20 Christmas Eve Recipes from Quebec: Tourtière, Pouding Chômeur and Other Holiday Classics

The Christmas tourtière with beef, pork and veal, grated potato and holiday spices, simmered in white beer. White beer lets the cinnamon and cloves breathe, a dark beer would crush them. It freezes beautifully.

The ultimate Quebec dessert: a fluffy cake baked in dark maple syrup and cream until the sauce turns caramelized. Use the darkest syrup you can find, that’s where the real maple flavor hides.

The réveillon stew: pork hocks and meatballs simmered in beer with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Toast the flour dry in a hot pan, it gives the stew its rich color and a nutty flavor.

Old-fashioned sugar pie, easy and creamy: brown sugar, cream and vanilla, with a caramelized top that cracks a little. Take it out when it’s golden to the center, even if it still jiggles like jelly. It sets as it cools.

Homemade cretons with beer, ground pork, cinnamon and cloves, cooked gently covered until creamy. Keep the spices simple, just cinnamon and cloves. Let them set in the fridge overnight before serving on toast.

Dried beans soak in dark beer and maple syrup, then cook in the slow cooker overnight with salt pork and molasses. Homemade from start to finish, never canned. They’re ready when you wake up!

My grandmother’s sugar cream fudge, with brown sugar, cream and pecans. A timed rolling boil without stirring, a whisk with the powdered sugar, and it sets in the fridge. It won’t last long!

A night in a beer brine, a duck confit stuffing and maple bacon on top: the Christmas turkey that stays juicy. The brine carries flavor all the way to the heart of the breast. Coarse salt, never fine.

Pork, beef, duck confit, salt pork and diced potatoes, slow-cooked in a big Dutch oven under a generous crust. The Lac-Saint-Jean tourtière, reinvented. Use a sturdy pot, never a disposable aluminum pan!

My grandmother’s maple syrup pie, simple and with no condensed milk: syrup, butter, cream, flour and eggs. Simmer the syrup a few minutes to thicken it, and stay close to the pot, it boils over fast.

The réveillon sandwich loaf: lengthwise-sliced bread with three homemade fillings, egg and bacon, pesto chicken, ham and pickle, covered in a cream cheese frosting that slices cleanly. You’ll find that bread everywhere in November.

A smoked ham baked in beer and maple syrup, basted regularly with its own juices. The meat is ultra tender, the sauce well balanced, and there’s no fuss. Serve it with mashed potatoes.

Tender dough balls simmered covered in hot maple syrup. Serve them right away with vanilla ice cream and a little syrup from the pan. Don’t overmix the dough and they stay nice and light!

A tourtière hiding a full poutine under its crust: fries, flank steak, duck confit, cheese curds and gravy. Go easy on the salt, the duck, cheese and gravy already bring plenty. A reinvented version that gets people talking.

Old-fashioned molasses cookies with cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, a cracked top and a soft center. Chilling keeps them nice and thick. Shape the balls before you chill the dough.

A turkey pot pie with leek, crispy bacon and peas in a white beer sauce, covered with puff pastry. The turkey roasts in the oven first, then gets diced. The taste of Christmas with less work.

An airy maple mousse: whipped cream, maple syrup thickened with gelatin, whipped egg whites. A réveillon dessert you make ahead and serve well chilled, a gentle finish after a big meal.

Tourtière, BBQ style: ground beef spiced like a tourtière with cloves, cinnamon, savory, sage and thyme, plus cheese curds and fruit ketchup, shaped into flat skewers. Serve with an arugula salad.

A pouding chômeur whose sauce is made with brown sugar and maple whisky liqueur, heated in the microwave. The cake stays light and tender if you work the cold butter into pea-sized pieces. Guaranteed comfort.

A chocolate yule log rolled in cocoa, with whipped Irish cream under a smooth ganache. Roll the cake on parchment dusted with cocoa, never on a towel. The ultimate Christmas dessert.