A feast is only a feast if both effort and bounty are shared.

Unfortunately, a communal approach can be at odds with those of us trying to achieve the still-life-grade spreads of Christmas lore. You may look at the photos printed with this article and scoff: “There’s no way that table was laid in real life.” And you’d be right. There wasn’t a child hanging off my leg or a hovering helper tasting the kale as I pulled it out of the pot.

Real life is messy, and Christmas morning is chaos. But with the right preparation and forethought, you can walk into the stocking opening with coffee and two assurances: (1) that 90% of the meal is already aced and (2) that you have the right tricks to move swarming nibblers away from your kitchen island when it’s time to pull it all together.

Over the past five years, since having the torch of hosting Christmas passed to me, I’ve learned to share the right work, so that family and guests get involved and everyone’s dinner becomes more satisfying. In the days leading up to Christmas — perhaps during a lull on the 23rd, while the chaos is contained — I get my crew to do basic jobs. We pull out the Bananagrams, and I place bowls of garlic, herbs and chestnuts on the table to peel, pick and score. It’s actually useful, especially if there’s someone auditioning for a permanent place in the family: They’ll pick every thyme leaf off every branch. Practiced cooks (and my brother) wouldn’t bother!

This year, I’ll braise duck legs with ginger, anise and orange until they barely hold their shape. In the quiet, I’ll be able to hear the duck spit when its fat is rendered and its skin begins to brown — my cue to pay attention. A honeyed salad dressing will take leaf dips, tastes and tweaks until I’m certain it’ll charm chicory-phobes. I’ll bake a family-size custard that’ll become crème brûlée tomorrow — it’s just cream, sugar, vanilla and eggs cooked to a wobble — but I don’t want anyone around to give second opinions as I perform my dish-shimmying checks to catch it when it’s just set. If your Christmas Eve is already called for, find some time to be at one with the more detailed cooking before the house fills.

I like to send out a well-timed bowl of chestnuts and skewered cocktail sausages for everyone to roast their own over the coals in our fire. I’m lucky to have a wood-burning fireplace, but, if I didn’t, I’d set up a little grill outside or simply poach them for the same draw. Chestnuts have stubborn peels but taste sweeter when you’ve calloused your fingertips to retrieve the meats. As for the sausages, you’ll have earned the right to call out for samples — dunked in mustard, please. Let someone else cook for the cook.

In our house, when appetites are lit and pyrotechnics sated, it’s time to take food from the kitchen to the table. I’ll make a “who-me” performance of flipping out the bombe. No one will quite expect the butter-splattering moment of enchantment as I lift a baking bowl to reveal our glistening pita-crusted dome. We’ll probably forget the crème brûlée. By this point, dessert is extra. So it may as well be over-the-top. Tradition calls for flaming puddings, and this year, I’ll take out the torch for the giant, sugar-sprinkled custard. My sons will fight for their turn brûléeing the top. A perfectionist among us will fix their work, someone else will drop a handful of spoons on the table, and we’ll all gather around to crack caramel and double-dip.

Spiced Orange Duck

These braised duck legs — spiced with ginger, thyme, anise and orange — are festive and ideal to cook ahead. Unlike traditional orange duck, which is cooked pink and served in a syrupy sauce, this version is savory, fragrant and confit-tender. Make sure to top up the pot with stock if it looks like it’s drying up at any point (don’t be fooled into thinking your pot has enough stock just because you see plenty of the fat that will render during the braise). And do save the duck fat for something special when you spoon it off at the end. If you’re making the dish ahead and reheating it, add the fresh orange juice right before you serve. — Clare de Boer

Yield: 6 servings. Total time: 3 1/2 hours.

Ingredients

6 whole duck legs (4 1/2 to 6 pounds total)

Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

6 medium shallots, peeled

and quartered

2 navel oranges

1 (3-inch) piece fresh ginger, unpeeled and sliced into three pieces

8 thyme branches

2 whole star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 cup dry white wine

1 to 2 cups chicken broth, as needed

directions

1. Season the duck legs on both sides with a tablespoon of salt.

2. Working in batches, place the duck legs skin-side down in a large heavy-bottomed pot. When the duck legs are in, turn the heat to high to begin to render their fat. When the pan is sizzling, reduce the heat to medium and cook until the legs are a deep chestnut brown, about 15 minutes. Flip the legs over and brown the second side, about 10 minutes more. Remove the legs to a plate, drain the fat (reserving it for another use) and repeat until all the duck legs are rendered and browned.

3. Drain off and reserve all but 1/4 cup of duck fat from the pan. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally and without browning over medium heat. Meanwhile, using a peeler, remove the zest from the oranges (not the white pith) and reserve the flesh. When the shallots are translucent, after about 10 minutes, add the orange zest, the ginger, thyme branches, star anise, cinnamon and red pepper. Stir and fry the spices until fragrant, a few minutes, before returning the duck legs and any juices that have run out of them to the pot. Arrange them in a snug layer (or two layers if they don’t sit flat) with some of the zest and aromatics on top.

4. Pour in the wine and 1 cup of broth. Bring the liquid to a simmer, and clamp on the lid of the pot. Simmer over low heat, checking from time to time and adding more broth if it reduces to less than an inch (tilt the pot to pool the liquid for a clear view of broth and fat levels). Cook until the duck legs want to fall apart but don’t (you’ll be able to break them apart with a spoon), 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

5. Turn off the heat, remove the lid and skim the fat. You will be able to spoon off about a cup of duck fat from the surface (combine this with the already reserved duck fat and save for another occasion). Pick out the branches of thyme that have shed their leaves and discard. (See Tip.)

6. Squeeze in the juice of one zested orange and swirl it into the sauce. Taste the sauce and add more juice or salt, or both, as needed. Serve the duck legs with their sauce and spices spooned on top.

TIP: The duck can be prepared to this point up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated in the pot or in an airtight container. Reheat and add the fresh orange juice right before you serve.

Rice and Squash Bombe

This pita-crusted rice and squash bombe is a celebratory showstopper, capable of upstaging any roast or standing alone as the centerpiece of a vegetarian feast. The technique of encrusting pilaf in crisp bread is inspired by fruit-studded Azerbaijani shakh plov and Persian polo ba tahdig. It’s a bit fiddly, with three components to prepare — rice, cumin-roasted shallots and squash, and saffron butter — but none of them are complicated. Cook them in advance, but assemble the bombe when you’re ready to bake it off. Make sure to butter the baking bowl heavily and overlap your pitas without gaps. If in doubt, arm yourself with more pitas than the recipe calls for, in case yours are a bit dry when you take them out of the packet — you may need spares for patching. — Clare de Boer

Yield: 6 servings. Total time: 2 1/4 hours.

Ingredients

4 pounds honey nut squash (peeled) or kabocha squash (unpeeled), deseeded and diced into 1/2-inch cubes

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

8 medium shallots, peeled and diced

1/4 cup dried currants, dried cranberries or raisins

1/4 cup pine nuts or sliced almonds

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons picked thyme leaves

Large pinch crushed red pepper

2 cups white basmati rice, rinsed

3/4 cup unsalted butter (12 tablespoons), softened

4 (6- to 8-inch) white pita breads, split in half to create thinner rounds

2 pinches saffron

directions

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the squash on a roasting tray and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Toss to coat and spread evenly on the tray. Roast for 20 minutes. Then, push the squash to one side of the tray and add the shallots, drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and season with a teaspoon of salt. Stir and spread the shallots as evenly as possible on the cleared side of the tray. Roast, stirring from time to time to encourage even cooking, until the squash is soft and chewy on the edges and the shallots are caramelized, 25 to 30 minutes. Stir in the currants, 2 tablespoons pine nuts, the cumin, thyme leaves and red pepper and roast until the pine nuts are golden, about 5 more minutes.

2. Combine the rice in a medium saucepan with 8 cups of cold water and a tablespoon of salt. Bring it to a simmer on high and parboil for 7 minutes, until the rice is mostly cooked, but still slightly chalky in the middle. Drain the rice through a strainer and rinse under cold water, moving the rice around until it’s no longer steamy.

3. In a small saucepan on the stove or bowl in the microwave, melt 8 tablespoons of butter with the saffron and allow it to infuse. Set aside.

4. Prepare the bowl for the bombe. Rub the inside of a 12-cup capacity stainless steel bowl with about 3 tablespoons of butter. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons pine nuts all around. Lay a pita over the base of the bowl, with the outside of the pita facing the buttered bowl. Then overlap pitas to cover the sides of the bowl, overlapping them like the scales on a fish, and making sure that there are no gaps exposing the bowl. They should poke about an inch over the rim of the bowl, and you should have 1 to 2 split pitas left once the bowl is lined. This can be done in advance.

5. When you’re ready to bake the bombe, heat the oven to 450 degrees. Spoon half of the squash and shallot mixture into the pita-lined bowl. Spread it flat, then spoon half of the rice into the bowl without compacting it. Follow with the remaining squash mixture, then the remaining rice. Using a knife or chopstick, poke a few wells through the filling and pour in the saffron butter. Smear the outside of the remaining pitas with the remaining tablespoon of butter, and lay these, buttered-side-up, on the top of the bombe to encase the filling. Fold over the edges of the pitas that have lined the side of the bombe, and use the remaining tablespoon of plain butter to stick everything together. Loosely lay some foil over the top of the bowl without cinching it closed, and bake on the center rack of the oven until the pita walls are toasted and crisp when you remove the foil and insert a spoon down the side of the bowl to peek, about 50 minutes.

6. To serve, discard the foil covering and place a serving platter over the top of the bowl. Flip confidently, then place the platter down on the counter. Lift the bowl away to expose your gleaming, nut-encrusted bombe. Slice messily, making sure each person gets some crust along with a spoon of jeweled rice.

Leafy Winter Salad

Bitter winter chicories are balanced with some endive and cress, and sweetened with a honey-spiked dressing. It makes a refreshing side to any rich wintry dish. As vinegar and honey can vary wildly in flavor, dip a leaf into your dressing jar to check it for seasoning and balance, adjusting as needed before tossing it through the salad. — Clare de Boer

Yield: 6 to 8 servings. Total time: 15 minutes.

Ingredients

For the dressing:

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup

1 to 3 garlic cloves, grated, to taste

Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper

For the salad:

1 head radicchio

1 head Castelfranco (or substitute butter lettuce)

3 heads Belgian endive

1 bunch watercress

Flaky sea salt

directions

1. Make the dressing: Place the olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and a few twists of black pepper in a jar and cover and shake to combine.

2. To prepare the salad, trim any brown ends off the radicchio, Castelfranco and endive heads. Click off the radicchio and Castelfranco leaves and tear each into three. Click off the endive outer leaves and slice the hearts lengthwise. Place all these in a large bowl and toss with two-thirds of the dressing. Taste for seasoning and adjust with any flaky sea salt if needed, before folding through the more delicate watercress and spooning some extra dressing on top, if the salad needs it.

Big Crème Brûlée

The classic French dessert throws off its formality in favor of family-style fun. You can use the broiler or a torch to caramelize the sugar on top — just make sure the dish is fully chilled before this final step so you don’t scramble the voluptuous, vanilla-flecked custard. — Clare de Boer

Yield: 6 servings. Total time: 4 hours.

Ingredients

2 cups/480 milliliters heavy cream

1/2 cup/120 milliliters whole milk

2 tablespoons crème fraîche or sour cream

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup/100 grams sugar, plus 6 tablespoons/75 grams for topping

Boiling water, for the pan

directions

1. Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Place a shallow, 10- or 12-inch gratin dish or quiche pan in a larger baking dish or roasting pan so the gratin dish nests in the larger dish.

2. In a large saucepan, combine the heavy cream, milk, crème fraîche, salt and vanilla bean and scraped seeds. Bring to the simmer over low heat, then allow to cool for a few minutes to infuse. Remove the vanilla bean (discard or dry it for reuse).

3. In a large bowl, using a whisk, beat egg yolks and 1/2 cup/100 grams sugar together until lighter in color. Stir about a quarter of the vanilla cream into this mixture, then pour this sugar-egg mixture into the vanilla cream in the saucepan and whisk. Pour into the gratin dish. Transfer the nested baking dishes to the oven and carefully pour enough boiling water into the larger dish to come halfway up the side of the gratin dish.

4. Bake until the center is just set and jiggly, rather than liquidy, when you shimmy the gratin dish, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the cooked custard from the water bath and allow it to cool to room temperature before chilling in the refrigerator. Refrigerate until cold (about 2 hours) or up to a couple of days.

5. When you’re ready to serve, arrange an oven rack 2 to 3 inches from the broiler heat source and heat your broiler to high. Sprinkle the remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar evenly over the top of the cold custard. Broil, watching closely as the sugar becomes a speckled, candied crust. Move the dish around occasionally to caramelize all the sugar. Depending on the strength of your broiler, this could take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes.

6. Allow the caramel to harden, about 10 minutes, then serve with a handful of spoons and an invitation to dive in, within 2 hours.