Catholic Recipe: Six Christmas Dinner Menus
And suddenly it is Christmas Day! Families attend Mass and hurry home to a warming late breakfast and a concerted attack on the gaily wrapped presents underneath the tree. Mother turns her thoughts toward the preparation of Christmas dinner, and she can rejoice that food customs have changed a bit since the sixteenth century. A Christmas dinner in those days was made up, in at least one recorded instance, of seventeen main dishes, sixteen other dishes, which included salads, pastries, and sweets, with bread and vegetables as additional fare!
If you plan to serve a mince pie for dessert, you will be interested in its origin. When the Crusaders came back to England, they brought with them spices from the Holy Land. These spices were added to huge pies made of meats of various kinds, minced very fine and enclosed in pastry. The pies were oblong in shape, to represent the manger. A depression was made in the top to hold a figure of the Infant Jesus, which was removed just before the pie was cut.
At last the table is set with the best linens, china, and silver, and family and guests sit down to a Christmas dinner that, though bountiful and delicious, has not overtaxed the hostess with its preparation. Here are six suggested menus for a scrumptious Christmas dinner.
DIRECTIONS
Roast Goose with Apple Stuffing (see recipe)
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans and Mushrooms
Cranberry Sauce
Peppermint Ice Cream
Christmas Cookies
Roast Turkey
Oyster Stuffing
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Buttered Peas
Celery
Olives
Mince Pie
Glazed Roast Duck (see recipe)
Mashed Potatoes
Green Peas
Crisp Celery Olives
Plum Pudding (see recipe)
Roast Turkey
Corn Bread Stuffing
Green Beans
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce
Nesselrode Ice Cream
Christmas Cookies
Crown Roast Pork (see recipe)
Apple Stuffing (Use 1/4 recipe) (see recipe)
Brussels Sprouts
Whipped Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce (see recipe)
Eggnog Pie (see recipe)
Roast Turkey
Chestnut Stuffing (see recipe)
Green Beans with Mushrooms
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Tossed Salad
Holiday Nesselrode Pie (see recipe)
Recipe Source: Cook's Blessings, The by Demetria Taylor, Random House, New York, 1965
