The Esquire Christmas menu: 3 courses by 3-star chef Marco Müller

The is now a good tradition. Every year, top chefs present their very own 3-course menu. This time: char, duck and chocolate soufflé fromMarco Müller – head chef in the star restaurant Rutzin Berlin and brand ambassador for. To make sure everything is perfect, he recommends the right knife.Duck is the culinary star on the festive table this year.Star chef Marco Müller reveals his recipe that virtually eliminates stress.

Marco Müller spent his childhood as a child the summer holidays with his grandparents in Potsdam. There he learned a love for good ingredients, which paved the way to becoming a chef. From the restaurantHarlequinit went intoRutzin Berlin. As executive chef, he ensures top ratings in all well-known restaurant guides.

Using a sharp fillet knife, portion the char into four equal pieces. To give it a nice consistency, add salt and chill 30 minutes before cooking. Choose a pot that has enough space for the fillets. Line the bottom of the pot with baking paper to ensure the fish doesn't stick. Heat the olive oil in the pot to 65°C. Meanwhile, briefly mix all the spices, toast them lightly and then add them to the warm oil. Cook the char in it for about eight minutes until translucent (depending on the thickness of the fish). To find out whether the char has the right core temperature, take a thin roulade needle, pierce the thickest part of the fish and wait five seconds. Pull out the needle and hold it to your lower lip. If it is slightly warmer than body temperature, the char can be served. A cucumber salad goes well with it - for example with ginger.

The perfect knife:With the narrow and flexible blade of theGrand Master FiletiermessersvonVictorinoxYou are guaranteed to make the cut.

The day before, cut the vegetables into rough pieces, mix them with the spices and stuff the duck with them and keep it cold until cooked. Then lightly salt the duck skin and place the duck in a vacuum bag (or other oven-safe plastic bag). Remove all the air as best as possible and seal everything airtight. There should be no juice escaping later during cooking. Preheat the oven to 75°C and cook the wrapped duck in it for nine to ten hours. It is done when the meat on the leg feels almost butter-soft. The advantage of this method is that everything is cooked very gently and as little meat juice as possible comes out. This makes the duck particularly juicy and tender. In addition, the aroma of the filling penetrates the duck better and does not steam into the extractor hood as usual. The fat has a chance to render out and the duck ends up cooking to its own taste. You now have two options: Take the duck out of the bag and cook it until crispy at 180°C. However, we recommend pre-cooking the duck the day before and putting it in the fridge overnight. The advantage: you take the duck out of the foil an hour before it goes into the oven, scrape the skin free of cooking residue, then put it in the preheated oven at 160°C. After an hour and a half, the duck is ready to serve and your Christmas evening is as stress-free as possible. Of course, red cabbage (or kale) and potato dumplings go best with Christmas duck.

The perfect knife:With theWood KochmesservonVictorinoxyou have the ideal tool to carve the duck like a pro.

Fill a medium-sized pot 2/3 full with water and heat it to the lowest setting. Put the couverture and butter in a bowl and let it melt in a water bath. In the meantime, beat the eggs with the sugar until frothy. Then sift the cocoa powder and flour into the egg-sugar mixture and mix everything together. Fold in the liquid chocolate coating, the vanilla bean pulp and the grated tonka bean. Grease four small ovenproof molds with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Fill the mixture 2/3 full. Bake at 180°C in a fan oven until the edge is slightly set and the center is still liquid. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream.

The perfect knife:Thanks to the hollow-cut blade, no coating is left behind when choppingWood Santoku-MesservonVictorinoxhang.