On Christmas night from January 6 to 7, a festive Divine Liturgy is celebrated. On the very day of the Christmas holiday, believers break their fast (they do not eat lean, but fast food). The twelve following days after Christmas are called holy days, or Christmas time. This is probably why, according to legend, there should be 12 dishes on the Christmas table. Some of them passed to the morning of January 7 from Christmas Eve - these are kutya and zvar. The rest, modest, dishes were waiting in the wings.

Christmas Eve: First Star

The holiday begins on the evening of January 6 - Christmas Eve comes. According to church rules and folk tradition, on this day they do not eat until the first star appears in the sky - in remembrance of Star of Bethlehem who showed the Magi the way to the place of the Nativity of Christ.

They also say that Christmas is not celebrated alone - this family celebration. It was customary to gather either with parents or with the whole big family the eldest in the family. Before the first star, the hostess had to prepare several lenten obligatory Christmas dishes. The main items in this menu were kutya, or sochivo, and vzvar (uzvar).

Sochivo, or Kutya

An indispensable dish, without which neither Christmas nor Easter was celebrated in pre-revolutionary Russia. Christmas Eve - from Sochiva, or Kuteinik - from Kutia, as they called the day before Christmas. And all of it passed in anticipation of the miracle of birth. It was believed that the richer and tastier the sochivo, the more fruitful the next year would be.

The products from which kutya was prepared were endowed with special significance: grain was considered a symbol of resurrection to life, honey was a symbol of health and a prosperous (sweet) life, and poppy promised prosperity in the family.

Pre-revolutionary writer A.A. Korinfsky wrote: “In the evening, on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, Russian people who invariably adhere to the old pious customs do not break the fast: according to the Church Charter, only sochivo is allowed to eat at this time. coming from November 15 (28) until the cheerful joyful Christmas time.

However, wheat was not always the basis of kutya. In the southern regions of Russia, rice was more often cooked. However, nuts, honey and dried fruits remained an unchanged part of the recipe.

Traditional Sochi Recipe

• wheat grains - one glass,
• poppy - 100 g,
• purified walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews - 100 g,
• honey - 3 tablespoons,
• dried fruits.

Crush the grains in a wooden mortar, adding a little warm water so that the wheat shell comes off. Then the kernel must be separated from the husk, sifted and washed. Boil loose lean porridge in water, adding 2-3 cups of water to the cereal.

Grind poppy seeds until poppy milk is obtained, add honey to it, mix and put in wheat porridge. At the very end, add crushed nuts and dried fruits steamed with boiling water.

Rice juice

• rice - 1 cup,
• raisins - 50 g,
• prunes - 50 g,
• dried apricots - 50 g,
• almonds or walnuts - 50 g,
• honey - three tablespoons

Rinse rice, pour cold water and bring to a boil. Drain in a colander and rinse again with cold water. Then pour 1.5 cups cold water and cook until tender without removing the lid. Steam in hot water dried fruits (15-20 minutes).

Cut prunes and dried apricots. Crush the almonds. If all the water has not boiled away, it should be drained, the rice should be cooled. Add dried fruits, honey and nuts to the rice.

blast

The second obligatory dish of the Christmas table. A broth was prepared from dried fruits, but honey was added instead of sugar. The most popular was apple broth with the addition of dried or soaked cranberries, lingonberries or raspberries.

In the south of Russia, smoked pear was always added to the drink. Mint, oregano, currant leaf, thyme and other fragrant herbs are often added. It is not necessary to boil the broth: it is enough to pour fruit with boiling water and leave to infuse. A thermos is perfect for this purpose. Often juicy is diluted with a boil and eaten in the form of liquid sweet porridge.

Lean pancakes

Christmas Eve was not complete without Lenten dishes. But if kutya and vzvar were obligatory, then pancakes, vinaigrette, cabbage rolls, fish pies, vegetable stews or kashi remained welcome guests on the last day of fasting. Among this menu, pancakes were common. They wonderfully complemented boiled fish or caviar, jam or honey. Only they were made without milk and butter. For example, on potato broth or mineral water.

The vinaigrette

Lenten vinaigrette or with herring was served very often on Christmas Eve. The recipe is simple, but the dish turns out tasty and inexpensive, which made it possible to cook it in poor families. And in the houses of the wealthy, sturgeon or white fish could be added to the Christmas vinaigrette.

Christmas: a plentiful break

When the night passes and after the service the family returns to the house, the long-awaited Christmas holiday comes. Lent is over, and meat dishes, milk and butter pies, oily fish and sumptuous desserts appear on the table.

It was believed that a baked goose (or other bird) and pork dishes should be an indispensable attribute of the Christmas meal. Of course, on the eve of Christmas, millions of geese, ducks, turkeys and chickens were brought to the country's bazaars.

"Christmas in Moscow was felt for a long time - a cheerful, business hustle. They just started talking in Filippovka, on November 14, for the Christmas post, and at the freight stations, especially in Rogozhskaya, geese cackle day and night - "goose trains", to Germany: before it was, to the glaciers-wagons, a live load. Do not believe it - hundreds of trains! A goose went through Moscow - from Kozlov, Tambov, Kursk, Saratov, Samara ... I don’t remember Poltava, Poland, Lithuania, Volyn: the paths from there are different. And the duck , and a chicken, and a turkey, and a black grouse ... capercaillie and hazel grouse, bacon-brisket, and ... - what the soul only requires for Christmas, "wrote Ivan Shmelev.

Christmas goose with sauerkraut

• little goose,
• cabbage - 800 g,
• bulbs - 4 pcs.,
• cumin - 0.5 tbsp.,
• salt,
• oil.

If the carcass is frozen, let the goose lie down in the refrigerator for a day. Then wash the goose, rub it inside and out with salt and cumin. If possible, you can boil the goose in red wine - whole, about 40 minutes. Wine will give the bird softness.

Stew sauerkraut with oil and onions in a saucepan, covered. Stuff the goose with this cabbage and fry on a baking sheet, pouring a little broth on it and pouring it over the goose. Then goose fat will be melted - you will water it.

Pig on the table

No less traditional product on the Christmas table was pork. According to legend, when Jesus was born, in the manger all the animals joyfully met the divine baby - except for the pig. She grunted annoyingly and prevented the baby from sleeping. That is why, as a punishment, the pig became an indispensable dish of the Christmas table.

Even during Lent, they began to bring to the capitals, to central fairs, whole carts with pork - there were huge carcasses, and barrels of corned beef, and suckling pigs. “Bad, bad, but two or three carcasses of pork are necessary, and black pigs, fry with porridge, three dozen, and white pigs, for aspic, moloshnichki, two dozen, so that there is enough for plots,” wrote Ivan Shmelev in “The Summer of the Lord”.

Many dishes were prepared from pork, but in every wealthy house the table was decorated with a suckling pig with porridge or cold with horseradish.

Cold pig with horseradish

Recipe from Ekaterina Avdeeva's book "Handbook of Russian experienced hostess"It's simple: boil the whole pig in salt water with fragrant herbs - thyme, dill - and onions. Then cut into pieces and pour over horseradish with sour cream. Serve cold.

Pork belly stuffed with cabbage and apples

In the old days, porridge was served with pork legs, but you can make pork belly with cabbage and apples for buckwheat porridge. It will turn out very juicy.

• pork belly - 800 g,
• cabbage - 400 g,
• apples - 5 pcs.,
• butter - 1 tbsp,
• bulb - 1 pc.,
• salt and pepper.

Chop fresh cabbage, salt, squeeze. Add finely chopped sour apples, oil to the cabbage, mix. Wash the pork belly, chop the bones in several places, cut through with a knife big hole between bones and meat.

Put the prepared minced meat there, sew it up, place it on a frying pan or baking sheet, sprinkle with finely chopped onions, add 3 tablespoons of water and fry in an oven heated to 200 ° C until cooked. Serve with crumbly buckwheat porridge.

Jellied pig and rooster

Rinse the knuckle and legs of the piglet well and cut into pieces. Put in a saucepan, pour cold water so that it covers the meat by a few centimeters, boil and remove the foam. After an hour, add the carcass of the rooster.

Boil aspic over very low heat for 6-8 hours, so that the water boils away to half the volume. 20 minutes before the end of cooking, add to the broth Bay leaf, peppercorns and salt to taste. Remove the meat from the broth, separate from the bones and cut into pieces. Strain the broth. Pour chopped garlic on the bottom of the dish, put the meat, pour the broth, mix gently with a spoon and refrigerate until it hardens.

Rye pie with fish

For test:

• rye flour - 1 cup,
• wheat flour - 1 cup,
• milk - 1 glass,
• dry yeast - 1 tsp,
• sugar - 2 tsp,
• salt - 1 tsp,
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.

For filling:

• pikeperch fillet - 500 g,
• mussels, peeled - 200 g,
• onion - 1 pc.,
• carrots - 1 pc.,
• brine pickles- 500 ml,
• vegetable oil- 2 tablespoons,
• dill - 1 bunch,
• salt and white pepper to taste.

We knead the dough, for which 1 tsp. dry yeast pour 5 tsp. warm water, let stand for swelling for 10-15 minutes. Sift wheat and rye flour, pour in vegetable oil, milk at room temperature, add sugar and salt, add yeast, knead.

Let the dough rise in a warm place. The dough should rise twice and be folded twice. We divide it into 2 parts.

For the filling in cucumber brine, boil the mussels and fish, put them in a colander. Peel and finely chop the onion and carrot. In a frying pan, fry vegetables with fish and mussels. Let's salt and pepper. Turn off, add chopped dill. In a baking sheet, form a cake, spread the top with egg yolk and bake for 50 minutes at 170 ° C.

ginger pie

• butter - 100 g + another piece for lubrication,
• dark unrefined cane sugar - 100 g,
• flour with baking powder - 175 g,
• ground ginger - 4 tsp,
• light molasses - 175 g,
• ginger wine - 3 tablespoons,
• eggs of any size, can be beaten - 2 pcs.,
• finely grated fresh ginger the size of a hazelnut
• finely chopped canned ginger - 150 g,
• powdered sugar - 75 g,
• ginger root for decoration - 1 pc.

Preheat oven to 160°C, grease a 23 cm baking dish. Beat butter and sugar with a pinch of salt until the mixture is fluffy. Sift flour and ground ginger together.

Pour in light molasses (for convenience, use a spoon pre-lubricated with oil and a silicone kitchen spatula), 1 tbsp. wine and mix. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then gradually add the flour.

Mix everything with fresh and canned ginger. Spoon the resulting mixture into a baking dish. Level the surface and bake for about 50-60 minutes, until the dough sticks to the surface of a wooden skewer placed in the middle of the pie. Leave the cake to cool in the mold. After the cake has completely cooled, make the frosting by mixing the powdered sugar and the remaining ginger wine and drizzle over the top of the cake. Cut the ginger root into thin pieces and decorate the cake.

Russian custard soufflé

• any berries - 500 g,
• water - ½ cup,
• sugar - 2 cups,
• egg whites - 5 pcs.

Make a puree from the berries, add water and boil. Add sugar (about the same amount as the puree). Beat egg whites into stiff foam. Add to puree. Put the puree in baking dishes, put for 30 minutes in an oven heated to 170 degrees.

What to cook for Christmas, the menu for the Christmas table.

If New Year- this is a noisy holiday, when unbridled fun and laughter only welcomes, then Christmas is a family holiday, harmonious and cozy. January 7 is the day when the whole family gathers at a friendly table, which should be laid in accordance with some folk traditions. The past century was quite difficult for the development of Christmas traditions. Many traditions, as such, have been lost altogether. This was especially true for cities. Only for the last 15-20 years we have been trying to regain the historical Christmas traditions, to learn to understand this holiday correctly and to celebrate it correctly.

Christmas meal traditions

The Christmas table should be richly set. Moreover, it is necessary to set the table already on the evening of January 6, when the first star appeared in the sky. This star symbolizes the one that rose over Bethlehem on the night of the birth of Jesus Christ. On January 6, the dishes on the Christmas table should still be lenten. This means no meat, eggs or any dairy products are allowed. Lent will end only on January 7 with the onset of the holiday.

So, the Christmas meal consists of two parts. The first is the evening of January 6th. This is a day of strict fasting and you can eat only after the first star appears in the sky. There must be at least one fish dish on the table. They symbolize the fish on the sand, which the ancient Christians painted as a sign of belonging to the church.

At the meal on January 7, there must be a whole dish on the table. It can be a baked goose or a pig, a baked fish or just a big pie. This dish is a symbol of unity. In general, there should be 13 dishes on the table. 12 of them symbolize the apostles and one - Jesus Christ. As once upon a time, the night before Jesus was betrayed by his disciple, he dined with his disciples and told them about what was about to happen.

Important! The amount of food on the Christmas table should exceed the number of people who will gather at the table. There should be so much food that no one gets up from the table hungry.

The Russian Christmas menu, if you look into history, is simply amazing in scope. Some folk dishes, which were once on the table without fail, are difficult to cook even in modern urban conditions. But, if you try, you can master even the most difficult recipe. Here is a list of primordially Russian dishes that were served for a meal at Christmas:

Kutya or Sochivo;
Uzvra is a dried fruit compote;
Julienne with mushrooms;
Various pickled salads, pickles;
Oatmeal pancakes;
offal snacks;
Goose baked with apples and prunes;
Baked potato;

old recipes

On the Christmas table there must be porridge - kutya. She prepares quite simply. You need to take a glass of wheat, rinse it well and pour it into a pot of water. The water should cover the cereal. Send the pan, covered with a lid, to the oven and cook for forty minutes (add water if necessary). The porridge should turn out crumbly and not boiled. It is important that the porridge be juicy, because it is for this property that it got its name.

Separately, raisins, dried apricots and prunes should be steamed. Large dried fruits should be finely chopped. You can also add nuts to dried fruits (finely crushed), poppy seeds (boil until soft). Add all these ingredients to the porridge and mix with honey. Traditionally, a festive feast begins with this dish. A bowl with kutya is passed around, starting from the oldest member of the family.

When celebrating Christmas, it is better to refuse purchased juices and other drinks, and cook uzvar. It's easy to do, you need to buy dried fruits. Well, if the composition will include apples, pears. Rinse dried fruits thoroughly, put in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and set aside. Compote served cold.

Religious Christmas table

Unlike New Year's table during the Christmas meal, it is not a task to surprise guests with new dishes. On the contrary, a certain tradition should be adhered to. Be sure to cook poultry, fish, pancakes, stuffed dishes, put pickles, sauerkraut, aspic and jelly are welcome, homemade sausage, pastries with honey, cookies and buns.

Pompous toasts are not spoken at the Christmas table and champagne is not drunk. The meal begins with three spoons of kutia - this is to be given to the Holy Trinity. At the table there should be a friendly and calm atmosphere, leisurely peaceful conversations. At Christmas, the most important tradition is unity with the family and enjoying the hearth and comfort.

About table setting

It was once customary to put hay on it before laying a tablecloth on the Christmas table. After that lay a linen or cotton tablecloth. At the beginning of the meal, you can even tell fortunes. It is necessary to pull out a sprig of hay for each guest and see who has the longest sprig, in the new year special luck and success awaits.

The table itself can be additionally decorated with dry spikelets, coniferous branches and candles. Welcome red in combination with white. Although, the color scheme can be absolutely any, the main thing is to maintain the overall style.

If we return to the origins of the celebration of Christmas and its traditions, then the holiday will acquire a special meaning. In fact, Christmas does not begin with table setting and cooking. national dishes but with pure thoughts and an open kind heart.

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Service for a celebration

Usually for Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, twelve Lenten dishes are prepared in honor of the twelve apostles. Of course, the main thing is not how you serve the treat, asama is the atmosphere of the holiday. Nevertheless, this is a great occasion to get a family dinner set out of the closet or even purchase a new one in order to receive long-awaited guests at the highest level.

So, which service to choose - for 4, 6, 8 or 12 people - decide, of course, as a hostess for you. But it's best to buy a service for 12 people. This service should include all the necessary items for beautiful serving table. Also, remember that cymbals tend to break the most, so if possible, buy an extra one or two in reserve.

If you will wash the service using a dishwasher, then at the time of purchase, look for the appropriate inscription on the packaging of the service.

Do you prefer a set of dishes to one large service? Then let it be sure to be kept in the same style, as provided for by the rules of etiquette. When choosing components, remember the minimum items for one person: a snack bar, a pie, a small dining room and a small dessert plate, a broth and a tea cup. You should also add a round or oval dish and a vase with a low leg to this list. Buying dishes separately is beneficial in cases where you are sure that, for example, a gravy boat or a tureen from the service will never come in handy in your life.

What and how to properly serve Christmas holiday dishes to the table

Wheat kutia with poppy seeds, honey, nuts and raisins is the main and irreplaceable Christmas dish for many years. Unfortunately, according to the rules of etiquette, special dishes are provided for this delicious dish, so it is recommended to serve kutya on the table in small dessert plates or bowls.

As a rule, a cake plate has a diameter of 175 millimeters. It can be used very successfully when setting the table: it can become a small personal breadbasket for each of the guests sitting at the table. On it you can put croutons, toast, donuts, as well as Christmas pies with cabbage, beans or mushrooms. Also, a pie plate is often used as a stand for salad bowls or a gravy boat.

When serving, you can not do without the so-called snack plate. It is usually customary to serve cold fish and meat snacks, sandwiches or salads. However, at the time of the Christmas dinner, which strictly consists of lenten dishes, only fish or vegetable snacks are placed on it.

Salads, marinades and pickles must be placed on the festive table in small salad bowls that are square in shape, herring in a herring bowl, and stuffed fish on an oval-shaped dish, which is specially designed for cold fish snacks.

Now we move on to hot dishes. For cabbage rolls with rice and mushrooms, you need to put small dinner plates on the table, the diameter of which, as a rule, should be 240 millimeters. For dumplings with cabbage or potatoes, put special snack plates on the table, the diameter of which should be equal to 200 millimeters. By the way, dumplings or pies for Christmas are often made with a surprise - a note with a special wish or a coin. To the lucky one who gets it, life will bring good luck in all deeds and undertakings!

Let's move on to the holy of holies - borscht. Serve the traditional lenten borscht in a tureen, but for each of the guests you need to arrange deep dinner plates. They are intended for borscht, soups, fish soup. In other words, exclusively for the first hot dishes with large proportions of pieces of meat or fish. If you cooked cabbage, you need to prepare bouillon cups for it that have two handles (a bouillon cup with one handle is designed specifically for delicate mashed soups that do not have a side dish).

For sweet dumplings with apples and poppy seeds, dessert plates or a bowl-shaped vase with a low stem are perfect. On such dishes you can also safely serve cakes, pastries and fruits.

Offer the traditional uvar (Christmas drink made from dried fruits) to guests in cups, which, as a rule, should be attached to any table service.

Christmas table decoration

The basis of any festive table is a tablecloth. It should be white in color and not have catchy patterns. If the table has a beautiful wooden tabletop, the tablecloth can be omitted. Get by with suitable linen napkins that have an original ornament. This will give you a special feeling of comfort. You can also sew capes on chairs or buy them; bows, drapery always create a look of grace and sophistication.

Remember that in the center of the festive table there should be a bright and large spot. From spruce branches, cones and Christmas decorations, make an original composition that will add more festiveness to the table. By the way, this design should not be very high. Otherwise, it will block the guests sitting opposite each other.

Separately, I would like to mention the lighting of the Christmas table. Here you should definitely remember that Christmas, first of all, is associated with magic. Therefore, the true magic of the festive atmosphere can only be created by a flickering fire and the smell of wax! Place a couple of decorative candles on the table in gold-plated metal candlesticks or ceramic vases with beautiful patterns. An abundance of sparkling lights, glittering silverware, crystal goblets, Christmas decorations with candles displayed in them will create a unique atmosphere of this good holiday! By the way, candles for decorating the table can be used both aromatic and simple.

A huge role at the time of table setting is played by napkins, which must be folded correctly and in an original way. For example, you can make them in the form of angel wings and place them on the plate of each of the guests. To make angel wings out of a napkin, we take a square-shaped napkin, tinsel or red threads, an angel figurine (this can be a Christmas tree decoration, or simply an image of an angel cut out of a postcard). Now we need to fold our napkin so that we get a triangle. Then we retreat a few centimeters from the fold and collect part of the napkin into an accordion so that we get sharp long “ears”. At the bottom, we connect them and tie a napkin with a thread and attach a figure of an angel prepared in advance to it. Our napkins are ready and we can decorate the Christmas table with them!

Christmas is religious holiday, not everyone celebrates it, although it should. It is not necessary to give gifts to each other on this day, it is congratulations that are held in high esteem, a lot of smiles and laughter in the house, joy and a good solid table covered with delicious traditional dishes. Today you have to learn how to set the table for Christmas.

If you are away from the country and want to celebrate Christmas there, you should know that by booking a table for this holiday, how will you be able to set the table for Christmas. Each nation has its own characteristics and traditions of celebrating Christmas. If you are invited to celebrate the traditional Christmas of another people, another nation, be sure to agree, you should like it.

How to set the table for Christmas in Russia

At Christmas in Russia they walk on a grand scale, although not many. In our country, Christmas is more of a church holiday, which is celebrated not only by believers, but by the whole country in a hurry. Despite this, everyone is trying to set a chic Christmas table. If you don't know how to set the table for Christmas, we can help. So, the traditional Slavic Christmas dishes are:

• kutya,
• goose baked with apples,
• duck.

All dishes are very easy to prepare, but you can quickly eat from them, the table will seem truly festive and rich. , we already wrote, however, as in the situation with the duck. The duck should also be baked in the oven along with apples. The main thing here is to properly cook and get the meat out of the oven or out of the oven in time. To prevent the meat from burning on top, the baking dish should be covered with a lid or foil. For more juicy and beautiful color water ducks or goose with juice that will stand out during baking.

How different peoples of the world set the table for Christmas.

Well, now you know how to set the table for Christmas in Russia, it remains to find out how to set the table for Christmas in other countries of the world, as other people do. You may like some ideas, and then you can celebrate Christmas in another state or spend the traditional Christmas of this or that state at home. In Ukraine, close to Russia, you can set the table for Christmas with such dishes as in Russia, as well as a drink made from berries and fruits and cabbage soup.

France prefers to set the table at Christmas with their favorite oysters, different types cheese, liver pate (duck), turkey and, of course, high-quality champagne. As for the turkey, it's a must-have at Christmas and in the US. They believe that without a turkey, Christmas loses its essence and its magic.

Belarusians set the table for Christmas with goose, turkey, cranberry jelly, as well as infused fruits and nuts on alcohol.

In Armenia, you can set the table for Christmas with such meat dishes that are made from turkey or pork ham.

The inhabitants of Bulgaria set the table interestingly. Here they prepare for the holiday only meatless dishes, while their number is strictly regulated by ancient customs. Dishes can be either 7 or 9 or 11. Must be served layered cake with a surprise - banitsa.

Spain at Christmas prefers to set the table with roast lamb (most often young lambs are purchased), suckling pigs, shellfish, turkey and fortified wine Sherry.

But in Italy, instead of meat and turkey, popular in many countries, they prefer to set the table for Christmas with fish, namely steamed cod or perch baked in white wine.

Latvia celebrates Christmas with traditional Christmas dishes such as piparkukas or piparkok cookies, peas, bacon sauce, pies, cabbage, tangerines and sausages. For Russia, this is very unusual festive table, agree?

A rich table is set for Christmas in Finland. Here, the table on this day is always full of ham, trout, salmon, various casseroles, puffs (plum jam is used as a filling), berries such as cranberries and lingonberries, as well as green peas.