Danish Christmas Foodways

Jul

Festival

Christmas Eve dinner: roast pork with crackling or roast duck or goose, with brunede kartofler, boiled potatoes, gravy, red cabbage and often grønlangkål; then RIS À LA MANDE, cold rice pudding with chopped almonds, whipped cream and hot cherry sauce, with one whole almond hidden in it and a present for whoever finds it — which means everyone hides it in their cheek until the bowl is scraped. Before that, through December: risengrød with butter, cinnamon and sugar; æbleskiver with jam and icing sugar; gløgg; and the julefrokost, the Christmas lunch held repeatedly with workplaces, friends and family, which is a fixed sequence of herring, then fish, then cold cuts, then warm dishes, then cheese, with beer and snaps throughout.