27 July 2026
Mint Jelly or Mint Sauce: Which One You Actually Want
Mint jelly sets in a jar and sits beside the lamb. Mint sauce pours over it. The difference between the two, which of our jars suits a carved roast or a barbecu
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From the kitchen
The Gourmet Pantry | Foodie's Blog
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Start here: Christmas
The whole Christmas set is in the stories below, newest first. These are the four things people are usually trying to work out, with the guide for each. The full plan lives in The Australian Christmas Guide.
Plan the table
Gifts and hampers
Corporate Christmas
Read The Australian Christmas Guide or shop Christmas food and Christmas hampers.
27 July 2026
Vegan Nduja: What Ve-du-ya Is and Six Ways to Spread It
Belazu Ve-du-ya does the job Calabrian nduja does on a grazing board, without the pork. What vegan nduja tastes like, six ways to use a 170g jar, and how to ser
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23 July 2026
How to Use Tahini When You Are Not Making Hummus
Stir the oil back in first, then use the jar three ways: thinned into a sauce, spooned straight over hot food, or stirred through sweet things. Plus what to do
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22 July 2026
What Tapenade Is, and Eight Things to Do With a Jar
Tapenade is a coarse Provençal paste of olives, capers and olive oil. What separates it from olive paste, which style to buy, what to serve alongside it, and ei
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21 July 2026
Three Ottolenghi Spice Tins, and What to Put Them On
Aleppo, citrus and spice, and sweet and smokey: the only three dry seasonings in an Ottolenghi range that otherwise comes in jars. What each tin tastes like, an
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20 July 2026
Three Christmas Menus: Traditional, Cold and Low Effort
Three Christmas menus, each written as a shopping list and an order of work rather than a stack of recipes: the traditional hot lunch, the cold summer table, an
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20 July 2026
What to Put in a Christmas Hamper (and What Never Survives the Trip)
Sort a Christmas hamper by how the food behaves, not by price. What keeps, what crushes, what melts and what leaks, from the bench where we pack them in Geelong
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18 July 2026
Non-Alcoholic Christmas Drinks, When Half the Room Is Not Drinking
The person not drinking gets a real drink, not lemonade in a wine glass. One syrup, one instant tea, one unbreakable pitcher, the measures the packs actually gi
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17 July 2026
Hosting Christmas on a Budget: Where the Money Actually Goes
The pantry half of a Christmas table for eight, costed three ways from our own range at about $35, $62 or $97, with the whole difference sitting in the crackers
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15 July 2026
Christmas Finger Food: Nibbles, Canapes and Party Food
Christmas finger food has one rule nobody writes down: it has to be eaten with one hand, because the other one is holding a drink. Eight things that pass, the n
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15 July 2026
Christmas Food Ideas for People Who Are Not Cooking
Buy the table instead of cooking it. Five parts, real products and prices, how to make bought food look like a table you meant, and when to order so it is all i
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15 July 2026
How Long Christmas Food Can Sit Out in an Australian Summer
Australia's 2 hour and 4 hour rule applied to a Christmas table: what is on the clock, what never is, and how to keep a board cold outside.
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14 July 2026
Plum Pudding and Christmas Pudding Are the Same Thing
Plum pudding and Christmas pudding are the same steamed dried fruit pudding under two names, and there are no plums in either. Where the name came from, how a s
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13 July 2026
Christmas Eve Dinner When Nobody Wants to Cook
One pan, half an hour, and nothing that competes with tomorrow. Four Christmas Eve dinners built on jars and kits, and what to have in the cupboard by mid-Decem
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13 July 2026
Dairy Free at Christmas: The Sweet End Is the Hard Part
Butter, cream and milk chocolate account for nearly everything at the sweet end of Christmas. What to serve instead when someone is dairy free, why a vegan labe
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13 July 2026
What to Serve With Christmas Ham: Mustards, Relishes and Sides
A sharp mustard, cranberry sauce and one relish or chutney is the whole answer beside a glazed ham. Which jars do which job, how many you need, how to set them
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10 July 2026
Twelve Things to Do With Leftover Christmas Ham
Keep it on the bone, wrapped in a damp cloth, and carve as you go. Twelve genuinely good things to do with leftover Christmas ham, from the Boxing Day sandwich
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9 July 2026
Truffle Chips on a Grazing Board, and What to Serve Beside Them
Truffle chips are a drinks-table food, not a board food. Where Hunter's black truffle canisters belong, what to put beside them, how honest the truffle clai
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9 July 2026
The Ploughman's Lunch, Rebuilt for an Australian Christmas
The one English Christmas plate that needs no oven: what goes on a ploughman's, how much per person, and the honest difference between the $7.95 relish and
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7 July 2026
Christmas Cheese Board: How Much to Buy and What Goes With It
Allow 120g of cheese a person when the board is the meal and 60g when lunch follows. Here is the quantity table for 6 to 20 guests, the four cheeses that cover
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7 July 2026
Building a Christmas Grazing Table That Survives the Heat
How much food per person, what to buy in October, and what only goes down in the last ten minutes. A Christmas grazing table for 20 or 40 people, built to hold
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7 July 2026
New Year's Eve Grazing Without Cooking Another Christmas
By 31 December the fridge is finished and the cupboard is not. Five bowls from the sealed half of your December order, nothing cooked, 250g a head, half out at
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6 July 2026
How to Glaze a Christmas Ham Without Losing Your Nerve
Something sweet to caramelise, something sharp to cut it, and thin coats rather than one thick one. The full method for glazing a Christmas ham, the timings and
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6 July 2026
Christmas in July: A Menu That Suits Actual Winter
Christmas in July is the one date on the Australian calendar where the northern hemisphere menu makes sense. A four course winter dinner: a make ahead soup, thr
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6 July 2026
Christmas Breakfast Ideas You Can Set Out in Ten Minutes
Toast, two or three jams and a marmalade, cold fruit, yoghurt and a pot of tea. The Christmas morning table you set out rather than cook, what to do the night b
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4 July 2026
What to Do With Cranberry Sauce, After the Turkey Is Gone
Nine things to do with an open jar of cranberry sauce, from cheese boards and cold meat sandwiches to pan sauces, glazes and dessert, plus how long it keeps and
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2 July 2026
What to Bring to Christmas Lunch When You Are Not the Cook
Ask what is already covered, then bring something that needs no oven and no fridge space. Four pantry things that survive a hot car, what to bring for each kind
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2 July 2026
Vegan Christmas Food That Is Not an Afterthought
Vegan Christmas food belongs in the middle of the table, not on a separate plate. Seven things that carry it, the paste that fixes the missing savoury depth, sw
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2 July 2026
Christmas Gifts for Couples: One Box, Two People
One gift for two people is harder than two separate ones. Five hampers sorted by how well you know the couple, what to spend in each band, and why the box that
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1 July 2026
Christmas Prawns: When to Order Them and How to Keep Them Cold
Order in the last week of November, collect on 24 December, and beat two hours from the counter to the fridge. The ordering calendar, the esky, and how long pra
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1 July 2026
Christmas Lunch Ideas for a Hot Australian Day
A board to start, a glazed ham or poached salmon carved cool, three salads and something cold to finish. The full Australian Christmas lunch menu, what to make
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30 June 2026
Hawaij Is a Spice Blend, So What Do You Do With a Jar of the Paste
Hawaij is a Yemeni blend of ginger, cardamom and turmeric, and almost every recipe calls for it dry. Ours is a paste, so the teaspoons do not transfer. What haw
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25 June 2026
Hot English, Dijon, Seeded and Honey Mustard: Four Jars, Four Jobs
Four mustards, four different jobs: hot English for the table, Dijon for cooking, seeded for texture and honey mustard for sandwiches. What each one suits, plus
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22 June 2026
A Jar of Preserved Lemons, and Eight Things to Do With It
The rind is the ingredient and the pulp is not. How to prepare a bought jar of preserved lemons, eight uses ordered by how much rind each one takes, how much sa
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20 June 2026
Six Things to Make With One Good Tin of Tuna
One 70g tin of Australian albacore is a single serve, which rules out the tuna bake and rules in six better things: toast, spaghetti for one, a loaded pita, a m
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18 June 2026
Belazu Tagine Paste: A 20 Minute Tagine and Four Other Uses
Belazu Tagine Paste is a tomato, smoked paprika and pickled lemon base rather than a chilli sauce. A 20 minute chicken and chickpea tagine, four other uses for
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