Lands of Red and Gold Interlude #7: A Chef’s Guide to Christmas
This instalment gives a flavour of how the changed circumstances of this timeline have altered Christmas cuisine styles and celebrations around the globe. As per usual practice, this instalment should not be taken in an overly serious manner.
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Seen on the sign outside a church in Henrysburgh [Petersburg], Virginia, Alleghania, on 24 December:
“To our Christian friends: Merry Christmas
To our Jewish friends: Happy Hanukkah
To our Plirite friends: Good luck!”
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From: “The Great Christmas Cookbook: Yuletide Recipes From Around The Globe”
Four-Pepper Chicken
Four-pepper chicken is a mouth-watering (literally) Cathayan and Indian influenced chicken recipe. Fried chicken is cooked in a combination of the three hot kinds of peppers, blended with bell peppers, Indian vegetables and Cathayan flavours to produce an intensely hot and flavoursome main meal.
Predecessors of this dish as a Christmas tradition go back to the seventeenth century, when sweet peppers [Aururian peppers] were first introduced to India. Since they were so rare and treasured, the Nasrani [Saint Thomas Christians / Syrian Christians] who lived in Cochin created special recipes for sweet peppers which were only served at Christmas. Even when sweet peppers became more freely available, the connection to Christmas remained.
Ingredients:
500 grams chicken (de-skinned and de-boned)
1 large or 2 medium red or yellow bell peppers
3 eggs
3 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 green chilli peppers (thinly sliced)
4-5 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp minced ginger paste
1-6 whole sweet peppers (as per taste) [1]
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
2 tbsp white spring onions (chopped)
2 tbsp green spring onions (chopped)
1/4 tsp umami powder [MSG]
1/2 tsp castor sugar
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp vinegar
Sunflower oil
Salt to taste
Steamed basmati rice, to serve
Method:
1. Beat eggs in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Chop chicken into medium-sized chunks. Set aside.
3. De-seed bell peppers and chop into medium-sized cubes. Set aside.
4. Combine beaten egg, corn starch, salt and soy sauce. Crack sweet peppers and black peppercorns into mixture.
5. Mix well and add chicken chunks.
6. Coat the chicken thoroughly in the mixture. Set aside for 20 minutes.
7. Heat adequate oil in a pan. Deep-fry the chicken until golden brown.
8. Remove chicken on oil-absorbent paper. Set aside. Keep remnant oil in pan warm.
9. In another pan, heat 1 tbsp oil. Add green chilli peppers, minced garlic and minced ginger.
10. Sauté for several seconds. Add white spring onion.
11. Stir with chicken stock and vinegar.
12. Add sugar, salt and umami.
13. Mix thoroughly until starts boiling.
14. Add fried chicken pieces and cook for 4-5 minutes.
15. In remnant oil, add bell peppers. Fry for 2-3 minutes without letting it become too soft.
16. Add fried bell peppers to boiling chicken.
17. Lastly add green spring onions.
18. Serve hot with steamed basmati rice.
Chef Notes:
1. If gravy is too watery, dissolve 1 tsp corn flour in 2 tbsp water, mix well and add to the gravy to ensure thick consistency.
2. For variants, add chopped carrot and celery to provide additional flavour.
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Christmas Pudding
Christmas pudding, or plum pudding, is a boiled pudding made from many dried fruits and nuts, flavoured with spices. Despite the name, plums are not among the fruits contained in a plum pudding; that name came from the older use of the word “plum” to mean raisins.
Christmas pudding is first known from medieval England, and it has spread to become a traditional highlight for Christmas dinners throughout the English-speaking world. Many families have their own recipes handed down from generation to generation: this one is a simplified recipe which should appeal to everyone.
Ingredients:
200 grams raisins
60 grams mixed peel
200 grams sultanas
200 grams currants
200 grams dried muntries [2]
125 grams chopped blanched almonds
125 grams shredded blanched peachnuts [3]
1/4 cup rum, brandy or rremma [double-distilled duranj (Tasmanian gum cider)], plus extra, for flaming
250 grams unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
Zest of 1 orange (grated)
4 eggs
1/2 plain wheat flour
1/2 cup cornnart flour [wattle seed flour]
1 tsp cinnamon verbena [cinnamon myrtle] [4]
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground white ginger berry [5]
1/2 tsp ground aniseed verbena [aniseed myrtle]
2 tbsp cornnart honey [6]
125 grams soft white breadcrumbs
Vanilla egg custard or heavy cream, to serve
Method:
1. Sprinkle the fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants, dried muntries) and nuts (almonds and peachnuts) with the brandy, rum or rremma into a large bowl. Cover and leave overnight.
2. Cream the butter until soft. Add the sugar and orange zest. Beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg has been added.
4. Sift the flour (wheat and cornnart) and spices (cinnamon, cloves, white ginger berry and aniseed verbena) into a bowl. Fold into the sugar and butter mixture.
5. Stir in the breadcrumbs, honey and the marinated fruit and nut mixture until well-combined.
6. Place the mixture into a well-greased budding basin, lined with a circle of greased baking paper cut to fit the base. Cover with another circle of greased baking paper to fit the top of the pudding basin. Cover the pudding with a large sheet of baking paper with a pleat in the centre, to allow for any rising.
7. Tie firmly with string. Use a plate on top of the bowl to keep the paper in place while tying it. Make a handle of string from side to side of the bowl, latching it onto the string around the bowl. Use the string to lower the pudding slowly into boiling water.
8. Steam the pudding, covered, for 6 hours. The water should be deep enough to come halfway up the side of the bowl. If possible, sit the pudding on a metal ring or upturned saucer.
9. Top up the water with boiling water as needed.
10. Remove from the water, cover with fresh baking paper and string. Store until needed.
11. To serve, put the pudding into a saucepan of boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the bowl. Steam for 2.5 hours.
12. Invert the pudding into a heated plate. To flame, warm a tablespoon of rum, brandy or rremma, light, and pour over the pudding at the table. (Best enjoyed with the lights turned low first).
13. Serve accompanied by vanilla egg custard or heavy cream.
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Chirriburri [Chimichurri]
Chirriburri is a flavoursome sauce used to accompany or marinate grilled meat. It was originally invented in Argentina, probably by Basque settlers; the original name for the sauce was tximitxurri, which refers to a combination of several things where the order is not important.
Argentine Christmases, like most of their social gatherings, involve an asado [7] where the national dish of Argentina [i.e. grilled beef] is served along with other grilled meats. Chirriburri is usually the chosen accompaniment to the grilled meats.
Ingredients:
1/4 packed cup coriander (chopped)
1 small or 1/2 medium red chilli pepper (de-seeded and very finely chopped)
1tbsp white onion (diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
2 white ginger berries (de-skinned and minced)
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp water
1/2 medium tomato (finely diced)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt, 1/2 tsp or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp pepperleaf [sweet pepper leaf]
Method:
1. Combine coriander, chilli, onion, garlic, white ginger, oregano, vinegar, water, and tomato in a bowl. Slowly whisk in the oil. Add salt, black pepper and pepperleaf.
2. Let sauce sit for 30 minutes so flavours will meld.
Chef Notes:
1. As an alternative, use parsley instead of coriander.
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Carne de Vinha D’Alhos (Portuguese Pork with Wine and Garlic)
Carne de vinha d’alhos is a traditional Portuguese Christmas dish, made from meat braised with wine and garlic. Pork is the most common meat used today, although rabbit was also traditionally popular.
Ingredients:
1 large picnic pork shoulder (cut into 5cm chunks)
Cider vinegar, 2 parts
White wine, 1 part
1/2 cup salt
6 garlic cloves (peeled and crushed)
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp dried rotunda [8]
7 whole red chilli peppers (torn apart)
1-2 loaf Portuguese bread [9], sliced 2.5cm thick
Method:
1. Using a sharp knife, de-bone and remove the rind from the meat, leaving the white fat, and discarding the rind. Cut into chunks.
2. Combine the pork, vinegar, wine, garlic, marjoram, rotunda, salt and chilli peppers in a non-reactive bowl. Marinate in the refrigerator for 5-6 days.
3. Put the meat and a little of the marinade in a large, non-reactive pot. Simmer over low heat until meat is browned. Keep adding more marinade as needed to keep from drying out or burning.
4. Transfer the meat to a platter.
5. Moisten the slices of bread by dipping each side quickly in the hot marinade. Add more marinade, if necessary. Brown the bread in the marinade until semi-crispy.
6. Arrange the bread on a serving platter with the meat. Serve hot.
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Eggnog
Eggnog is a sweetened milk-based drink, which is traditionally made with milk and cream, sugar, whipped eggs, and a combination of spices. Liquor is usually added (except for children), with rum, whiskey, brandy, vodka or rremma popular choices. Eggnog came from the British Isles originally, and became popular in North America, where it gained its traditional connection to Christmas.
Ready-made versions of eggnog can be found in stores around Christmas, but I personally have yet to find a pre-made eggnog worth drinking, especially the Cali-fornications produced in my homeland. Most families have their own recipes for home-made eggnog: the recipe below is just one simple version which everyone should enjoy.
Ingredients:
6 eggs, with 2 extra egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar, with extra 2 tbsp
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup brandy, dark rum, or rremma
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg, plus extra for garnish
1/4 tsp cinnamon verbena
1/4 tsp lemon verbena [lemon myrtle] [10]
1/4 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
Method:
1. Combine eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a large heavy pan. Whisk until well-combined. Continue whisking while pouring milk slowly and steadily, until completely included.
2. Turn on burner to lowest heat setting. Place pan on burner and stir mixture continuously until an instant thermometer shows 70 degrees C and the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. (Patience is required. This will take 25-30 minutes.)
3. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a large bowl. Add brandy, dark rum or rremma, vanilla essence, nutmeg, cinnamon verbena and lemon verbena. Stir to combine.
4. Pour into a glass pitcher, decanter or container and cover. Refrigerate the mixture to chill for minimum four hours, or maximum 3 days before finishing.
5. When ready to serve, whip heavy cream in a bowl until it forms soft peaks. Fold whipped cream into mixture until combined.
6. Serve in chilled glasses. Garnish with nutmeg.
Chef Notes:
1. If you want to fortify the eggnog with more Christmas cheer, you will need to tweak the recipe to ensure consistency. The liquor content should be increased to 1 cup and the cream content to 3/4 cup.
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Note: In some of the cases below, the names of countries listed are non-canonical. They should be taken as shorthand for “this is what allohistorical Christmas cuisine is like in the region which historically is called X”, rather than “country X exists under that name in the Lands of Red and Gold modern era”. However, Portugal has the best Christmas cuisine in the world [citation needed].
Taken from Intellipedia.
Christmas Dinner
Christmas dinner is the main meal traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Christmas traditions around the world may differ, even within countries. The traditions listed below represent the culture of the respectful country ware the festivities are being celebrated. Christmas traditions may very, even within countries, and the descriptions blow should not be assumed to be universal in any given country.
India
In India, people cook a wide variety of foods, including biryani with chicken or lamb, chicken and mutton curry, or sweet pepper chicken curry. This is followed by cake or sweets like kheer, or other sweet foods flavoured with jaggery. Some cook roast stuffed noroon [emu], but this is more common in cities and almost unknown in villages [citation needed].
Lebanon
The people of Lebanon, mainly Christians but also Muslims and Druze, celebreat Christmas with a traditional large feast. The celebreation begins on the knight of the 24th and continues until lunch on the 25th. Some [who?] have leftovers from the dinner before at the lunch the next day. Families get together at both meals. Roast noroon [citation needed] is the most common choice of meal. Roasted duck, tabouleh (Lebanese salad), and pastries such as honey cake, are the traditional fair. Most of the Christians in Lebanon observe a fast for forty (40) days before Christmas, and so the feast is particularly enjoyed. Who wouldn’t enjoy a fast after that long without food? [This sentence has been flagged as offensive – discuss].
Denmark
The traditional Danish Christmas meal is served on 24 December. It consists of roast pork with crackling or goose or duck or noroon [citation needed]. The meat is served along with boiled murnong (some of which is caramelised, some roasted), red cabbage, and plenty of gravy. It is followed with a desert of risalamande: rice pudding served with cherry sauce or strawberry sauce, often with a whole almond inside. The lucky finder of the almond receives an extra present, the “almond gift”. Christmas drinks are gløgg (mulled, spiced wine) and traditional duranj, specially brewed for the season. These usually have a high alcohol concentration.
France
In France, a réveillon is a long dinner-cum-party, depending on the stamina of the attendees, held on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. This dinner is named for the word réveil, “waking”, because participants are expected to stay awake until midnight. Falling asleep before midnight is considered bad luck.
The food consumed at a réveillon is traditionally luxurious and of the highest quality. Fur example, appetisers may include foie gras, oyster, lobster or escargot. One traditional dish is turkey with chestnuts. Although examples of traditional dishes vary across the different regions and regional specialties of France. Won increasingly popular dish is roast noroon [citation needed].
Desserts are extravagant and varied. Perhaps the most common [weasel words] is the bûche de Noël (Yule log).
Réveillon is marked by consumption of high-quality wines, of French origin, concluding with champagne or other sparkling wine as a finish. Where the réveillon involves withdrawing from the dining table to another room such as sitting room, brandy or other distilled spirits will usually be served [citation needed].
Ireland
In Ireland, preparations for Christmas dinner begin the knight before. The ham will be boiled and people may start to prepare the vegetables. The traditional Irish Christmas dinner consists of noroon [citation needed], ham, Brussels sprouts, roast murnong, stuffing, and various vegetables. The old version would have been a goose or a duck, and many Irish still follow this tradition.
The dinner usually consists of roast poultry such as noroon [citation needed], goose, turkey, chicken, duck, capon or pheasant, some times with roast beef or ham, or occasionally pork. In some regions of Ireland, particularly Cork, they will also eat spiced beef. A cured and salted rump of beef, cured with saltpetre and spices. Varieties of spices used include cherry pepper [pimento], cinnamon, ground cloves, white ginger root, and purple pepper. (Purple sweet pepper, note purple bell pepper). Which is broiled or semi-steamed in stout, and then roasted.
Served with stuffing and gravy; pigs in blankets; cranberry sauce or muntrie jelly; bread sauce; roast murnong, sometimes also boiled or mashed; vegetables (usually boiled or steamed), especially Brussels sprouts and carrots. With dessert of Christmas pudding, sometimes mince pies, with brandy butter or cream. Or both.
Portugal
Portugal is the land of dried and salted cod. Traditional Christmas dinner could not escape the standard. A people who eat well every day will eat well on Christmas Day. The traditional Portuguese standard is a get-together of families on Christmas Eve, around the table. To eat boiled dried-salted codfish. Accompanied with boiled cabbage, roasted [red] yams, boiled eggs, chickpeas, onions, fresh rotunda, etc. Served with Portuguese black pancakes [wattleseed flatbread]. All topped with generous quantities of olive oil. There are variations across the country. Less traditionally, roasted noroon [citation needed] or pork can also be served.
England
Christmas dinner in England is usually eaten in the afternoon of 25 December. The traditional fare is similar to that served in Ireland. With a few variations in that potatoes are usually used instead of murnong, and accompanying vegetables are often parsnips and cauliflower. The stuffing typically includes more hot spices, chilli peppers and sweet peppers, than in Irish cuisine. Wine is usually served instead of stout, often claret or other French wines.
The evolution of the main course has been a progress of centuries. In medieval times, a bore or sometimes a peacock was the mainstay of the meal. Turkey made an appearance in the sixteenth century and was widespread by the seventeenth. Goose was a popular alternative throughout that era and into the nineteenth century, but wood largely be displaced by the turkey by the end of that era. By the turn of the twentieth century, turkey was synonymous with Christmas in England. This gradually reverted to a greater variety of poultry by the present day. Roast noroon is increasingly popular [citation needed].
Alleghania [11]
Most Christmas customs in Alleghania have been adopted from those in the British Isles. As such, the mainstays of British Christmas are also found in Alleghania: roast turkey or other poultry, beef, or ham; stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy; roasted root vegetables such as parsnip, murnong, carrot, yams and luto stems [12]; squash; and Brussels sprouts. Deserts are more diverse than their British counterparts: alongside the traditional fair of Christmas pudding, trifle, mince pies and marzipan can be found more exotic options such as coconut cake, pecan pie, sweet potato pie, and gooseberry pie.
The centrepiece of the main Christmas dinner varies according to the taste of the hoast, but can be roast beef, turkey, ham or goose. Recently, noroon has become the roast meat of choice for the Christmas connoisseur [citation needed]. Regional meals offer diversity in they’re supporting cast of foods, for example: oysters and ham pie along the Virginian coast, and grilled venison with sweet pepper sauce in the Alleghanian uplands.
Louisiana
Réveillon is as much a part of a Louisianan Christmas as its French counterpart. Louisiana does not traditionally have a signature Christmas dish, rather, all of the traditional elements of Louisianan cuisine are combined in the feast that marks réveillon. Seafood and game meats are the most common elements, flavoured with the hallmark Louisianan elements of onion, celery and carrot (the holy trinity), chilli pepper, sugarcane and its derivatives of molasses and cane syrup, and aromatic verbenas of lemon, aniseed, cinnamon, and curry. Poultry is less common, although roast noroon is not unknown [citation needed] [weasel words].
New England
New England’s Christmas cuisine is also influenced bye its British heritage, but not like Alleghania. In New England, for a long time the celebreation of Christmas was illegal, and even for long after it was legal, it was socially frowned on and rearly celebreated. So New English cuisine does not have the same tradition of slow adoption of Christmas traditions from the British Isles, rather it was a wholesale importation of English cuisine. New England’s Christmas cuisine represents an idealised version of middle-class nineteenth century English cuisine without the greater variety that has been introduced in modern times: a goose is almost universal as the poultry of choice, while the dessert is the traditional Yule log which was for some time the desired Christmas standard in England, while the Christmas pudding is almost unknown. Almost the only New English addition is plum rhubarb pie, which has become their iconic desert accompaniment to the Yule log, but which is only available thanks to imported plums that are out of season in New England. Also, more affluent New Englanders are now turning to roast noroon as the focal point of their Christmas dinners [citation needed]
Tigeria [13]
A typical Tigerian tradition is “gourmet”, an evening-long occasion where small groups of people sit together around a gourmet set and use small individual frying pans to cook and season their own food in very small portions. The host will have prepared the essential ingredients of finely-chopped vegetables and different cuts of meat, and seafood. The accompaniment will be a range of salads, fruits and sauces. The convenience of gourmet is that everyone can prepare their own seasoning to taste, ranging from those who like the mildest and blandest accompaniments, through to those who do not believe any meal is complete without enough hot peppers to leave their tongue numb for the next week.
While Christmas Day is celebreated, traditionally the main gift-giving and collective social gathering was St Nicholas’s Day (6 January). Christmas traditions from its neighbours have begun to spread in Tigeria, and it is now more commonplace to see more familiar Christmas dinners with meat and game such as turkey, goose, pheasant or rabbit. In recent years, Anglophone traditions have become popular, such as English-style noroon [citation needed].
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, Christmas Eve is known as the Feast of Gena, and marks the end of a strict 40-day fast. This is a time for celebration and involves a gathering of extended family together for the feast. Where the extended family is large enough, and the host wealthy enough, the traditional centrepiece of the feast is a roast noroon.
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[1] “Whole sweet peppers” refers to the berries of Aururian pepperbushes, which are approximately ten times as strong as true pepper. The leaves of pepperbushes are less intense, and are similar in intensity to true pepper.
[2] Muntries (Kunzea pomifera) are a small native Aururian fruit, with a flavour reminiscent of a spicy apple.
[3] “Peachnut” is the allohistorical name for quandong “nut”: the very large edible seed of the quandong, a large peach-like fruit grown in Aururia. The fruit’s flesh is also edible (and quite tasty).
[4] Cinnamon myrtle is a spice made from the leaves of the eponymous tree (Backhousia myrtifolia). Its flavour is similar to true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), although allohistorical purists would argue that true cinnamon has a better flavour. Cinnamon myrtle is easier to cultivate and yields more highly per acre than true cinnamon. In the later seventeenth and earlier eighteenth centuries, this meant that the cinnamon verbena (cinnamon myrtle) trade allowed its suppliers to undercut much of the market in true cinnamon. True cinnamon became a more higher priced, premium spice, and while it never disappeared entirely, it had a much smaller market. In the allohistorical modern era, the difference in yield makes only a minor difference in price, but cinnamon myrtle retains a larger market share mostly due to inertia.
[5] White ginger, or native ginger (Alpinia caerulea) is an Aururian spice made from a bush whose leaf tips, berries and roots produce subtly different gingery flavours. Only the berries are used in this recipe.
[6] Cornnart honey (wattle honey) is honey produced by bees which have access only to wattle flowers. It has a mild, sweet, flavour with hints of vanilla, and because of its lightness it mixes well when cooking.
[7] An asado is like a barbecue, but with more flavour.
[8] Rotunda is the allohistorical common name for Prostanthera rotundifolia, which is historically called native thyme or roundleaf mintbush. Its flavour is somewhat reminiscent of both mint and thyme.
[9] Portuguese bread is the most common allohistorical name for a kind of bread made from 3 parts white flour and 1 part wattleseed flour. It is also called blackbread or oilbread, names which match its qualities: wattleseeds are distinctly black, and add an oily texture to the bread. Portuguese bread is traditionally baked in long thin loaves, similar to baguettes.
[10] Lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) is a leaf spice which has a lemon-like flavour (from citral), but without the sourness or acidity of lemon juice. This means that it can be used in sweeter foods, and also that it can be used when cooking dairy-based foods without curdling.
[11] Alleghania is an allohistorical state in North America, formed from the union of Virginia and Cavendia [South Carolina/northern Georgia], among other regions.
[12] Luto, historically known as bush pear or bush banana (Marsdenia australis), is a vine whose fruit, leaves, stems, flowers and tubers are all edible. The stems (and leaves) are often roasted.
[13] Tigeria is an allohistorical state which is, very roughly, a surviving New Netherlands in North America.
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Thoughts?
