Welcome to Celtnet's Christmas Recipes — This is the first of an occasional series on festival foods and dishes. With Christmas on the way I thought I'd start with this particular festival. Though considered a Christian festival these days Christmas is basically the Northern European mid-winter festival in a different guise. There are Slavic, Celtic and Germanic versions of this festival and the Celts certainly had a mid-winter feast where they would eat all the season's surplus product. Partly this was to have some fun during the darkest part of the year but it was also meant as a way of blackmailing the gods. A case of 'if you don't bring Spring early we're going to starve and who'se going to worship you then!' In many ways it's hardly surprising that just about every culture has some kind of midwinter festival. Here I'm presenting Christmas or Midwinter fare down the ages, finishing-off with all the recipes you will need for a traditonal 'turkey and trimmings' Christmas dinner.
Ancient Midwinter Fare:
Boar was the feast animal par excellence for the Celts. Their whole cooking ethos was that of 'one pot cookery' and this would have been a special feast dish. Of course, this is not a truly 'traditional' recipe but it will give you the flavour of what a Celtic feast meal might have been like. The recipe itself is for Wild Boar Stew
The boar stew should be served with a good chunk of Leavened Bread.
If you want a dessert then you can serve a Ancient Fruit Dumplings. If you want to be truly authentic substitute nuts and apples for the other fruit as these would have been preserved for mid-winter.
Medieval and Elizabethan Christmas Fare:
The Advent fast, prohibiting meat, chicken, milk, cheese, butter, etc. (i.e., virtually all animal products), and lasting a time period that included the four Sundays preceding Yule, was THE primary motivation for the festal consumption of food during a medieval Christmas. This simple fact should always be kept in mind when planning a medieval feast in an authentic manner. Christmas itself ran from Christmas Day up through Epiphany, or Twelfth Day (January 6). The rules and standards of food at Christmas time lasted for this entire 12 day period.
One traditional Medieval Christmas dish was the pig's head served with mustard. This dish survives as the Elizabethan Collar of Brawn which was traditonally served at Twelfth Night.
Though this is much more of a high status dish the Goose in Sawse Madame recipe shows how a goose would be prepared, Medieval style, for a feast.
Of course, everyone thinks of Venison and the traditional Medieval meat. However, venison was a royal animal, generally only hunted by the king and his courtiers. Thus, if venison was served at Christmas at all it would have been served only at the royal household (apart from poached meat, of course). Still, here is a Venison recipes for you. This are excellent for the Feast of Steven (Boxing Day) and make an excellent antidote to too much trkey! This first is for a whole haunch of venison in Madeira sauce. It's a modern recipe but is based on a Medieval recipe for Venison with sack: Haunch of Venison with Maderia Sauce. This next is a true Medieval recipe for a venison pie: Venyson Y-bake.
The mince pie (see below), a staple of British Christmases made of fruit and suet grew from a Medieval original using venison offal. This later evolved into the Elizabethan My Lady of Portland's Mince Pyes
The Christmas cake for Medieval times would have been the 'bean cake' which is basically the King Cake which is described in the Other Chirstmas Recipes section below. In Medieval times the cake would have been shaped like a crown and would have had a bean inserted in it.
Wassail is a truly clasic Christmas drink which from Medieval times has referred to a hot spiced wine for drinking healths on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Twelfth Night celebrations. It was said to have originated with the fifth-century legend of the beautiful Saxon Rowena, who toasted the health of the Brythonic King Vortigern with the words Wæs-hael (your health!). Mead was also used (and may generally have been a more common base for Wassail than the far more expensive wine). Wassail was always served from a special bowl (which was definitely not the modern punch bowl) called the Loving Cup by early monks. It was fashioned from sturdy materials, most commonly wood and more rarely pewter. The special wooden bowl, sometimes rimmed with metal and dressed with festive ribbons, was not only the serving bowl but also the drinking bowl, as it was passed from hand to hand drunk from directly. The recipe given here is for Elizabethan Wassail though similar recipes are common from the Medieval age up until Victorian times.
Of course, another classic Medieval Yuletide drink would have been Hypocras.
Victorian Christmas Fare:
The Vistorian Christma represents the beginning of the modern family Christmas that we consider 'traditional' today. Christmas cards, Christmas trees and many of the decorations we hold to be an essential part of the Modern Christmas all have their roots. Even the family Christmas meal has its origins in Victorian times.
The 'modern' mince pie with its fruit filling is also a Victorian invention, though it has its origins in the Medieval and Elizabethan mince pye (as above). The modern version of the mince pie (below) can be used as it's very close to the Victorian original.
Rather than the modern turkey the centrepiece of the Victorian Christmas dinner would have been the Perfect Roast Goose with sage and onion stuffing. Indeed, this was my traditional family Christmas meal until about 20 years ago. If you're making this then you can use the vegetable recipes in the modern section below to accompany your goose.
The traditonal Christmas pudding in Victorian times would have been the Plum Pudding, antecedent and forerunner of all modern Christmas puddings as described in the section below. The Scottish version of this is the Cloutie Dumpling that is still traditionally made today.
In terms of traditonal Christmas drinks, Wassail (above) remained popular in Victorian times. Equally popular was mulled ale (the recipe given here is for Mulled Mead, but works equally well for Ales, just add 2 tbsp honey) and eggnog.
Modern Christmas Fare:
Of course, this section includes everything that we would consider 'traditional' today. This is basically the Christmas fare I grew up with. The only difference being the transition from goose to turkey as the main component of the Christmas meal.
In Britain, at least, no Christmas is complete without the ubiquitous Mince Pie that are perfect at tea time and also make a wonderful evening snack with mulled wine.
As a Christmas starter I don't think anything much can beat a Game Terrine. Partly this is due to the mix of game, especially venison, that hearkens back to Medieval Christmases of old. The game terrien also works well with Cranberry sauce. If you're not into the game then a Fish Terrine makes for a much lighter option.
And if you would like something different for breakfast, why not try some Cranberry and Orange Marmalade.
Turkey and Trimmings:
The following list of recipes provide you everything you need for the 'Turkey and all the Trimmings' main event:
For the turkey itself... This is my recipe for the ultimate roast turkey with port wine gravy. I know that the method presented here involves a fair amount of work, but what it does give you is melt-in the mouth turkey meat. None of this dry as a bone turkey breast any more! The recipe itself is for The Ultimate Roast Turkey.
Of course, no roast turkey is complete without Perfect Roast Potatoes. Then there are the trimmings: Glazed Carots; Festive Sprouts (these are Brussels sprouts for those who don't like sprouts!) and Roast Vegetables. Personally I'd serve steamed broccoli as well. Just trim the broccoli and steam over a pan of boiling water for about 7 minutes until just tender.
No Christmas turkey meal is complete without Carnberry sauce and this is my recipe for a classic Cranberry Sauce. Or for something a little different why not try this Christmas Cranberry Conserve?
Other Christmas Meals:
Here are a number of other recipes that you can prepare for Christmas:
Christmas Leek and Brie Pie
Salmon with Hot Beetroot Relish
Eight-day Spiced Beef
Of course, once you're had your main meal then what you need is a traditional Christmas Pudding. This Christmas Pudding recipe is based on an old family recipe (known as Pwdin Nadolig in Welsh) that's been passed down through several generations. It's now my turn to introduct this to my (West African) wife. If, however, you want something a little different then here's a 'Roman' Christmas Pudding that I've invented. It's a Christmas Pudding as the Romans might have created it had they made such a pudding. For my family the traditional accompaniment to Christmas Pudding is Menyn Melys (literally 'Sweet Butter'). It's a white sauce made with flour, sugar, milk and butter as a thickener. My grandmother made this with flour (and that's difficult) these days we make it with cornflour and a microwave. It's a very simple but delicious sauce: add 2 heaped tbsp cornflour to a heat-proof glass bowl along with 4 tbsp sugar. You will need about 600ml milk. Add just enough milk to form a smooth paste from the cornflour and sugar. When that's done mix the remaining milk into the bowl (this ensures that the sauce isn't lumpy). Stir and place the bowl in a microwave on full power for 60 seconds. Stir the sauce and cook in the microwave for 90 seconds. Add a good knob of butter and keep cooking in the microwave for 60s a time until the sauce is hot and thick. Once ready add a good slug of brandy (this thins the sauce a little and adds a wonderful brandy flavour. If you don't want the sauce alcoholic add a little orange juice). Cut your pudding and place into bowls. Spoon the white sauce liberally over the top.
If you have leftover Chrismas Pudding then a good way of using it up is to crumble the pudding and then to mix it with softened vanilla ice cream (about a 1:2 mixture). You then get Christmas Pudding ice cream which is wonderful! If you want then I have a recipe for Christmas Pudding Ice Cream here.
There are a number of classic Christmas cakes and these include:
There is, of course the traditonal and very rich Dundee Cake that became popular at the end of the 19th century which is often served with tea at Christmas. In many ways this still represents the archetype for the rich Christmas fruitcake. Then there is the rich fruit Christmas cake — the one presented here is: Mam's Christmas Cake. Literally this is my mother's Christmas Cake passed down through the family for years. No Christmas for us is complete without it and this year I'm going to introduce my wife to this recipe!
Another tradtional Scottish Christmas cake is Selkirk Bannock which is a fruited form of traditional Scottish Bannock originally made by a baker in Selkirk and only sold at Christmas.
But no Christmas is truly complete without the classic icing and marzipan covered rich fruit Christmas Cake; the centrepiece of Christmas teatimes. Another variant of this is the British Twelfth-night Cake a rich fruitcake version of King Cake (below) traditionally served on Epiphany (Twelfth night).
However, even if you've left things too late and you don't have more than a week until Christmas everything isn't lost as there's a 'cheats' Christmas cake you can make using mincemeat as a base: Mincemeat Christmas Cake
As a Christmas drink there's nothing much better than Mulled Wine and this recipe is for a 'West Indian' Mulled Wine, a very tasty mulled wine with West Indian flavours incorporated into it. If you would like to brew your own beers/ales/meads for Christmas then here are some seasonal brews: Christmas Melomel; a mead flavoured with cranberries. Also rather excellent is Strong Christmas Ale; a mini-mash quite similar to Sam Adams "Old Fezziwig" (or so I've been told) and is excellent as a Christmas ale. Though it doesn't have a particularly 'Christmasy' theme I'm also including the recipe for Wildflower Mead here as this sweet and strong drink goes particularly well with Christmas pudding. Another particularly festive mead is the Orange Melomel Mead whose notes of cranberries and lemon make it a wonderful accompaniment to chocolates and to Christmas cake and pudding. My wife recently introduced me to 'Irish Cream' which is a Liberian take on eggnog that's a little like Baileys in texture (but not flavour). This is an excellent nightcap for Christmas Eve and an even better party drink for New Year's Eve. It's simple to make and will keep in the fridge for several months. This is a recpe that really deserves to be more widely known.
If you want something as a sweet Christmasy snack then here are some sweets that go well with coffe and with mulled wine. This is an especially delightful Christmasy fancy: Christmas Pudding Truffles. These Ungodly Chocolate Truffles are truly indulgent and make a wonderfully decadent home-made Christmas present. But if all that chocolate is too much for you you could try some Cocoa Cobnuts.
Other Christmas Recipes:
There are a number of European breads and cakes that have special associations with Christmas. Apart from the British Dundee and Christmas cakes (see above), these include:
King Cake, also known as Twelfth Night Cake and Rosóa de Reyes (Spain), Gateau des Rois or Galette des Rois (France), Bolo Rei (Portugal), Tortell (Cataonia), Vasilopita (Greece) and Banitsa (Bulgaria) is one of the European Christmas cakes par excellence. The French brought it to the Americas where it is used to celebrate Carnival season. In Europe the cake honours the three Wise Men, specifically the feast of Twelfth Night, also known as Epiphany and Three Kings Day.
Panettone, which is a typical Milanese bread that's usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year around Italy and is one of the classic symbols of Milan.
Not forgetting: Dresdner Stollen which represents the original Stollen from Dresden, Germany. It makes a very special Christmas treat and I make several for the family each Christmas. Like many Christmas-type cakes it's best if baked well in advance, as it will keep for 2 weeks or more and improve it's flavor as it ages.
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