It is, of course, the season of recipes for leftovers. I could be giving you good counsel on what to do with your leftover turkey (sandwiches and stock, the latter superior to the former and an excellent base for a risotto or soup), the remnants of your goose (hash) and the two-thirds of the Christmas pudding that you really couldn’t face. It is, however, probable that you know perfectly well what to do with your leftovers – give them to the cat and send out for a curry is one option – and besides, nobody’s leftovers are ever identical. “L’usage des restes” is an exercise in pragmatism and there, I fear, you are by definition on your own.

However, what one needs after Christmas isn’t really turkey in disguise. It is not for nothing that grown men weep at the sight of turkey curry. The return of the Christmas pudding is similarly hardly a subject for mirth.