Traditional Irish Christmas recipes

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To our ancestors, Irish Christmas recipes didn't come in beautiful books filled with pretty pictures. They didn't need to. The winter festival was a time to celebrate using cooking methods that had been handed down, usually orally, through the generations.

Geese, ducks, great sides of beef, sheep and pork were turned on the roasting spit in the halls of chieftains in early Christian and medieval times.

In later centuries, the spit had become the kitchen oven and, by the late 18th century, vegetables and fruits began to feature more heavily on the table during the Irish Christmas.

Recipes using beef suet, mixed dried fruit and whiskey in cakes and puddings – not terribly dissimilar to those that make an appearance on our modern festive tables every year – started to acquire a seasonal status.

Preparations began weeks in advance for these cakes and puddings.

So, too, did the slaughter of cattle and pigs. The latter were shared out with others.

While the majority poor simply shared with their immediate family and neighbours, the traditional division among the gentry in the early 19th century was as follows:

• The head, tongue and feet: the blacksmith
• the small ribs attached to the hindquarters: the tailor;
• the kidneys: the doctor
• the udder: the harper
• the liver: carpenter
• the marrowbone: the odd-job man
• the heart: the cowherd
• a choice piece each: the midwife and the stableman
• black puddings and sausages: the ploughman.

To the gentry of Ireland, Christmas food meant enormous feasts of meats, fishes, vegetables, rich creamy sauces and all manner of sweet delicacies washed down with copious quantities of alcoholic refreshments.

But to the majority of our ancestors, Irish Christmas recipes produced rather more hearty fare. While they were less rich than the foods enjoyed by those further up the social ladder, they were nonetheless exceptionally luxurious to the palate of a population that lived at subsistence level (or worse) for much of the year.

The following are brief descriptions of typical Irish Christmas recipes still enjoyed today.

Goose was always the number one festive food for celebrations such as weddings and Michaelmas which were held between September and Christmas. Stuffed with herbs and fruit, it used to be boiled but by the 19th century it was roasted, stuffed with onions, bacons and potatoes, or with apples and potatoes. Roast turkey didn't become the first choice of Irish Christmas recipes until the 20th century.

Although not confined to Ireland's Christmas dinner table, baked ham is another dish often served with the goose.

Three types of potatoes are quite likely to appear with Christmas dinner: roast, boiled and mashed, plus roasted parsnips, boiled or mashed swede, brussels sprouts and cabbage.

The goose

Prepare the stuffing first (see below). Allow at least 1lb (450g) uncooked weight per diner. Assuming the goose is already gutted, you just need to wash and dry it and cut away any excess fat around the neck cavity. Prick the skin all over and rub it with lemon and seasoning. Season the main cavity with salt and freshly ground pepper and fill it with the cooled stuffing.

Place the goose in a roasting tin and roast in a very hot oven 240C, 475F, gas 9, for ten minutes. Reduce the heat to 180C, 350F, Gas 4 and cook for 2-21/2 hours but remove the bird from the oven three of four times to pour off excess fat. If you don't do this, your goose will taste very greasy. To test whether cooked, prick the bird at the thickest part. When the juices run clear, Christmas dinner's centrepiece is ready.

Apple & Potato Stuffing, for a 10lb (4.5kg) goose: