Happy holidays!

For whoever celebrates Christmas, merry Christmas!

I’m enjoying the holidays in an easy-going, unpretentious family way. It’s traditional in Poland to serve no fewer than 12 courses at a Christmas Eve dinner, which we’re trying to ease by sharing the cooking among several people. I’ve had to supply two fish courses. Often it’s fried carp, but nobody really enjoys it (and we’re having serious ethical issues about how carps – traditionally sold live – are handled) so I’ve opted for a fish & cabbage stew instead. Bigos is one of the major recipes of traditional Polish cuisine, but it uses all sorts of meat and so is not good for meatless Polish Christmas Eve. But there’s the option of substituting fish to meat. I’ve used salmon, smoked herrings and bits of carp, together with fish trimmings. There are also dried prunes, raisins, and nuts.

Bigos is cooked for several days: chilled and reheated, chilled and reheated to make the flavour deeper and stronger. So it’s not an easy dish to match with wine. Usually I serve a powerful Pinot Gris or Pinot Bianco, or Pinot Noir. This year I’ve chose this white blend from Friuli: 2002 Lïende from La Viarte. It’s got Pinot Bianco in it, but mostly Tocai. At 8 years this is still a young wine, but it lacked a bit of flavour for the cabbage and fish. Today, with what is left, I’ll try an older Riesling from Alsace.

Christmas Eve in Poland has another food & wine matching riddle: pickled herring. This was traditionally enjoyed with vodka (which we don’t drink in my family). I like a vibrant crisp Riesling or, better, a Champagne, provided it’s structured and dry. Philipponnat’s Réserve Royale yesterday was excellent. And look at the back label: I wish more Champagne houses (not just small estates; Philipponnat are making in excess of 1 million bottles per year) would give you so much information. This bottle was disgorged off the fine lees more than 3 years ago; even the amount of reserve wine is indicated. For the Champagne aficionado it’s really good to have this information when you’re buying the bottle.

Disclosure

Source of wines: Philipponnat, Schlumberger – own purchases, La Viarte – sample from the producer (back in 2005).