In France when Christmas celebration arrives it's time for people to arrange a big meal with all the family members and share gifts under Christmas tree.
Christmas represent for French people the proper time to make a break in their daily working life and reconnect with their family members around a delicious big meal while New Year's Eve is viewed at the time to spend with your friends to get crazy and have fun.
But let's get back to the point, the French Christmas traditional dish!
French Christmas dish is composed by lots of generous and delicious dish that all the family members share all together during several hours.
Here is a sample of Christmas French dish but you have to know than other additional traditional dish within a family are often added!
We start X'mas with the first dish:
- Smoked Salmon or seafood like great scallop (also called pecten maximus as scientific name)
- Foie Gras
After comes the main dish:
- Turkey with chestnuts
- Beans
- Pan-fried potatoes
Because we are French we have the "Fromage":
A good variety mix is: Brie, Camembert, Coulommiers, Cantal, Saint Nectaire, Vieux Pané, Saint Marcellin, Morbier, Gouda, Leerdammer, Roquefort, Rocamadour
And to finish in good "fatty" shape we took the Dessert:
- Christmas log or the Ice cream version of Christmas log to help the digestion!
Wines:
- Dry white wine (vin blanc sec) from Alsace for example with smoked salmon or great scallop
- Sweet white wine from Languedoc, Loire, Bordeaux , Sauternes or Porto white wine with foie gras
- Red wine like Bordeaux wine or Côtes du Rhône with cheese
- Champagne as aperitif or with the dessert, especially for the ice cream version of the Christmas log
- Kirsch (cherry alcohol from Alsace an eastern region of France close to Germany) or Grand Marnier as digestive
We wish you a wonderful time all the people you love,
Merry X'mas from all the crazy Erasmus of Paris team =)