Christmas Meal in Hungary

 Christmas is a private, family Holiday in Hungary. All the families stay together in their homes, distant relatives often visiting each other.

On the 24th of December they start the Christmas Celebration with decorating the tree together listening the season’s music. In the evening they exchange the gifts, sing Holy Songs, often pray and after they start the Festive dinner. Most of the Hungarians attend the Midnight Mass in the local Church on the night of 24th of December.

The Hungarian festive menu consists of:

Fish ( or Fisherman ) soup:  a rich soup spiced with paprika powder and enriched with slices of carp or catfish 

Stuffed cabbage: cabbage leaves  filled with mixture of minced meat, rice and spices, cooked in a paprika sauce together with smoked pork meat 

Beigli:  poppy seed or walnut or cocoa roll is a pastry consisting of a roll of sweet yeast bread with a dense, rich, bittersweet filling of poppy seed. An alternative filling is a paste of minced walnuts, making it a walnut roll, or sugared cocoa powder for cocoa roll. 

Szaloncukor: "parlour candy" is a type of sweet traditionally associated with Christmas in Hungary. It is usually made of fondant, covered by chocolate and wrapped in shiny coloured foil, then hung on the Christmas tree as decoration. 

Teacher Hajni