Traditional Finnish Christmas Dinner (pig, table spread and dessert- all with photos)

Sorry for the late posting but after dinner last night we all kind of passed out from being so full and when we woke up later in the evening we did presents then spent time “playing” with presents and then we finished up with some late night treats and tea before bed. So, to recap the end of our Finnish christmas let’s talk about the meal. Wow, always a treat, similar to what I was used to growing up actually but the day of significance is different. Growing up, we always had a big dinner on Christmas eve (the 24th of December) and then we celebrated Christmas on the 25th with presents and brunch like food in the morning and all day lounging as relatives and friends stopped by.

In Finland, as I’ve mentioned, Christmas and all of its traditions are celebrated on the 24th so, the big meal is the 24th for them- similar spread to Thanksgiving for all you American readers who want a comparison. I’ve got TONS of photos and was able to set it all up on Flickr with descriptions of each item (be sure to roll over the photos of the food for descriptions of what everything is on the table) I’ll start with the pig- traditional Finnish meat of the meal. HUGE pig, started cooking on the 23rd and by dinner time on the 24th (around 3pm) it was ready and perfect. Here is the transformation from oven to dinner plates.

Here it is in the oven

Here is the pig after just coming out of the oven, you can see the big plastic bag it is in. This is how it was cooking in the oven. The magic temperature is 77 degrees Celsius (170.6 F).

It them comes out of the bag and is covered with wax paper. Not sure why, this is just the process. Should probably inquire one of these days!

Then it is put back in the oven to get all roasted and a little crispy and the seasoning is put on the outside (again, call me uninformed but I don’t exactly know what the seasoning is)

And that’s the pig, the main dish. Now, to the rest of this great goodness. Here is our table for Christmas dinner.

And here are two different variations of plates of food. On the left is the “full” plate of most potential options for Finns (be sure to click on it to go into Flickr and roll over what each item is). And on the right is my actual plate, you can notice what is missing (reindeer and salmon- not a fan of either). You’ll notice the little glass on the top right of each photo- this is our Christmas Schnapps. Last year it was a Lakka berry this year I’m not sure what it was but it was much better though REALLY strong. How do you know you’re in Finland, this traditional shot typically starts around age 8 here in Finland. Ei Tippa Tappa- finally get to use one of my new Finnish words (one drop won’t kill you). Cheers!

And then, there’s dessert, yummy and a Finland tradition for Christmas (or at least this family’s tradition)

Plum pudding. Oh it’s is so good!

And that’s dinner for Christmas. I’m getting full again just reliving it. After this meal the entire house passed out for about an hour- kind of just like Thanksgiving (again, for the Americans)