Charles Dickens’s classic holiday novella, A Christmas Carol, is full of food and drinks — many of which are still classic holiday dishes and some of which have been forgotten. Here are some of the best foods and drinks from A Christmas Carol and how to make them for fans of the holiday classic.
Negus
Served by Mr. Fezziwig (Scrooge’s former mentor) at a party in Scrooge’s past, negus is a sort of hot wine punch made with port, sugar, lemon, and water. A bit more complex, this wine and port punch adds an orange-cinnamon syrup and would fit right in at a party like Fezziwig’s.
Also served at Mr. Fezziwig’s, mince pies were and still are English Christmas pies. While they were traditionally made with minced meat (typically mutton), fruits and spices, the pies are now commonly made without the meat.
When Scrooge first encounters the Ghost of Christmas Present, the spirit is sitting on an enormous throne made out of food. The components include suckling pigs, sausages, chestnuts, an assortment of fruits, and barrels of oysters. While you might not be able to afford an entire barrel of oysters today (they were less expensive back in 1800s England), a dozen or so served on the half-shell are the perfect Christmas hors d’œuvres.
Peeking into Bob Cratchit’s Christmas with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge sees that the family’s meager but meaningful Christmas dinner consists of apple sauce, mashed potatoes, and a roast goose. Though it’s much less prevalent now, goose is still served at many Christmas dinners. Jacques Pépin has a recipe that includes a trick for getting extra-crispy skin.
Dinner at Cratchit’s house ends with a traditional Christmas pudding, which Dickens describes as “a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.” Sometimes called plum pudding, Christmas pudding is made with dried fruits, egg, fat of some sort, brandy and molasses, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. It’s aged for at least a month and, when served, doused in alcohol and lit on fire.
When his night of ghost visitations is over, Scrooge, now a changed man, throws open his windows and calls down to a boy on the street, asking him if the big turkey is still hanging in the store. “The one as big as me?” the boy asks. Scrooge goes on to prove his new generosity by giving the turkey to the Cratchits. Back in 1800s England, turkeys were far more exotic than they are now, so a giant turkey would be a serious treat. Not that we would turn our noses up at an incredible roast turkey like this one.
Charles Dickens popularised the traditional, English Christmas in 1843 in his novel A Christmas Carol, when Bob Cratchit and his family sit down on Christmas Day to eat a dinner of goose with mashed potatoes and apple sauce accompanied by sage and onion stuffing and followed by Christmas pudding.
In Stave 5 of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge wakes up from his sleep after his visions of the spirits, and he is delighted to be able to live a better life. He gives money to the poor, spends Christmas with his nephew and his family, and then gives Bob Cratchit a raise.
The Dickens' family dinner was no Scrooge-like affair. The spread was literally soup to nuts with fish, poultry, red meat, side dishes and desserts in between. Turkey was “usual but not irreplaceable,” according to Ross.
Scrooge, grateful for a second chance at his life, sings the praises of the spirits and of Jacob Marley. Upon realizing he has been returned to Christmas morning, Scrooge begins shouting "Merry Christmas!" at the top of his lungs.
The Cratchits' Christmas dinner of stuffed goose, potatoes, and pudding, of course, is never really prepared or eaten: the whole passage, as we later learn, describes a vision granted to Scrooge of what WOULD have happened that Christmas if Scrooge had not changed his ways.
Dinner at Cratchit's house ends with a traditional Christmas pudding, which Dickens describes as “a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.” Sometimes called plum pudding, Christmas pudding is made with dried ...
Smoking Bishop is a type of mulled wine, punch, or wassail, especially popular in Victorian England at Christmas time, and it is mentioned in Dickens' 1843 story A Christmas Carol. "...we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!"
It is a type of mulled wine or punch and was popular in Victorian times around Christmas time. Both men, especially Scrooge, look happy about their encounter given the distance between the two men and how the share the table together so closely.
What is the gruel that Scrooge eats? Why is this included as a detail? Gruel is similar to oatmeal. Only poor people eat gruel, and it shows that he doesn't want to spend money.
They took us to see A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, or as it is mostly known — Scrooge. On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, that miser of a man, that horrible human being, has a bowl of split pea soup before he knocks off for the night and becomes a changed man. I can remember it clearly.
Dickens's A Christmas Carol highlights a vicious cycle of pursuing wealth to escape fear as Scrooge becomes obsessed with accumulating more wealth to evade the horror of suffering in poverty.
After rushing to his room, Scrooge locks the door behind him and puts on his dressing gown. As he eats his gruel before the fire, the carvings on his mantelpiece suddenly transform into images of Jacob Marley's face.
At the centre of a German Christmas evening spread you'll usually find a roasted goose, turkey or duck, traditionally served with lovely plump bread dumplings – the classic round ones, or one great big festive loaf-shaped one, known as a Serviettenknödel (pictured sliced, above), plus braised red cabbage or stewed kale ...
With this complete German Christmas menu, choose your festive main dish adventure: Roast goose or beef rouladen. Then load up on the side dishes: braised red cabbage, spaetzle, and potato dumplings — they'll pair perfectly with either choice. And stick around for the Stollen!
Scrooge, who we have just learnt at length, is a man who does not have an ounce of the spirit of the festive season in him, replies - "Bah!Humbug!" "Christmas a humbug, uncle!", replies Fred, "You don't mean that, I am sure?"
And change he does. Back at the rehearsal, Scrooge throws open his window after he's visited by three spirits and yells down to the street below. “Merry Christmas to everybody!A Happy New Year to all the world!” shouts Scrooge in the theater production.
Following a recipe for roast goose by Mrs Beeton, here's that classic Christmas dinner portrayed by Charles Dickens in the famous scene from A Christmas Carol. Here Ebeneezer Scrooge watches with the Ghost of Christmas Present as the Cratchit family sits down to roast goose and Christmas pudding.
In northern England roast beef was the traditional fayre for Christmas dinner while in London and the south, goose was favourite. Many poor people made do with rabbit. On the other hand, the Christmas Day menu for Queen Victoria and family in 1840 included both beef and of course a royal roast swan or two.
That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered—flushed, but smiling proudly—with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. Unlike this pudding, which was made in a mold, Mrs.
Gruel is also a colloquial expression for any watery food of unknown character, e.g., pea soup. Gruel has often been associated with poverty, with negative associations attached to the term in popular culture, as in the Charles Dickens novels Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol.
The Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol
It appears in Scrooge's room, surrounded by a feast. The generous nature of this ghost is reflected in the abundant vision of food. Scrooge is more humble in the presence of this second spirit and is willing to learn any lessons the ghost will show.
The Bo' Ling Chop Suey Palace is a Chinese restaurant in Bob Clark's 1983 film, A Christmas Story. This restaurant is where the Parkers went out to eat on Christmas, after The Bumpus Hounds ate their turkey. They described the food as "Chinese Turkey" even though it was really a duck.
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Introduction: My name is Msgr. Benton Quitzon, I am a comfortable, charming, thankful, happy, adventurous, handsome, precious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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