By Marie-Antoinette Issa.
For many Australians - these top Chefs included - Christmas isn’t just a date on the calendar - it’s a collection of flavours, aromas and memories that linger long after the last dish is cleared.
From the spiced black rum glaze on a ham to the citrusy tang of Fijian kokoda, these are the dishes that take them home, no matter where they are. Some of Australia’s most beloved foodies share the recipes that define their festive seasons, the rituals that make Christmas feel magical and the stories behind each bite.
For Thai Sams at The Botanica Vaucluse, Christmas is synonymous with his spiced black rum and honey-glazed ham, a recipe he’s honed over years of festive seasons. It’s a dish steeped in ritual and refinement.
"I’ve been making this ham for friends and family throughout my career and it’s been rewarding to watch it evolve each year as I refine it. The funny thing about Christmas cooking is that you only get one shot at it every 12 months, so perfecting a dish becomes a slow and meaningful process. The changes you plan to make often shift by the time the next Christmas rolls around, but that’s part of what makes the tradition so special.”
Like many other children of immigrants, for Arrnott Olssen, Christmas is a culinary bridge to home. He points to kokoda, the Fijian ceviche that is both cold and refreshing, creamy and citrusy, and for him, utterly festive. "It combines a host of things that make it so very Fijian. This includes delicious, fleshy pieces of Humpty Doo barramundi, cured in tangy lemon juice, then mixed with ‘miti,’ a coconut sauce seasoned with sea salt, chilli and lemon or lime juice. It’s cold, refreshing, creamy, citrusy and divinely special - kokoda feels like home and feels like Christmas to me.”
For Arrnott, food became a language of love. "Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money and sometimes Christmas would be pretty bare without much to eat. So, when I moved to Australia 30 years ago to be with my Mum, I always made sure Christmas lunch was extra special.
"I would always make a Christmas ham (one of her favourites) basted in sherry, honey and a splash of dark mushroom soy sauce, along with kokoda of course and I’d whip up a special pot of mud crab curry. Food became my love language, my way of saying thank you to a single Mum who did her best for us even through the hardest of times.”
Christmas Eve for Chef Javiera is inseparable from the aromas of her mother’s plateada, a slow-cooked brisket prepared in a wood-fired clay oven handmade by her father. "Among the dishes that shaped my childhood memories, the true centrepiece of Christmas Eve was always my mother’s plateada: an eight-hour slow-cooked brisket prepared in a wood-fired clay oven handmade by my father. The aroma filled the entire home and the dish became the unquestioned star of the night.”
It was always served with pastelera de choclo, a comforting Chilean corn paste. "A thick, fragrant paste of freshly harvested Summer corn blended with basil, butter, salt and occasionally a touch of sugar - a comforting expression of Chile’s land and seasons.
"These flavours and rituals shaped my earliest memories of celebration; memories scented with cinnamon and coffee from my grandmother’s cola de mono. That comforting aroma still anchors the season for me and today it lives on in my menu at Uma, where I honour tradition while celebrating Australia’s incredible produce.”
The Lord Nelson’s Head Chef, Taylor Ramplin declares that Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a quintessentially English treat. "Pigs in a blanket,” he says, a dish that evokes childhood anticipation. Every festive season, the little sausages wrapped in pastry were the highlight for him and his siblings.
"Every Englishman’s favourite part of a Christmas lunch. I don’t know why these beauties only appear at Christmas time, but I certainly know my siblings and I couldn’t wait for Mum to bring these to the table. You may not have room for more potatoes or another yorkie, but you can certainly squeeze in another pig in a blanket.”
Jamesray Khoury’s memories of Christmas are fragrant, colourful and hands-on - much like the roots of the Rusty Rabbit Cafe that he runs with brother Josh, communal through and through.
Central to the celebration is his auntie’s caramelised ham, a dish that embodies family and tradition. "Christmas for me is our auntie’s caramelised Christmas ham - it’s a thing of beauty! Paired with peach and cranberry and a crispy noodle salad, it brings me back to my childhood - standing on top of a chair in the kitchen with my aunty, helping her make the ham, poking cloves through the score of the ham, adding the cranberry into each half of the peach and stealing the noodles from the salad before they get dressed for my very own enjoyment.”
For Jamesray, the festive table is a tapestry of shared creations. "It’s a collection of dishes made up by our aunties and brought to a table to share. Without everything on the table, it just doesn't feel like Christmas.”
For Krisztian Herczig, Executive Chef of Goldfinch Restaurant at Pullman Brisbane King George Square, Christmas is all about halaszle, the fiery-red Hungarian fisherman’s soup that warms both hands and heart. Made with fresh river fish, onions, and a generous spoonful of paprika, it fills the house with a scent that somehow feels like home itself.
"Families gather around the steaming pot, tasting, laughing and remembering those who taught them how to make it. A bowl of halaszle isn’t just food - it’s tradition, love and the comforting feeling that, at Christmas, we return to where we belong.”
Though he’s busy at the restaurant, Krisztian looks forward to keeping the tradition alive. "I’m going to have one pot in three weeks when I visit my family at home,” he says - a ritual that connects him to both his roots and the festive season, one spoonful at a time.
Finally, for Daniel Kwak, Christmas traditions are simple, spicy and crispy. DKFC - Daniel’s Korean Fried Chicken - was always a centrepiece of his holiday table. "Fried chicken never goes wrong with a cold beer - especially when shared with family or good friends.
"Growing up, my favourite food was Korean Fried Chicken (KFC) so our Christmas table was always built around a simple box of chicken with other celebration foods and lots of laughter. Now in Sokyo, serving this dish during the holidays brings back those warm memories every time.”
