Smoked fish, pomegranates, fresh pickles and sweet treats – the festive season wouldn’t be complete without these flavours

As much as I relish almost every detail of the Christmas feast, there are a handful of ingredients I hold especially dear: the rich, sweet preserve that is mincemeat; the glowing ruby seeds of the pomegranate and the sourness of the cranberry, which never fail to brighten anything in which they appear; and the soft, smoky notes of cured fish such as salmon and trout. Also on that list of favourites are the blue-veined cheeses – the stilton and Stichelton, roquefort and gorgonzola without which the later autumn and winter wouldn’t feel complete.

Cranberries bring a welcome tartness to the inherent sweetness of festive food. Their sour quality, tempered by a little sugar, orange and port, makes an uplifting and much loved sauce for turkey. Throw a handful into the stuffing, simmer them into a jelly for a coarse pork terrine or include them in a mincemeat and apple crumble. The cranberry sauce traditionally used with roast turkey is also good with sausages, and I like the berries added to a sausagemeat patty – for which, incidentally, I use butcher’s herb-freckled breakfast sausages removed from their skins rather than buying sausagemeat. No other berry brings quite the same tartness to the season.