including shopping, dishes and kitchen tidying.
Another talented cook, Renaud Saint Blancat, home chef for ten years: “I am more and more in demand for the holidays, he admits. I do not do a predefined menu, but tailor-made, following the call telephone with the individual and the email in which a menu is established according to his proposals”. Renaud started this activity at 28 years old. He has always loved this profession in which he grew up with restaurateur parents: “I arrive with the ingredients and the equipment. Price: between €90 and €150 depending on the number of people.” According to him, this activity has grown with covid: 'The confinements have allowed the public to discover the advantages of a chef at home and its affordable cost.
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The caterer too
Other good tips include those from the caterer. Fabrice Duval of “Terrines and Pâtéscrust” practices this profession on rue Femat in Toulouse: “All orders for December 24-25 are on the rise, he assures. I have a regular local clientele and word of mouth “. On the menu, quality local products: pies, pâtés en croute, scallop casserole, stuffed poultry, etc.: “All you have to do is reheat, that's all”. In the Victor-Hugo district, the Melsàt delicatessen and pastry shop by Yannick Delpech is also thinking about the holidays. According to Mathieu, manager: “customers are increasingly coming to buy for the holidays to avoid cooking.” The dishes offered in this 100% artisanal delicatessen include roast veal with morels, puff pastries, stuffed capon, cabbage stuffed with prawns and egg in saffron jelly. “All this ready for tasting, simple and quick”. Finally Fabrice, from Petit Paradis, a greengrocer at the Victor-Hugo market, makes baskets of exotic fruits and vegetables for an aperitif “everything to have a good New Year's Eve at the table!”.
