Here’s What Professional Chefs Cook for the Holidays

Acorn Squash Fondue

2023 F&W Best New Chef Amanda Shulman gets asked to make a lot of things during the holiday season, but her most-requested dish is her Acorn Squash Fondue. “Everyone seems to be a sucker for hot cheese, as well as [for] finding new ways to present it that feel festive and appropriate,” she says.

Shulman’s raclette of melted Gruyère and Comté is spooned into a hollowed-out acorn squash and served with crudités like cornichons and endive. “It seemingly stays hot forever and is both decadent and vegetable-forward,” she says. “It’s perfect for grazing or an appetizer and it’s easy enough to prep in advance — always a bonus when entertaining!”

Prime rib roast

2014 F&W Best New Chef Ari Taymor likes to flex one of his greatest culinary skills during the holidays: “cooking big cuts of meat on the bone.” Taymor’s go-to is a whole prime rib roast. “I baby it for hours, making sure it’s perfectly cooked,” he says. The tender, juicy cut of beef can be served on or off the bone and makes a stunning centerpiece for any holiday meal. 

Japanese curry

For 2024 F&W Best New Chef Leina Horii, chef and co-owner of Nashville's casual Japanese restaurant Kisser, the holiday season calls for Japanese curry. “It is the most comforting dish,” she says. Thick, silky, and umami-forward, Japanese-style curry can be made from scratch with a dark roux and a combination of spices, or with a sauce mix, like S&B’s Golden Curry. Serve it over rice with potatoes, vegetables, or katsu. “Even people not familiar with it can often find comfort in the subtle sweetness and fruity complexity,” she says.

A big salad

“I’m usually tasked with a salad,” says 2019 F&W Best New Chef Caroline Glover. “I’m a big advocate for salads with loads of goodies in them and probably a good amount of tinned seafood too. It depends on what I feel like making, but I can almost assure you it has bitter greens (‘tis the season!), anchovies, and loads of Parmesan. It’s always nice to have a cold contrast to the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.”

Tamales

“Around the holidays, we always make tamales,” says 2017 F&W Best New Chef Val Cantu, who loves preparing the steamed Mesoamerican dish with his friends and family every year. “Making tamales alone can feel unreasonable, but with lots of hands, it becomes a party. Everyone stands around a big table and makes them together. That is one of my favorite holiday traditions.”

Smoked ham

For 2024 F&W Best New Chef Silver Iocovozzi, nothing tastes more like the holidays than a smoked ham. “It’s classic, smoked, and brings the tradition even if nothing else in the meal is conventional,” he says. Compared to other holiday meats, like a turkey or leg of lamb, ham is surprisingly simple to make and can be cooked with a variety of sweet glazes like honey-bourbon, apple cider, or even a Guinness glaze.

Molasses bread

When Bomb Biscuit owner and 2024 F&W Best New Chef Erika Council isn’t making biscuits, she’s making molasses bread. Every year, she bakes loaves of the sweetened bread to gift to her friends and neighbors for the holidays. “The bread is sweet and smoky due to the burnt sugar molasses flavor,” says Council. “You can slice it and toast it like white bread or eat it like cake with ice cream. I call it my ‘Country Cook Gingerbread.’”

Kimchi Cornbread Casserole

Born in Korea and raised by a German Jewish father and an Irish Catholic mother, 2018 F&W Best New Chef Katianna Hong prepares a holiday feast that reflects her cultural heritage. Exhibit A: her Kimchi Cornbread Casserole, a mashup of some of her favorite Korean ingredients with the bready casseroles she grew up eating. “It covers all the bases,” says Hong. “It has a soft, sweet, pillowy cornbread layer topped with butter-roasted kimchi, bubbly melted cheese, and scallions. There is so much about this to love.”

Latkes

Over the eight days of Hanukkah, 2022 F&W Best New Chef Caroline Schiff is frying batch after batch of latkes. “Not to boast, but mine are so freaking good,” she says. The Jewish potato pancake, made with shredded potato and onion, is traditionally eaten with sour cream and apple sauce. What makes Schiff’s so good? “Crispy wisps of potato around the edges, a perfect crunch, tender inside, not greasy, and the perfect amount of salt.”

Rum cake

As a pastry chef, 2024 F&W Best New Chef Camari Mick has made every holiday treat under the sun. But her favorite dessert to make during the season is a rum cake. Flavored with rum, orange zest, and vanilla pudding mix, this fragrant cake is a festive end to any holiday feast. “It’s rich, buttery, and drenched in just the right amount of boozy glaze,” says Mick. “It tastes like celebration, and people always tell me it feels nostalgic even if it’s their first time having it.”