According to ancient traditions, 12 dishes were made for the Christmas table, including drinks. Some of them were cooked in the lean version, they were served on January 6 in the evening, other dishes were consumed on the morning of the 7th. Some foods were a mandatory set, others chose at their discretion.
Sochivo - zest of the Christmas table
Sochivo often called kutya, these porridges are similar, but have a difference in purpose, texture, some ingredients. The dish is served first on the table on Christmas night. It symbolizes rebirth, joy, wealth, goodness and well-being. Traditional sochivo is prepared by all means from wheat, use of rice, bulgur is allowed. Grain is boiled, seasoned with sweet ingredients.
What else is added to the juice:
- boiled and crushed poppy;
- roasted nuts of various kinds;
- bee honey (sometimes replaced with syrup);
- dried fruits;
- spices (ginger, zest, cinnamon);
- Uzvar, he is a fruit broth.
Sochivo has a watery texture, it is eaten with a spoon and only after the appearance of the first asterisk in the sky. This dish helps to recuperate after the hardest and most severe day of Advent. In addition to the soybean, baked vegetables and fruits, mushrooms and similar lenten dishes are served. The next day, in the morning on the Christmas table, you can safely put other breakthroughs.
Goose with apples
At the end of the Christmas fast, it is customary to cook the whole bird on the table. It has long been in Russia, it was a goose with apples, but you can also cook a chicken or a duck. Now often pay attention to the turkey. In America, it is her roast for her Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25th. Regardless of the type of bird, it is important to cook it tasty, it is desirable to marinate in advance. If you do not like apples, you can cook a goose with other fillings.
With which you can bake a bird:
- potatoes and other vegetables;
- rice, buckwheat, various cereals;
- fresh and dry fruits, nuts;
- mushrooms with vegetables or cereals.
It is possible to add nothing to a goose or other bird at all. The main thing is to rub with spices, sauces, you can marinate in advance. To please the dish with juiciness and tenderness, the goose is usually baked in the sleeve or under the foil, and at the end of the process is opened. For a fragrant crust, you can pour fat on it, smear it with honey or its mixture with mustard, brandy. The bird is beautifully roasted.
Milk pig with horseradish
For a long time one of the main dishes on the festive table was a pig roasted whole. Sometimes it was cooked on a skewer, but more often it was baked on a baking sheet or in the form. Like the bird, the piglet was pickled, rubbed with various seasonings, but they always left the head.
How can you marinate a pig:
- pepper of different types;
- mayonnaise, sour cream;
- vegetable oil;
- garlic, onions;
- soy sauce;
- mustard.
For the marinade, you can use absolutely any seasoning to your taste; spices for shish kebab will also do. It is only important to immediately remove the large pieces, otherwise they will burn, spoil the look and crust. Serve such a pig with grated horseradish or a sauce based on it.
Chicken with garlic
Sausages and ham on the Christmas table was not, like cheese. Traditional snack food has always been jelly. Cooked it from pork and always with garlic. In the old days, the meat pieces were placed on the oven and tomily all night, after which they were disassembled into pieces, poured with saturated broth, sent to the hallway for solidification. If a simple jelly seems boring, then you can add eggs, green peas, carrots or other vegetables.
What traditional jelly is brewed from:
- legs;
- pig heads;
- knuckles.
If there is no desire to cook fat jelly from pork, then you can make beef jelly or aspic from poultry, fish. These dishes will also occupy a worthy place on the Christmas table, but will have a different light taste. Do not forget to prepare for the preparation of mustard. Purchased sauce is no good. It is better to make a real and vigorous mustard, which will delight you with its sharpness and penetrating aroma.
Rye cakes
Besides meat dishes, baking has always been in high esteem. Cooked big cakes and pie with various fillings. Dough kneaded yeast and always with the addition of rye flour. Baking with it differed in density and special flavor.
What was used for the filling:
- stewed and sauerkraut;
- fish and meat;
- mushrooms;
- eggs, onions;
- cereals.
Big cakes were put on the Christmas table, bread cakes and small cakes were prepared for children and other guests who came to visit. Cream cakes and pastries on the holiday table was not. Later they began to prepare ginger pies for Christmas, and then painted gingerbread, cookies, and houses. These traditions migrated to us from Western countries.
Uzvar: for strength, health and pleasure
The main drink on the festive table was fruit uzvar. This is not a simple compote. It was made from various dried fruits and berries, insisted on a warm oven for at least ten hours, served together with fruit pieces. Uzvar is also used for refilling the sock.
What is used to make a decoction:
- dried apples;
- pears;
- plums, prunes, cherry plums and other stone fruits;
- raisins;
- cranberries, lingonberries.
In fact, you can use any dried fruit up to the hips. For flavor added pieces of zest, cinnamon sticks, various spices. For sweetness, honey is added to the uzvar. If the drink turns out to be bland, then the brightness will add lemon or cranberry juice.
What else to cook?
In addition to the standard set for the Christmas table, you can cook other dishes. But they should all be simple. No overseas and artsy ingredients. We give preference to ancient Slavic dishes and natural products.
What else can you cook:
- whole fish baked (pike, carp, carp);
- pancakes with different fillings or simply with butter, sour cream;
- vinaigrette with sauerkraut;
- dumplings with different fillings;
- Sbitni, mead, jelly and other Russian drinks.
You can put stewed apples, sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers and mushrooms, smoked lard, boiled tongue, stuffed stomach on the table. It does not matter if the result is more than 12 dishes and drinks. Let the Christmas table indulge with generosity and diversity, and the coming year brings only joy!
