Christmas past

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Posted at 12:16PM, 18 December 2009 by Carol Wilson - Food writer

The midwinter festival has been celebrated with special foods since time immemorial. The advent of Christianity saw the ancient Yule celebrations of the pagan Vikings replaced with the Christian celebrations of Christ's birth, but many pagan traditions were incorporated too, such as decorating the house with mistletoe and holly. Later, the sumptuous medieval feasts of the nobility and later still the rich Christmas dinners of the Victorians also contributed to the traditional Christmas foods that we enjoy today.

Surprisingly, it wasn't until 1865 that special attention was given to Christmas, when Mrs Beeton's 'Dictionary of Everyday Cookery' observed 'A noble dish is a turkey, roast or boiled. A Christmas dinner with the middle classes of this empire, would scarcely be a Christmas dinner without its turkey'. She also included two recipes for plum pudding - a plain one for children and a richer version for adults, with the comment that this was 'seasonable on the 25th December and also at Christmas time'. Christmas pudding recipes in old cookery books often list grated carrots in the ingredients - this was originally a thrifty measure to reduce the amount of expensive sugar and dried fruits.

Bread sauce can be traced back to the Middle Ages when bread was beaten with the meat juices

Turkeys, native to the Americas, were introduced into Europe by the Spanish, who encountered the strange birds in Mexico in 1519. As the birds became cheaper their popularity increased and turkey gradually replaced the swans, peacocks and boar's head served at the great feasts. In the 18th century turkeys had become farmyard fowl and great numbers were walked to the London markets after the harvest - a journey that took three months from farms in Norfolk and Suffolk. Traditionally turkey was filled with stuffing to prevent the meat from drying out during the long cooking time; chestnut stuffing was a particular 18th century favourite. The tradition of serving bread sauce can be traced back to the Middle Ages when bread was beaten with the meat juices and spices until smooth and served with meats and poultry. Nowadays bread sauce is rich and creamy and traditionally spiced with mace, cloves and pepper.

Modern Christmas pudding is a descendant of a 15th century thick soupy mixture of beef, wine, onions, dried fruits, herbs and spices, thickened with breadcrumbs. Dried plums (prunes) were a Tudor addition and were so popular that 'plums' became a generic term for all dried fruits. By the 17th century, this mixture had become a special Christmas dish called Christmas or plum porridge, often laced with alcohol. By the end of the 18th century, plum pudding had replaced the porridge.

Plum pudding began to be called 'Christmas pudding' in 1836 and became the symbol of Christmas cheer, mainly due to Charles Dickens' wonderfully evocative description in 'A Christmas Carol': '...the pudding like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of a quartern of ignited brandy and belight with Christmas holly stuck in the top'. Christmas pudding, crammed with fruit and spices, is the crowning glory of the Christmas dinner.

Comments

robert

23 December 2009, 1:38PM
robert

I always wondered why bread sauce was part of the Christmas dinner - now I know!

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yew

30 December 2009, 12:27PM
yew

Hi This is a bit of an emergancy, I am cooking curried vegtable parcel in filo pastry, for tomorrow evening. I would however like to know if it is ok to make them today and leave uncooked in the fridge till tomorrow night. All help on this is very much appreciated. Thanks Yew

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suzi

6 January, 1:47PM
suzi

What's happened to all the reviews for the recipes??

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JoD

16 January, 1:01PM
JoD

I'd like to know where the recipe comments are as well. The site says they'll be back in the new year but it's January 16 now and still no comments!

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Mrs H

31 January, 2:55PM
Mrs H

Yes, it is now 31st January and the comments aren't back yet. I can't find an address or anything on the site that I could write to, as I would like to know when they are returning. It might sound a bit daft, but I like to read the comments before trying any of the recipes, as people leave some really good hints or tweaks on how to improve them ever so slightly.

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