Carp, borscht, as well as kutia made of groats, poppy seed, cabbage with peas, Silesian gingerbread and fish head soup. Christmas Eve dishes in vary depending on which part of the country you are in, but almost all dinners on this special day consist of 12 dishes and dried fruit kompot.
On Christmas Eve, December 24th, the appearance of the first star on the sky marks the beginning of one of the most beautiful evenings in the year. An entire day of fasting ends with aprayer, the sharing of the Christmas wafer and wishes of good luck. After that, supper is served – and although it is meant to be afasting meal, in many cases it will likely lead to heavy overeating.
After devouring the twelve dishes, families leave the dinner table to unpack presents, which are placed under the Christmas tree – decorated with baubles, garlands and colourful lights.
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Christmas Eve is full of symbolism, both in terms of the dishes served and their number: despite common belief, there have not always been 12 dishes. In earlier times, sometimes three, five or seven (always odd numbers) dishes were served.
“The tradition of having an odd number of dishes probably came from ancient magical beliefs. It is open, so it gives the basis for multiplying what is on the table to make the number even”, says Robert Piotrowski, the head of the ethnographic division of the Museum of the Mazovian Countryside in Sierpc, when asked by Polska.pl. He adds that the current number of dishes, twelve, is derived from traditions observed by the nobility and minor gentry. – Twelve referred to the number of the Apostles and months of the year. It was intended as awish for sufficient amount of food for each month of the next year, he explains. Strength and luck was to be guaranteed by tasting each of the dishes.
“In earlier times, Christmas was regarded as acontinuation of the festivity honouring the dead that started on November 1st. People believed that the souls of the departed sit at the table. Hence the sleep-inducing poppy seed dishes, which were believed to placate the souls of the dead when added to food”, explains Robert Piotrowski. In some parts of , the meal for the departed was cast into the fire. In other regions, it was eaten in silence to emphasise the solemnity.
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Christmas was considered aprophetic day, which helps explain anumber of related superstitions. For example, it was believed that crying on Christmas Eve meant crying until next the Christmas. It was also believed that the future could be predicted using ablade of grass from under atablecloth – agreen one meant good luck, ablackened one –bad luck. The custom of putting acarp’s scale into one’s wallet has survived until today. It is supposed to ensure wealth for the entire year.
Throughout history, Polish Christmas Eve suppers included asoup based on fermented product, kutia, or noodles with honey and poppy seed, and fish. Uszka – small pierogi (dumplings) which are served with borscht or with sauerkraut and mushroom-filled pierogi started to be served in more recent times.
Typical soups served on Christmas Eve include sour rye soup (also known as white borscht), red borscht soup traditionally served with uszka, and mushroom soup. All of these soups are made with fermented ingredients. This may be rye flour, in the case of sour rye soup, or sauerkraut. Mushroom soup, which was eaten on Christmas Eve in parts of such as Mazovia, was prepared on asauerkraut base fermented in abarrel. – The secret was an excellent combination of two tastes: sweet and insipid mushrooms, which burst between the teeth, and sauerkraut, explains Robert Piotrowski.
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Usually, only one type of soup is served on Christmas Eve. The mountaineers of Podhale are the exception. They eat both borscht and mushroom soup during their Christmas Eve supper. An interesting variation of both soups is the Pomeranian borscht with mushroom noodles.
Traditional Silesian Christmas Eve soup has one of the most unique combinations of tastes in Polish cuisine. It is made from aspecial kind of gingerbread, almonds, raisins, and dried fruit: apricots, pears, figs, plums, and hazelnuts. All these products are soaked in dark beer or vegetable and carp head stock. Every Silesian home has adifferent recipe, but the universal rule states that
, which is made of flax seed and ground millet groats. It is quite bitter and belongs to the most ancient dishes related to Christmas Eve. Flax seed is crushed and then combined with carp head stock and ground millet and buckwheat groats.
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Mazovian housewives took great care to shape them as ears of wheat. They were called rolled noodles, and they were supposed to be asign of an abundant harvest. The larger and rounder they were, the better the wheat would be in the summer. In Mazovia, mead mixed with water was poured onto them and poppy seed, which replaced the previously used pearled barley, was added. In Silesia, noodles were sometimes substituted for challah bread with honey and poppyseed, and served cold. In Podhale, the more popular noodles are called
(pearled barley) to which amixture of mead and water is added, kutia is one of the most popular dishes in Eastern . Sometimes raisins, nuts and poppy seed are also added. In Białystok, it is known as
Is also aChristmas Eve dish, it is believed that indispensable ingredients include “a bit of eternity and the happiness of the saints in heaven”. The ingredient of
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That represents eternity is wheat, which is reborn every year, and the carefree life of saints is represented by honey. These are not the only religious connotations of that dish. “It used to be carried into the room on the knees, and aburning candle was placed in the middle of the bowl, which was supposed to be the symbol of the connection with the dead”, says Robert Piotrowski
This dish cannot be absent from any Christmas Eve dinner table in , although in some parts of the country it takes on the form of dried fruit soup. Dried apples, plums, pears and apricots, and sometimes almonds, are soaked with water and served for better digestion. This is the only Christmas Eve dish praised by dieticians for its fibre, vitamin and mineral content. Of course, this is assuming that no sugar is added during the process.
Fish, the main type of food served at Christmas Eve dinners of the Polish nobility, were not always that common with the rest of the populace. With the latter, fish would often be served if there was ariver close to the village. Otherwise, families would go without afish dish or use herring from the Baltic Sea, which was cheap and easily available. For rich Poles, fresh water fish was the basis of aChristmas Eve feast.
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Apart from carp and tench in aspic, fried pike, perch and sturgeon cutlets were served in Warsaw. Fish were particularly abundant in Pomerania, where various carp dishes (served with butter, garlic sauce, stuffed, fried) were accompanied by flounder in aspic, trout with almonds, pike in horseradish sauce, herring (fisherman style, in cream, pickled). Nowadays carp (fried and in aspic) and herring are necessary parts of the Christmas Eve supper. Fish ala Grecque is also acommon dish.
Is atraditional dish and apart of Polish, Lithuatian and Belarussian cuisine. Its basis is sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, which is cooked slowly for along time (preferably afew days) with meat, and on Christmas Eve it takes the form of afasting day meal and includes mushrooms. In some parts of , such as in Podhale, these are substituted with cabbage with peas. Peas, added to the majority of Polish dishes as asource of starch before potatoes were introduced, is ground and added to boiled cabbage. Then, the dish is seasoned with salt, pepper, caraway, and herbs. Traditionally, cabbage with peas was apopular wintertime dish. It was prepared for afew days, and it made it possible to spend time spinning wool or weaving cloth without any breaks that would be needed for cooking.
They are an indispensable part of the Christmas Eve supper in all parts of . They have been known in since the 13th century, and were probably brought over from the Far East. In the past they were cooked exclusively for holidays. Each housewife had her own recipe that had been in the family for many generations. This is why Poles have so many recipes for the perfect pierogi dish. They often differ in the texture of the pastry, compactness, shape and size of frills.
Polish Christmas Recipe Collection [2022]
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Although red meat is not allowed due to the religious nature of Christmas, fish is the one exception. So what salad could be more fitting than this herring dish!
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