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Polish Christmas Eve Dinner (Wigilia).

VM Vino MeMember
Anyone want to take a stab at wine pairing for this meal?

I'll be going to my parents for a traditional Wigilia (pronounced Vee-Lee-Ahh) on Christmas Eve. The meal starts by everyone breaking and passing Oplatek (a wafer that can be dipped in honey) and sharing what they are most thankful for over the last year. The table is set with white linen and the china is set on a bed of straw symbolizing the manger. An extra place is always set at the table.

The meal is meatless and normally consists of 12 courses. My family has changed some of the dishes from the traditional meal. Here is what we usually have:

First dish- Mushroom soup with sherry.

Second dish- Kluski (Potato dumplings served with burnt butter)

Third dish- Rolmopsy (Herring fillets marinated with onion, vinegar and other spices)

Fourth dish- Bigos (Hunter's stew with saurkraut, cabbage, mushrooms and spices)

Fifth dish- Fried fish.

Sixth dish- Crab cakes topped with creamed peas.

Seventh dish- Kuba (this is really a Bohemian dish that my wife makes. A casserole made with barley, mushrooms and garlic)

Eighth dish- Red beets

Ninth dish- Pierogi stuffed with cheese, saurkraut or potato.

Tenth dish- Stuffed eggs made with dill, chives, parsley and onion.

Eleventh dish- Shrimp (fried and raw)

Twelfth dish- Dessert (assorted Polish pastries and cookies)

VM
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C cdrMember
What a wonderful tradition! May I ask, what do the Polish traditionally drink with this meal? Are there an assortment of traditional beverages you could have as well? It may not be as exciting as you would like, but the tradition of the dionner is so beautiful, you may want to keep it traditional on the beverage side as well and have several night caps with some great ports and sweet wines.
F festivaMember
Vino Me,

WOW! That's truly a menu out of the old country - in all of its butter laden, artery-killing glory! My wife is from Poland and we had a similar spread, but not nearly the variety of yours. You really did it up right!

Over the years, I've really struggled with pairing the right wine with Wigilia. We've normally tried red wine, everything from Beaujolais to Bordeaux to Burgundy, and had never found anything that paired well with the food. This year we settled on Champagne. It really cut through the heaviness of the piroshki. It worked beautifully.

Grun: "Invade" Ukraine?!?!? We didn't need to invade Ukraine - they kept asking the Poles to help them defend Europe from the Turks. They welcomed us with open arms!
G grunhauserMember
quote:
Originally posted by Festiva:

Grun: "Invade" Ukraine?!?!? We didn't need to invade Ukraine - they kept asking the Poles to help them defend Europe from the Turks. They welcomed us with open arms!



The ever expandng Poles in the West, the conniving Russians in the North and the ruthless Turks in the South.... With good neighbors like that, does one need enemies?

Merry Christmas!! Smile
VM Vino MeMember
cdr- we never had any traditional drink with dinner although there was always a bottle of "cherry bounce" around the house. This is a vodka infused with cherries. I have seen bottles of Polish honey wine or mead at the store but my family never served this.

festiva- The Champagne was a good idea. I opened a magnum of a NV Brice Champagne. I also opened a 2001 Merkelbach Urziger Wurzgarten Spatlese and a 1993 Chiarlo Barolo Riondo for some diversity.

VM
F festivaMember
quote:
With good neighbors like that, does one need enemies?


Grun: I guess that's why they call Central Europe "God's Playground". With so many conquerors, it's amazing that these countries have managed to retain any sort of national identity.

Vino Me: The honey vodka (krupnik) is definitely a treat. Wigilia's about the only time I can drink that stuff. All of the butter and fat in the food helps soak up the alcohol in the vodka. It makes for a tough time going to midnight mass, though... Red Face

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