What are your New Years Day culinary traditions?
I know that we have a wide variety of cultures and religions among News Talkers and I'm reasonably sure that we have many people who still observe culinary traditions on New Years Day. Black-eyed peas are a common meal in the American south. I'm German and it's common to make roast pork and 'kraut on New Years.
https://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/traditional-new-years-day-food
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I made kraut, way too much roast pork and spaetzle. It was good but we all feel like we just ate a brick.
As I am of Hispanic heritage and live on the border, it was tamales and menudo!
Damn, I thought it would be Indian (Navajo) tacos...
Tamales sound even better. I know what menudo is, so I'll pass.
Oh for goodness sake, epistte. It's one of the great all time hang over cures (No experience but my X mother in law said it was)...
I googled it. I think it may be a case of the cure being worse than the disease.
A/noon Kavika..Happy New Year to and yours..Hope it is a good one..Most people here usually throw a barbie...can't beat the smell of smokey gum leaves and barbecuing meat..Seems we are the only country in the world that actually can eat our coat of Arms...Emu and Kangaroo...but I prefer steak on my barbie...Some of the other foods on here sound very nice..might have to go and raid my fridge now...
I don't drink so I will not have to worry about hangover cures. I cannot imagine any disease that would be worse than menudo.
G'day Shona, I remember having many a barbie with the smell of gum leaf about.
LOL, that's quite true and unique to Aussie. I've had a lot of Roo but never any Emu.
Anything good in the fridge?
LOL....
Dear Friend Shona1: Happy healthy prosperous and meaningful 2019 to you and yours.
Enoch.
Dear Brother Kavika: I read that vitamin B complex and hydration with water are both good things to do for a hangover.
I am not sure this is correct.
I wonder if, after the New Year party circuit others have hangover cure suggestions that work for them.
E.
Happy New Year to you to Enoch and Mrs E...Hope it is a happy and healthier one for you..Take care...
Ham off the bone..yum left over from Christmas....
There is a great variety of methods of preparation. I prefer chunks of pork or beef rather than the pigs feet.
I had a grand total of one glass of champagne on NYE. Woke up feeling hung over. If I'm going to have a hangover, it only seems fair that I should have been drunk enough to deserve one.
Hmph.
Join the club. The last time I had a bottle of cider I could not have driven 20 minutes after drinking it, despite the fact that my blood alcohol would have been very low. I looked over at the glass because I finished it in about 30 minutes. I went to stand up and take the glass to the kitchen and I had to hold on to the wall to stand. I never drank much in college but it surprised me how fast that alcohol went to my head.
We were asleep before midnight on NYE.
Ditto. I didn't drink it fast, I was nibbling on some snacks, and I'm not taking any medicines that interact. Weird.
I wasn't nibbling on anything at the time. I was reading and sipping on it. It surprised me when I went to take another sip and the glass was empty. I set it back down and then the mom guilt kicked in and I knew that I should take it to the kitchen instead of letting it stay on the side table. I went to get up and my head was spinning faster than the washer on spin cycle. I wasn't taking any meds at the time and I knew that it had been a few years since I had any alcohol but the speed that I felt woozy was a shock to me. I woke up with a headache but my tongue didn't taste fuzzy.
My New Years day dinner use to be lobster tails, filet mignon, baked potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and salad.
Wow, that is impressive and very rich. I hope it brings you luck in 2019.
Thank you, I hope 2019 is a good year for you too.
Thank you.
Succotash. It's an ancient American Indian dish.
A big of a history on succotash and the three sisters. (corn, bean, squash).
At first glance, a cuisine based on corn, beans , and squash, doesn't seem very impressive, or even interesting, but it goes way deeper than one might expect. Here's what makes the story of the "three sisters" is so fascinating.
The Perfect Agricultural Sisterhood
The tribe's very survival depended on a reliable food supply, which is why they developed something called "companion planting." To get the highest yield of beans possible, the vines need tall poles to grow upon, which is why they were planted next to the corn. The corn's tall straight stalks were perfect for the climbing vines of the bean plants. In turn, the roots of the bean captured nitrogen from the air and enriched the soil which is ideal for the corn which needs nitrogen-rich soil to produce a large crop.
So those two crops thrived together, much more than they would have if planted apart. There were the two sisters, always together, always helping one another, but what about the squash? It was this third sister that really made the system so ingenious.
The squash also sends out long, winding vines, but likes to stay close to the ground. The plants also have large leaves. These were planted in between the rows of corn and beans and acted as an edible ground cover, which not only kept the weeds away but also provided shade for the corn's very shallow roots. They also helped keep the ground moist, which helped the beans grow, which helped the corn grow higher, which made for longer bean vines and yields, and so on, and so on.
It was pure agricultural brilliance and the reason these three humble plants play such a large part in so many Native American myths and legends. They believed that since they were so magical when grown together, that they should also be eaten together. They also believed that since they protected each other while growing, that they would protect whoever ate them together.
The perfect diet?
When combined with the lean meats that the Native tribes hunted like deer, rabbit, and buffalo, this made for about as perfect a diet, as any culture has ever known. Why not try an authentic "succotash," which is the name that has survived to this day to describe the simple, yet magical combination of the "three sisters."
BTW, I'm not sure about the ''Black Eyed Peas'' performing in the south. Taboo (American Indian) the singer with BEP has succotash for New Years Day..Oh, one other thing. Many native people celebrate New Years day other than January 1st..Many are in tune with the winter solice.
Mr Giggles told me how his dad liked to cook corn and zucchini together and eat it with beans. My father in law is a descendant of Geronimo.
Anyway, ingenious of the Native Americas to figure out how the beans, squash, and corn all worked together
Eating Corn and Beans together has a scientific basis as well.
Meat is a "complete" protein-- it has all the necessary Amino acids.
Almost all plants are not complete protein-- they lack one or more essential Amino acids.
However some plants are lacking an Amino Acid that other plants provide-- and vice-versa. So you can get complete protein by "food combining".
One of the best examples of this are grains (corn is a grain) and beans. Each is missing an Amino Acid that the other supplies-- so eating both a grain and beans together provide all necessary Amino Acids-- i.e. complete Protein!
Modern Science discovered this-- the science behind it-- relatively recently (in terms of world history).
What I've always found fascinating is that many indigenous cultures, who did not know modern science, never-the-less somehow knew intuitively to the principles of "food combining"-- a common example in these cultures being combining a Grain (Corn, Rice, Wheat, etc) and Beans.
Almost all plants are not complete protein.
Probably the best known exception is Soy-- Soybeans are a complete protein.
I believe Spirulina and Chlorella are complete Protein as well.
Beside the ''Three Sisters'' being a perfect combination for eating and also for growing, wild rice which is a staple of the Ojibwe is by many considered a rice. It is not, in fact, a rice, it is a grain.
This is not the so called wild rice that you buy in a store today. This is real wild rice, harvested in the rivers and lakes of Minnesota. It is unlike any other rice you've eaten.
The Ojibwe word for it is Manoomin and I harvested hundreds of pounds of it as a kid with my grand parents and parents.
Fancy way of saying "you know what that's gonna be like on the other end?" Lol
Dear Friend Epistte: Let me provide two answers. Choose which you best prefer.
For the secular (Gregorian Calendar) New Year {12/31- 01/01} we do not really have any traditional food.
Today Mrs. E. made a spinach cottage cheese filled filo dough pastry.
Not an annual thing. Just tasty as all get out.
On our religious calendar there are four New Year's celebrations.
1. Rishon Nisan (First day of the Hebrew month of Nisan (early spring). It is tied to Pesach (Passover), a Freedom Festival. It marks the anniversary of the flight from over 400 years of slavery to freedom in our own land (Israel). Foods for Passover feature no leavening. There was not time, fleeing an army chasing us to let bread rise. So no yeast was used. A flat bread of only water and flour called Matzah is consumed. During the Seders (ritual meals) a Seder plate with various sweet and bitter plants, meats and bones used to tell the story and importance of freedom is shown, and in some part consumed. So are cups of the fruit of the vine.
2. Rishon Elul (around August - late summer) corresponds to the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul (sixth month). It was used to mark the time for tithes of animals to Temple staff (like April 15th, Tax day today). It was customary to eat of the fatted calf (meat meals). With the destruction of the First and Second Temples it is not much observed today. If a Third Temple is constructed, we shall see what we shall see.
3. Rishon Tishrei (First day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei). Also known as Rosh Ha Shanah (Birthday of the World). The newness theme shows up in food customs in ways like these. The eating of first fruits for the New Year. We use things like Pomegranites, which come in season around then. Eating apples dipped in honey kick off the New Year wit sweetness. The hope is the New Year will be sweet for us all. Some eat the head of a fish, as Rosh Ha Shanah is the head of the year. Another one is the Ashkenazi custom of eating candied carrots. The Yiddish word for carrots is Mehren. It is associated with good luck. A New Year with good luck will be sweet indeed.
4. The fifteenth of the Hebrew Month of Shevat (Tu B' Shevat: Tet Yud are letters whose numbers equal 15. In the Hebrew alpha bet letters also have numerical value). It is the New Year for Trees (like Arbor Day today). The Torah mandates that a tree bear fruit for at least three years prior to consuming the fruit thereof. First fruits of that season enjoyed are typically dates, figs, and carob.
A summary of all this can be found in Mishnah Rosh Ha Shanah 1:1. Other citations can be found in places like Rishon Nisan Exodus 12:2 and Deuteronomy 16:1. Also Rishon Elul (Rosh Ha Shanah Numbers 29:1-2 and Leviticus 23: 24-25.
I mention these because in your prologue to this discussion you mentioned diversity of religious customs and traditions for the New Year. We have our own calendar, and our own New Years. IF all this is off point, feel free to delete this post.
I thought it may be of interest to show other ways on other dates to celebrate the New Year(s) dates.
In whatever New Year celebrated, Mrs. E. and I wish you a good one.
Peace and Abundant Blessings Always.
Enoch.
My mom always made boiled cabbage. The rest of the meal was whatever she felt like fixing, but there had to be boiled cabbage for luck.
I hate the smell of cabbage boiling, so I don't follow that tradition.
My dad used to eat sardines and pickled herring on New Years Eve.
Every year when I was a kid. My mother's father lived with us so my father and grandfather chowed down on sardines and crackers, and pickled herring (that stuff is nasty) every New Years Eve. It was some weird ass tradition.
I tend towards shrimp cocktail and pizza.
Herring party bites?
Party hardy.
I have to agree that the plain kind in that jar is nasty. Did you ever try pickled herring and onions that are in a sour cream/vinegar sauce? Those are good, IMO.
To each his own.
(My father and grandfather ate the plain stuff)
Of course, John. I didn't mean anything rude - just a suggestion to try if you already hadn't. Period.
Of course. Nor did I mean to reject your wonderful suggestion. Maybe next New Years Eve.
Mongolian Hot Pot with all the fixins.
Sake for me and the Momma and Plum wine for my wife.
When I was a kid growing up it was always pork and sauerkraut. Mom made the best and since I did not inherit her cooking gene, I don't do it. I love pork and sauerkraut, but Mom got it to where the kraut got all brown and the roast was all "torn" up and mixed with the kraut so you didn't have to slice it.
Here the tradition is cabbage and black eyed peas.
Swamp cabbage and beans and rice....I live in not even close to touristy, Florida.