Fish predominates in the Icelanders' daily diet. However, it is not customary to cook fish dishes directly at Christmas. Iceland's Christmas festive table features mostly fatty and hearty meat treats.
Iceland has a specific Christmas food tradition. The day before the holiday itself, it is customary to eat stingray. This fish is practically tasteless, but it has a very strong and unpleasant odor. The aroma from the stingray is extremely difficult to erase from home, because the fish dish is either prepared somewhere on the street, or ordered in cafes, restaurants. However, young people have recently been trying to avoid such a treat, because stingray, observing previously established traditions, usually only the older members of the family eat.
Christmas dinner in Iceland starts at 6-7 pm. By this time, the table has already been richly set. Relatives and sometimes friends of the family gather after him.
Traditionally, the Icelanders' Christmas meal is conventionally divided into several stages. First, various snacks, sauces and hearty hot dishes are served, which are usually very fatty and have a bright taste. After meals, very cold drinks are brought out: alcoholic and non-alcoholic. They are kept in the refrigerator or even in the freezer for several hours. A lot of ice must be added to the glasses so that the drink literally takes your breath away. Then comes the turn of the same ice desserts. Scalding hot drinks are usually served at the end of the meal. This is either spicy mulled wine, or traditional Icelandic drinks, or fresh aromatic coffee.
Among the traditional Icelandic drinks for Christmas, Jólaöl is in demand. It is prepared at home. They mix together orange soda (Egils Apelsín) and a drink like malta, which looks like kvass. The result is a very specific carbonated drink, vaguely reminiscent of dark non-alcoholic beer.
For Christmas, bread cakes are baked, which in Iceland are called Laufabrau. The cakes are quite thin, they taste a bit like pita bread.
The main meat treats for Christmas in Iceland are:
- Rjúpa is the name given to a small ptarmigan living in Iceland; poultry meat is cooked only for Christmas, it is often replaced with turkey; fried or baked poultry with spices and sauces is served on the table;
- Hamborgarahryggur - ham baked in the oven with honey and pineapple; another option is pork ribs;
- Hangikjöt - smoked lamb, which is pre-boiled and left to steep in the broth for 1, 5-2 hours; on the Christmas table, the dish is most often served hot.
Venison and horse meat are not uncommon among the treats for Christmas in Iceland. However, these meats are not considered traditional dishes, but they add extra variety to the Christmas table.
Sweet potatoes baked with cream, honey, caramel, sugar are served with hearty meat treats. The dish is prepared exclusively in butter. Among the side dishes for the main dishes, there are also various fresh vegetable salads, peas, a treat of pickled cabbage with the addition of sour apples.
On the Christmas table in Iceland, nuts, berries, homemade and purchased fatty, spicy sauces are always present.
For dessert, they usually prepare cakes with butter cream, various chocolate treats, ice cream, fruit salad. Chocolate, marmalade, sweets and of course gingerbread, traditional Icelandic biscuits are all included in the Icelandic Christmas menu. Hrísgrjónagrautur, a sweet rice pudding with the addition of almonds and sometimes vanilla and honey, is always prepared according to long-standing traditions for Christmas.
