Christmas Food :Misha Herwin



No, not the traditional turkey, goose, chicken, beef or pork. A pot full of golabki is one of the dishes we will be eating this Christmas Eve.
Because of my Polish family, my children were brought up celebrating both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Which meant cooking two different meals.
On the night before Christmas we laid the table, putting wisps of hay, or straw under the cloth to remind us of Jesus in the manger. Then the youngest was set to look out for the first star, or that at least was the theory and it did give the kids something to do.
Once the star was sighted then Christmas could begin. First the baby Jesus was put in our homemade crib, then came the distribution of the oplatek. The thin wafer, like communion bread, that in those days was sent to us by our family in Poland. Each person took a piece and shared it with all the others, kissing them and wishing them a happy Christmas.
After that it was presents under the Christmas tree and finally when all the wrapping paper had been cleared up, the food.
Twelve different dishes, one for each of the disciples was the tradition. Some were British, like salad, or cooked chicken, others Polish like the pot full of cabbage wrapped parcels above.
Like a lot of traditional food much of this cooking is very time consuming. For golombki the cabbage leaves must first be blanched, filling the kitchen with steam while I am frying onions and mixing them together with cooked rice, minced pork, seasoning and herbs.
When the leave are soft enough, they are removed and laid out on a board to be filled and folded, a process which requires asbestos fingers. Then the golombki are layered into a casserole and I pour over a mixture of Heinz tomato soup, water, stock and tomato puree. Not quite what my grandmother would have done, but over the years we have evolved a truly fusion cuisine.
Everything goes into the oven for about an hour, or so while I tidy up and remember all those long gone Christmases and speculate whether my grandchildren will in years to come be wrapping cabbage leaves around handfuls of pork mixture and thinking back to their childhood.

Comments

Umberto Tosi said…
My mouth waters as I read your post. You also brought back memories of my youth when my grandmother cooked holiday feasts, all from scratch... Fish and seafood delicacies for Christmas eve, then seven-course Italian extravaganzas for Christmas. Thank you!
misha said…
Those were the days, when we could spend hours in the kitchen preparing family feasts and passing on our skills to the next generation. This year I hope to be showing my six year old granddaughter how to make pirogi.
janedwards said…
Sounds yummy! Christmas food traditons are always so special and vary so much even within the same country of origin.

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