• Food & Wine
    • Lifestyle

Christmas and the festive dishes of Lombardy

Christmas is approaching and alongside religious celebrations, there are many other beloved traditions: buying presents, decorating a tree or making a crib, waiting for the arrival of Baby Jesus or Father Christmas and his reindeer with the little ones, until they fall asleep, exhausted... 

Among the customs that have been handed down from generation to generation, the culinary traditions that are renewed every year for Christmas dinner in Lombardy have a clear character that includes customary and symbolic dishes that mustn't be missing.
What are the ingredients of Christmas dinner in Lombardy? In Lombardy and northern Italy in general, the Christmas table is set for dinner on the 25th, and the rich, abundant and varied Christmas menu of Lombardy has just about everything!  

Despite the apparent regional homogeneity, the dishes on the Lombardy Christmas table vary greatly depending to the area. We find an abundance of starters with cured meats, fish, stuffed pasta dishes and risottos, boiled and roasted meats, sauces and mustards, vegetables, cheeses, dried fruit, nougat and the king of Christmas desserts, panettone. 

 

Christmas antipasti in Lombardy: with cured meats, imagination wins
Popular tradition recommends Lombardy's cured meats: sausages (wrapped in a skin of animal intestines) and other products (whole cuts of meat, salted or dried, flavoured and cured) that bear the PGI or PDO marks or are champions of the slow food philosophy, such as Violino di capra della Valchiavenna.    
 
So called because of its shape, the Violino is handcrafted from goat's leg and shoulder, following traditional methods. In the province of Sondrio, in the municipalities of Chiavenna and throughout the Valle Spluga, at Christmas and New Year, it is cut directly at the table while resting it on the shoulder, in a movement that is reminiscent of a violinist at work.

 

Stuffed pasta: the most popular first course on the Lombardy Christmas table
A traditional Christmas lunch in Lombardy would not be complete without stuffed pasta, in capon broth or with sage and butter. One of the most famous first courses served in broth is the agnolini mantovani filled with meat (beef, salamella, pancetta) which has been famous since the days of the Gonzaga family. Also from Mantua are the pumpkin tortelli with a sweet and sour filling (pumpkin, mustard and amaretti biscuits).  

Originally from the Bergamo area, casoncelli can be stuffed with minced meat, sausage, breadcrumbs, eggs and Parmesan cheese, but also with potatoes, salami and spices.     
The bertù, half-moon ravioli from Valseriana, filled with cotechino sausage, parmesan and eggs are also very tasty. 

 

Mixed boiled meats and roasts, royal second courses for the festive meal 
According to Lombardy's culinary tradition, meat is a must on the Christmas table. The classic recipe for one of the most famous festive dishes, Milanese mixed boiled meats, which is called 'el less' in dialect, includes the most diverse cuts of meat: rump, tongue, and tail of beef, calf's head, pork sausage. 
The preparation of the boiled meat is long, but the process is easy. Soak beef and veal in boiling water containing onion, celery, carrots and salt and leave to cook for more than 2 hours. The head and cotechino sausage are cooked separately, each for a further 2 hours, and combined at the end. 
What should accompany Lombardy boiled meats? Strictly speaking, mostarda di Cremona, in which the sweet taste of cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, mandarins and figs, whole or in pieces, is combined with the  spicy flavour of mustard. Mantuan mostarda, made with quinces and whole pears, is also excellent.

 

It wouldn't be Christmas without panettone, in Lombardy and around the world.
Interestingly, there is also Japanese panettone, made with azuki beans, candied yuzu and butter, flavoured with tea from the Land of the Rising Sun! The worldwide renown of panettone - a leavened cake made with eggs, butter, sultanas and candied citron and orange peel - is undisputed. Since the 15th century, every self-respecting Christmas lunch has featured it.

Legend has it that the young Toni, a scullery boy in the kitchens of Ludovico il Moro, made up for the lack of dessert on Christmas day, which had unfortunately burnt, by bringing to the table a dessert he had cooked himself using the leftovers in the pantry. El pan del Toni (meaning 'Toni's bread'), the panettone, was a success!     
Today, the typical Christmas cake from Lombardy is produced industrially and by-hand at very high levels. There is even an organisation called the Academy of the masters of sourdough and Italian panettone, set up in September 2020, to protect the tradition, history and quality of this wonderful Christmas cake throughout the world.
 

On the same topic

What to eat in Cremona and the surrounding area

Typical dishes you should try in the Cremona area
  • Food & Wine
Cosa mangiare a Cremona e dintorni

Where to eat in Lecco

  • Food & Wine
The 6 best proposals about where to eat in Lecco

Fagiolo Borlotto di Gambolò

The Borlotto bean has been cultivated for centuries in the agricultural area of Gambolò and its immediate surroundings.
  • Food & Wine
Fagioli Borlotto

Cremona Local Products Guide

meats and cheeses characterize the Cremonese gastronomy
  • Food & Wine
Cremona local products guide, gourmet experiences

Rosemary Risotto from Montevecchia

A typical dish of the Brianza kitchen
  • Food & Wine
Rosemary risotto from Montevecchia, a delectable recipe

Pavese Rice

The province of Pavia, Italian rice capital!
  • Food & Wine
Risotto

Cremona Nougat Recipe

It is a variation of the traditional sweet that includes the addition of aromas such as vanillin and candied fruit, which make the mixture softer based on sugar, honey and album
  • Food & Wine
Cremona Nougat Recipe, homemade goodness

Bagnaria Cherries

The Cherry of Bagnaria is part of the important network of the National Association of "Cities of Cherries."
  • Food & Wine
Ciliege di Bagnaria

The appetizers of the Lombardic tradition

We bring the traditional Lombardic gastronomic culture back to the table, starting with appetizers
  • Food & Wine
The appetizers of the Lombardic tradition

Bresaola

One of the symbolic products of Valtellina, obtained through the method of preserving meat by salting and drying.
  • Food & Wine
Bresaola

Hunting for truffles, the diamonds of the Lombardy table

From the most prized - the white truffle, to the black summer truffle or Scorzone, the marzuolo, the black Trifola and the black uncinato: also in Lombardy you can find delicious truffles, which are appreciated in restaurants all over the world
  • Food & Wine
Hunting for truffles, the diamonds of the Lombardy table

Lemons of Garda

Beautiful greenhouse gardens enrich the Brescia side of the lake, made of walls and white pillars that climb the mountain, in total harmony with the environment
  • Food & Wine
Lemons of Garda, renowned local products

Wine and Flavor Trail Oltrepò Pavese

Oltrepo Pavese has always been recognized for its wines and most of those who have had the pleasure of going to this part of the province of Pavia, will remember above all its hills and stretches of vine rows
  • Food & Wine
Wine and Flavor Trail in Oltrepò Pavese, history taste and traditions

Bike riding along San Colombano’s Wine Route

Vini e prodotti della Pianura Padana. La Strada del Vino San Colombano è un percorso di eccellenze dalla storia centenaria
  • Food & Wine
Bike riding along San Colombano’s Wine Route

Il Polentone di Retorbido

The beautiful spring festival dedicated to the wise farmer Bertoldo
  • Food & Wine
Polentone di Retorbido

Bergamo, hunting for flavors

Valleys of extraordinary beauty, like the city that looks at them from the walls. Wines, cheeses, pasta.
  • Food & Wine
Bergamo, hunting for flavors

Wines of Valtellina

The extreme variety of the Lombardy territories is reflected in a very wide range of absolutely fine and famous red and white wines all over the world
  • Food & Wine
Discover and savor the wines of Valtellina

Christmas and the festive dishes of Lombardy

Christmas dinner in Lombardy: the most famous dishes of the region's festive culinary tradition, from starter to dessert
  • Food & Wine
Natale, i piatti della festa in Lombardia

Bata Lavar

A traditional pasta dish from the town of Canneto Pavese
  • Food & Wine
Bata Lavar

Milanese risotto recipe

One of the most typical and well-known dishes in Milan
  • Food & Wine
Milanese risotto recipe, simple and tasty