#david marteau

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Christmas stocking, a legend!

As I pursue writing my blog around Christmas, it came to me yesterday, while decorating our home with my wife and children, that I did not even think about Christmas stockings until we hanged them at home.

After thinking about it, I decided to write about it.

As once more, like many Christmas tradition, there are no written proof on how it started, but the legends will always be there.

  The legend of Christmas stockings.

One of the many stories that hang around the Christmas stocking, is that a long long time ago, there was a very poor man living in a small village with his three very beautiful daughters, and his wish was to have them married before his death. But being very poor, he did not know what to do.

As Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) was passing through the poor’s man village, he heard most of the villagers talking about him and his three daughters, and wanted to find a way to help him. So, Saint Nicholas decide to help, but knowing that the poor man did not want charity, he decided to go at night. Passing by the front window of the poor man, he saw that his daughters had finished washing their clothes and hanged near the fire place their stocking apparently, it was not lighted). That is when he decided it was a good time for him to go through the chimney that night to drop off three small bag of gold, one for each of the daughters.

The next morning, when the daughters woke, they found their stocking filled with a small bag of gold which was going to be enough for them to marry. ( in the medieval time, it was customary to bring a dowry to get married, luckily for us this tradition has stopped and it is great as we are all broke anyway!!!).

As the daughters were very happy and explain to the other villagers their new found fortune, it is then, that everyone in the small villages started to hang their stocking in hope that Saint Nicholas will bring them fortune too.

  The filling of the stockings.

As the symbolic reason to pursue the legend, we do even today, fill our children stockings with usually and depending where you are from,  with one orange, representing the color and the size of the bag of gold Saint Nicholas gave to each daughters. It is also filled with candy cane, dried fruits and a variety of nuts.

Only since recently, we do not or rarely fill them up, due to the size of the Christmas gifts we give our children. (maybe we should not, hmmm!).

As myself, being a Canadian, living in China, I still bring the tradition at home (in Shanghai), to educate my children about the spirit of Christmas.

  Did you know?.

The world’s biggest (so far) stocking was made by the volunteer emergency service organization Publica Assistenza Carrara E Sezioni (in Italy). The stocking is 51.35 meter long. (now there are even more space to place the bags of gold!!!)

So, let me ask you.

Are you planning to hang your Christmas stocking this year?

  Please feel free to comment on my blog post.

  Culinary yours

  David Marteau

  Global Chef

  Web site: www.davidmarteau.com

  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChefDavidM

Twitter : https://twitter.com/DavidMarteau

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Christmas tree, forever a tradition.

As most of us do during the Christmas, we go out on the market and venture around with our children to find the most beautiful tree to be brought home. Then, the children decorates it with ornaments, tinsels, garland, sugar cane candy, cotton balls and of course the traditional star or angel at its peak, representing the angels or the star of the Bethlehem from the nativity. Now that the tree is ready to be gathered around, lighted and gifts placed under, one might ask himself:

Where did the Christmas tree come from?

Why do we decorate it?

Well, here are SOME of the answers as I know them.

As like a lot of things in history, as long as we cannot find any written proof, there will always be some debate about such stories. The Christmas tree is one of those story.

Depending on what and where you will be reading your articles, they almost all say the same thing.

-      That it dates back to the 7th century, as it was a monk named St Boniface, who came to Germany to teach Christianity. It said that when he arrived, they were singing around an oak tree. He was so disappointed that he decided to burn the oak tree. Then, to his surprise, once the tree was burned, he discovered a small green tree growing at its place. He then took it as a sign of faith, and started to teach them about Christianity.

-      That it was widely used in Latvia in the 15th century, to celebrate the winter solstice from December 21st till 24th, as they also believed that the sun was a god, and as it was not shining anymore during that time, they believe it got sick. So they used the Christmas tree or “Fir tree” as a symbol of freshness, that reminded them of the good days, when during summer time everything was green, and wishing the sun to become healthy.

-      As part of other mystical tradition, it is said that Christmas trees were known as the “tree of paradise”, and used in some Northern European countries as liturgical commemoration for Adam and Eve. Thus, now some true believer do not put up and decorate their tree before the 24th, or Christmas Eve.

It is also believed that the first ever decorated tree was done with some apples, once more to celebrate the “garden of Eden” supposedly where Adam and Eve come from.

Some others give the lighting of the tree to Martin Luther, who placed candles in it, to show the children how all the stars in the universe were shining.

Nevertheless, it really became a tradition in the 16th century, when the Germans decided to place them in their home and decorate them with silver tinsels, as it was in abundance at that time.

As part of other cultures, as you can imagine, it was brought by someone else who copied the great idea.

In England, in the early 19th century, Queen Charlotte and her husband, George 3, started it but it was not spread around England until Queen Victoria who was married to Prince Albert, of German descent, that it became wide spread.

In Canada, it was brought in the 18th century, under the initiative of General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel and his wife, whom by now you guessed was of German descent, that they celebrated Christmas with a tree filled with candles and dried fruit, to help boost the morale of the troops during the war.

Just to name a few.

I believe in our days that the main important things about the Christmas tree, is that it helps bring joy in our families, and helps gather our children around it on Christmas day, not for its beauty but for its gifts. (And we all know that, don’t we!!!).

  Please share with me, your thoughts on the history of Christmas tree and the good time you had when you were still a child.

  Culinary yours

  David Marteau

  Global Chef

Web site: www.davidmarteau.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChefDavidM

Twitter : https://twitter.com/DavidMarteau

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Eggnog, a very interesting drink!!!

    Since we are in a very good mood in our days due, to the arrival of Christmas, I thought of doing a little more blog with the food associated with the “spirit” of Christmas.

For this time I chose to talk about Eggnog, as I find the story quiet interesting.

As it became a tradition in the USA, Canada and Australia, where it is usually associated with Christmas (I will elaborate more on the subject, why they serve it on Christmas), it is actually a popular drink which was imported from England. From the historical name (probably), the egg part is, well, you know, the EGG. As for the “Nog” part, it is believed to come from an ancient English word: “Noggin” named after a wooden “Mug”. Where traditionally, they used to serve alcohol in it. (this I believe!!!).

So here comes the Eggnog, as we now know the word.

Commonly made at that time with milk, raw eggs, sugar, nutmeg and of course an alcohol. (maybe at that time a whiskey or a brandy).

It was introduce in the West around the mid 18th century by the pilgrims (yes, them again), and was mostly done during the winter days, as it is served warm (traditionally).

It is now served during the Christmas time for a few reasons.

The main one will be for that time, an economical one, as you know, in the 18th century, not everyone had money, and most diary product were very expensive. So, they used it as an occasion to celebrate once a year, by buying the diary product at that time. As usual, only the rich could have eggnog all year round.

Another reason is that, around that time, as previously mentioned, it was made with either whiskey or brandy, and that to became very expensive, so they had to turn to rum, which was solely supplied from some Caribbean island at a very affordable price.

So, a new version of the drink was born.

Here an amazing reason, why it is served for around 6 weeks only at Christmas time.

MONEY, yes indeed, as it has become a “tradition”, it is ONLY available in our supermarket for that period duration only, in order to secure an insane amount of business. Imagine if eggnog was available all year round, we would not be interested, thus not buying it. But as it is once a year, we rush to the store and fill our trolleys with it, just for our own craving.

AH, isn’t the “spirit” of Christmas, a money making one for large corporation. If you watch the news, they even tell you how we spend this year versus last year, and even do a comparison from states to states.$$$.

Anyhow, instead of buying it ONLY for the festive season, eggnog can simply be made at home for a small amount of money and most probably, will be of better quality. (don’t you like to add a few more drops of alcohol, when you want too???).

Now, that said, please keep in mind, that the original recipe is made with FRESH egg, thus creating a health hazard if you wish to keep it longer.

If you wish to do so, you should buy pasteurized egg. In this case, you should be able your wonderful eggnog for about 6 days, in the fridge.

Just as a tip, using pasteurized egg, will NOT bring you the frothy version but rather a smooth like.

Just for the fun of it:

Did you know that in my hometown of Montreal, in Quebec Canada, we call eggnog: “lait de poule’, literally translated into milk hen!!!!.

Weird name isn’t it. I am pretty sure that this could be another great topic on why, we call it that way in my place.

Well, after reading this article, you should by now, know most of the history of eggnog, and I sincerely hope, you will keep making it all year round.

Think about it, why do we need to have a festive day coming to do what we like???

Please leave your comments as usual.

  Culinary yours

  David Marteau

  Global Chef

  Web site: www.davidmarteau.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChefDavidM

Twitter : https://twitter.com/DavidMarteau

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here is a nice beef tenderloin cooked to perfection (for me anyway), neatly served with a vegetable croquette, asparagus wrapped with a sliced of zucchini and a rice wine sauce.

The idea for this colorful plate was based on the Christmas thematic.

Culinary yours

  David Marteau

  Global Chef

Web site: www.davidmarteau.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChefDavidM

Twitter : https://twitter.com/DavidMarteau

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Truffle, the black diamond (or white)?

Truffle, the black diamond (or white)?

  Truffles are from the fungus family, and usually grow near trees.

Did you know that there are over a 100 variety of truffles, but only a few are prized as food in our kitchen.

It became well known in the 18th century, with the famous chef “Brillat Savarin”, as he once said that, truffles are the diamond of the kitchen. So I guess the saying must be true, considering the price we have to pay to get them.

The most expensive truffle variety I know is the one harvested in Italy, near alba, and they are the white truffles. Usually harvested around October and November, where traditionally, they hold a truffle market in “Fiera del tartuffo”, to sell those beautiful kitchen diamonds, to customers from all over the world. They have a white flesh, and can grow up to 12 cm in diameter and could weigh as much as 500gr. So much prized by consumers, that when they find a large one, it does not go onto the market but rather goes into auction. (again a money making business, mushrooms, who would have thought?). Just for your information the biggest ever recorded white truffle weigh at 1.2kg, and was bought by an Asian entrepreneur for ONLY 330 000US$ (I really hope it was worth that kind of money!!!!) and they now average 3000US$ a kilo.

So let me tell you, that if you ever have the chance to try even just a bit for nothing, you should not complain, but rather enjoy it.

Coming to the most common known truffle around the world, is of course, the black variety. Usually found in France in the Perigord region, growing beside oak and hazelnut trees.

In comparison to the Italian white truffle, they can only grow as much as 7 cm in diameter and only weigh at about 100 gr on average. Like everything good thing found around the world, because of the demand and the lack of supply (production used to be around 1000 ton a year in the early 18th century, compare to roughly 20 tons today???), that said, you now understand why they are so expensive, the black truffle if not over produce and of a reasonable quality with high scent can range at around 6000US$.

Did you know that the biggest truffle market in the world is located in France, in the Vaucluse area. Not surprising considering that France produces around 20% of the world black truffle.

Now that I live in China, and I do use black truffle too in my kitchens, it is not surprising to find them here, are they are also in abundance, but of course are of a lesser quality than the European ones.

Did you know, that the majority of black truffle in China are exported to Europe for a cheap price and that they are used to create truffle essence (oil, juices…), which of course they sell at an unreasonable price. (cheaters!!!!), did they really think we were that stupid.

As for another known variety, it comes from the US and are known as the “Pecan Truffle”, because they grow around Pecan trees. They have so much of those, but unfortunately barely used in restaurant kitchen, that farmers when they harvest the pecan nuts and happened to see a lot of them, throw them away. If you can find them, they probably will be one of the cheaper variety. (maybe we should go to the US and talk to those farmers?).

Needless to say, that the Black diamond is revered in the kitchen world. So, please when you encounter some of them and if you can afford even one piece, buy it, and use it carefully.

  Culinary yours

  David Marteau

  Global Chef

Web site: www.davidmarteau.com

Facebook page: global chef david marteau

Twitter : @davidmarteau