Festive Food

The tree is up, the presents wrapped, the cooking started and the scents, smells and traditions of Christmas are all around. Every family has its traditions and, not least, for Christmas dinner. I have a Christmas notebook which details every present given, dishes cooked and calendar of days kept since 1993 (which may seem nerdish but won’t be a surprise to those who know me well!). Not that I can vary the traditional accompaniments to the turkey very much without complaint but it is sometimes good to add something different to the sprouts or use a different recipe for cranberry sauce.

But for the main event, Delia is my bible and has been ever since I bought it in the early 1990’s. Her timings are faultless and you can guarantee the perfect lunch if you follow them to the letter. I use one of her stuffing recipes which I have adapted to make my own, adding chestnuts and bacon and an egg to give a good, firm stuffing that can be sliced for the plate.

For all the variations you see each year for cranberry sauce, I have never bettered Nigella’s Christmas for cranberry sauce with port. Very simple, done in 10 minutes and absolutely delicious.

l

I have made my own Christmas pudding every year of my marriage (49 so far!) from the same recipe. The Stork Cookbook was essential for every household back in the 1960’s and 70’s. I no longer have the book which I was given in 1972 but I copied the recipe down and am told it is still the best Christmas pudding ever!

The history of cooking is evidenced as far back as Saxon times. After the Norman conquest there was, inevitably, a French influence but there have always been notable differences between English and French cooking. Although the French have always considered their cooking more sophisticated, in fact the English have always used more spices, fruit and flowers in their cookery. The French have always tended to add pepper and garlic and there are recipes for sauces as far back as 1140.

The food historian Annie Gray (as heard on Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet) published a fascinating book in

2021 entitled At Christmas We Feast chronicling festive food through the ages. She takes us on an enticing journey through time, from the earliest mentions of gluttonous meals at Christmas to the trappings and traditions of the present day. She traces the birth of the twelve-day celebration under Edward 1 to the restoration of holiday splendour under Queen Victoria. This is a book to savour as well as use for its classic recipes and cultural history.

When I think about food in fictitious Christmasses, the obvious one is, of course, in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Who can forget the wonderful turkey bought by the reformed Scrooge for Tiny Tim and his family. Or the glorious March household in Little Women, for despite their poverty, much was made of little at Christmas.

A more recent and delicious Christmas book is Jeanette Winterson’s Christmas Days featuring 12 stories and 12 feasts for the 12 days of Christmas. This is best dipped into, preferably with a full stomach and in front of a roaring fire. There are ghost stories and jovial spirits, frost, icicles, mistletoe and sledges. But the icing on the Christmas cake is the 12 festive recipes from Yuletides past and present. Red cabbage, gravlax, sherry trifle and Mrs. Winterson’s mince pies. Enough to make your mouth water.

I hope your festive feasts are full of joy and happiness. I wish all my friends and readers a very merry Christmas and, in the words of Tiny Tim, “God Bless us, Every One”!