The International Christmas Food thread

I know I'm a tad early with this, but the shops are already selling Christmas stuff, so why not start thinking about what to cook and bake for Christmas?

This thread is for sharing recipes, as well as tips and tricks for Christmas food. And since this forum has members from all over the world, I think it would be very interesting to learn about Christmas food from other countries. Maybe some of us would like to spice up their yearly Christmas routine with some foreign food. (I know I want to ;) )

I'm particularly interested in Spanish and Finnish Christmas food (especially sweet things, because in my family I'm the one responsible for cakes and cookies). And of course I would be happy to give some advice on German Christmas food, like Stollen and Lebkuchen.

What a great thread idea, Scato! :) My family has the exact same food every Christmas...in the morning my mom makes Breakfast Casserole (hashbrowns, cheese, eggs, ham, and veggies..usually covered in salsa ;)) and orange or cinammon rolls. :drool:

Christmas Eve is our big dinner, unlike most families around here. We usually make turkey, and ham for my brother, potatoes (mashed or funeral potatoes which are heaven!), dinner rolls, gravy, stuffing, vegetables, baked beans and cranberry sauce. I've been in charge of cranberry sauce since I was 12...if anyone wants my recipe I'll gladly post it. :eyebrows: Then for dessert, which no one is usually hungry for after such a huge dinner, we have some kind of pudding or cheesecake. (I hear our puddings in the US are different from puddings in the UK??) Our Christmas Eve dinner is really fancy and we eat at our big table, with the special plates, glasses, and cutlery that we only use once a year. We eat by candlelight and by the light of our Christmas tree and every year my mom or dad prays in the candlelight and we all dig in. :D It's one of my favorite traditions!

Christmas dinner is usually just leftovers of Christmas Eve dinner and is eaten whenever or wherever, most likely on paper plates while talking or watching a movie.

I'm particularly interested in Spanish and Finnish Christmas food (especially sweet things, because in my family I'm the one responsible for cakes and cookies). And of course I would be happy to give some advice on German Christmas food, like Stollen and Lebkuchen.

Mmmmmm, stollen and lebkuchen! :drool: I'm afraid I can't help much with "exotic" Christmas foods, because we do a pretty German Christmas at my house--Mom is from Germany, so we follow a lot of the old German traditions. Stollen and lebkuchen are standards, as are pfeffernusse, terassen-kekse, and black-and-white cookies. We never have chocolate chip or plain sugar cookies or any other "American" standards unless someone buys them or (much more likely) gets them as presents. The only exception is for Christmas day dinner itself, when our dessert is always apple pie and pumpkin pie, which are quite American pastries, I believe.

Here in Australia seafood is a popular choice for Christmas lunch. Many people also have cold roast meats (chicken, pork, turkey etc) with salad or vegies. Some people would have hot meat, but as it's the middle of summer here slaving over a hot stove on Christmas day is probably not top priority for most people. For dessert I think most people have plum pudding and brandy custard.

And of course I would be happy to give some advice on German Christmas food, like Stollen and Lebkuchen.
Do you have a Zimtsterne recipe? :drool:

Do you have a Zimtsterne recipe? :drool:

Of course! They're among my favourite Christmas cookies!

This is the first time I write a recipe in English, so I hope it works out.

Cinnamon Stars

• 4 egg white
• 1 pinch of salt
• 300 grams powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 450 grams peeled and ground almonds
• rasped peel of 1 lemon
• 2 teespoons of cinnamon

1. Add the salt to the egg white and beat until it’s stiff.
2. Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice into the egg white until it’s really firm.
3. Put about 4-5 tabelspoons of the stiff egg white into the fridge.
4. Add the almonds, lemon peel and cinnamon to the rest of the egg white and knead until it’s a smooth dough.
5. Roll out the dough, about ½ cm thick, and cut out star shaped cookies. (If the dough is too sticky, add some more almonds. But you can't avoid a certain degree of stickiness - after all, the only thing that holds it together is egg white.)
6. Put the stars onto a baking tray (with baking paper) and spread the rest of the egg white on them.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes at 160 °C.

I like it when the egg white on top of the cookies gets golden brown, but others prefer to take the stars out of the oven while they're still white.

Try them, they're great! :D

In the UK we have either Roast Chicken, Roast Pork, Roast Beef or Turkey...it just depends on what your family likes!

My mum normally cooks Turkey on Christmas, but I prefer Chicken!

We have this with all our veg, white pudding, cranberry sauce and a mixture of roast and mash potatoes.

For starters we normally have a prawn cocktail or soup (again depends on your taste) or a slice or two of melon.

For dessert, my mum always makess a sherry trifle, and normally the kids have something like jelly and ice cream or angel delight! Some families have cheescake and the fig roll pudding or christmas pudding or sticky toffeee pudding.....my mum varies it from year to year!

Here in the US, people tend to have turkey, ham, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and that kind of thing for Christmas dinner :). Other things that people have here are cranberry sauce, green bean cassorole, and squash.

Nothing too complex or anything, just good homemade food for the most part.

We have this with all our veg, white pudding, cranberry sauce and a mixture of roast and mash potatoes.
When it comes to Christmas vegetables you can't leave out Brussels sprouts: the only time of year when the shops manage to sell the things. People up and down the country force themselves to eat them just because it's traditional to do so at Christmas. The other traditional foods like mince pies, mulled wine, Christmas pudding and eggnog are at least nice.

When it comes to Christmas vegetables you can't leave out Brussels sprouts: the only time of year when the shops manage to sell the things. People up and down the country force themselves to eat them just because it's traditional to do so at Christmas. The other traditional foods like mince pies, mulled wine, Christmas pudding and eggnog are at least nice.


Oh yeah....reason I left out the brussel sprouts is because I hate them!! My dad used to make me eat them every Sunday! So once I was old enough to chose what I ate...I was like NO BRUSSEL SPROUTS or I WILL throw them at you lol!

The other stuff you mentioned...lol...I don't like either lol! My mate got drunk off mulled wine last year after I think 2/3 glasses....hahah!!! I've never had eggnog though! What does it taste like?

you've never had egg nog, Angelica? :err: *is shocked*

I can't really describe the taste...it's good though! Wikipedia Link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog).

The kind I buy is often pretty strong. Most people mix their egg nog with 7up, Alcohol (if they drink), or I mix mine with milk. :drool: :) It's not for everyone, but you should try it!

Hmm it sounds quite nice, I think I might give that a go and make some or buy it :) depending on what mood I am in haha!!!

Going by tha twikipedia link...eggnog already has milk in it? So do you just mix more milk in than usual or do you normally have it made without milk...or are you talking about store bought eggnog? I am confused :-s

Hmm it sounds quite nice, I think I might give that a go and make some or buy it :) depending on what mood I am in haha!!!

Going by tha twikipedia link...eggnog already has milk in it? So do you just mix more milk in than usual or do you normally have it made without milk...or are you talking about store bought eggnog? I am confused :-s

I get the store bought stuff. :) Never in my life would I dream of making homemade eggnog, :lol:. It seems like a lot could go wrong with it, for me. ;) The store kind works good enough for me.

Zimtsterne are my favourite, but they are a ***** to make, the dough is always sooo sticky and slimy. Last year I made 10 different kinds of Christmas cookies all in one day (took me about 11 hours). By the time I got to cutting out the cinammon stars, the dough got stuck all over my hands and in between my fingers and I nearly started crying and was ready to throw it all away. But I pulled through and they tasted wonderful in the end. Obviously I turned out with a huuuuge badge of all kinds of cookies, every surface in my kitchen was covered in cookies. They lasted for nearly the rest of December and my colleagues loved me for them, hehe.
This year I'm doing the marathon again, but a friend is going to help me.

If you're in Germany (as I guess a few people here are), I get most of my receipes from an anual issue of the "Laura" cookie mag. There are some excellent receipes in there.

Here in Italy it's traditional to have tortellini in brodo, which is filled pasta dumplings in meat broth. See image here (http://z.about.com/d/italianfood/1/0/d/z/tortellini.jpg)

It's very nice and not heavy at all, and makes a great contrast to all the stodgey sweet things you eat at Christmas.

I make a good broth, if I say so myself, but I always order the tortellini to be made for me ;)

I LOVE Christmas! The love, the presents, the sappy movies and kids shows on t.v. (anyone up for a re-run of Rudoph's Shiny New Year?) But of course, the food is important too!
My Christmas morning meal has always been important - traditionally made up of cooked canned sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. It's the only time of year my mom lets us have that sausage, so it's very special for my family.
My boyfriend, Nick and I have been celebrating the Christmas evening with his family since we started dating, and that's always great too. His mom makes a honey ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, crescent rolls, green beans, black beans, sweet potato pie, and an appetizer of different cheeses, crackers, and olives. For dessert, she always makes a cake and buys one of those frozen Edward's Oreo cookie pies.
Not to mention the CANDY you can find around Christmas! I have to stock up on candy canes at Christmas to last me the rest of the year, and there are so many chocolate and mint candies that are only available around the holidays (although they are becoming more popular as of late. Finally.).
And eggnog! I LOVE EGGNOG! Funny thing is, I drink it straight (I don't mix it with anything, and I'm not a drinker), and I only really like the store bought versions, although I can drink the ready-mix kinds (where you just add milk or cream). I'm the only one of all of my friends and family who likes it though - they all think I'm nuts, and I think that THEY are! :D

Has anyone got any recipes for non-alcoholic mulled wine? I was going to go with mulling spices with orange juice and red grape juice although I've also got some spiced fruit cordial that I was going to mix with red grape juice to see if that worked. Anyone made it before? I've only ever made it the traditional way with red wine.

Anyone have any ideas for a vegetarian main course? I've already got veggie side dishes (so please don't suggest potatoes or anything that is already found as a side). I've got to do up something for a few vegetarians for a party and I really don't want them feeling like all they have to eat is side dishes.

Here in Guatemala we eat tamales and Ponche...

Now the tamales I dont know how to do them ,they area awfully complicated but hte ponche whichis basically fruit punch is easy enough.

we drink it hot,with all the fruits boiled together,and add coconut,raisins,prunes...

its really delicious.

Anyone have any ideas for a vegetarian main course? I've already got veggie side dishes (so please don't suggest potatoes or anything that is already found as a side). I've got to do up something for a few vegetarians for a party and I really don't want them feeling like all they have to eat is side dishes.

This site theveggietable (http://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/recipes-az.html) has lots of great vegetarian/vegan recipes, including several Christmas recipes (http://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/christmas.html), scroll down for main dishes.
It's really nice of you to be so considerate of all your guests! :)

Anyone have any ideas for a vegetarian main course? I've already got veggie side dishes (so please don't suggest potatoes or anything that is already found as a side). I've got to do up something for a few vegetarians for a party and I really don't want them feeling like all they have to eat is side dishes.
Here's a nut roast recipe (easy to make):

Nut Roast

Ingredients
2 medium sized onions
vegetable oil
4oz (110g) ground cashew nuts
4oz (110g) ground brazil nuts
14oz (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes
handful of porridge oats
herbs and seasoning to taste
mushrooms for the filling

tin
2lb loaf tin (or savarin/garland/ring mould tin)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Grease the loaf tin.
Cook the onions in vegetable oil until softened.
Add the tin of tomatoes and simmer until the mixture has cooked down.
Add the ground cashew and brazil nuts. Mix in and then add the porridge oats: about enough to hold the mixture together; it shouldn't be too stiff.
Add herbs and seasoning to taste.
Put half the mixture in the tin and lay some sliced mushrooms on top. Then put the other half of the mixture on top.
Bake at the centre of the oven for 30 minutes.
Serve hot with mushroom and sherry sauce (see below).


A bit harder to make this one, but it goes well with the above (and roast potatoes).

Mushroom and Sherry Sauce

Ingredients
25g (1oz) butter or margarine
225g (8oz) mushrooms, wiped and quartered
1 tablespoon of sherry
4 teaspoons of flour (rice flour makes a smoother sauce, but wheat flour works fine)
570ml (1 pint) strong vegetable stock (3 vegetable stock cubes)
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan.
Add the mushrooms and sherry. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes on a high heat.
Uncover and continue to cook until the liquid evaporates, stirring constantly so that the mushrooms are well browned.
Reduce the heat, add the flour and cook the mixture thoroughly for 5-6 minutes, stirring all the time.
Add the stock a little at a time, stirring constantly to prevent lumps forming.
Simmer for 3-5 minutes and then season to taste.
Let the sauce cool slightly, then liquidise or hand blend until smooth.
Gently reheat the sauce.

Mmmh RavenEye, that sounds delicious, and I'm not even a vegetarian. But I'm going to have a veggie friend over sometime around Christmas, so I might print that receipe and try it out for her.

Thanks for the veggie recipes and website!

Greetings from Singapore! I like Eurasian food-no, I'm not Eurasian, but my mom's friends are, and we get invited to their place for Christmas a lot-like Devil's Curry, Shepherd's Pie, and other Eurasian dishes. Really nice. And the curry isn't very spicy at all. Probably because I've tasted very spicy curry, and lived through it.

For my family, we usually go out for buffet, pizza, or some fancy restaurant for Christmas dinner. (I'm hoping we're having Pizza Hut this year.) I guess we don't have the traditional Christmas meal-like turkey and stuff. We don't even hang stockings! (Nope, not even when I was a kid. My mom tried to trick me, but I'm like, yeah right.) The only "traditional" thing we do is go to church for Christmas Mass, I guess. And that isn't very traditional.

I just discovered this thread. We usually have a baked ham or roast goose for Christmas dinner with mashed potatoes, a green bean casserole (not the one with the mushroom soup!) that is made with fresh mushrooms and creme fraiche. I have to have cranberry sauce.

I will bake kolackys (Bohemian) in the square envelope style with the fillings peeking out the four corners, Christstollen which recipe is around 180 years old at least. It has been passed down mother to daughter forever; my own recipe for fruit cake which is so, so good. Not a raisin in it!

Sometimes I make cookies. This year I stuffed some medjool dates with vanilla flavored and sweetened cream cheese. I then rolled them in the large crystal decorator sugar. I called them sugar bombs. They are really good but you can only eat one. The dates are huge and very, very sweet.

Thanksgiving day here in the USA we have a turkey and my mothers stuffing recipe.