Gray winter days in our country are colored with long New Year and Christmas holidays. How much fantasy and culinary skill our hostesses need to show in order to prepare a festive table for each holiday, so much so as not to happen again and surprise households and friends, slaying them with another masterpiece!

The Christmas meal in this respect is different from the usual holiday feast. And the matter is not only in a completely different mood, and even not in the fact that strict Orthodox Christians are completing a long Filippovsky post on Christmas Eve. Christmas table is prepared in accordance with the centuries-old traditions. On how these traditions evolved, what dishes should stand on the holiday table on Christmas Day, on our website have already been told. And we will tell you how to prepare not only traditional dishes, sweets and drinks, but also about modern curious delights of culinary thought.

It is believed that the Christmas table must include such dishes: pancakes, fish, jelly, aspic, fried chicken or goose, suckling pig, pork head with horseradish, roast, homemade sausage, carols, bread with poppy seeds and honey, honey cakes. Complicated? Of course, few people will cook a suckling pig or pork head, but it’s so good (kutya, in other words), Christmas goose and homemade sausage is quite capable of any culinary specialist.

With (kutya)

Ingredients:
1 stack wheat grains
50-100 g of raisins,
50-100 g dried apricots,
50-100 grams of prunes,
50-100 g poppy,
50-100 g of nuts (several types are possible),
3-5 tablespoons honey

Cooking:
The number of dried fruits and nuts, determine to your liking. Pre-rinse and steam in boiling water raisins, prunes and dried apricots. Soak nuts and poppy seeds. Sort out the wheat, rinse well and place in a thick-walled pot, cover with three cups of water. Put in a preheated oven for 2-3 hours. Wheat should be completely boiled soft, the seeds will be soft. Cool in a saucepan. In the meantime, chop the dried fruits and nuts, sprinkle the poppy in a mortar until smooth (poppy milk). Mix all the ingredients and pour honey sated (dissolve honey 1: 1 with water and boil).

Kutya from rice

Ingredients:
1 stack rice,
1.5 tbsp honey
100 g raisins,
100 g dried apricots,
100 g almonds,
100 g hazelnuts,
2-2,5 stak. orange juice.

Cooking:
Cook the rice in orange juice. Cut prepared nuts and dried fruits and mix with rice. Decorate with large pieces of dried apricots.

On the Christmas table should certainly be a dish of poultry. How to cook a Christmas goose, we will tell in a separate article. Now we are talking about a duck or a chicken. Sour apples and dried fruits favorably accentuate the taste of the bird. Try it!

Duck with Prune Sauce

Ingredients:
1 average duck (about 2 kg),
400 g pitted prunes,
3 sweet and sour apples,
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. dry thyme,
6 tbsp. red dry wine
1 tbsp. starch,
salt, black pepper - to taste.

Cooking:
Carefully inspect the duck for any remaining feathers and, if necessary, pluck them out with tweezers. This is very important, otherwise all your labors can go to ashes. Now cook the stuffing: peel the apples and cores, cut them into thin slices, combine with 300 g of steamed and dried prunes and add thyme. Put the mixture in the belly of a duck and sew it with a harsh thread or nail it with toothpicks. Lay the duck on the back, pin the entire surface with a knife, making quite frequent cuts. Rub the duck with salt and pepper and brush with honey. In the oven preheated to 180-190 ° C, put a baking tray with a duck and bake for about 1.5 hours. Do not forget to water the duck with the resulting juice, about once every 10 minutes. For the sauce, soak the remaining prunes in boiling water for about half an hour, dry and finely chop. Pour wine into a saucepan, put on a slow fire. Meanwhile, stir the starch into 2 tbsp. water and add to the wine. Stir and add prunes. Boil the sauce for 5-7 minutes on minimal heat, stirring constantly. Then rub through a sieve or grind in a blender and leave in a saucepan, wrapped in it. Serve the duck by chopping it into portions, placing apple and prune mince and watering the sauce. As a side dish, use fresh vegetables and mashed potatoes.

Chicken in beer

Ingredients:
1 plump chicken (preferably chilled),
1 bottle of beer (not filtered)
2 green apples
5-6 tbsp. soy sauce (good!),
3-4 tablespoons red currant jelly,
ground black pepper, ground paprika - to taste.

Cooking:
Inspect the chicken carefully and remove the remaining feathers, cut the "ass". Drain and pack. Sprinkle with spices, pour soy sauce and refrigerate overnight. Then pour a little vegetable oil on a baking sheet, place the chicken on it with the breast up, put apples sliced \u200b\u200baround the chicken and put the baking sheet in the oven, preheated to 180-190 ° С. As soon as the skin begins to redden, begin to water the chicken with beer, about once every 10-15 minutes. 10 minutes before the end of cooking, pour the chicken with beer for the last time and place currant jelly on it. Put the finished chicken on the dish, and chop the apples and juice released during frying in a blender. Get spicy sauce. Crisp rice can be served as a side dish.

Prepare traditional meat dishes. For example, stewed meat in pots.

Meat in pots "Merchants"

Ingredients for 4 pots:
500 g pork or beef,
8 medium potatoes,
16 large champignons,
500 ml of broth,
150 g heavy cream,
2 onions,
100 g of hard cheese
a mixture of Provencal herbs,
salt, ground black pepper - to taste.

Cooking:
Dice the meat into small pieces, dice the potatoes, onions and mushrooms. Cheese rub on a fine grater. At the bottom of the pots lay a layer of onion, then a layer of potatoes, on it - meat and mushrooms. Salt, pepper. Pour broth, pour cream, sprinkle with cheese and spices. Put the pots in a cold oven, cover with lids and turn on the heat. Bring the temperature to 200-230 ° C and cook for 1-1.5 hours. This is a very satisfying dish, so serve it with lots of fresh vegetables.

In Argentina, baked fish is cooked for Christmas. At the bottom of the pan lay 500 g of chopped carrots, 4 chopped onions, parsley. Salt, pepper. On the vegetables, place the pieces of fish, pour oil, pour 1 stack. water and tightly close the lid. Put the pan in a hot oven and hold until fish is ready (about half an hour).

If you want to surprise your home and guests, cook a real homemade sausage. If the fussing with washing the intestines seems unpleasant to you, then try to find a replacement for them. For example, a sleeve for baking or food film. True, with them you can only cooked sausage. Our site will share one such recipe with you.

Boiled sausage

Ingredients:
2 kg of pork,
500 grams of beef
500 g unsalted pork fat,
50-70 grams of dry white wine,
100-150 g pistachios
1 tbsp. zira,
½ tsp white ground pepper,

2 tsp. black peppercorns,
1 tbsp. Sahara,
2 tbsp. salt.

Cooking:
Meat the meat separately through a meat grinder with a large grill, mix 1 tbsp into the pork. salt and all the sugar in beef - 1 tbsp. salt, mix well, wrap in foil and put in the refrigerator for 12 hours. After standing, combine both types of minced meat and skip 4 times through a meat grinder. Each time, after mincing minced meat, put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. In the process of grinding add wine 1 tbsp. In a dry frying pan, warm the cumin until it smells and immediately interpret it in a mortar. Soak pistachios in hot water, pat dry. Add all seasonings to the minced meat and knead well. Frosted lard cut into cubes and also mix in minced meat. Fold the food film 4-5 times to make a rectangle 30 × 40 cm. Make 2-3 such rectangles. Put the stuffing on the film, form loaves and tightly tighten. Tie the tips and tie the sausages with thin twine. Take a saucepan that fits to your sausages, fill with water and put the sausage. Bring to a temperature of 80-85 ° C, reduce the heat and cook the sausages for 2 hours. Soak the finished sausages in the cold for a day.

Liver souffle in Finnish

Ingredients:
600 g beef liver,
100 g round rice,
250 ml of milk
1 egg
2 yolks,
1 tsp salt,
1 onion,
100-150 g of raisins,
butter.

Cooking:
Crush the onions. Boil rice in boiling water until soft, strain and add milk. Chop raw liver in a blender, combine with rice, add egg and yolks, salt and mix well. The mixture should be quite liquid. Lubricate the butter portion of the molds (ideally silicone), pour the mixture in them at духов and put in the oven heated to 160 ° C for 1-2 hours, depending on the size of the forms. The finished soufflé remains moist and juicy, and its color changes from pinkish to grayish brown. Serve the soufflé with lingonberry jam or fresh lingonberries, ground with sugar.

Greek Christmas Bread

Ingredients:
8 stack flour,
1 ½ tbsp. dry yeast,
1 stack warm water
1 stack warm red wine,
¼ stack orange juice,
¼ stack brandy
½ stack olive oil,
1 stack Sahara,
1 ½ stack raisins
1 ½ stack walnuts,
1/3 stack pine nuts,
1 tbsp. ground anise,
1 tsp ground cinnamon,
1 tsp ground cloves,
¼ tsp ground nutmeg,
zest with 2 oranges,
milk for glazing,
2 walnuts in the shell,
sesame for dressing.

Cooking:
Mix yeast with ½ stack. warm water and 2 tbsp. flour, stir and leave until bubbles appear. In a large bowl, sift 2/3 of the flour, add salt, make a well and pour in the approached yeast, the remaining water and wine. Stir, cover with wax paper and a damp towel and leave to rise in a warm place. The dough should double. Then mix the dough thoroughly, sift into it the remaining flour, add butter, orange juice, brandy and orange zest. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, raisins, chopped walnuts, pine nuts, anise, and all the spices, stir and add to the dough. Knead the dough so that it does not stick to your hands, put it in a warm place and let it go. Lay out in 2 round shapes, oiled, cover with paper and a damp towel and let rise 2 times again. Before you put the bread in the oven, cut it crosswise with a knife, sprinkled with flour, put unpeeled walnut in the center and brush the surface of the bread with milk. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Preheat oven to 230 ° C, put a pan with water at the bottom of the oven. Put the dough forms in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 200 ° C and bake another 25-30 minutes. Lubricate the finished bread with water, cool a little, then remove from the mold and cool on a wire rack.

Uzvar (Russian vintage drink)

Ingredients:
800 ml of water
120 g of honey
100 g of dried apples,
100 g dried pears,
100 g dried cherries,
100 g of prunes,
100 g raisins.

Cooking:
Well washed dried fruits put in boiling water and cook until soft. At the same time, pears and apples should be cooked separately (they cook longer). Then combine the broths, boil, season with honey and leave in a cold place for 2 hours. Serve in a clay pot or jug.

Christmas log (french traditional dessert)

Ingredients:
100 g flour,
70 grams of sugar
4 eggs,
1 bag of baking powder,
250 g chocolate without filler,
250 ml of heavy cream,
100 g butter.

Cooking:
For the dough: beat the eggs with sugar until white, add flour, baking powder, mix gently and pour on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 150 ° C for 15 minutes. Overturn the finished layer on a wet towel, roll up and leave to cool. In the meantime, prepare the cream: heat the cream and butter to a boil, add the chopped chocolate, put it in the cold and stir vigorously until the chocolate is completely dissolved. Set aside a little cream for decoration, spread the remaining cream with the rest of the cream, roll it up, grease the “log” outside with cream and apply bark patterns with a fork. Cut the roll at both ends and attach the cut pieces to the “log” in the form of knots.

Since olden times, the Nativity of Christ was not only a church holiday, but also a national holiday. He continues to remain even in our enlightened days as one of the most revered and at the same time beloved religious and bright festivals for many people. According to Orthodox tradition in Russia, it is celebrated according to the Julian calendar from 6 to 7 January. In other countries, where it is common to use the Gregorian calendar, among Catholics and Protestants, it is celebrated on December 24-25.

Folk customs brought us a reminder that the Christmas holiday has always been considered a family celebration, a reason to gather all the relatives at the table and feel the magical atmosphere of the mystery of the birth of God's Son. It has always united deeply religious people and new converts, those who first joined the atmosphere of the great twelve feast.

From November 28, all believers begin to adhere to the Nativity Fast, which ends on Christmas Eve, on the evening of January 6. How to set the table for Christmas, following the traditions? Starting in the morning on this day, you need to cook it with chive or kutia - the main dish of the Christmas table. It is a porridge made from wheat with honey, fruit and nuts. Tightly eating this evening will not work - according to Orthodox canons still fasting. Until the first star, symbolizing the Bethlehem miracle of the birth of the Savior, it is strictly impossible to eat any food. The menu on Christmas Eve should be only lean! According to church rules, only fish, seafood, low-fat pastries, mushrooms, dumplings, vegetable dishes, sauerkraut and other products are allowed. Meat delights: Christmas goose, duck, turkey and chicken, baked with apples, sauerkraut or porridge, can be served January 7 during the day to break off.

How to serve the Christmas table on Christmas Eve

In order to reflect the essence of this bright family holiday, Christmas symbols are used. It is unlikely that someone from the modern housewives will put hay or straw under the tablecloth in the corners of the table or put garlic cloves there. Rather, it will turn its attention when serving on the harmony of the color of the tablecloth and the scenery, which will read the meaning of the holiday.

The main Christmas colors are white, scarlet, yellow-golden, green and blue. White-boiled color has always been considered the main one, as it was associated with the divine light. Red - symbolized the joy of the birth and resurrection of Jesus. The golden yellow or royal color was associated with soul and well-being, and the green color was always used as a symbol of eternal life. Many housewives use a blue tablecloth or dishes as a symbol of purity and spiritual purity when serving the holiday table on Christmas Eve. Before setting the table for Christmas, you need to decide on the range of shades, so as not to visually overload it.

An elegant and at the same time simple option can be a combination of a white-boiled starched tablecloth, such as napkins and greens: coniferous twigs, spruce paws or the beloved poinsettia, the “Christmas star” in the center of the table. Greens can be placed beautifully in ordinary glassware closer to the composition with a flower. Such decoration together with an elegant white tablecloth will create a joyful festive mood. A dark red tablecloth, so popular these days, with napkins decorated with snowflakes, will add solemnity and nobility to the holiday. It is in perfect harmony with it: white, yellow or decorated with golden tinsel candles in forged candlesticks, a wreath of coniferous branches with cones. On the Christmas table, any hostess is trying to put expensive dishes of crystal and porcelain.

And in memory of the symbols of Christmas, instead of natural hay, it is beautiful to cut straw or white paper, decorate the table with angel figures, or, if there is no place for placing them on the table, hang out the paper unearthly creatures on threads.

The symbol of the Catholic Christmas - ginger cookies - can be prepared by yourself or replaced with Tula gingerbread. But they look a bit heavier than the traditional aerial delicacy.

If on New Year's holidays the hostesses try to surprise the guests with new dishes, then the family Christmas table on January 7 is traditional. Of the twelve dishes laid on it are: pancakes, fish, roast goose, turkey, duck or chicken stuffed with apples, cabbage or buckwheat porridge, young piglet, aspic or aspic, homemade sausage, roast with mushrooms and pastries: honey cakes, roll with poppy seeds and honey, various buns, pies and cookies. Before setting the table for Christmas, it is necessary to cook rich kutya (socho) and uzvar.

The recipe of the uzvara is simple: for a couple of liters of boiling water, you need to take 0.5 kg of any dried fruits and bring them to the boil, adding 50 g of bee honey. Bring to a boil again, but do not boil (!) And cool. Serve in a decanter or earthen jar.

Traditional sochi is made from wheat, but rice kutia is popular today. The recipes for their preparation are identical: 200 g of rice or wheat, 100 g of poppy confectionery, 1 cup of any peeled nuts (walnuts, almonds, peanuts or hazelnuts), 50-100 g of honey (to taste), raisins 50 g or a quarter of a glass. You can add fresh cream, candied fruit. Rinse grain, pour cold water in proportion: for one part of the grain - two parts of water. Cook until ready. Then drain and cool. Poppy pour boiling water and boil until it becomes crumbly. Next, you need to scroll through the meat grinder. Raisins also steam up with hot water. Mix all ingredients and serve.

At the Christmas table is not accepted, as at the New Year's celebration, to treat guests with champagne. Usually, they start their meal with three spoons of kutya, which symbolize a tribute to the Holy Trinity. And at the table in a warm friendly atmosphere they congratulate each other, have quiet leisurely conversations, give pre-prepared gifts and enjoy the comfort of home.

Question What to cook for Christmas is relevant for many, many, many years. Every year, on the eve of Christmas, every Orthodox family sets up a family Christmas table, on which, according to tradition, 12 lenten dishes should be present,

Christmas is the brightest and magical holiday. Christmas Eve - the night of January 6-7 is called Christmas Eve. Until the evening of Christmas Eve, the Orthodox adhere to a strict fast and break their fast only after the first star appears in the sky.

Before Christmas, it is customary to set the table twice: on January 6, on Christmas Eve, the table must be fast, and on January 7, it is already Christmas, you can already cook dishes from eggs, milk and meat. Many follow the traditions and prepare 12 lenten dishes for Christmas. The number 12 symbolizes the number of apostles, there were just 12 of them. Someone thinks that 12 lenten dishes for Christmas symbolize the number of days of Christmas time - they are also twelve.

Very little time is left before the Holy Evening, and now it is important to know what to cook for Christmas 2017, than to treat the relatives and invited guests with tasty and useful food. Many mysterious and beautiful rituals and traditions, which are still honored and observed in many families, are associated with Christmas night, for example, children go and tell and sing Christmas carols.

So what to cook for Christmas? What dishes for Christmas to serve? What does the classic Christmas menu look like?

Traditionally, it is necessary to cook kutyu or kutyu without fail. This is a tasty and healthy wheat porridge (there are recipes for making kuty and rice or millet), from which the Christmas feast begins.

What to cook for Christmas - Recipes 12 dishes for Christmas

1. Kutya

Ingredients: wheat cereal - 1 cup, walnuts - 1 cup, dried apricots - 10 pcs; raisins and poppy half a glass; honey.

Wash the croup, leave it in cold water for 4 hours. After that, in aluminum or stainless steel dishes, boil the cereal over a small fire, adding 2 cups of water. When the porridge comes to readiness, we set it aside and let it cool. At this time, poppy, raisins and dried apricots in different dishes pour boiling water. When the water gets cold, pour it, Mack grind, cut dried apricots into small pieces. Walnuts are also cut into small pieces. Mix porridge with all ingredients, add honey to taste.

2. Uzvar (compote)

Uzvar - compote of dried fruits. Traditional uzvara Christmas drink is brewed from a mixture of dried apples and pears, cherries and plums. This uzvara has a rich, pleasant taste, so cook it in advance - in the morning. This drink is also very useful, in winter you can cook uzvar not only for Christmas, Generous Evening and Baptism, but also just like that, as an alternative to compotes (canned or from frozen berries) and tea.

3. Lenten hodgepodge

The first dish for Christmas (on Christmas Eve) - Lenten hodgepodge how to cook?

For the hot perfect solyanka with mushrooms. For it, you will need mushrooms (in winter, of course, the choice is small, so use fresh champignons, you can also take dry ones), a small head of cabbage, one carrot, two onions, two or three pickled cucumbers, a small potato, salt, greens, oil and pepper. So, put the water on the fire until the water boils, fry the mushrooms and onions. Cabbage, carrots, potatoes and pickles chopped. Alternately, we put raw vegetables in boiling water, boil them, then mushrooms, boil and, before removing the saltwort from the heat, add garlic, herbs and vegetable oil. The first dish is ready.

4. Pampushki

A traditional dish at Christmas - Pampushki

Pampushki served on the table instead of bread, but the bread should be on the table necessarily. Dumplings are cute round buns made from unleavened yeast dough, and for them it’s good to cook such a dish as ...

5. Vinaigrette

For a snack, prepare a vinaigrette. For him, we need boiled beets, carrots, potatoes, pickled cucumber, a can of canned peas, herbs and salt. We cut the vegetables into small cubes, chop the greens, then combine all the ingredients, add salt, and fill with butter. Vinaigrette is ready! In strict fasting, you need to eat Lenten dishes without oil, so if you do not fill the salad with oil, you can serve it on strict days.

6. Potatoes in foil in the oven

Dishes for Christmas recipes - Potatoes in foil in the oven

Ingredients: medium-sized potatoes (2 per person), garlic - 4 cloves, greens, vegetable oil, salt, spices, foil.

Potatoes thoroughly washed, removing all particles of the earth. Drain, then grease with oil on all sides. Cut off part of the foil so that the piece is the same size as the tuber. In the center of the sheet put coarse salt, garlic, on top of the potatoes, which is sprinkled with salt. We pack. It is necessary after the convolutions are ready, to make several holes in each of them with a toothpick. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, spread convolutions on a baking sheet, bake them for about fifty minutes. Check readiness. When there are no complaints, remove the foil, put the potatoes on the dish and sprinkle it with finely chopped greens.

7. Cabbage rolls with mushrooms

Dishes for Christmas - Stuffed Cabbage with Mushrooms Cooking Recipe

Ingredients: champignon mushrooms, white cabbage, rice, onions, carrots, tomato paste, salt, pepper.

Cut mushrooms, fry in butter. Add to them finely chopped onion, fry all together. Three carrots, which is sent to the pan to the mushrooms and onions. At this time, boil the rice, which is mixed after with the cooled contents of the pan. This is stuffing for stuffed cabbage. Boiled cabbage sheets are filled. After that, lightly fry to secure the form of cabbage. Put them in the pan. Prepare a mixture of water and tomato paste (1.5 cups of liquid - 3 tablespoons of pasta), pour the cabbage rolls. Simmer on low heat for 40 minutes.

8. Dumplings with potatoes

Dumplings on the Christmas table - What to cook for Christmas

On the lean table, be sure to put the dumplings with potatoes. To do this, prepare the dough like dumplings, but without eggs. As a filling, mashed potatoes with fried onions are used. Then sculpt the dumplings, boil and serve with vegetable oil.

9. Dumplings with cherries

Dumplings for Christmas - Sweet Food for Christmas

Dumplings with cherries. A wonderful sweet dish that can be eaten as a dessert!

Although you can make dumplings with other fillings: potatoes, cabbage, beans and even poppy seeds.

10. Baked fish with vegetables

Baked fish with vegetables is a great option for a tasty lean Christmas dinner.

Ingredients: Fish (fillet) 2 pcs .; Red tomatoes 1 pc .; Bulgarian pepper 2 pcs .; Onion 2 pcs .; Garlic 2 cloves;

Peel and cook vegetables and fish for further work. Slice vegetables randomly and fold into baking sheet. Salt, pepper, drizzle with olive oil and send them to bake in a preheated oven. Vegetables should be baked until cooked. Occasionally reach the pan and mix them gently.

Rub the fillets with spices for fish (or salt and pepper) and red paprika. When the vegetables are ready, lay the fillets on top, pour the juice from the vegetables. Put in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Then turn and cook another 3-5 minutes.

11. Billets

Christmas dishes - Christmas table blanks - Salads for Christmas

You can open a can of vegetable salad from summer stocks - for example, a salad of pepper, eggplant, or make a salad of sauerkraut. Two or three menu items vary every year.

12. Dessert

Dessert on the Christmas table - Sweet food for Christmas 2017

For dessert, prepare fruit jelly on the principle of vegetable aspic. Cut the fruit, arrange it in glasses and pour it with a sweet solution of gelatin.

The second dessert on a lean table can be baked apples with honey, nuts and dried fruits.

Try to cook a Christmas dinner properly, because 12 dishes are not just food, but a great folk and family tradition, and it only seems that they take a long time to do. In fact, it is easy to do everything.

What can not be cooked for Christmas - What dishes should not be on the Christmas table

Instruction

Cover the table with a white starch tablecloth. It is supposed to put some straw under it - it is a symbol of the creches in which Jesus Christ was after. Napkins on this holiday should also be white, better - textile. Place garlic under the tablecloth from the four corners of the table - it is believed that it drives away evil spirits from your home and your family. You can pour a little grain under it - this rite promises abundance.

At Christmas, there must be 12 dishes on the table, in memory of the twelve apostles - the Savior's disciples. The traditional holiday menu includes, for example, kutya (sochy), jelly, aspic, honey cakes. To make the task easier, prepare at least a few of them, and add to it, for example, with salads or pickles. On the table also must be present roast, most often it is a whole baked bird. As a side dish for this dish, take the potatoes, fried slices, cabbage or stewed apples (the last two options can be used as minced meat). Goose can also be stuffed with orange slices. One of the main Christmas dish options is whole fish (perch, catfish, sturgeon). It can be baked in the oven with mushrooms and onions, filled with sour cream sauce.

Put kutya in the center of the table - it is traditionally from her that breaks off after a strict Christmas fast begins. To cook this dish, take a glass of wheat, nuts, raisins, poppy seeds and honey (to taste). Cook the grains, steam the poppy and grind it, or skip through a meat grinder. Mix all ingredients together. Serve cold.

An indispensable attribute of the Christmas table - a large number of varied pastries. Try baking traditional carols, it’s not at all difficult. For “carols”, knead the dough from flour and water (milk) in a 2: 1 ratio, lightly salted it. Divide the dough into balls, leave for 20 minutes. After that, roll the cakes, put the stuffing inside, fasten the edges so that you get small open cheesecakes or baskets. For the filling, you can take berries, cottage cheese, potatoes, mushrooms. Bake carols at 200 degrees.

Cook uzvar - a traditional Christmas drink, decoction of dried fruit. You can also make sbiten - a hot drink made from water, spices (ginger, cinnamon, cloves) and honey. All ingredients are cooked for half an hour, then you can add a little brandy to a hot sbiten.

Decorate the table with tall candles in glass candlesticks or compositions of coniferous twigs, you can add bunches of viburnum and spikelets to them.

Related article

You are able to transform Christmas  in a real fairy tale, to celebrate a holiday, like in the movies, behind the beautifully decorated the table, even if you do not have the opportunity to fix it with expensive delicacies. You can turn an ordinary dinner into a Christmas one with the help of a front tablecloth, unusually folded napkins, cute fairy figures, aromas and tableware.

Instruction

If you decide to set the table in the same way as our ancestors did on Christmas, stock up with a small amount of hay. Lay it on the tabletop, and then cover it with a white cloth with embroidery. The white tablecloth is a symbol of purity and snow, and the scarlet is the blood of the Savior born into the world. Be sure to cook kutya, even if you do not really like her. Put a little kutya in a small gilded or glass dish and place a beautiful lighted candle in it. This dish should be in the center of the table.

  If you are not going to decorate the table in an authentic style, then still pay attention to such an element of decor as candles. The stores are now big candles - from classic to the most unusual. Put them in small candlesticks, well, if they are made of colored crystal or glass, so that the flame is reflected in them. You can use a large low vase instead of candlesticks. Fill it with water and let some lit candles float (such small scented candles are sold in special metal coasters). You can put flower buds in the water. They will draw attention to themselves by slowly moving over the surface of the water and the reflections of the flame in the crystal. This is a fascinating sight. The best in the room while muting or turning off the electric lighting.

Christmas was always the main and bright holiday in Russia, it was always looked forward to, and it was celebrated widely and cheerfully. Festivities, sleigh rides and triples, divination traditional Russian fun at this holiday. Of course, among all the entertainment people did not forget about the feast. Especially since in Russia before Christmas a long and rather strict fast takes place.

After the fast, just before Christmas, January 6th, Christmas Eve begins. He is preceded by breaking his fast. You can begin to break even with the appearance of the first star. You are surprised by knowledge, experience and their rational use by our ancestors. After all, it was impossible to eat a lot on Christmas Eve. Only dishes that we talk about below. And this is not knowing such concepts as diet, as a way out of fasting, etc. Just limited and everything.

And only on January 7, the real conversation began in the morning. And the pig and roast goose, and lamb, and hare, and the glass too, everything was on the table. Traditional Christmas dishes are meat dishes. Another obligatory dish is baking. All sorts of cakes, pie, pies, pies, pancakes with different fillings, casseroles. From sweet served fruits, berries, honey, gingerbread, cookies.

Well, how? Do you have an appetite? Let's get down to business.

The menu on the festive table on Christmas Eve and Christmas: Russian cuisine

Since the Christmas feast begins on Christmas Eve, January 6, and continues on the 7th, I think we should start with Christmas Eve. We will try to go through this shortly.

Menu:

On Christmas Eve:

On Christmas:

On the Christmas Eve, as a rule, the whole family gathered, and indeed anyone could come in, so many people gathered. Since ancient times, on the table on the last evening before the birth of Christ put 12 dishes (as a symbol of the worship of the 12 apostles who were under the Savior). There should be an even number of people at the table, and if it was odd, they would deliver an empty chair and put the device.

Well, okay, now we will sort out 2-3 recipes of traditional, obligatory dishes on Christmas Eve before Christmas and the rest are not mandatory, but preferred. You can cook something like that if you want.

1. Kutya (sochy) classic with Uzvar

Kutya is the "mistress" of the Christmas table. Uzvar is another mandatory dish on the Christmas table. If kutyu is considered the mistress of the holy supper, then uzvar is its master.

Ingredients:

For kutya:

• Wheat cleared (ground) - 2 glasses
• Raisin - 1 cup
• Walnuts - 1 cup
• Mack - 1 glass
• Sugar - 3-4 tbsp.

To uzvara:

• Dried fruits - depending on the number of guests. Proceed from the calculation of 100 g of dried fruit per 1 liter of water. If you want Uzvar thicker, put 120 grams of dried fruit per liter of water.
• sugar - based on 3 tbsp. 1 liter compote. Do according to your taste.

Cooking:

1. First, wash the wheat in cold water.

2. As soon as the water became clear, set to boil. The ratio of water to grain is 2 to 1. Wheat will boil for about 40 minutes.

3. Poppy is also well washed and filled with boiling water.

4. Do not forget to periodically stir the wheat, so that it does not burn.

5. Dry the peeled walnuts in a dry frying pan for about 5 minutes. Do not forget to shake or stir.

6. 20 minutes after the start of cooking, the wheat must be salted.

7. Wash the raisins.

8. Wash dried fruits, then pour with cold water and leave for 20 minutes.

9. Fill the poppy with water, for 100 g of poppy - 70 ml. water, put on the weakest fire and weed until the liquid is absorbed by 30 minutes. If it turns out that the liquid has been absorbed earlier, add some more water.

10. Raisin, too, pour boiling water for 15 minutes.

11. Dried fruits set to boil, right in the liquid with which we poured them. Once boiled, add sugar and cook for 10-15 minutes.

12. Poppy is also ready, there is no liquid. We set aside and close the lid.

13, 40 minutes have passed, our wheat is ready. Wash it with cold water.

14. We start to collect kutya. Put the prepared wheat in a deep cup.

15. Nuts pour out in a plastic bag,

wrap and roll with a rolling pin several times to crush the nuts. You can cut them with a knife, scroll in a meat grinder or grind them in any other way. But this is the fastest.

16. Add nuts to wheat.

17. Add raisins, pre-drain the water.

18. Poppy sprinkle with 2-3 spoons of sugar and finely grind in a mortar. Well, if the mortar is not frayed in a cup with a rolling pin, to a semi-liquid state.

19. Also add it to our kutyu.

20. Now add honey. It is desirable to add liquid. To do this, you can warm it or dilute it with a little warm water.

All mix well. Our kutya is ready. Our uzvar is also ready and a little insisted.

Serve kutia on the table with uzvar.

Enjoy your meal!

And now I want to show you a more common version of modern kutya:

2. Video - Christmas kutia made from rice

And one more, well, quite simple recipe for kids

3. Video - Kutya from rice

4. Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• Beet - 1-2 medium
• potatoes - 3 medium
• carrots - 1 medium
• Canned green peas - 3 tbsp.
• onion - 1 medium head
• pickled or pickled cucumbers - 2 medium
• Pickled cabbage - 3/4 cup
• Salt, sugar, pepper
• Vegetable oil

Cooking:

1. Beets, potatoes, carrots, boil, cut into cubes.
2. Peel the onions and cut into cubes.
3. All ingredients mix, fill with vegetable oil, what you like. I love very much with unrefined sunflower oil.

Enjoy your meal!

5. Two recipes for dumplings with potatoes

The first recipe uses sour cream as a sauce. Please use vegetable oil. The second recipe fits all the canons of Christmas Eve.

A few days ago, we were preparing unusual, large dumplings in a frying pan. But the recipes for cooking dumplings and especially fillings for dumplings are probably countless.

6. Delicious and simple bean salad

Bean salad is cooked fairly quickly, it is a very nutritious dish that can fully replace meat. Beans contain a large amount of protein, vitamins, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and fiber, which has a positive effect on the digestive process and reduces cholesterol.

7. Peppers stuffed with vegetables

Stuffed peppers or stuffed cabbage– usually this dish is cooked with rice and meat as a filling, but for lean Christmas table you can wrap mushrooms and millet in cabbage leaves. It turns out very tasty!

The rich composition of pepper makes it very useful for the heart and maintain immunity. Useful properties are particularly relevant for diabetics and those who control body weight, because sweet pepper, despite the ability to stimulate appetite, lowers blood sugar levels.

8. Fish in Ginger Sauce

it is allowed on Christmas Eve.

We have cooked fish many times in different types and under different sauces. Today we will cook with ginger sauce.

9. Seafood

In addition to fish on Christmas Eve you can eat any seafood.

We prepared two excellent seafood salads. Today you can safely use them.

10. Eggplant stuffed in the oven

Eggplants and mushrooms are another great ingredient for your Christmas table.

Much has been written about eggplants, and that it is a very useful product, it is impossible to count any useful things in them, and that they have a very low calorie content, and indeed one of the most useful vegetables at the potato level.

11. Baked apples with honey and nuts

The main winter vitamin dessert is a delicacy!

Ingredients:

• Apples - 4 pcs.
• Honey - 4 tbsp. l
• Walnuts - 100 gr.
• Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Apples wash. Cut off the top with the stem. Cut out the core and some pulp. So that remained apple mold.
2. Nuts crushed into a large crumb.
3. Mix honey with nuts, add to taste cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and stuffed apples.
4. Cover the apples with "caps" with stem. Put apples in a fireproof dish. Add some water.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees until the apples are soft. From time to time, water the apples with the resulting syrup.

12. Spicy Pumpkin

Another gift for those who are going to organize a traditional Christmas fast dinner.

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin - 1 kg.
• Sugar - 1 tbsp.
• White wine vinegar - 125 ml.
• Olive oil - 3 tbsp.
• Garlic - 1 clove
• Black pepper, pinch of ground cinnamon
• A handful of fresh mint leaves

Cooking:

1. Peel the pumpkin and seeds, cut the flesh into long oblong slices 1 cm thick, cut each lobule in half.
2. Heat oil in a large frying pan, fry the pumpkin with peeled garlic for 3 minutes. As soon as the garlic turns dark, remove it. Remove the pan with pumpkin from the heat, gently drain excess fat.
3. Sprinkle the pumpkin with sugar and cinnamon, mix well, pour in vinegar, add mint and pepper to taste.

Cover with a lid, let it brew for at least 15 minutes. It can be served to the table both cold and hot.

Enjoy your meal!

Well, now consider what you can cook already on Christmas Day for breaking. Of course, first of all we will consider the preparation of geese and ducks. We prepared several different options for the New Year.

13. Christmas goose and duck

Today I will try to step by step tell and show how to cook geese and ducks for the New Year and Christmas. Since their preparation for two neighboring holidays does not differ from each other. Here are recipes geese baked whole in the oven and pieces in a pan and duck in the oven. Please watch and repeat.

Another recipe for goose.

14. Video - Christmas Goose

15. Pork in orange marinade

Ingredients:

• Pork ham - 3 kg.
• Oranges - 4 pcs.
• Apple - 1 pc.
• Honey - 1 cup
• Muscat wine - 1 glass
• White dry wine - 1 glass
• Water - 1 cup
• Cinnamon - 2 sticks
• Bulb onion - 3-4 pcs.
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Olive oil - 4 tbsp. l
• Rosemary - 1 tbsp. l
• Salt pepper

Cooking:

1. Wash the meat, salt and pepper.
2. In a large bowl, mix the juice of 2 oranges, honey, wine, cinnamon, chopped onion, chopped garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Put the pork in this marinade, close the film and leave for a day in the refrigerator. From time to time, turn the meat in the marinade so that it is evenly marinated.
4. The next day, get the meat from the marinade, put it in a fireproof dish, pour the marinade on it and add water. From above spread out slices of 2 oranges and apples.
5. Close the dishes with foil. Bake in the oven at 180 C for 3 hours. From time to time, turn the meat over and water the marinade.

When it is almost ready, remove the foil and allow the meat to redden.

Enjoy your meal!

You and I haven't cooked any cold dishes. Let's see the filler fish.

16. Aspic from fish

Another absolutely new year's dish is aspic. Of which it is not only made, and of various poultry meat, and of beef, especially by-products, pork, rabbit meat. We make aspic mainly from fish.

17. Oven baked fish in puff pastry and fish in batter

18. Video - Jelly Beef

19

19. Jelly from beef, pork and chicken

Ingredients:

• Pork knuckle - 1 pc.
• Chicken legs - 2 pcs.
• A little beef - 500-600 g.
• Onion, bay leaf, pepper, salt, spices

Cooking:

1. Put all the meat in the pan, about 5 liters, and pour water. Do not cook.

2. Just leave in the water for 1.5-2 hours. After a couple of hours, the blood remaining in the meat will be released into the water. You will see the water turn red.

3. Drain this water, wash the meat and pour it again with clean water. We put stew. Add onions, carrots, bay leaf.

4. Bring to a boil and remove the foam so that the surface of the water is clean. Usually remove the spoon with holes. Unfortunately was not at hand. After removing the foam, close the lid and leave to boil for 3.5 - 5 hours. (As I have said more than once in my recipes, the cooking time depends on many reasons: what a stove, what meat, what water, etc.) Therefore, check. Meat should be free of bone separation.

5. After 3.5 - 5 hours, half of the water boiled away. We added only once a half liter of water.

6. Remove the meat from the broth, and add garlic to taste, salt, pepper.

7. Add chopped parsley and dill. Bring almost to a boil, but do not boil. Mix well and leave to stand on a warm stove.

8. Take the meat. The meat is already well boiled soft.

9. Separate from the bones and cut into small pieces.

10. Mix all kinds of meat, salt, pepper, mix well.

11. In a deep bowl put a few sliced \u200b\u200bkruglyashkov carrots

12. Add the greens.

13. Put meat on top

14. and pour broth. We put in the refrigerator for the night and in the morning your jelly is ready.

Meat, tasty, fragrant.

Enjoy your meal!

20. Different cakes for Christmas

I have already released several recipes for making pies. These are very tasty pies and not very complicated recipes. We prepared them for the New Year, but not all. Take and cook for Christmas.

21. Video - Delicious Christmas Turkey