Nary a Turkey in Sight
Celebrate lesser-known festive dishes rooted in culinary traditions from different parts of the world
Popular culture might depict the Christmas table as one with a large bird taking centre stage. Yet, for many around the world, having poultry for the holiday feast is as inconceivable as turning up at a ball in house clothes: it’s just not done.
“The Christmas meal—be it the dinner on the eve or lunch on the day itself—is something people would save up weeks or months for, all in order to buy the best, premium ingredients,” recounts chef de cuisine Mirko Febbrile of one Michelin-starred restaurant Braci. “Seasonal seafood is the order of the day, but never poultry, or what we eat for daily sustenance, for it is not something special for the holiday table.”
Indeed, seasonal seafood features heavily in festive menus from the coastal regions of Spain, Italy and Portugal. Some might attribute such practice to an old Roman Catholic custom of abstaining from meat and dairy
products on the eve of Christmas. However, that winter seafood is fattened to its prime for eating is certainly a key factor to consider too.
Look closer into traditional Christmas menus and you will certainly find wisdom in it. The spread is always decadent, yet premium ingredients are also complemented by the humblest produce. An earthy pot of beans and turnip tops bubbling on the hearth for one might serve as a counterpoint for a delicately fleshed fish. In fact, from Spain to Singapore, we find a common tradition of creating deliciousness for the holiday meal out of leftovers—a Catalan fishermen’s stew made from excess haul or a Eurasian curry that lovingly transforms a hodgepodge of scraps into a potful of big flavours. For while the feasts are celebratory in nature, they are also reminders of giving thanks, and making the most of what we have.
BESUGO A LA DONOSTIARRA
Seafood plays an important part in the culinary culture of the Basque Country. And it’s only natural that it should feature prominently on the Christmas menu, too. Bacalao al pil pil, a dish of salted cod in a sauce made from olive oil, garlic and guindilla peppers, and merluza a la koskera, a dish of fresh hake and clams poached in salsa verde, are some of the better-known regional dishes that might feature in the holiday feast. But for Aitor Jeronimo Orive, head chef of the one Michelin-starred Basque Kitchen by Aitor, there is no seafood dish more prime for the Christmas table than the besugo a la donostiarra.
“Besugo, or the black-spot sea bream, is a fish from the Cantabrian Sea, north of Spain. It is available all-year round, but is fattier in autumn and winter, and is a premium ingredient that the people in the Basque Country would enjoy on special occasions,” shares Orive. While families of the region might bake the delicately fleshed fish in an oven and season it simply with salt and a squeeze of lemon, Orive’s festive item is a whole fish held in a besuguera, a metal clamp designed for grilling whole fish, and carefully cooked over a binchotan fire. “It’s a very delicate fish so you’ve got to be very gentle while handling it at all points of preparing the dish,” he shares. The fish is then butterflied, deboned and served with a pil pil made with fish bones. It’s a delicacy that will require pre-ordering a week in advance, for Orive gets the prized ingredient flown in direct from the Basque Country.
“Seasonal seafood is the order of the day, but never poultry, or what we eat for daily sustenance” — MIRKO FEBBRILE
SPAGHETTONE KHORASAN
The umami flavours of the sea, the comforting al dente texture of freshly cooked pasta, the mood-lifting perfume of citrus—these, to Febbrile of one Michelin-starred Braci, are the trifecta that makes a perfect Christmas dish. “These are the flavours of Christmas in my house,” says the Puglia native. Melding Italian tradition with a contemporary culinary approach, he has created a deceptively simple dish for Braci’s Christmas menu. The pasta is made from Khorasan wheat, an ancient grain he shares was brought from the Middle East to Puglia in the 1900s, now exclusively available within Southeast Asia at Braci.
“High in nutritional value with very low gluten content, it’s always perfectly al dente. The toothsome strands are served in a creamy sauce, made with not a drop of oil or butter, but from the essence of Toritto almonds from north of Puglia. “The almond has a delicate and buttery taste,” Febbrile notes. To this base, he adds the drippings of anchovies aged in barrels, a delicacy from Naples, and smoked salmon roe imbued with the perfume of cherry wood chips and spice.
“Eel, shellfish, salmon—these are the ingredients that my grandmother would save up to buy for Christmas. And while she might simply char the fish at home, here, I have given it a Japanese twist, as is characteristic of the cuisine of Braci,” he enthuses. And to give the dish an unmistakeable flavour of Christmas: citrus oil and the zest of bergamot and yuzu are used.
UPDATED BACCALA
A regional delicacy for which its origins can be traced to the 16th century, baccala, or salted cod, is found in abundance within Naples. The city—one of Italy’s big
“[Brining] draws out the impurities and excess oils of the fish, resulting in a lighter texture and a more intense flavour”
— ANDREA DE PAOLA
gest ports historically—saw large quantities of codfish coming through, and these were traditionally preserved through smoking or salting. Subsequently, this local favourite came to be associated with Christmas in Italy as the church once advocated abstinence from meat during religious holidays. “The population in southern Italy, where Naples is located, is historically poorer compared to the north. Cod, as one of the most affordable fish, was a desirable choice of seafood for the festive table,” shares Andrea De Paola, head chef of Italian restaurant and lounge Zafferano.
The dish, though humble, is laborious to prepare, with work starting at least five days in advance. “Back then, the fish would be purchased fresh and brined for at least four days, with the brining liquid refreshed at least twice a day,” details De Paola. His extended family would congregate at his grandmother’s place from December 20 to help with the elaborate preparations for the Christmas Eve feast, which included a balcony packed with tanks holding more than 10kg of baccala.
While he fondly remembers how his family would then coat the salted cod in flour and deep-fry into crispy perfection, De Paola admits that it is a heavy dish. For Christmas Day brunch, he serves instead a lighter rendition using fresh Chilean seabass brined in a mix of water and salt. He explains: “The process draws out the impurities and excess oils of the fish, resulting in a lighter texture and a more intense flavour. The fish is then dry-aged to achieve the desired texture, and then coated with semolina flour and pan-seared in extra virgin olive oil.”
Served on a bed of sweet confit tomato sauce with Taggiasca olives and Beluga capers, this dish replicates the classic Neapolitan flavours with modern touches and techniques.
CURRY DEVIL
Eating the Devil’s Curry on a religious holiday might sound ironic, but that’s just how the Eurasians like it. Also called kari debal, the tangy, fiery dish is what you might find bubbling in the kitchens of Eurasian households at any time of the year, to be sure. And yet it is to many, even those not of Eurasian descent, the quintessential taste of Christmas. Culinary consultant Annette Tan of private kitchen Fatfuku would be first to profess her love for it as a Christmas dish, so much so that while she serves a hugely popular Curry Devil pie at other times of the year, her Christmas menu would always feature the stew in its full, unadulterated glory. “I have eaten it for Christmas my whole life, in the homes of those whom I visit during the holidays. It’s just not Christmas without it!” she asserts.
Made with roast chicken trimmings, sausages, bacon bones and other leftovers of Christmas feasts, the dish—traditionally served on December 26—is a humble family’s frugal solution to food waste. With increasing affluence, people are no longer waiting for Boxing Day to enjoy this dish, and are instead making it with fresh ingredients. “It’s not a throw-everything-in-the-pot kind of curry,” shares Tan. “To replicate the complex flavours of the traditional leftover ingredients, everything just needs that extra step. The chicken needs to be marinated and stir-fried, the potatoes need to be seared, the cucumbers need to be salted …” For a twist, she replaces the splash of vinegar added at the end with achar, or pickled vegetables—a tweak to the recipe introduced by her Eurasian friends’ mum. “Every family does it their own way, and I cook it the style that I am familiar with, and which taste of Christmas to me.”
SUQUET DE RAP
This stew, which originated along the coast of Catalonia and Valencia, is made by humble fishermen using excess fish and other seafood from the market. “Over the years, the stew became very popular as its intense seafood flavour is well-loved by the locals. It has become a famous Catalan dish and many chefs have created their own rendition,” shares Gaig Restaurant’s executive chef Marti Carlos.
As someone who fondly recalls waking up every Christmas Day to the smell of the rich seafood broth cooked by his mum, Carlos decided to incorporate the dish into the festive menu at the intimate Catalan restaurant. This isn’t only an effort to share with his guests a very personal holiday memory through a comforting stew, but in the age of travel bans and lockdowns, it’s an opportunity for him to feel closer to his family on Christmas. He painstakingly debones the monkfish and gingerly cooks it with carabinero prawns in a rich fish stock with leek, onion, garlic, and nyora, a dried capsicum typical of Catalonia. The dish, naturally thickened with the use of potato, is then given an unexpected addition of dark chocolate, which gives an edge to the rich flavours to the dish, a technique Carlos learnt from his mother.