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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.
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.
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.
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 (and you could make them with Damson and Cobnut Mincemeat or Traditional Mincemeat). Alternatively, you could serve that Scottish classic, the Cladach Pie.
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. It's also traditional in Wales to serve Carollers' Broth, which can either be a starter or a hearty main dish. But if you'd like something lighter, but equally as seasonal why not try a Christmas Sweet Chestnut Soup.
And if you would like something different for breakfast, why not try some Cranberry and Orange Marmalade.
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?
For me, however, the ultimate Christmas dinner is a good Roast Rib of Beef served with roast vegetables, gravy, Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce.
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
Boiled Ham
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. For a lighter version of tis classic dessert you could try a Steamed Fruit Pudding. There is also the Welsh Cottage Christmas Pudding, which is much lighter in nature.
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. And if you want a different kind of dessert for the festivities, why not try a Christmas Crumble.
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. There is also the Scottish Christmas Bun, a version of the traditional 'Black Bun' (see below) that's served at Christmas rather than Hogmanay.
But no Christmas is truly complete without the classic icing and marzipan covered rich fruit Christmas Cake; the centrepiece of Christmas teatimes (another version of this is my own family's Traditional Christmas Cake). Another variant of this is the British Twelfth-night Cake a rich fruitcake version of King Cake (below) traditionally served on Epiphany (Twelfth night). These should always be liberally covered in Home-made Marzipan and Glacé Icing. However, if you would like something a little different, but along the same theme, why not try a Trinidadian Black Cake?
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. And for something much lighter there's always the ever-popular Chocolate Log which goes very well as a dessert with some Mulled Wine Sorbet.
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. Or you might like to try a very similar drink originating from Trinidad: Punch du Creme (Cream Punch).
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.
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.
Old-fashioned Yule Cake, a traditional British yeasted fruit cake made for the Yuletide festivities (all the way from Christams Eve to the end of the Christmas season on Twelfth Night.
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.
Vínarterta, which is a typical Icelandic layer cake that is traditionally served at Christmas and for weddings. This is sponge cake in five layers with a prune filling between each layer. There are also Piparkökur, Icelandic Pepper Biscuits that are always served as a Christmas treat.
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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Chillies are a South American fruit, unknown to the rest of the world before 1492. Learn about this amazing spice and find two rather unusual chilli-based recipes for a jam and a sorbet
The thought of a cold or chilled soup sends shivers up the spines of many diners. After all, soups are meant to be hot aren't they. But, just as a good hot soup can warm you up on a cold winter's day a chilled soup can also serve to soothe the palate and cool you on a hot summer's day. A century ago chilled soups were all the rage, and though we don't tend to make them much these days, there recipes are much in need of a revival. Here a classic hot soup is compared with a chilled soup.
British cookery is often seen as a joke, yet with the range of available fresh ingredients British desserts are some of the most divine and inspiring in the world. Here I present two classic desserts: one modern and one traditional for your enjoyment.
Beans are a classic storage food and have been a staple of the human diet for millennia. In recent decades, however, we have forgotten just how useful and versatile beans are. Here is a brief description of the importance of beans, with two classic bean recipes for you to try.
Chicken is perhaps one of the most versatile meats available to the cook. Partly because chickens grow quickly but also because chicken meat, if cooked properly, remains tender and succulent during the cooking process. Chicken also lends itself to a vast array of cooking methods from stewing to roasting. Here you will learn a little about chickens and chicken meats along with two classic chicken recipes.
Chocolate is perhaps the most indulgent ingredient to emerge from the Americas. It was once considered a royal drink and prepared especially for the ruling elite. Chocolate itself is made from the cocoa bean and as such is actually, technically, a spice. It's hardly surprising that this magical substance has inspired a host of memorable quotations...
Those obsessive about wild foods will source a whole meal from the wild. But this is not the way that it's best to start with or even to keep going with wild foods. It's far better to gather a few fruit, wild greens or mushrooms and to add these to your everyday cookery. This way you get an introduction to the range of wild foods available and you begin to extend your cookery by adding wild ingredients.
Freezing is often ignored as a cookery technique, yet where would we be without those cold delights of ice creams, sorbets, sherbets and granaches? Here you will find recipes for classic ice cream and a classic sorbet. I hope that you will come to accept that chilling is also is also a valid and vital form of cookery.
Halloween has a 2000 year history, extending from the time of the Ancient Celts to the modern day. Learn how the Romans and Christians changed this ancient feast and how it found its way to the Americas. You will also get recipes for a Celtic stew and a pumpkin dish associated with Halloween.
Spices are an ubiquitous component of our daily lives. Learn here why black pepper is such an important spice and why the age-old quest for spices is a search for a black pepper replacement.
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