Tasting the Holidays

[jeezifonly]

Are there foods you eat only when celebrating a holiday? Not just on the day but over the season surrounding? 

Why? 
Seasonal ingredients? Religious significance? Tradition or childhood memories? (I imagine that’s the most common…)

Would these foods be less yummy in a non-seasonal context? Maybe they’re hard to make, or the quantity too large?  Is there only one recipe (Nana’s?) for the dish or treat that you like?

For me Christmas Dinner has long meant Prime Rib. If hosting a large group we’ll sometimes make it, but for enjoying beef occasionally I’m a NY strip guy. One year, hosting with a niece who is pescatarian we instead did a gorgeous seafood array - crab legs, prawns, scallops, halibut for the dinner. My family wasn’t that into it, friends at the table loved it.
Obviously several sweets - cookies and bars which I make gluten free, usually adapting from old Betty Crocker classics!
My Russian Tea Cakes are definitive, but not at all something from my childhood, and yet the one thing I make every year. A lot are given as gifts. 
Christmas is always about indulgence, isn’t it?

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I only drink Egg Nog between Thanksgiving and New Year's.

[MikeBiDude]

My family has been making Tom & Jerrys on Christmas Day for 3 generations over the last 70-80 years or so. Sometimes ar a Christmas Day “Open House” for friends and family, of late just made for family get together.

[Rudynate]

Waldorf salad. 

I don't remember whether we had it at Christmas, Thanksgiving or both.  My father always made it.   Never any other time.

A few years ago, out of nostalgia, I started making it at Thanksgiving. 

I use a recipe from Emeril for blue cheese Waldorf salad that includes grapes.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Rudynate
spelling

[Rudynate]

A couple other things: 

White fudge with pecans.  Only around Christmas.  My mother was never much for baking and fixing  Christmas treats, but we had this at Christmas most every year. 

Popcorn balls.  This was a recipe from my grandmother.  We had them on Christmas every year - no exceptions.  The relatives would come for potluck on Christmas night and we would make popcorn balls. Every year, we had to go out on the same hunt for a store that was open where we could buy the molasses and the brown sugar for the taffy.  You would think that my mother would anticipate that we were going to make popcorn balls and have the stuff on hand, but her mind didn't operate that way.

[+ poolboy48220]

20 hours ago, Rudynate said:

Every year, we had to go out on the same hunt for a store that was open where we could buy the molasses and the brown sugar for the taffy.  You would think that my mother would anticipate that we were going to make popcorn balls and have the stuff on hand, but her mind didn't operate that way.

I remember years ago going grocery shopping on either the day before Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve, for some stuff I needed.  Never again.  What a zoo, so many people doing the same thing. The checkout lines were ALL open and so long.  Since then I do an inventory the week before to make sure I have everything I need on hand.

[+ FrankR]

On 11/29/2022 at 11:40 PM, Vegas_nw1982 said:

I only drink Egg Nog between Thanksgiving and New Year's.

Have to add to your comment. I know eggnog tends to be a darling this timr of year, but I am not particularly fond of drinking it. I do make eggnog pancakes that are popular with my group of friends. Those I do enjoy. Try it! 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

7 hours ago, FrankR said:

Have to add to your comment. I know eggnog tends to be a darling this timr of year, but I am not particularly fond of drinking it. I do make eggnog pancakes that are popular with my group of friends. Those I do enjoy. Try it! 

My mother discovered that making French Toast was super easy and tasty by buying French Bread, dipping in Egg Nog, then grilling both sides.  So I am familiar with the taste.

What are Egg Nog Pancakes?  Just Egg Nog poured on the grill, or does it need to be mixed with something?

[pubic_assistance]

On 11/29/2022 at 11:40 PM, Vegas_nw1982 said:

I only drink Egg Nog between Thanksgiving and New Year's.

Yup. Same here. But maybe that's decided for me since you only see egg nog in the stores between Thanksgiving and New Years.

I also don't cranberry relish except for a Thanksgiving Turkey. Hard to find cranberries sold any other time of the year

Fruit cake is also a holiday only favorite. But again...I'd probably eat it all year if they sold them all year.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

1 hour ago, pubic_assistance said:

Yup. Same here. But maybe that's decided for me since you only see egg nog in the stores between Thanksgiving and New Years.

My parents used to buy canned Egg Nog in bulk at Costco to last throughout the year, for making French Toast (see below).  But we never drank it outside of the Advent season.

2 hours ago, Vegas_nw1982 said:

My mother discovered that making French Toast was super easy and tasty by buying French Bread, dipping in Egg Nog, then grilling both sides.  So I am familiar with the taste.

 

[+ JEC]

I have three recipes I make during the holidays, all 3 are from the New York Times

1. Ultranutty Pecan Bars

2. Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread

3.  Orange Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread

Another is Fresh Cranberry Orange Sauce - from the Ocean Spray website so fresh and tangy

 

[BSR]

I mentioned ube halaya in another thread.  It's a yam pudding that we made only once a year because back then ube jam was expensive & hard to get.  Even now that frozen ube is cheap & readily available, you have to stir nonstop over a hot pot for 45+ minutes, so still a special occasion dessert.

For the main course our special Christmas dinner was usually rellenong manok (stuffed chicken), a Christmas tradition in many hispanic countries.  No, not bread stuffing like Martha Stewart.  You debone a large chicken (except legs & wings), remove most of the breast meat, stuff the cavity with seasoned ground beef and diced dried fruit (prunes, apricots, raisins), sew it back up, and roast it.  Yes, it's quite a chore (how many here have mastered deboning a chicken?), which is why it's a Christmas or very special occasion dish.

The Filipino version uses ground pork instead of beef (beef is super-expensive in the Philippines) and includes hard boiled eggs, Vienna sausage, and shredded carrots -- not the Spanish recipe, but I think every country has its own variation.

Edited December 12, 2022 by BSR
Wording

[Rudynate]

Sounds wonderful - I'd love a taste.  Since I can bone a chicken, maybe I should make it at Christmas.

[Leerek]

I can see that there are a lot of good food, i wonder if i can cook something like this

[+ poolboy48220]

A friend requested I bring a berry pie to his Christmas Eve party, the same one I brought to a summer gathering, his partner really liked it. For the life of me I cannot remember making that pie, not to mention not finding it in my recipes file. I'm not big on making pies on general. 

Edited December 21, 2022 by poolboy48220

[robberbaron4u]

Baked possum...a Southern delicacy.

[Rudynate]

I've been working on perfecting my pumpkin pie.  I love pumpkin pie, but  Ive never liked the thin, soggy bottom crust that pumpkin pies tend to have, so I've been pre-baking the crust.  That works well, but the edges tend to get overbaked.

I got some pie shields to keep the edge from getting overbaked.   The last one I made was nearly perfect  - the crust was crunchy all the way through.   It was almost out of this world, but not quite.

My next  improvement, which I haven't tried yet,  is to seal the bottom by brushing it with egg white before I pre-bake it to keep it from absorbing any moisture from the custard. 

It will be good for custard pies also. 

I like to do that, take one thing and make it over and over until it's perfect.

[+ JEC]

Cook's illustrated magazine published a cookbook called "The Best Recipe", their pumpkin pie filling is the best I have tasted....

The recipe is here:   https://thedeliciouslife.com/pumpkin-pie-and-i-were-just-friends/#pumpkin-pie-recipe  

 

 

[samhexum]

On 12/21/2022 at 8:06 AM, poolboy48220 said:

A friend requested I bring a berry pie to his Christmas Eve party, the same one I brought to a summer gathering, his partner really liked it. For the life of me I cannot remember making that pie, not to mention not finding it in my recipes file. I'm not big on making pies on general. 

That's because you bought it, then passed it off as your own.  Or because your friend was too drunk to remember who actually brought it.

On 12/22/2022 at 7:17 AM, robberbaron4u said:

Baked possum...a Southern delicacy.

Blanche:
[after telling the story of how her nanny left her] We Southerners don't forget things like that.

Dorothy:
It's true. Possum is brain food.

No wonder you're so smart!  (What's Christmas without a Golden Girls quote?)

6 hours ago, JEC said:

Cook's illustrated magazine published a cookbook called "The Best Recipe", their pumpkin pie filling is the best I have tasted....

The recipe is here:   https://thedeliciouslife.com/pumpkin-pie-and-i-were-just-friends/#pumpkin-pie-recipe  

Why bother?  If it's good enough for Martha, it should be good enough for you.