🎅 Seasonal collection
Christmas Recipes: Tamales, Roast Turkey and Holiday Traditions From Around the World
Christmas tastes different depending on whose kitchen you are in. In Mexico and Texas it is a tamalada, the whole family spreading masa on corn husks. In Britain it is a roast turkey with pigs in blankets, in Cork a sliced spiced beef, and in Venezuela hallacas wrapped in banana leaves.
🫔 A tamalada
Make a big batch together: tamales freeze well and steam back up in minutes.
Red Chile Pork Tamales (Tamales Rojos de Puerco)
Pork shoulder simmered down in a smooth guajillo chile sauce, wrapped in light, fluffy lard-beaten masa and steamed upright in corn husks, the central Mexican way.
Green Chicken Tamales (Tamales Verdes de Pollo)
Shredded chicken in a tangy tomatillo and serrano salsa verde, tucked into masa beaten fluffy with lard and chicken broth and steamed in corn husks.
San Antonio Christmas Tamales
Long, thin San Antonio tamales with more filling than masa: lean pork simmered with raisins, then cooked in a tomato, green chile and oregano sauce, rolled in husks like cigars for the Christmas tamalada.
Pink Sweet Tamales (Tamales de Dulce)
Sweet masa beaten with whipped lard and sugar, tinted pale pink and studded with raisins, steamed in corn husks and eaten with hot atole or champurrado.
Oaxacan Black Mole Tamales in Banana Leaves
Smooth lard-beaten masa, shredded pork and chicken and a spoonful of glossy mole negro, folded into square banana-leaf packets and steamed for an hour and a half.
Venezuelan Hallacas
Venezuela's Christmas tamal: achiote-gold corn dough around a beef and pork stew with olives, raisins, capers, peppers and chicken, wrapped in banana leaves like a gift and boiled.
🦃 The roast
The British Christmas bird, Portugal's with oven rice, Puerto Rico's pavochón and Cork's spiced beef.
British Christmas Roast Turkey with Pigs in Blankets
Britain's Christmas bird, the Delia Smith way: buttered, covered in streaky bacon, roasted inside a loose foil tent, then unwrapped for a hot finish, with chipolata sausages wrapped in more bacon on the side.
Portuguese Christmas Roast Turkey with Oven Rice (Peru Assado no Forno)
Maria de Lourdes Modesto's Christmas turkey: soaked overnight in salted water with lemon, stuffed with bread, eggs and cured ham, roasted without a drop of basting, and served with oven rice that soaks up the drippings.
Puerto Rican Pavochón (Turkey Seasoned Like Pernil)
A Thanksgiving turkey with the flavor of a Puerto Rican pork roast: garlic, oregano, olive oil and adobo spread under the skin, butter tucked in, two days in the fridge, then basted with dark beer.
Cork Spiced Beef
Cork's Christmas beef: a corned joint marinated for a week in allspice, brown sugar and three peppers, simmered gently, cooled in its liquid and sliced thin.
☕ Something warm
Mexican hot chocolate with the tamales, or a Viennese cup with whipped cream.
Mexican Hot Chocolate (Chocolate Mexicano)
Mexican tablet chocolate, already sweetened and spiced with cinnamon, melted into hot milk and beaten with a wooden molinillo until it foams.
Viennese-Style Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream (Heiße Schokolade Wiener Art)
Dark chocolate melted into hot milk with a little honey and cinnamon, poured into cups and capped with a big spoon of stiffly whipped cream, the way Austrian and German cafés serve it.
Classic American Hot Cocoa (the Recipe on the Can)
Cocoa powder, sugar and a pinch of salt boiled into a quick syrup, then stretched with a quart of hot milk and a little vanilla and whisked until foamy. Hershey's classic, made for six mugs and a bag of marshmallows.
🍪 The cookie plate
More in our holiday baking collection.
Nuremberg Elisenlebkuchen
Nuremberg's soft spice cakes: whipped egg whites, sugar and honey folded with ground hazelnuts, almonds, candied peel and Lebkuchen spice, spread on wafers, dried overnight and glazed with chocolate or sugar.
Swedish Pepparkakor
Sweden's thin, snappy Christmas gingersnaps: butter, dark syrup and sugar melted with ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, rested a full day, rolled thin and baked for 5 minutes.
Linzer Augen (Linzer Cookies)
Upper Austria's favorite Christmas cookie: a short almond and lemon dough cut into rounds, half of them with peepholes, sandwiched with apricot or red currant jam and dusted with sugar.
Wiener Apfelstrudel (Viennese Apple Strudel)
A soft egg and oil dough stretched over a floured tablecloth until it's paper thin, brushed with butter, layered with hazelnut breadcrumbs fried in butter, sliced apples, rum-soaked raisins, cinnamon and cloves, rolled up and baked at 350°F until golden.