Fish soup, stuffed cabbage, beigli – what’s on your table at Christmas?

As we mentioned earlier, the traditional peasant dishes at Christmas were partly connected to superstitions. Poppy seeds, peas and beans symbolised abundance and apples symbolised fertility, so they definitely had a place on the table in salty or sweet form. Bean soup with carrots and sour cream, for example, was considered a festive dish in the north of the country. Elsewhere, bean soup appeared as a fasting dish – without meat and dairy products – just as sauerkraut, fish soup or fried fish used to. How does fasting come in here? One or two hundred years ago, people used to fast before Christmas, and this period also included 24 December. 

Smoked and salted pork and ham as well as game meat were popular on the Christmas menu, especially in Somogy. Braided brioche was – and still is – served in Transdanubia not only at Easter but also at Christmas. The remaining bread was used to make mákos guba (poppy seed bread), which is still very popular today. Today, many people eat fish soup (with pasta in Baja and without pasta in Szeged) and fried or breaded fish (salmon, sea fish) during the holidays. One of the most popular Christmas dishes is stuffed cabbage, usually the Szabolcs version, in which the filling consists of very small dumplings. In the eastern part of the country Székely cabbage is preferred with a lot of smoked meat.

Turkey (stuffed with chestnuts or plainly fried in one piece) was brought to Hungarian tables from Anglo-Saxon countries, and mayonnaise salads – for example, potatoes with red onion and mayonnaise or French salad offered for meat dishes – became popular due to the German influence. Aspic made from fish or pork is also a typical food in the holiday season. The most popular sweets are walnut, chestnut and poppy seed cakes – mainly in the form of beigli (a rolled cake). Some families prefer Gerbeaud, Linzer, Buche de Noel or apple pie. 

It was a typical Christmas custom in the Great Plains and in the southern parts of the country that before the meal the family cut an apple into as many slices as the number of people at the table. Garlic with honey was also eaten as a sign of health and abundance. At some places a walnut was cracked and placed in the four corners of the room to protect the household from evil.