Tuscan Christmas lunch: the flavors of tradition

How to prepare a Tuscan Christmas meal with flair

Don't feel like spending next Christmas in the city? Let us remind you how to organize a Tuscan Christmas lunch: traditional flavors will be the added value to this holiday. 

Italian cuisine is among the most appreciated in the world thanks to the richness of homegrown flavors, high-quality ingredients, and a land with a mild climate conducive to a wide variety of agricultural and animal husbandry products.

Thanks to a historic culture that has distinguished us for centuries-cooking-we can be proud of our traditions and Made in Italy.

So here are some tips for remaining heirs to a solid culinary heritage: traditional dishes under the banner of an all-Tuscan Christmas meal.

Tuscan doc Christmas lunch? Here's what to prefer

Who doesn't know ribollita, Florentine steak or lampredotto?

Unique and unmistakable flavors of Tuscany, which along with many other dishes, make you shake your head over and over again. What absolutely cannot be missing from the table set festively for a Tuscan-style Christmas lunch? Let's see it together.

ANTIPASTS

Simple but delicious: Tuscan crostini.

Opening the meal with tradition means preparing slices of bread with chicken liver sauce on top, perhaps accompanied by local ham and salami.

In the mise en place of appetizers, the presence of finocchiona is fundamental along with soprassata, Tuscan pecorino cheese, and lardo di colonnata.

Already full just thinking about it? We are still at the beginning!

FIRST

When you arrive in Tuscany, you always find the classic pappardelle with wild boar sauce on the menu of any self-respecting restaurant.

A really tasty dish also remains pappa al pomodoro (well-seasoned bread and tomato that looks almost mundane but definitely delicious). 

SWEETS

We are familiar with typical Tuscan sweets: cantuccini with almonds-often also called biscotti di Prato and accompanied with vin santo-and panforte from Siena.

But there are at least three other sweets to offer at the end of the meal, namely castagnaccio - also known as migliaccio - made with chestnut flour, torta co' bischeri originating in the village of Pontesserchio - near Pisa - and brigidini di Lamporecchio - typical sweets from the Pistoia area.

In short, there is no shortage of ideas and they are all tempting to delight your diners' palates.

WINES

Between white grapes and red grapes, one is spoiled for choice: in fact, Tuscany is one of Italy's symbolic regions for high-quality wines.

Here are some examples following the areas of the region: wine from Chianti, Montepulciano, Montalcino, Montecucco or the famous Morellino di Scansano. The wine routes are many: follow the one most suitable for the meal to be consumed because-remember-the pairing with the right bubbles is essential!

A Christmas lunch in Maremma

You might consider spending Christmas lunch at a restaurant where you can feel at home.

Located among the green hills in the town of Braccagni is what is often referred to as the "window to the Tuscan Maremma of taste": the Re Sugo Restaurant.

This is a place wanted by Tommaso Guicciardini that evokes tradition in the kitchen, with a look at the present, creative and imaginative: innovating dishes without ever distorting them.

If you opt for a Christmas lunch to be spent close to home, this might be the ideal choice to be together and safe at a special time like this.