THE menu for Christmas went like this: oysters, a collar of brawn, stewed broth of mutton marrow bones, a grand sallet, a pottage of capons, a breast of veal in stassado, a boiled partridge, a chine of beef, mince pies, a jegote of mutton with anchovysauce, a dish of sweetbreads, a swan roast, a pasty of venison, a kid with pudding in his belly, a steak pie, a haunch of roast venison, a roast turkey stuffed with cloves, two brangeese, a custard.
Sounds like a lot? Well, that was the for starters: the second course is even more filling. Christmas has been a time for eating. The winter solstice had, for centuries, been the occasion in Europe for feasting on a mammoth scale. Eventually, the Roman saturnalia which had developed from earlier tribal feasts were themselves replaced as the emperors embraced Christianity. Today, people all around the world gorge themselves on as much fine food as the family can afford at Christmas. The French, forever thinking of their stomachs, choose to go to bed after their Christmas dinner. That's because they eat it in the middle of the night when most people are asleep. In many churches in France, the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, a necessary requirement before sitting down to feast, has been brought forward to 10.30pm so eating in earnest can begin before the early hours.
If the meal does not start off with a good helping of foie gras it will certainly begin with boudin blanc, a sausage of herbs and pork. This makes way for the turkey or goose, the former stuffed with chestnuts, minced pork and beef. Then follows a large cheeseboard with 'at least 15 varieties', insists Michel Emeric, of the Rose Noire patisserie. 'Christmas requires some hefty eating.' But the item that no decent French table will ever be without is the Buche de Noel, a rich chocolate cake in the form of a log. A bottle of Sauternes will be served with the first courses and then some heavy Bordeaux or Burgundy, but nothing light like a Cote du Rhone.
Elsewhere in Europe, Austrian chef Ernst Ruckendorfer remembers the feast starting on Christmas eve as children open gifts and the family tucks into home-made sausage and sauerkraut, followed by midnight mass and a glass of gluhwein before bed.
'Lunch is goose, roasted and stuffed with apples. It is better to make a separate stuffing that does not absorb the goose fat,' says the owner of the Mozart Stub'n restaurant in Central. 'The tradition is to eat the goose with vegetables, but not potatoes.Instead, a large dumpling made of eggs, bread, onion, bacon, parsley, milk and muscat all wrapped in a napkin and boiled in water is served.' Another regular worth trying is white wine cabbage: caramelise some sugar, add white wine and cabbage, and cook until ready. The hungry Austrian might start out with smoked trout and finish with gingerbread. The meal will be washed down with mulled wine.
In Italy, they say Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi - meaning Christmas with the family, Easter with whoever. And the Christmas table is likely to start with a big selection of appetisers such as salami, sturgeon, marinated eel, pickles and so on. Then comes ravioli with meat inside. This is followed by soup tortellini with capon.
