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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 12:42:23 GMT -5
My Food Consumption Agenda for December
-My mother's Latkes because I went all of Hannukah with no Latkes. -The marzipan fruit my mother makes every year in December. -My mother's making a fruitcake for the first time ever, so I will probably try that. Food I'll Cook
-My wild rice with wild mushrooms, which I usually make as a side dish for Christmas. We were lazy and just got the Trader Joe's frozen latkes this year (although I did make homemade applesauce to go with it). They were quite good, actually. I made those two years ago in addition to get them from a Jewish diner in Chicago. They are very good, although I used Mott's Natural applesauce with mine. |
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Post by Cerusee on Dec 11, 2013 14:13:31 GMT -5
Stuff what I have cooked for Christmas so far:
Chocolate dipped candied orange and lemon peels. Wish I could find my original recipe for candied peels; the ones I'm using now always produce softer, moister peels, and I prefer them with a little more chew. I also discovered something which should have been blindingly obvious the first time I ever made them: don't sugar the peels before dipping them in chocolate! The dipping process goes much more smoothly (literally) without all that excess sugar clogging up the chocolate.
Salted bourbon caramels. (new recipe; haven't had a chance to sample yet, but I'm a little dubious about these; I'm not sure I was getting an accurate temperature read on these with my candy thermometer, as they started smelling kinda smokey at 220 degrees, well below the firm-ball stage. I did eventually get them up to 245, but they're quite dark, darker than I've ever seen caramels get, including that batch of cream caramels I accidentally heated to hard-crack the first year I ever made them.
Still to make: butterscotch caramels, truffles.
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Post by Mrs. Peel on Dec 11, 2013 14:36:58 GMT -5
My boyfriend usually has a big dinner on Christmas eve, which is topped off by a flaming Christmas pudding (basically a fruitcake, which not everybody likes). I often make a second one called a "St. Stephen's pudding", which I got from the Delia Smith cookery course book. It's a good substitute for fruitcake haters-- basically a fruitcake with apples, raisins, and dried cranberries: www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/sweet/st-stephens-pudding.htmlWe also have a sticky toffee pudding, which is a million times better than either of those (especially for breakfast on Christmas morning). *drools involuntarily* So what do I have to do to get invited to his Christmas dinner? I'm begging. Are you anywhere near upstate NY...? (He's a great cook, and I am a very lucky person). |
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Post by Mrs. Peel on Dec 11, 2013 14:43:20 GMT -5
Are you anywhere near upstate NY...? (He's a great cook, and I am a very lucky person). If by "anywhere near" you mean "on the same continent as", then yes! Otherwise, not so much  . Oh well! I'll send you a slice of each in an A10 envelope. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 20:33:44 GMT -5
One of the holiday favorites in the Citric household is called "Poop". The short version is peanut butter and rice crispies dipped in chocolate, though I think there are other components. It looks like turds, it is delicious. Poop sounds delicious! My signature chocolate chip cookie recipe is called "Chunky Mud," after a Dennis the Menace panel. |
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Dec 12, 2013 12:12:21 GMT -5
Is anyone familiar with a garlic sauce or dip called something like "banya"? A long time ago I worked at a two-way radio shop that was located next to a car dealership. The car folks would invite the radio folks to their Christmas party. The highlight of the party was this sauce, or dip, or fondu that had a name pronounced something like "banya". The people making it said it was some kind of eastern European dish and that their immigrant parents sometimes had it for breakfast as children, back in the old country. It had such a strong garlic aroma that you could smell it down the block. After just being in the room where it was served (and eating a bunch of it) when I got to my parent's house later that night for Christmas, my mom made me take a shower and leave the clothes I was wearing down in the basement to be washed. The stuff tasted heavenly. It was a thick sauce, server hot as a dip for veggies or bread. I have never found or heard of it again, and a Google search turns up nothing. It is possible that the story was just made up, but I hope there is some recepie somewhere for it that I can eventually find. Their Christmas Banya was the best Jerry! The Best! |
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Post by NewHereAgainoZach on Dec 12, 2013 12:18:49 GMT -5
Is anyone familiar with a garlic sauce or dip called something like "banya"? A long time ago I worked at a two-way radio shop that was located next to a car dealership. The car folks would invite the radio folks to their Christmas party. The highlight of the party was this sauce, or dip, or fondu that had a name pronounced something like "banya". The people making it said it was some kind of eastern European dish and that their immigrant parents sometimes had it for breakfast as children, back in the old country. It had such a strong garlic aroma that you could smell it down the block. After just being in the room where it was served (and eating a bunch of it) when I got to my parent's house later that night for Christmas, my mom made me take a shower and leave the clothes I was wearing down in the basement to be washed. The stuff tasted heavenly. It was a thick sauce, server hot as a dip for veggies or bread. I have never found or heard of it again, and a Google search turns up nothing. It is possible that the story was just made up, but I hope there is some recepie somewhere for it that I can eventually find. Their Christmas Banya was the best Jerry! The Best! You sold me a hair with a fondue around it! |
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Post by Mrs. Peel on Dec 23, 2013 11:46:37 GMT -5
If you celebrate Christmas, do you have a big dinner on Christmas eve or Christmas day, and what do you make? And when do you open presents?
For years, my boyfriend has been making a huge, elaborate Xmas eve dinner, and he invites a lot of people over. We start out with champagne, a fancy cheese selection, smoked salmon, and caviar, and then follow that with a soup course, duck, some kind of roast, Brussles sprouts and chestnuts in a cream sauce, etc. There are different wines for each course (though I'm not much of a wine drinker myself). Afterwards, we have port and the Victorian-style Christmas pudding that you set on fire, which looks very festive. And also sticky toffee pudding, which is infinitely tastier than the flaming fruitcake one. On Christmas morning, we have chocolate tea and leftover sticky toffee pudding before we open presents.
Following that, I usually have a flavorless slab of beef with my mom on Christmas day (with copious amounts of A1 sauce). She is a lovely person, but not much of a cook...
Most of my British friends have a turkey on Christmas, but that seems to be less popular here in the US since we usually have turkeys for Thanksgiving. There seems to be a lot of variation in what Americans have for Christmas (duck, goose, lasagna, etc.)
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Dec 23, 2013 11:54:28 GMT -5
Our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are exactly the same, unfortunately. So, Christmas for my family is turkey, gravy, dressing, yams, mashed potatoes, salad, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie.
I guess there is one difference. The night before (so, Christmas Eve), we usually have a ham, and leftover ham is served on Christmas as well. I just don't care, because I don't like that kind of ham.
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GumTurkeyles
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Dec 23, 2013 12:33:35 GMT -5
Our Christmas eve dinner is also very similar to thanksgiving. My family celebrates on the 24th, as in the past, we would wait until midnight, and then open the gifts we brought eachother. That waiting was hell when I was 10. Nowadays, everyone is too tired to wait that long, so we eat, then immediately afterward open presents.
I'm hosting this year (first time, as we have the new house). I'll be making easier items I can do without a recipe. They include:
kale caesar salad, momofuku's brussels sprouts, chipotle mac & cheese, garlic green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and bread pudding.
My parents will be bringing rice and turkey. I don't know if anyone else is bringing anything.
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Post by pairesta on Dec 23, 2013 13:06:45 GMT -5
Your boyfriend's meal sounds incredible and fun, Ms. Peel.
My family used to do this mishmash meal on Christmas Eve of French Onion soup or Clam chowder (my mom would make both). Precede the meal with canned, smoked oysters, a wedge of brie, maybe some cocktail shrimp, and caesar salad. It was just an odd assembly of things we liked that grew over the years then became our tradition.
Once I started cooking seriously though, I supplanted with my own Feast of the Fishes meal. One of my very earliest foodie memories is my mom telling us about the feast of the fishes our Italian neighbors were having: eels, mussel soup, fried smelts. I had no idea you could even eat that kind of stuff. I was fascinated with it ever since. I do kind of miss that old mongrel meal though, and would maybe like to incorporate it into some of the other meals leading up to Christmas eve.
Christmas day is usually some kind of filet mignon (lately it's been the whole filet wrapped in bacon, then done on a rotisserie); gnocchi with blue cheese sauce, red cabbage, and baked spinach custards.
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Post by Mrs. Peel on Dec 23, 2013 14:33:44 GMT -5
Our Christmas eve dinner is also very similar to thanksgiving. My family celebrates on the 24th, as in the past, we would wait until midnight, and then open the gifts we brought eachother. That waiting was hell when I was 10. Nowadays, everyone is too tired to wait that long, so we eat, then immediately afterward open presents. I'm hosting this year (first time, as we have the new house). I'll be making easier items I can do without a recipe. They include: kale caesar salad, momofuku's brussels sprouts, chipotle mac & cheese, garlic green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and bread pudding. My parents will be bringing rice and turkey. I don't know if anyone else is bringing anything. Sounds delicious! I would be interested in that brussels sprout recipe... |
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Post by Mrs. Peel on Dec 23, 2013 14:35:45 GMT -5
Our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are exactly the same, unfortunately. So, Christmas for my family is turkey, gravy, dressing, yams, mashed potatoes, salad, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie. I guess there is one difference. The night before (so, Christmas Eve), we usually have a ham, and leftover ham is served on Christmas as well. I just don't care, because I don't like that kind of ham. Well, that sounds like a great meal, even if it is a bit repetitive. My boyfriend has some elderly family friends who keep sending him hams. He has seven or eight hams in his freezer now. Also, my mom had an uncle who was a priest in a small town. When he died, people kept sending hams, and I think they ended up with about 10. |
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Post by Mrs. Peel on Dec 23, 2013 14:36:58 GMT -5
Your boyfriend's meal sounds incredible and fun, Ms. Peel. My family used to do this mishmash meal on Christmas Eve of French Onion soup or Clam chowder (my mom would make both). Precede the meal with canned, smoked oysters, a wedge of brie, maybe some cocktail shrimp, and caesar salad. It was just an odd assembly of things we liked that grew over the years then became our tradition. Once I started cooking seriously though, I supplanted with my own Feast of the Fishes meal. One of my very earliest foodie memories is my mom telling us about the feast of the fishes our Italian neighbors were having: eels, mussel soup, fried smelts. I had no idea you could even eat that kind of stuff. I was fascinated with it ever since. I do kind of miss that old mongrel meal though, and would maybe like to incorporate it into some of the other meals leading up to Christmas eve. Christmas day is usually some kind of filet mignon (lately it's been the whole filet wrapped in bacon, then done on a rotisserie); gnocchi with blue cheese sauce, red cabbage, and baked spinach custards. I've been wanting to go to one of those Feasts of the Fishes for years!! That sounds incredibly good. I love things like that. All of that sounds fabulous to me, especially the gnocchi with blue cheese (if you want to share...) |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Dec 23, 2013 14:41:08 GMT -5
Our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are exactly the same, unfortunately. So, Christmas for my family is turkey, gravy, dressing, yams, mashed potatoes, salad, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie. I guess there is one difference. The night before (so, Christmas Eve), we usually have a ham, and leftover ham is served on Christmas as well. I just don't care, because I don't like that kind of ham. Well, that sounds like a great meal, even if it is a bit repetitive. My boyfriend has some elderly family friends who keep sending him hams. He has seven or eight hams in his freezer now. Also, my mom had an uncle who was a priest in a small town. When he died, people kept sending hams, and I think they ended up with about 10. While I certainly don't envy your boyfriend is ham supply, I do envy is freezer space. My freezer could handle one ham, max, and even that would probably require some Tetris. |
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Post by Mrs. Peel on Dec 23, 2013 14:43:40 GMT -5
Well, that sounds like a great meal, even if it is a bit repetitive. My boyfriend has some elderly family friends who keep sending him hams. He has seven or eight hams in his freezer now. Also, my mom had an uncle who was a priest in a small town. When he died, people kept sending hams, and I think they ended up with about 10. While I certainly don't envy your boyfriend is ham supply, I do envy is freezer space. My freezer could handle one ham, max, and even that would probably require some Tetris. He is a man of many fridges/ freezers. Which are pretty much crammed to the gills, so he's storing some extra meat in my basement freezer.* * Not a euphemism. |
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Post by pairesta on Dec 23, 2013 15:06:21 GMT -5
Gnocchi with Blue Cheese
1 lb potato gnocchi
1 cup cream or (sshh!) evaporated skim milk
1 wedge mild blue cheese, such as gorgonzola dolce
(optional) shot of grappa, plain rum, or brandy
Chives, finely minced
Grated Parm
Reduce the cream or evaporated skim milk by half in a saucepan over low heat.
Turn heat to low, add the blue cheese and liquor, if using, and let melt into the sauce.
While the cheese is melting, poach the gnocchi in gently boiling salted water
Strain the gnocchi and portion into bowls.
Top with a ladle of the sauce, then some minced chives, then a generous sprinkling of parm
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Post by Mrs. Peel on Dec 23, 2013 15:34:03 GMT -5
Gnocchi with Blue Cheese 1 lb potato gnocchi 1 cup cream or (sshh!) evaporated skim milk 1 wedge mild blue cheese, such as gorgonzola dolce (optional) shot of grappa, plain rum, or brandy Chives, finely minced Grated Parm Reduce the cream or evaporated skim milk by half in a saucepan over low heat. Turn heat to low, add the blue cheese and liquor, if using, and let melt into the sauce. While the cheese is melting, poach the gnocchi in gently boiling salted water Strain the gnocchi and portion into bowls. Top with a ladle of the sauce, then some minced chives, then a generous sprinkling of parm Thanks!! That looks amazing. |
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Post by nachomatrimony on Dec 24, 2013 15:52:37 GMT -5
Christmas Eve is my favorite holiday, mostly because it's the one my immediate family hosts for both sides of the tree. We're Italian-American, so we do the traditional seven fish meal -- lots of food, basically. Crab cakes, fried shrimp, seafood and baccala salads,crab claws, fired whiting with parsley and garlic, and the occasional clam chowder are regular favorites. I'm pretty much just sitting at my computer longing for dinner time!
My dad also bakes an embarrassment of cookies (raspberry and apricot thumbprints, almond and vanilla crescents, pinoli nut, etc.) I'm hungry.
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Post by Judkins Moaner on Dec 25, 2013 0:54:12 GMT -5
Ha ha whatever the fuck I want.
That said, this year, this native son of Louisiana will try snd cook a gumbo for the first time. Planned ahead, though; if the roux fucks up, I'll either make chicken adobo or fire up the Oak Grove Smokehouse Jambalaya Mix. Either way, I plan to make tomorrow rule.
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on Dec 25, 2013 7:04:38 GMT -5
On the 24th, my mom makes some kind of beef roast product and a variety of sides that go with that (aside from mashed potatoes, there's really nothing constant). One year she ruined it by oversalting it, which she also did to the homemade gravy, but usually it's pretty good). This year there was also a stuffed pasta shell side that barely got touched amidst everything else (an essential part of any Italian-American holiday tradition, even though we are not and have never been even remotely Italian-American). My contribution is cranberry-pineapple Jello salad, a pseudo-family recipe dating back to possibly as early as 1997. Then after the dishes are washed (I'm normally a "save your fork, ther'll be piie" type, but she is not), there's more. For afters, there's a pie (I think Dutch apple is officially the standard, although that's a relatively new phenomenon) and usually this cherry-pie tart dessert that I love. Then there's the small gift exchange.
Th 25th is a grab bag. She might make something completely different or something else is going on and I won't be there. I have a pretty small family at this point so there aren't many options, so I might just go it alone.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2013 15:44:41 GMT -5
This may be a start of a wonderful new tradition in my house: last night we had homemade mac & cheese, and this morning I made deep-fried mac & cheese bites for breakfast. Served with applesauce, ketchup (for the boy), green sriracha, and a big bowl of fresh cherries.  |
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eldan
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Post by eldan on Dec 25, 2013 23:28:55 GMT -5
Me and my parents almost always travel up here for Christmas, so there's little consistency in what we eat and where. This year, we went to my sister's house and she made an awesome prime rib. I was under the impression what was on the table was all there was, so I hardly ate any, then after dinner was all over with I found out there was an entire other roast and a half left in the kitchen! Now that it's 11:30 and I'm starving, I'm really wishing I'd known that then.
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Post by pairesta on Dec 26, 2013 8:05:01 GMT -5
We somehow didn't buy blue cheese, so it was gnocchi with brown butter and sage instead.
My dad got a new Traeger grill/smoker at Costco so we spent the past few days tinkering with it. We smoked the filet for 3 hours, then finished it on the full heat setting. It was good but not as good as the version I usually make, I thought. The Traeger didn't leave much of an impression on me.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Dec 26, 2013 9:58:10 GMT -5
Made the turkey for the first time ever yesterday. Smoked it on my Big Green Egg. Wish I'd snapped a pic, because it was a beauty. Well worth the 5-day process of thawing, brining, air drying and finally smoking.
Raves all around, so I'm happy with that, though I fear I've now been signed up for turkey duty on a more permanent basis.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Dec 26, 2013 10:17:42 GMT -5
Our Turkey Day and Christmas meals were pretty similar. Christmas usually adds ham and reduces the turkey to a breast. Stuffing, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, "green stuff" (pudding + cool whip + marshmallows + pineapple), some tasty dessert and nary a green vegetable in sight. On Christmas Eve we've been going to a steakhouse for dinner after church. Which is sort of funny since neither of my in-laws tend to actually GET steak. Oh, and we open presents with TWBE's family on Christmas morning. His surprise brother is young and it's still fun that way.  |
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Post by NewHereAgainoZach on Dec 26, 2013 13:02:26 GMT -5
Depends upon who I'm with. If it's a full family, all-sisters deal, we'll usually do a Thanksgiving-style on Christmas Eve, then green enchiladas and black beans on the day. This time, I was alone, so I roasted a chicken using a recipe and method from ATK, made a ton of mashed potatoes, a stalk of Brussels sprouts, pan of roasted veg, beet greens, and a really killer gravy. Tonight, I'll make a bubble and squeak from leftovers.
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Post by katesmcgee on Dec 26, 2013 22:14:07 GMT -5
Normally, we'll do something pretty similar to Thanksgiving (turkey, dressing, sides, etc). But this year, we were so burned out from all of the Thanksgiving cooking, we said fuck it, and ordered Chinese delivery. Crispy duck, scallion beef, chicken with snow peas, pork chow mein, shrimp fried rice, egg rolls, spring rolls, soup... It was pretty perfect. It's just me and my husband, so we stayed in our pjs all day and just hung out, eating delicious food that took no effort on our part.
If we'd gone home to Detroit, we would've had tamales on Christmas Eve. Instead, we went to our friend's family dinner of ham and shrimp. It was lovely.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Dec 27, 2013 13:27:18 GMT -5
We do Thanksgiving dinner all over again on Christmas Eve (turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and beets; nothing too fancy), then have hot open-face turkey sandwiches with all the fixin's for Christmas dinner, so no one has to cook anything when there are presents to be opened. Present-opening is a big deal for us. The affair starts around noon (with mimosas, coffee cake, and pigs-in-blankets) and can go on for hours, as we all like to discuss each present as it's opened. No one should have to hold things up for something like cooking!
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eldan
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Post by eldan on Dec 30, 2013 20:34:16 GMT -5
What are your traditions, food-wise, for New Year's? I lived in NJ until I was 12 and up there, the tradition was canned whiting (I think?) in cream sauce. Here in the south, I think the tradition is collards and black eyed peas. I've never indulged in this, though over the past couple years I have developed a taste for collard greens, provided they're prepared the way they prepare them at local BBQ restaurants, which essentially means it's got more pork in it than the bbq tray.
Anyways, are there any food-related traditions in your area or in your family related to New Year's?
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