Ahead of the holiday season, everything is ready for the big tables among the Christmas Eve dinner and the Christmas lunch. The magic of this period finds its peak precisely in these two events that celebrate the most representative dishes of tradition. In Campania, the appointment is experienced rather habitually, with Christmas Eve dedicated to seafood menus, present in practically every province, while Christmas Day sees meat dishes triumph.

The Christmas cooking in Campania is a very rich universe, deeply rooted in the history and daily life of families. Every dish stems from ancient traditions, from gestures handed down and from a very strong relationship with the land. Food is not simply part of the party, but it is the holiday itself. Every dish has a story, every preparation has a meaning, and the Christmas table becomes a place where family, memory and tradition meet.

The Christmas holidays are experienced as a time of sharing and heat, in which flavors become memory, identity and ritual. Usually the gastronomic "journey" is divided into two distinct moments: the Christmas Eve, dedicated to "lean" dishes, and the December 25 lunch, which instead celebrates the richness of more complex dishes and preparations.

Appetizers

Campania's Christmas appetizers are never simple "openings," but small journeys into tradition. The absolute protagonist of Christmas Eve is thereinforcement salad, a dish that tells the popular soul of Neapolitan cuisine. Prepared with boiled cauliflower, sweet papaccelle, pickles, olives and anchovies, it was born to "reinforce," that is, to return several times to the table in the following days, enriching itself with flavors with each stirring.

We then add the battered vegetables, light or crisp according to grandmothers, and the traditional fried codfish, served as early as the beginning of the meal in smaller versions, almost as a taste. Also appearing in many homes are marinated anchovies, octopus salad with celery and lemon and small portions of frittura di paranza, which anticipate the main courses of the Vigilia. In Salerno among the appetizers we often have the cinguli cu li alici, savory pancakes with salted anchovies.

On Christmas Day, however, the hors d'oeuvres become more earthy and include local cured meats, fresh cheeses such as cottage cheese, and some rustic, including the classic escarole pizza, especially typical in parts of the Neapolitan area.

First courses

Christmas pasta dishes in Campania mainly follow two distinct gastronomic routes, one based on fish for Christmas Eve and one with meat delicacies for December 25. A timeless evergreen is spaghetti with clams, typical of the dinner on the 24th. Every family has its own secret. Some add a hint of chili, some fade with a little wine, some prefer the plain version, that is, without cherry tomatoes, and some do not give up a touch of red.

In some coastal areas, preparations are being made seafood linguine or a simpler but very intense chowder, where each fish variety contributes to the flavor of the broth. Lunch on the 25th is dominated by more elaborate dishes. La lasagna napoletana, although traditionally linked to Carnival, in many families it is also served at Christmas. It consists of layers of dough alternating with ricotta cheese, provolone cheese, fried meatballs, hard-boiled eggs and meat sauce.

Alternatively, the baked pasta, often with broken ziti, meatballs, mozzarella and sauce, a dish that fills the house with a familiar aroma. Others, however, prefer sartù di riso, a timbale filled with rice, hard-boiled eggs, peas and meat sauce, or cannelloni with ricotta and meat or ricotta and spinach.

A special place is reserved for the minestrone soup, a very old recipe that combines boiled meats and leafy vegetables such as chicory, escarole and borage in an almost symbolic balance. Also based on vegetables is the stuffed escarole, a typical Eve dish in Irpinia that consists of an escarole leaf with a filling of olives, anchovies, capers, walnuts, pine nuts and breadcrumbs.

Main courses

Main courses also reflect the difference between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and therefore fish is almost always preferred on December 24. The most characteristic is the eel, the female eel, cooked fried or roasted. In addition to the culinary tradition, it carries with it folk beliefs related to good luck and protection from evil.

Next to the eel towers the cod, one of the mainstays of winter in Campania. It is prepared fried in large pieces or "Neapolitan style," with black olives, capers and cherry tomatoes. La fried fish completes the picture, bringing cheerfulness and scents of the sea to the table. In the Caserta area then on Christmas Eve we also find stuffed squid with potatoes.

The following day the cuisine changes completely. The most popular dish is the roast kid or lamb, covered with herbs and accompanied by crispy potatoes. In many households the roast is cooked slowly for hours until soft and juicy. Some households also serve chops with meat sauce, meatballs, or mixed meat seconds from the boiled meat prepared for the minestra maritata.

Sweets

If there is one area in which Campania exceeds itself, it is in Christmas sweets. The struffoli are perhaps the most beloved symbol and are never missing from Campania's tables. They are small balls of fried dough dipped in warm honey and decorated with candied fruit and colored confettini. Also similar are the scauratielli, typical of Salerno and prepared with water and flour, fried and pureed in honey. In the Salerno area we also have thecazuncielli, fried ravioli with a dough of chestnut flour, rum and chocolate.

Added to these are the rococo, hard and spicy, requiring strong teeth but embodying Christmas with their fragrance of allspice and cinnamon. I mustaccioli, soft on the inside and covered in dark chocolate, are the perfect alternative for those who like more intense flavors.

They are joined by the susamielli, of honey and almonds, S-shaped, and in some areas of Naples the dolcetti divine love, rosy and fragrant, of monastic origin. Sometimes it also happens to find the pastiera which, although an Easter dessert, is almost never missing, and its presence at Christmas is a way of announcing in advance the coming holiday.

In Irpinia you can encounter the crepes, strips of puff pastry rolled on themselves in the shape of a rose, topped with honey and dried figs. In Benevento, however, there is never a shortage of the nougat, classic or crispy, to be tasted together with a small glass of Strega liqueur.