Christmas Eve from North to South Italy: Tradition never goes out of style.
Original article in Italian here
Region, you go...custom you find! The Christmas Eve feast in the Beautiful Country embraces tastes and ancient traditions that are passed down from home to home, from generation to generation. A gastronomic journey through the tables of Italy, from Lombard mulled wine to the delicious fried dishes of the South.
Wherever you go, you find a tradition. The Christmas Eve dinner encompasses different tastes and traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. The dinner on December 24th is a well-established custom, especially in the central and southern parts of Italy. In the north, in most cases, there is no tradition of gathering with relatives for dinner. The faithful attend the Midnight Mass, after which it is customary to exchange greetings on the church square, often warming up with a glass of "mulled wine".
Christmas in the North
Where people do sit at the table, the custom is to have a light dinner, although there are exceptions. In Val d'Aosta, for example, it is customary to eat carbonade, slices of meat marinated in flavored red wine and then cooked in a pan. In Piedmont, among the first courses, there are ravioli and agnolotti, in Lombardy, there are tagliolini with scampi or fish ravioli, and then boiled lobster, salmon, and crayfish served with mayonnaise sauce. In Veneto, among the traditional Christmas Eve dishes, there are the so-called cornioi, snails cooked with white wine, garlic, butter, oil, parsley, and celery, in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto, pasta with sardines is typical. In Emilia Romagna, there are spaghetti with sardines or tuna, or alternatively, pumpkin tortellini with butter sauce. In Tuscany, on Christmas Eve, the bardiccio is cooked, a fennel-flavored pork sausage, and in Liguria, the legendary cappon magro cannot be missed.
Christmas in Central Italy.
In Tuscany, you cannot celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus without a rich caciucco, while in Lazio, fried vegetables are a classic. In Marche and Umbria, there is an abundance of fish, grilled, in stew, or fried. Among the dishes of Abruzzo, fidelini with sardines are prepared, as well as eels, fried cod, and fried eel. The brodetto alla termolese and the lasagna timbale prepared in chicken broth are two of the many dishes in the gastronomic tradition of Molise.
Christmas in the South
In Southern Italy, the dishes become richer and more flavorful, as seen in the Lucanian tradition where the Christmas Eve dinner consists of thirteen fish-based courses. In Puglia, fried fish is one of the main elements, along with pettole, a fried dough eaten with anchovies or sauce. In Naples, the capitone, fried or stewed, is the king of the dinner. And then, there's octopus salad and fried cod, seafood risotto and lobster linguine, mixed fried shrimp and calamari, and, if that's not enough, there's rinforzo salad prepared with cauliflower, olives, capers, anchovies, papaccelle (short and plump peppers), and assorted pickles. For the Christmas Eve feast in Calabria, they eat vegetable soups, dishes made with stockfish and artichokes. Sicilian Christmas recipes divide the island into the eastern and western parts. In western Sicily, pasta with sardines and rice timbales dominate, while in the east, it is customary to prepare scacce, hot oven-baked flatbreads stuffed with vegetables, cheeses, and meat. In Sardinia, there are culurgiones de casu, ravioli stuffed with pecorino and Swiss chard, and fregula, a type of semolina couscous seasoned with clams.
At the end of the meal, there's a triumph of desserts, dried fruits, and nougat. In addition to the inevitable panettone and pandoro, there are struffoli, cartellate, Tuscan panforte, Christmas yule log, panpepato, cubaita, and Sardinian sebadas, a traditional shepherd's dessert, now praised by gourmets for its use of refined strawberry tree honey.
Original article in Italian here
Region, you go...custom you find! The Christmas Eve feast in the Beautiful Country embraces tastes and ancient traditions that are passed down from home to home, from generation to generation. A gastronomic journey through the tables of Italy, from Lombard mulled wine to the delicious fried dishes of the South.
Wherever you go, you find a tradition. The Christmas Eve dinner encompasses different tastes and traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. The dinner on December 24th is a well-established custom, especially in the central and southern parts of Italy. In the north, in most cases, there is no tradition of gathering with relatives for dinner. The faithful attend the Midnight Mass, after which it is customary to exchange greetings on the church square, often warming up with a glass of "mulled wine".
Christmas in the North
Where people do sit at the table, the custom is to have a light dinner, although there are exceptions. In Val d'Aosta, for example, it is customary to eat carbonade, slices of meat marinated in flavored red wine and then cooked in a pan. In Piedmont, among the first courses, there are ravioli and agnolotti, in Lombardy, there are tagliolini with scampi or fish ravioli, and then boiled lobster, salmon, and crayfish served with mayonnaise sauce. In Veneto, among the traditional Christmas Eve dishes, there are the so-called cornioi, snails cooked with white wine, garlic, butter, oil, parsley, and celery, in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto, pasta with sardines is typical. In Emilia Romagna, there are spaghetti with sardines or tuna, or alternatively, pumpkin tortellini with butter sauce. In Tuscany, on Christmas Eve, the bardiccio is cooked, a fennel-flavored pork sausage, and in Liguria, the legendary cappon magro cannot be missed.
Christmas in Central Italy.
In Tuscany, you cannot celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus without a rich caciucco, while in Lazio, fried vegetables are a classic. In Marche and Umbria, there is an abundance of fish, grilled, in stew, or fried. Among the dishes of Abruzzo, fidelini with sardines are prepared, as well as eels, fried cod, and fried eel. The brodetto alla termolese and the lasagna timbale prepared in chicken broth are two of the many dishes in the gastronomic tradition of Molise.
Christmas in the South
In Southern Italy, the dishes become richer and more flavorful, as seen in the Lucanian tradition where the Christmas Eve dinner consists of thirteen fish-based courses. In Puglia, fried fish is one of the main elements, along with pettole, a fried dough eaten with anchovies or sauce. In Naples, the capitone, fried or stewed, is the king of the dinner. And then, there's octopus salad and fried cod, seafood risotto and lobster linguine, mixed fried shrimp and calamari, and, if that's not enough, there's rinforzo salad prepared with cauliflower, olives, capers, anchovies, papaccelle (short and plump peppers), and assorted pickles. For the Christmas Eve feast in Calabria, they eat vegetable soups, dishes made with stockfish and artichokes. Sicilian Christmas recipes divide the island into the eastern and western parts. In western Sicily, pasta with sardines and rice timbales dominate, while in the east, it is customary to prepare scacce, hot oven-baked flatbreads stuffed with vegetables, cheeses, and meat. In Sardinia, there are culurgiones de casu, ravioli stuffed with pecorino and Swiss chard, and fregula, a type of semolina couscous seasoned with clams.
At the end of the meal, there's a triumph of desserts, dried fruits, and nougat. In addition to the inevitable panettone and pandoro, there are struffoli, cartellate, Tuscan panforte, Christmas yule log, panpepato, cubaita, and Sardinian sebadas, a traditional shepherd's dessert, now praised by gourmets for its use of refined strawberry tree honey.