Bachlkoch - Embach's secret festive speciality

Embach at Christmas: guarding the Bachlkoch recipe

Christmas in Embach is a simple and traditional occasion which still has a lot more to do with religion than parties, frenzied shopping and the giving and getting of expensive gifts.

Nothing highlights this contrast more than the menu plan because in this corner of the world, Christmas Eve, the most important day, is a fasting day. The 25^th, is a holiday, but more given to trying out new skis than collapsing in front of the TV after a gargantuan meal.

The morning of Christmas Eve is a normal day and many people will be at work. On their return home to Embach they will probably eat a Bachlkoch – because this is Bachltag (the day when once farmers sharpened all their knives and cutting implements).

The Bachlkoch recipe is hard to pin down because everyone has their own and no-one seems keen to give it away – even the internet is unhelpful. It consists of milk and flour whisked together over the heat with a pinch of salt and a little butter. Some people I have asked also add honey. Apparently everyone eats it and loves it – but only on Bachltag.

Later, once it is dark, most residents will gather in the village centre to hear hymns played by members of the brass band from four different balconies around the square. First one group plays, then the next and the next. Finally they wish us all a happy and peaceful Christmas. People shake hands with friends and neighbours, wish them a frohe Weihnachten and return home. Some will take with them a candle lit from one whose flame has been brought from Jerusalem.

This is the formal start of Christmas but instead of a feast, many families in Embach will eat a soup, often pea soup, with a frankfurter cut up in it. Later, presents, brought by the Christchild (Santa doesn’t come this way) will be opened and songs sung around the Christmas tree.

Many old traditions are maintained – our neighbouring farmer and the family is probably not alone in processing with smoking frankincense around their stall where the cattle, horses, ducks, chickens and sheep spend the winter.

It isn’t just the snow that makes this simple kind of Christmas celebration more attractive than the excesses of Christmas elsewhere. Eating Bachlkoch, made from a recipe handed down through generations, seems more appropriate than the belch from an overloaded stomach.