page_title: Icelandic cuisine
section_title: Christmas dishes
hierarchical_section_title: Icelandic cuisine / Feasts / Christmas dishes
caption_attribution_description: Skorið út í laufabrauð. Laufabrauð, um pão típico da Islândia. Laufabrauð, an icelandic sort of bread.
context_page_description: Icelandic cuisine, the cuisine of Iceland, has a long history. Important parts of Icelandic cuisine are lamb, dairy, and fish, the latter due to Iceland being surrounded by ocean. Popular foods in Iceland include skyr, hangikjöt, kleinur, laufabrauð, and bollur. Þorramatur is a traditional buffet served at midwinter festivals called Þorrablót; it includes a selection of traditionally cured meat and fish products served with rúgbrauð and brennivín. The flavors of this traditional country food originates in its preservation methods; pickling in fermented whey or brine, drying, and smoking.
  Modern Icelandic chefs usually emphasise the quality of available ingredients rather than age-old cooking traditions and methods. Numerous restaurants in Iceland specialise in seafood. At the annual Food and Fun chef's competition, competitors create innovative dishes with fresh ingredients produced in Iceland. Points of pride are the quality of the lamb meat, seafood, and skyr.
context_section_description: In Iceland the Christmas dinner is traditionally served on Christmas Eve. Traditional main courses are hangikjöt (smoked lamb), hamborgarhryggur (salted pork rib) and various types of game, especially ptarmigan stew, puffin (sometimes lightly smoked) and roast greylag goose where these are available. These are usually accompanied by a béchamel or mushroom sauce, boiled potatoes and peas, pickled beetroot or red cabbage and jam. A traditional dessert is rice pudding with raisins, topped with ground cinnamon and sugar called jólagrautur ("Yule pudding").
  On December 23 (mass of Saint Thorlak) there is a tradition (originally from the Westfjords) to serve fermented skate with melted tallow and boiled potatoes. Boiling the Christmas hangikjöt the day after serving the skate is said to dispel the strong smell which otherwise tends to linger around the house for days.
  In the weeks before Christmas many households bake a variety of cookies to keep in store for friends and family throughout the holidays. These include piparkökur, a type of ginger biscuits often decorated with colored glaze. Laufabrauð is also fried some days before Christmas and decorating it is for many an occasion for holding a family gathering.
caption: Decorating laufabrauð (leaf bread) is a Christmas tradition in many Icelandic homes.
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