A British Chef Brings Holiday Flavors Across the Pond

After the May through November rush of wedding season, December arrives like a sigh at Cornman Farms, a private event center in southeast Michigan. Snow kisses the rooflines of a cheerful red barn and stately 1834 farmhouse, trimmed in white lights and puffing wood smoke. A flock of geese mills about the naked trees, and a few horses graze nearby.

Even in the winter pause, though, Cornman's founder and executive chef Kieron Hales keeps busy. Preparing for catered holiday parties, he bustles around the kitchen in suspenders, a bow tie hanging loose around his neck. As he dresses a plate with supple leeks and extra-crispy potatoes, he stops to hand over a spoonful of whatever's on his stovetop for a taste. "You know how they say, 'Kill people with kindness?'" he asks. "That's how we Brits show it. With food."

Hales moved to Michigan in 2008 to join Zingerman's, an umbrella of food-centric businesses that includes Cornman Farms. (You might know Zingerman's for its iconic Ann Arbor deli and mail-order coffee cake.) Previously, Hales worked in India, South Africa and Europe. His resume includes stints at Michelin-starred eateries, as well as the world's oldest restaurant venue in Spain. At Cornman, he's found a place to downshift his lifestyle and cooking. He maintains a cottage garden for vegetables and herbs, cures meat in a small smokehouse, and works with local purveyors like Calder Dairy. Like the chef himself, Hales' dishes often speak with an English accent—hearty, simply seasoned, rich with butter.

Get the Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Beef Tenderloin

That's especially true at the holidays, when he taps his childhood for inspiration. Hales remembers his mother preparing night and day for Christmas feasts. Dishes he grew up with have become signature at Cornman (and around his family's table). Like his mum, he beats eggs, flour and cheese in a pot to make the choux pastry for gougères, the airy, poppable puffs he serves with predinner drinks. His perfectly pink beef tenderloin hearkens to her Sunday roasts.

Get the Recipes: Butter-Braised Leeks, Roast Potatoes and Carrot and Swede Puree

The fragrances of cloves, nutmeg, allspice and anise in mulled wine bring Hales back too. "Honestly, even as a child, the smell of the brandy, the sherry, the port—those flavors are Christmas, and they were the ones normally kept special," he says. "They were expensive things that we used to save up for this time of year."

Spices and spirits also find their way into Hales' Christmas pudding, a densely fruity, boozy dessert with roots centuries old. "All families have their own version, but almost all today originate from one of Delia Smith's," Hales says, name-checking the TV star and cookbook author who holds a place in British kitchens akin to Ina Garten's here in the United States. His twist? Adding rosemary for piney flavor and cherries as a nod to Michigan's signature fruit crops. The steamed pudding arrives at the table warm, in a flash of pyrotheatrics. Brandy is heated on the stove, then set aflame in a ladle. Liquid fire cascades over the pudding. The blue flames dance for a moment, and everyone cheers—then tucks in.