Holiday food traditions

[rthstewart]

Americans celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday -- a holiday commemorated by a few people of the home (often but not always women) laboring long into the night before and that day struggling to bring to the table a collection of dishes all made at the last minute supposedly harkening back to the first feast in 1621 between the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag tribe. 

In yesterday's post, and in preparation for writing Chapter 13 of AW, Christmas in 1942, adaese and wellinghall have been providing me with fabulous information (and thanks again!).  I mentioned that the Christmas traditions an American family follows may depend in part on their ethnic background -- I know Italian families who always have fish on Christmas Eve and German families who always eat spaetzle and open presents on Christmas Eve.  Food traditions also vary widely throughout the U.S. by region but I don't know anyone who puts a traditional English pudding on the Christmas table.  min023 wanted to know what food traditions Americans have at their holiday if not pudding.   harmony_lover joined in with an observation about Christmas cookies.

And I thought, well, gosh this sounds like fun.  F-list you all come from all over.  What food traditions do you have at Thanksgiving, Christmas or other holidays like New Year's?

Growing up our family holiday gathering food was very hodgepodge and memorable in its eccentricity.  The sweet potato casserole is the stuff of legend -- canned yams/sweet potatoes, marshmallows, orange, brown sugar, and rum, which my mother ignited 3 successive times in the oven before realizing that one could not substitute an equivalent amount of rum  extract for 50 mL -- 1/4 cup rum. 

There was a holiday buffet of turkey or ham, orange cold molded jell-o salad with whipped cream, fruit, and coconut, mashed potatoes, onions in cream sauce, broccoli, and the Pièce de résistance, enchiladas, which have an interesting history.  That part of the family comes from the American Midwest and any meal was not complete without hot dish -- which I learned of when I moved to the great heartland.  When the family moved to the West Coast where we all lived, they brought hot dish with them which became enchiladas -- a more appropriate "hot dish" for California. 

When I moved to the Midwest I learned that you cannot attend any event in the state of Minnesota at which food is served and not encounter wild rice hot dish and its counterpart green bean casserole with canned cream of mushroom soup and Durkee fried onion ring topping.   "Creama" is serious business in Minnesota -- Campbell's cream of mushroom, cream of broccoli, and cream of chicken soup are essential ingredients and on every shopping list.

Desserts are, as harmony_lover indicated, frequently Christmas cookies which are one of the few places where you will see the dried fruit of a pudding.  I've also seen and eaten chocolate cake, cherry pie, Bûche de Noël, English trifle, pannetone, and gingerbread, again reflecting both  American efforts to tie to a cultural background (real or imagined), and what's available at the bakery or Trader Joe's.  Minnesota cookies were "pan of bars" -- that is, cookies baked in a pan and cut.

In truth, I don't make any of this of food, but it is what I grew up with.  Anyone else want to share?  And should you know anything of Christmas in 1942, I'll take that too! 

Comments

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

The image I'm getting is that the English and those who share their cultural heritage all get drunk on dessert. I think we need a recipe exchange. Even here in the States I do a lot of cooking and have collected cooking magazines for decades (it's food porn) and I've never heard of some of these things.

[min023.livejournal.com]

I'm so up for that. I'm going to go away and internationalize my recipes (because the Australian standard cup and tablespoon measures contain a different volume to those used in the US and UK).

Recipe for Christmas cake, English-style.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Stir-up Sunday - How to make your Christmas cake. Sample the wine to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the wine again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the wine is still OK. Try another cup... Just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit up off floor. Mix on the turner... If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the wine to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Check the wine. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or some fink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window. Finish the wine and wipe counter with the cat.

Re: Recipe for Christmas cake, English-style.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I like the part about prying the dried fruit loose without clarifying that should be done when beaters are not beating. Hilarious. I recall a recipe for 7 hour leg of lamb that involved 3 bottles of wine -- two for the lamb roast and one for the cook.

Several years ago I learned to never do a composed salad at a dinner party that involved caramelizing sugar. Melting sugar and wine (being drunk by the cook) are, to quote Buffy, non-mixy things. Also, I once served a guest the herb bouquet. And I'm sure the cassoulet was delicious that one time, but I never remembered eating it. This was also true of dinner parties in Eastern Europe and meals at Greek restaurants in Chicago.

Seriously, we will do a recipe exchange. This is way too much fun. Look for a post when the Russian equivalent of monkeys (lemmings? pikas? weasels?) are not in the LJ machinery.