Classic Christmas menu for 6

With drinks: Smoked salmon toasts with dill cream; Charcuterie board: cured ham, salami, rillettes; Comté gougères. To start: Foie gras, toasted gingerbread and fig chutney. For the main: Roast capon with chestnuts and baby potatoes. For the cheese course: Cheese board. For dessert: Chocolate praline yule log.

For 6 guests, the big picture: half-cooked foie gras (300 g), capon (2.4 kg), Brie de Meaux (140 g) and dark chocolate (180 g). The full grocery list, aisle by aisle, is right above.

In two trips. Three days before, the stuff that keeps (17 items: produce, meat and seafood, dairy, bakery and pantry). Then the day before, the fresh stuff (13 items, like capon, rillettes and smoked salmon). You'll dodge the last-minute crowds.

To sit down at 8:15 PM, the first step of the big day starts at 3:45 PM: take the capon out of the fridge. The main (roast capon with chestnuts and baby potatoes) goes in the oven at 4:30 PM. Every step of the game plan is timed backward from when you sit down to eat.

It's not vegetarian: for a meat-free table, there's a full vegetarian menu. A kid counts as half a serving in the quantities.

Yep, from 2 to 12 guests: change the number at the top of the page, and the quantities, the grocery list, the budget and these answers all follow.