Turkey

Turkey is the Greek Christmas bird now, but it has not been for very long. The winter meat of the Greek countryside was pork, from the household pig killed in December, and turkey reached the urban Christmas table only in the twentieth century before spreading outwards from there. What did not arrive with it was the Western way of stuffing and seasoning the bird.

Galopoula gemisti me kastana is the Greek version: a whole bird filled with minced beef or pork, rice, chestnuts and pine nuts, seasoned with cinnamon rather than sage, and rubbed outside with olive oil, lemon and oregano rather than butter. The filling is a substantial dish in its own right, closer in character to the stuffing of gemista than to any bread stuffing.

Rice is the practical catch. It swells as it takes up the juices, so the cavity is packed loosely and any surplus is baked alongside in a separate dish rather than forced in. The breast also dries long before the legs are done, so a large bird wants covering for most of its time in the oven, basting through the cook, and a proper rest before carving.