Culture

Christmas is one of the most beloved and long-awaited Christian holidays, celebrated throughout the world, albeit on different dates. For many, this holiday is associated with happiness, fun and a good mood, and this is at a time when the weather outside can leave much to be desired. At Christmas, it is customary to gather with family, friends and relatives and prepare delicious dishes, which will be discussed. Find out what dishes Christians from around the world prefer to indulge in at Christmas.

1) Eastern Europe

In the countries of Eastern Europe, on Christmas Eve it is customary to cook meatless meatless dishes, since before that it is customary to keep a Christmas post. The next day, you can cook meat dishes. It is customary for the Slavic peoples to commemorate the deceased relatives and loved ones on Christmas and even leave a place at the table with food for them.

Traditional Christmas dishes in the Czech Republic are fried carp and potato salad. This tradition appeared when fish began to be bred in large numbers in the country in the 17-18th centuries. It is also customary to cook various Christmas cookies that are distributed to guests. Christmas preparations begin long before the holiday.

2) Peru

On Christmas Eve, the whole family usually gathers together to enjoy a hearty turkey dinner stuffed with minced meat and nuts and garnished with fresh pineapple slices and cherries, fried potatoes and apple sauce. Marzipan, raisins, almonds and a panettone pie with a cup of hot chocolate are served for dessert. At midnight, someone says toasts, people exchange wishes, hug. Then they take up seats in the living room and begin to sing Christmas songs.

3) Finland

The Christmas table in Finland is rich in various dishes, most of which, however, are related to the season. The main dish is usually a Christmas ham, which is eaten with mustard or bread, not forgetting the rest of the dishes. They can serve fish - lutefisk (fish soaked in alkali) or gravlax (salted salmon), as well as liver casserole with raisins, potatoes, rice and carrots. From drinks - mulled wine (heated wine with spices).

4) Canada

In the English part of Canada, Christmas dinners are not much different from English or American. By tradition, a stuffed turkey with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, vegetables is placed on the table, and raisin pudding for dessert. Mogul-mogul - milk punch with beaten eggs and alcohol - a very popular drink on winter holidays. They also serve cakes with butter cream, shortbread cookies, which are traditionally baked on the eve of Christmas.

Immigrants brought with them a lot of their dishes and traditions. In the French part of Canada, as you might guess, most follow French customs.

5) Denmark

In Denmark, a traditional Christmas table is set on December 24th. They serve either baked pork or goose. A meat dish is served with potatoes, red cabbage or sauce. For dessert, rice pudding, often with almonds inside. Anyone who comes across a nut will be lucky next year. Traditional Christmas drinks are mulled wine and beer, which is specially made for Christmas. These drinks are high in alcohol.

6) Holland

Christmas dinner in the Netherlands is somewhat different from traditions in neighboring countries. One of the Dutch traditions is gourmet. Small groups of people get together, each brings his own pan and prepares his dish in small quantities. The owner prepares chopped vegetables and various types of meat and fish, shrimp in advance. All dishes are complemented by different salads, fruits and sauces. The tradition probably came to Holland from Indonesia, a former colony.

The Dutch love to cook traditional European dishes for Christmas, including grilled beef, rabbit, pheasant or glazed ham. The meat is served with various vegetables and salads. In recent years, the traditions of the Anglo-Saxon countries have become very popular in Holland. As in England, they began to cook turkeys for Christmas.

7) France

In France and some French-speaking countries, Christmas is celebrated on the evening of December 24th. The French call this holiday réveillon  (Dinner on Christmas night) from the word réveil - "Awakening", because according to tradition, participants should not sleep almost all night, or at least until midnight. Traditional dishes: goose or duck liver, oysters, smoked salmon, lobster, roast duck, goose or turkey with chestnuts. For dessert - a traditional Christmas cake Bouche de Noel with chocolate or hazelnut flavor, which is made in the shape of a log. Of drinks, champagne is usually preferred.

8) New Zealand

Due to the fact that New Zealand was a British colony for a long time, many traditions of the celebration of Christmas came here with the British. For Christmas, a baked turkey with vegetables is prepared, sometimes stuffed with cranberry sauce. Sometimes they can serve baked ham as a main dish, and lamb is also very popular here.

One important difference from English Christmas feasts is the lack of a goose, as these birds are not raised in New Zealand, and the government bans the import of foreign meat products. For dessert, in almost all cases, Christmas pudding (or raisin pudding) and brandy sweet butter are prepared. These dishes also came from England. Also on the New Zealand Christmas table you can find many other dishes, including German muffins, French cake log Buche de Noel, Italian pie panettone. However, these dishes are the exception rather than the rule. Since New Zealanders are forced to celebrate Christmas not in winter, but in summer, they like to celebrate it in nature, seasonal fruits and berries are served on the table. Also a very popular Christmas dessert is Pavlova cake made from whipped protein with fruit.

9) UK

The British Christmas celebrations begin in the afternoon. For a festive dinner, baked turkey or goose (sometimes a duck, but it depends on the number of guests) is served. Sometimes they offer baked ham or piglet, fried potatoes, boiled or steamed vegetables, especially Brussels sprouts, sausage stew, cranberry sauce. For dessert - pudding and sweet brandy butter.

In England, the tradition of cooking turkey for Christmas was born quite quickly. Initially, in medieval England, either a peacock or a wild boar was prepared as the main dish. After the French Jesuits brought turkeys to England, these birds became the main course for Christmas, beginning in the 18th century.

In the UK, according to tradition, birds’s breast bone is divided at Christmas, thus predicting the future. This bone in the form of a slingshot is taken by 2 people who begin to pull both ends of it in different directions. As a result, after it breaks down, that person who has a long bone in his hand remains the winner, he will be lucky all year, to the other - on the contrary.

10) USA

Many Christmas traditions in the United States were borrowed from England and other European countries, however, this is not surprising, since the first settlers were Europeans. The main Christmas dishes in America will be turkey, cranberry sauce, corn, pumpkin and green beans. For dessert, they serve what the family loves according to ethnicity, but they often prepare pumpkin pie, marzipan, cookies, panettone pie, fruit cake, apple pie, carrot cake and others. Instead of turkeys, they can cook baked beef, since turkey is the main dish on Thanksgiving in November.

In different states it is customary to cook different dishes, for example, in Hawaii - teriyaki sauce, in Virginia - oysters and ham pie, and in the Midwest - Scandinavian dishes - lutefisk, turnip dishes. In the southwest, especially in New Mexico - grate soup, tamal (meat stewed with corn), biscuit cookies and others.

For the British, Catholic Christmas is a special family holiday. It is on this day that the whole family gathers for a festive Christmas dinner or dinner, for which the mistress of the house tries to surprise everyone with her culinary talents.

As in other countries, in England it is considered that the next year will pass, so the whole next year will pass, so everyone tries to relax and have fun from the heart, and also arrange a grand belly celebration, since the table is full of various delicious food.

What is being prepared for the gala dinner and what are guests in England treated to for Christmas?

Traditional Christmas food in England

Most often, Christmas dinner begins quite early, right after lunch time. At the table, special attention is paid.

Previously, a boar's head was a traditional dish on a Christmas table, later a roast goose or bustard took root as a meat dish, and for rich people, a peacock or a swan roasted whole.

Moreover, before bringing the bird to the table, its beak was golden and decorated with feathers. Now meat dishes on Christmas tables in most of England are habitually represented by roasted or stuffed turkey.

The true queen of the holiday at Christmas is considered a turkey, sprinkled with gooseberry sauce. After the main meat dish is served, the owner of the house cuts it and puts it in the guests' plates.

Back in England, the following dishes are traditional for a Christmas table: “pigs in a blanket” or sausages in bacon with hot cranberry sauce, roast beef with vegetables, vegetable soup (although the soup is quite a rare guest at the holiday table), fresh oysters with sauce and red caviar, beef steak with onion rings and mushroom sauce, chicken breast.

English Christmas dish - "pigs in a blanket"

As a side dish, they are: baked potatoes served directly from the oven, Brussels sprouts with cheese, eggs and bacon, fresh or baked vegetables.

Typically English dishes are sure to be on the table during Christmas: Yorkshire ham, veal kidney casserole, duck pate, lamb roast, poultry pies, kebben cheese. Immediately on the table are Christmas oatmeal cakes, which the British eat, dipping in a sweet hot nutmeg or cranberry sauce.

Christmas desserts

A variety of desserts at Christmas dinners in England is an occasion for a separate conversation. The main Christmas dessert is considered to be Christmas pudding or plum pudding. Previously, they simply cooked oatmeal with fruits, but instead of milk or water, they used meat broth. This dish was called plum porridge.

Pudding is stuffed with raisins, honey, bread crumbs, prunes, vanilla and almonds. Moreover, even the preparation of pudding is considered a family tradition. It is prepared by the whole family, and the recipe is inherited.

During cooking, all family members make wishes, and also throw 4 items into food: among them are a thimble, a coin, a ring and a button.

Then, already during the festive dinner, everyone finds a little thing in his pudding, which means some prediction: a coin means quick wealth, a ring means marriage or marriage, a button means a bachelor life for a young guy and a thimble is an unmarried life for a girl.

Nowadays, most often, only coins and some decorations are put in the pudding to attract good luck. Before serving, this holiday dessert is doused with cognac or rum and set on fire.

Other sweets are also presented on the tables of the English during the gala dinner: sand cake, baked apples, gingerbread cookies, gingerbread men and gingerbread houses, baked chestnuts with cranberry sauce, sweet rolls, fruit muffins with candied fruit, dried fruits and nuts, cream cookies and almond cakes .

Here everyone will find a treat to their taste.

Christmas drinks

Residents of England do not accept drinks such as vodka or martini, so they do not exist on the festive table. Many ladies prefer white or red wine, hot mulled wine. For the most part, the inhabitants of England are people who love beer: all English are delighted with a strong porter or spiced ale.

Also on the tables at Christmas are often presented several types of port and hot punch. In northern England, residents themselves prepare a special Christmas drink made from cereals, honey and cream.

The main traditional drink at Christmas is a mixture of hot ale and pulp of baked apples, generously seasoned with spices and sugar.

The tradition to wish each other health and well-being while raising the so-called healthy bowl or the healthy cup with this drink is still strong in England.

You can try to prepare those original dishes for Christmas as a festive menu.

In English cuisine there is little food that would be unnatural for our taste. And to surprise acquaintances and friends with traditional English holiday dishes is quite easy, if you follow the recipes.

The history of Christmas in the British Isles is rooted in the distant past, but the modern traditions of Christmas holidays were finally formed only in the 19th century in the Victorian era. At the same time, the genre of the Christmas story or the holy story was born, the founder of which is considered the classic of English literature, Charles Dickens.

Dickens' Christmas novels were published for five years (1843 - 1848) in the December issues of his home reading and year-round magazines. Their popularity was so great that the very name of the novelist became synonymous with the winter holiday.
  Gilbert C. Chesterton called the holy tales "Dickens' great campaign in defense of Christmas."

Fighting for Christmas, he fought for an ancient European holiday, pagan and Christian, for a trinity of food, drink and prayer. ” ( essay “Dickens and Christmas”, 1906).

On the pages of his stories appear the true traditions of the good old England.

He saw his own living room, but much changed. The walls and ceiling were covered with a grid of greenery and flaunted with red berries, as if in the living room a whole grove had risen in the evening ...
  In the leaves of holly, mistletoe and ivy, the light reflected and played, as in a myriad of small mirrors. It burst in the fireplace, and the fire blazed, and such that such a fire, never, in any winter, was even suspected by the skinny, chilling little Scrooge and Merley. On the floor lay a tall pile, something like a throne: turkeys, geese, all kinds of game and livestock, all kinds of meat - pigs, ham, arshin sausages, sausages, mince pies, plum puddings, oyster barrels, baked chestnuts, rosy apples, juicy oranges and pears, huge “baptismal” pies, and, for all this, punch bowls full of aroma ... The jolly giant - sat on the couch stretching for a show; he had something in his hand that looked like a lamp of cornucopia, and he lifted it when Scrooge looked into the half-open door. "
“Hunks Scrooge, Christmas Carol in Prose” (1843)

The custom of decorating the house with holly, mistletoe and ivy has been preserved since the pre-Christian holiday of the Winter Solstice. Mistletoe the ancient Druids attributed mystical properties to bring good luck to the house, to drive out evil spirits and heal from all diseases. From England came the tradition of kissing under a sprig of mistletoe. Such a kiss was considered a harbinger of eternal love and inevitable marriage.

Holly, remaining green even in severe cold, from ancient times served as a winter emblem of hope and joy. According to the beliefs of the early Christians, the crown of Christ was made of holly and after the blood of Jesus was shed, the berries of the bush turned red.
  Ivy was associated with immortality and the need for protection. In the Christian tradition, it is a symbol of human support by higher powers.

The custom of decorating the Christmas tree appeared in England in the middle of the XIX century and its distribution is associated with the name of Prince Albert, husband of Victoria. It was he who began to actively introduce among the subjects of his wife the Christmas customs of his German homeland. On December 12, 1848, an engraving of The Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle, depicting a royal family near a Christmas tree, was published in London Illustrated News. A new custom quickly took root in all walks of life.

Another of the rituals of English Christmas - burning in the fireplace yule log (yule log). The name comes from Yule - the pagan festival of the winter solstice. The logs were decorated with garlands, sprinkled with cider or ale and sprinkled with flour. The ceremonial Yule log burned all night, and then smoldered for the next 12 days.
  But the most anticipated event of the holiday was a gala dinner. Roasted goose or turkey was also traditional food.

The custom of serving a goose to a Christmas table appeared during the reign of Elizabeth I. There is a legend that on Christmas Day 1588, Elizabeth received the long-awaited news of the defeat of the invincible armada of Philip II of Spain. The Queen was just reinforced with a roasted goose and found this a favorable sign. By special decree, the fried goose was proclaimed the main Christmas dish.  It is interesting that the plot of the story “The Blue Carbuncle” about the next case spins just around the Christmas goose.

But oh, the table is set. Read the prayer. There is a painful pause. Everyone held their breath, and Mrs. Cratchit, with a probing glance over the blade of a roast knife, prepared to stick it into the chest of the bird. When the knife was thrust, and the juice splashed, and the long-awaited minced meat opened its gaze, a unanimous sigh of delight swept over the table, and even Little Tim, instigated by the younger Cratchits, tapped the table with the handle of a knife and squeaked weakly: “Hooray!”
  No, there has never been such a goose in the world! Bob strongly stated that he would never believe that somewhere else such a wonderful stuffed goose could be found! Everyone vied with enthusiasm for its juiciness and aroma, as well as its size and cheapness. With the addition of applesauce and mashed potatoes, it was enough for dinner for the whole family. ”
Charles Dickens, “Christmas Carol ”

Christmas Goose Recipe

Ingredients :
   4-5 kilogram goose
   4 lemons
   3 limes
   1 tsp Chinese mixture "5 spices"
   Small bunches of parsley, thyme and sage
   3 tbsp honey
   Salt pepper

Grate the zest with lemons and limes, mix with two teaspoons of fine sea salt, add the Chinese mixture of “5 spices” and pepper (to taste). Thoroughly rub the goose with the resulting mixture inside and out.
  Stuff with cut citrus fruits and herbs. Sew the goose abdomen with thread or fasten with skewers. Put the goose in the refrigerator for several hours (overnight). The older the goose, the more time - up to 48 hours.
Preheat the oven to 220C. Place the goose on a baking sheet and let it brown. Reduce the temperature to 170C, place the bird in a stewpan (gooseberry), pour honey, sprinkle with thyme and bake until cooked, periodically pouring with the allocated juice. If the goose starts to burn, cover it with foil. There is an approximate calculation of the goose cooking time - 15 minutes for every 450 g, plus another 15 minutes, in addition.
  Before serving, let the goose “rest” for at least 30 minutes, covering with foil. The fat released during frying is used for cooking potatoes and vegetables.

And yet the main favorite of the festive table was and remains the famous english plum pudding  or flame pudding  (plum pudding). Not the last role in its popularization was played by the crowned persons. For the first time, flame pudding was mentioned during the reign of Elizabeth I (1533–1603) as a festive dish not related to Christmas. But already in 1640 after the victory of the Protestants, pudding fell under the ban along with all the holidays, as a Catholic tradition. After the restoration of the monarchy, Charles II rehabilitated all the holidays by lifting the ban. There is a legend that flame pudding became a Christmas dish during the time of George I, nicknamed Pudding King. In 1714, during the celebration of Christmas, plum pudding was served on the royal table and since then has become an integral attribute of Christmas royal meals. The high point of the pudding occurred in the middle of the 19th century thanks to Queen Victoria, becoming a must-have item for a Christmas dinner in all walks of life.

There are several traditions associated with making flame pudding.
  Pudding should be prepared on the 25th Sunday after the Trinity of 13 ingredients, which symbolized Christ and His disciples.

All family members should have put their hand to the kneading of the dough. During stirring, a desire was necessarily made. A silver coin was placed in the pudding mixture to attract wealth, sometimes a silver thimble (for frugality) or a tiny anchor that symbolized a safe haven. Before serving, pudding was abundantly watered with brandy or rum and set on fire. Since puddings could be stored for a very long time, they were saved in many families until Easter.

IN Dickens' Christmas Song  the atmosphere of enthusiastic expectation that preceded the appearance of flame pudding was conveyed:

Well, how the pudding did not reach! Well, how will it fall apart when they put it out of shape! Well, how they pulled him off while they were having fun and gobbling up a goose! After all, some attacker could climb over the fence, climb into the yard and steal the pudding from the back door! Such assumptions caused the younger Cratchits to die of fear. In a word, what horrors did not get into your head!
  Attention! Steam poured into the room! This pudding was taken out of the boiler. It smelled like washing! This is from a wet wipe. Now it smells like near a tavern, when a candy store is nearby, and a laundress lives in a neighboring house! Well, of course - carry the pudding!
  And then Mrs. Cratchit appeared - reddened, out of breath, but with a proud smile on her face and with a pudding on the dish - so unusually firm and strong that he most of all looked like a pockmarked cannonball. The pudding is surrounded on all sides by the flame of a burning rum and is decorated with a Christmas holly branch stuck in its very top.
  Oh wondrous pudding! ”

Christmas Flame Pudding Recipe

Ingredients :
   150 g currants
   150 g raisins
   150 g chopped prunes
   175 ml brandy or brandy
   100 g wheat flour
   125 g fresh breadcrumbs (white loaf)
   150 g butter
   150 g sugar
   1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
   ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
   1 teaspoon baking powder
   zest of 1 lemon
   3 large eggs
   1 medium apple (peeled and grated)
   2 tablespoons of honey

Mix currants, raisins and prunes with cognac, cover with a film and leave overnight.
  In a large bowl, mix all the pudding ingredients.
  Thoroughly grease the mold to which the pudding will be prepared. Transfer the pudding mass into a mold, ramming it tightly with a spoon. Place the mold in a water bath in a larger pan filled with water. Cover pudding firmly with parchment paper, and wrap tightly with foil on top and tie this “cover” with a thick thread so that water does not accidentally get into the mold during boiling. When the water begins to boil, reduce the heat and cook the pudding on low heat for 5 hours. Be sure to monitor the water level in a large pan, constantly adding to it.
  Cover the finished pudding with a plate and gently turn it over. Wrap the cooled pudding in parchment and leave it in a cool, dry place for a couple of weeks for aging (preferably a month). Every 5-7 days, “feed” the pudding with a spoonful of brandy (brandy), having previously made several punctures.
  Before serving, warm the pudding, pour cognac or rum and set it on fire.

In “The Christmas Song,” Dickens also mentions the traditional drink of the Christmas holidays, which received the name as a result of the translation. “Christmas mulled wine”. In the original source, the exact name is indicated - Smoking Bishop, which translates to“steaming bishop" This drink, made from port wine, red wine, Seville oranges (orange) and cloves, was unusually popular in Victorian England. The strange name is associated with a cup resembling the bishop’s myrtle. In such bowls, the drink was served at the banquets of guilds and universities in the Middle Ages. There were numerous versions of mulled wine under the general name “churchmen” - “smoking archbishop”, where port was replaced with claret, “smoking cardinal” with champagne, “smoking dad” with burgundy and finally, “smoking beadle” - made from ginger wine with raisins .
  The bitter-sour Seville oranges (oranges) give the drink a piquant taste, but in modern recipes they are often replaced with more affordable oranges and lemons.

Mulled wine “The Smoking Bishop”

Ingredients:
   5 oranges
   1 lemon
   ½ cup sugar
   1 bottle of semi-dry red wine
   1 bottle of port
   30 cloves
   Cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks (to taste)

Preheat the oven to 160C. Wash the oranges and “poke” them with cloves. Place them on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 1 hour.
  Transfer to a large glass or ceramic bowl. Pour oranges with red wine and add sugar. Close the bowl and let it sit in a warm place for 12 hours.
  Remove the oranges, cut them in half and squeeze the juice into the wine. Add lemon juice. Strain the wine mixture into the pan.
  Add port, spices (you can sweeten to taste) and put the drink on a slow fire. Do not bring to a boil! Serve the mulled wine with hot, garnished with orange peel, cut ribbon.

These are joyful days - days of mercy, kindness, forgiveness. These are the only days in the entire calendar when people, as if by tacit consent, freely open their hearts to each other and see in their neighbors, even in the poor and destitute, such people as themselves wandering along the same road to the grave, and not some creatures of a different breed, which is appropriate to go the other way.<…>  I believe that Christmas will bring me good and will bring good, and long live Christmas! ”
  “A Christmas Carol in Prose,” Charles Dickens

Merry Christmas to all!

For me, one of the most favorite holidays since childhood is. A huge number of people will agree with me. Everyone knows that festive feeling, even adults and serious people in the shower, feel that some kind of magic is happening at this time. An invariable attribute of this holiday in many is an elegant Christmas tree and a festive dinner.

The equivalent of the New Year in Britain is the Catholic Christmas.  This is the same holiday for them as it is for me, New Year. The customs of Catholics are very similar to the customs of Christians. The same sense of magic in the souls of people. In Britain and other countries there is a similar sign. As you meet Christmas, this will be the whole next year. I think human nature is the same. After all, the British, and indeed all Catholics, very joyfully celebrate Christmas. They have a lot of fun, joking, singing and dancing. This is basically a family warm holiday. Therefore, it is customary to meet him at the festive party, on which is set what the British eat at Christmas. And believe me, in England they also know how to arrange a holiday.

What do the British eat at Christmas

I think that the main Christmas dish for the British will be roast goose . Or another tasty bird. Equally popular are fried turkeys. According to some legend, it is the bird that brings joy and happiness to the house. Poultry meat is plentifully flavored with spices, traditionally in England gooseberry sauce is used. The sauce recipe is quite simple, but every British cook has his own.

Another clean bacon wrapped sausages called christmas british dish. All this is fried and soaked in cranberry sauce. In Britain, this yummy is called "pigs in a blanket." Very popular are oysters, red caviar. By the way, once oysters and red caviar were considered in England as food for commoners. To know, I used such dishes only at Christmas. Even on British holiday tables, a steak, chicken breast or duck is very popular.

English housewives bake potatoes and vegetables for a side dish, sometimes they cook vegetable soup, mushroom sauce, stew cabbage with cheese. There are purely English dishes that are popular only with the British. This is duck paste, lamb roast, casserole made from pork or beef kidneys. And I think that the British would not be British if they did not have oatmeal cakes during Christmas.

Since Britain is the birthplace of pudding, its presence on the festive table is obligatory. As part of a special Christmas pudding, be sure to have raisins, honey, almonds, prunes and much more. There are as many pudding recipes as there are British surnames. These recipes are family traditions. The royal recipe for Christmas pudding is even a state secret in Britain, the parliament of this country does not have the right to let someone make attempts to recognize him. Coin, button, thimble and ringlet are baked in the pudding. During the holiday, found in his piece of pudding, can determine his fate. After what the British eat at Christmas, they will want to drink. The British also know how to make holiday drinks. Spiced ale, this is the best drink for the holiday. Various wines are also popular. Different ports, hot punch.

What I like most about the British festive cuisine is that there is nothing in it that my body could not master. Indeed, there are practically no exotic ingredients. The British celebrate Christmas at dinner, which can safely be called dinner. But do not forget about the traditions, in Britain they are their own.

The British easily discard their stiffness to have fun on the Christmas holidays. Tired of celebrating Christmas in familiar surroundings? Let's join the jolly English and try their traditional Christmas dishes.

“English Christmas Pudding”

This is a traditional recipe with a long history. Pudding used to be called oatmeal, to which bread crumbs, raisins, almonds and honey were added. Gradually, the recipe changed and came to our days in a slightly updated form. Ideally, English Christmas pudding should be prepared a couple of weeks before Christmas, so that it is well infused in the refrigerator. But we will not complicate the cooking process and make pudding no worse than English.

You will need:
Flour - 4.5 cups
Baking powder - 4 tsp
Salt
Cinnamon - 2 tsp
Allspice - 1 tbsp.
Clove - half tsp
Nutmeg
Butter - 150 gr.
Raisins - 1 cup
Kishmish - 1 glass
Apples - 3 pcs.
Walnuts - 1 cup
Brown Sugar - 1.5 cups
Eggs - 6 pcs.
Buttermilk - 1 cup
Bread crumb

Cooking:
The basis of Christmas pudding in the British is dried fruits and nuts. Therefore, carefully choose these ingredients for your dessert.
To start, oil six pudding molds. Sprinkle them with flour and set aside, we will not need them yet. Combine flour with baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add a whisper of salt. In another bowl, mix dried fruit with two tablespoons of flour. Pour the contents of one bowl into another and mix.

Now you need to soften the butter, add sugar, eggs, buttermilk into it and beat well. Mix the liquid mixture with the dry mixture. Add bread crumb and knead the dough, it should turn out elastic. Put it in the prepared molds, filling them in half. Cover the molds with a sheet of wax paper and tie tightly with thread. You need to cook puddings in a water bath for six hours, periodically adding boiling water. Serve with cranberry sauce or whipped cream.

The English before serving the pudding, pour rum on it and set it on fire. It looks very impressive.

“Pork in English”

You don’t have to be a professional chef to cook this traditional Christmas dish. It is quite simple, but includes unusual combinations of tastes.

You will need:
Pork - 1 kg
Apples - 2 pcs.
Mint - 1 tbsp. l
Butter - 50 gr.
Sour cream - 200 gr.
Mayonnaise
Bow
Salt pepper
Bacon - 100 gr.
Tarragon, thyme, caraway

Cooking:

Take the bacon, divide it into two parts, put one part aside. Cut the second part into small pieces and sprinkle with black pepper, salt, add a tablespoon of mayonnaise. We cut pork into portions, about 250 g each. each. Smear with a mixture of bacon and mayonnaise each piece of pork and put in the refrigerator for two hours. After the meat is pickled, put it on a baking sheet, put in the oven for 20 minutes. Brown the meat until golden, it should be juicy, but not pink.

At this time, you can prepare the sauce: melt the butter in a pan, fry the onions, grated apples, fry everything over low heat. Add sour cream, stew with mint leaves, salt, pepper to taste. Cut the second part of the fat into thin strips and lay on a plate. Pour a little sauce, put pieces of meat on it, pour over the sauce again and garnish with mint. Sprinkle the dish with spices (tarragon, thyme, cumin).