Gourmetting is so 2021

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: an ode to gourmetting.

I have to confess something. Food lover at heart, obsessed with all food and if possible, I love nothing more than cooking all day long. Yet, once a year I gleefully take my place behind the gourmet set, I find that delightful.

It is a typical Dutch tradition that many foodies look down upon. If you think about it, it really has everything a good evening needs. No one is stressed about all the food that needs to be prepared and everyone only eats what they like.

We always celebrate Christmas at grandpa and grandma's. The fact that we even visit is already an undertaking in itself for the couple, and imagine if cooking also had to be done. The answer to that has been for as long as I can remember: gourmetting. I have absolutely no ambition to do this activity more than once a year, but I eagerly look forward to that one evening.

Eating all evening
Just think about it. Because there are so many things on the table, you can constantly think about what you feel like the most at that moment. And if you take it a bit easy, you can keep eating all evening. Just make sure you wear a T-shirt under your Christmas sweater, because the longer that thing is on, the hotter it gets. That sweater is definitely coming off.

Make it yourself
If you get good meat from the butcher, there is no reason why gourmetting couldn't be incredibly delicious. And it keeps you sharp. Cooking a mini slice of steak perfectly medium-rare is a challenge, but every time it succeeds, my heart skips a beat. Also fun: making mini meat rolls, meatballs, or schnitzels yourself. If you really want to make it festive, go for venison steak or turkey.

Sauces
And we haven't even talked about the sauces yet. Cranberry for meat, mustard-dill for salmon, garlic for everything. You make them in advance, it hardly takes any time. We also always have mayonnaise on the table for my favorite side dish: potato croquettes. I accept that the smell of this evening lingers in all my clothes for days.