Christmas in Madrid: the Spanish Christmas table, from Nochebuena to the Three Kings

Spain’s Christmas calendar, and the table

Christmas in Spain is a long season. Nochebuena, Christmas Eve, is the great family dinner; Navidad, Christmas Day, is a public holiday; in Catalonia 26 December, Sant Esteve, is a holiday too; Nochevieja, New Year’s Eve, brings the twelve grapes; and it all ends on 6 January, Día de Reyes, when the Three Kings bring the presents.

The table opens with the best jamón ibérico, cut thin by hand, with embutidos, cured meats such as chorizo and lomo, and a wedge of Manchego. Then come the mariscos, the shellfish: gambas a la plancha, langoustines, crab and percebes, goose barnacles. The toast is in cava.

Soup first: the Catalan Christmas

In Catalonia, Christmas Day means escudella i carn d’olla. A great pot of meats, pork, beef, lamb and chicken in the old recipes, makes a broth that is served first as sopa de galets, with large pasta shells, before the meat itself, the carn d’olla, comes to the table on its own platter.

On Sant Esteve the meat left over from Christmas Day becomes canelons, the Catalan cannelloni, introduced by the Italian cooks of Barcelona’s grand households at the end of the 19th century.

The roast: cochinillo, cordero and fish from the oven

In Castile the Christmas roast is cochinillo asado, suckling pig, roasted until its skin crackles; Segovia is its cradle. Cordero asado, roast lamb, is just as loved, and many families choose pescado al horno instead, a whole fish baked in the oven: besugo, sea bream; lubina, sea bass; or dorada, gilt-head bream.

Turrón, polvorones and mazapán

No Spanish Christmas is complete without turrón, almond nougat. The two classics come from the province of Alicante and share one protected geographical indication: turrón de Alicante is hard, with whole almonds set in honey and egg white; turrón de Jijona is soft, the almonds ground to a paste.

Polvorones and mantecados are crumbly almond shortbreads, each in its own twist of paper: squeeze one gently in its wrapper before you open it, so that it holds together. And from Toledo comes mazapán, marzipan, with its own protected geographical indication.

Roscón de Reyes, 6 January

The season ends with the roscón de Reyes, a ring of soft brioche scented with orange-blossom water and studded with candied fruit, like the jewels on a crown. Hidden inside are a little figurine and a dried broad bean: whoever finds the figurine is crowned king for the day, and whoever finds the bean pays for next year’s roscón.

Our advice: order your roscón from a good bakery a few days ahead; on 5 and 6 January the queues are long.

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