Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Mess Hall => Topic started by: K Frame on December 21, 2017, 07:50:35 AM
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Anyone have any special foods/meals that they've always had on Christmas eve?
In my family we've always had shrimp of some form or another for Christmas eve. Maybe not always, but we've done it for a long time.
Some years it was just boil and peel shrimp cocktail (the years I made it with Alton Brown's cocktail sauce was a bit hit), one year was a shrimp dip with crackers and cheese (that was sort of disappointing, actually), and for many of the past years I've made shrimp scampi with either rice or pasta. Shrimp scampi was always one of my Mom's favorites. Even last year, when her memory was really failing, she enjoyed it and remembered it was one of our family traditions.
Now that Mom is gone, I'm not much in the Christmas spirit and I'm going to be solo Christmas eve, but I'm going to make shrimp scampi with angle hair for dinner. Some traditions are simply too tasty to abandon.
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When my wife's maternal grandparents were still alive, the tradition was to go to their house on Christmas Even and have hors d'oevres before going to a late night church service. Funny you mention shrimp because peel & eat shrimp with cocktail sauce was one of the items served.
Otherwise, we (my family or my wife's) had no specific Christmas Eve food tradition. When I reached my teens, my folks preferred to do a Christmas Day brunch, augmented with various holiday snacks rather than a dedicated Breakfast and Lunch. We'd get up, open presents, then have a brunch/late-breakfast consisting of some version of a breakfast casserole, then graze on the snacks until dinnertime.
Chris
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I always wanted to introduce oysters into the holiday mix, but every time I tried to talk about it my Mom threatened to disown me. :)
Oysters were not her thing at all.
Come to think of it... maybe I'll spurge this year and make oyster stew. That's been a traditional Christmas Eve food in many cultures in the US for a long time.
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Oysters were never a thing in my family despite us being mostly clustered near coastal NC. I didn't care much for them until I reached middle age, and even then I have to be "in the mood" for them. I've never heard of them as a Christmas food though.
That said, at least on my dad's side, my grandfather was very sensitive about eating foods associated with poverty (potatoes for breakfast being a good example..."we weren't so poor growing up we had to resort to eating 'taters for breakfast!"). I wonder if oysters were another "poor person's food" to him. Probably not as he routinely ate stuff I'd place lower on the socioeconomic ladder than oysters (chicken gizzards for example).
Chris
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I usually seem to end up working it and then working NYE as well.
Last year I actually had to work the night of Christmas day since the official company holiday was on Monday.
Oddly enough I didn't manage to get much work done.
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Well, your grandpa would be relieved to know that oysters are no longer poverty food...
They're expensive!
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Then again, there's always scalloped oysters and potatoes...
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Current price does not matter. If it was "po folks food" when he was growing up, it still is today.
Chris
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Before I moved to my current town, we used to have a dinner party with friends on Christmas Eve. Sometimes it was a full blown turkey dinner, sometimes it was pizza, sometimes it was a potluck. We called it orphan family Christmas and anyone who was not traveling for Christmas was invited. Usually much liquor was consumed with the party.
About half the guest were natives of the town, so their parents would drop by and say hi too during the evening. Apparently the folks born in the 40s and 50s it was a big deal to visit other friends on Christmas Eve in a big rolling party, so lots of parents and their friends dropped by.
It was a lot of fun, very laid back and way more fun that any family gathering.
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My wife and I are leaving on a cruise to Mexico tomorrow and will return on December 30th. It will be interesting to see what the cruise line does for Christmas. Back when the kids were young, we always did breakfast foods for dinner on Christmas Eve, and the kids thought that was a hoot.
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Nice! Let someone else do the cooking!
If it's anything like I've heard about, you're going to have a HUGE array of "traditional" Christmas foods -- American regional, Italian, British, German... Friends of mine went on a Christmas cruise a couple of years ago and they said the food was absolutely outrageous.
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I always wanted to introduce oysters into the holiday mix, but every time I tried to talk about it my Mom threatened to disown me. :)
Oysters were not her thing at all.
Come to think of it... maybe I'll spurge this year and make oyster stew. That's been a traditional Christmas Eve food in many cultures in the US for a long time.
Oyster soup on Christmas Eve was a tradition in my Mom's family. I never cared for it, but I sure love fresh oysters on the half shell.
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Nice! Let someone else do the cooking!
If it's anything like I've heard about, you're going to have a HUGE array of "traditional" Christmas foods -- American regional, Italian, British, German... Friends of mine went on a Christmas cruise a couple of years ago and they said the food was absolutely outrageous.
This is our first cruise together and we are going on the Ruby Princess. At the recommendation of friends, we purchased the cruise through Costco Travel, so we will see how it goes.
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I'm not sure who they cruised with, but they really enjoyed it.
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The paternal family did more on Christmas Eve than on Christmas.
Big family dinner, opening presents and then midnight service.
Swedish meatballs and korv were always served.
Christmas day was more of an open house type thing.
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I traditionally smoke a turkey or two but those days are done. I gave away my smokers, my BBQ pit, My crawfish boil rig, ALL of it. :'(
:old:
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Nice! Let someone else do the cooking!
If it's anything like I've heard about, you're going to have a HUGE array of "traditional" Christmas foods -- American regional, Italian, British, German... Friends of mine went on a Christmas cruise a couple of years ago and they said the food was absolutely outrageous.
So what are the odds on him getting one of those wonderful cruise line norovirus bonuses?
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/12/gigantic-cruise-ship-hit-with-foodborne-illness-outbreak/#.WjxhlkxFxEY (http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/12/gigantic-cruise-ship-hit-with-foodborne-illness-outbreak/#.WjxhlkxFxEY)
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Growing up, Christmas Eve was a gathering at my maternal grandparents home, with as many family members as could get together. No formal meal, but tons of foods... shrimp, crab claws, quiche, summer sausage, cheeses, deviled eggs, homemade cookies, a ham, just set out for people to eat as they wanted. Gifts were given, then pies and cakes. Very good memories. I'm the oldest surviving male from those gatherings, one aunt still kicking. I learned to make cocktail sauce at these gatherings. Now that I think about it, a lot of my early cooking lessons were at this event.
Thanks Mike. It was a rough couple of days at work, but you managed to put a smile on my face. One year, I got Kiss Double Platinum as a gift from the cool aunt. Convinced my grandfather to play it for me that evening. First song was Beth. Don't remember what followed it, but it didn't get played for more than 30 seconds before he shut it down. Next year, he gave me my first album of big band music, sings he loved from WWII. Good stuff. Great man. I still need to get a 1911 in tribute to him...
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The paternal family did more on Christmas Eve than on Christmas.
Big family dinner, opening presents and then midnight service.
That's how my mom's side does Christmas. That way everybody's free to go see other family on Christmas Day. Other holidays, we do lunch to keep them free (though usually still full) at dinner.
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"Oysters were never a thing in my family despite us being mostly clustered near coastal NC. I didn't care much for them until I reached middle age, and even then I have to be "in the mood" for them. I've never heard of them as a Christmas food though."
I read a rather interesting article on how oysters may have become a Christmas food. There are two thoughts...
The first is that, prior to refrigeration, December was the first month where oysters could really be shipped safely throughout much of the country. So while oysters were generally plentiful and very cheap in the US, over the summer months they weren't available (at least fresh).
The second theory was that they became tied in with the Irish and Italian Catholic religious dietary restrictions, one of which is to avoid meat on Christmas eve (the origins of the traditional Italian feast of the 7 fishes). Again, oysters were plentiful and were very cheap, so they were adopted into the traditional celebrations.
Being Methodist/Lutheran, the religious aspect didn't really enter into consideration for my family with the shrimp. It was just just a good treat.
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"Kiss Double Platinum album"
Here you go, Chris! Treat yourself!
https://www.ebay.com/i/361480303208?chn=ps
Only $600!
(Or, in beloved sister-in-law conversion rate terms, only two nipple tattoos!)
And I just looked up the song order.
Beth was the first track on side 4.
The song right after that?
Makin' Love.
No wonder your Grandfather 86'd it! :rofl:
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So what are the odds on him getting one of those wonderful cruise line norovirus bonuses?
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/12/gigantic-cruise-ship-hit-with-foodborne-illness-outbreak/#.WjxhlkxFxEY (http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/12/gigantic-cruise-ship-hit-with-foodborne-illness-outbreak/#.WjxhlkxFxEY)
That's a bonus! Quickly cleans you out so that you can eat more!
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"Oysters were never a thing in my family despite us being mostly clustered near coastal NC. I didn't care much for them until I reached middle age, and even then I have to be "in the mood" for them. I've never heard of them as a Christmas food though."
I read a rather interesting article on how oysters may have become a Christmas food. There are two thoughts...
The first is that, prior to refrigeration, December was the first month where oysters could really be shipped safely throughout much of the country. So while oysters were generally plentiful and very cheap in the US, over the summer months they weren't available (at least fresh).
The second theory was that they became tied in with the Irish and Italian Catholic religious dietary restrictions, one of which is to avoid meat on Christmas eve (the origins of the traditional Italian feast of the 7 fishes). Again, oysters were plentiful and were very cheap, so they were adopted into the traditional celebrations.
Being Methodist/Lutheran, the religious aspect didn't really enter into consideration for my family with the shrimp. It was just just a good treat.
Sounds plausible. However, being both Methodist and geographically close to fresh oysters, they wouldn't have any seasonal significance for us. They were there if you wanted them more or less year round.
Somewhat offtopic, regarding Kiss, I had Destroyer (Beth was on this album as well) and Dynasty on vinyl as a pre-teen.
Chris
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"However, being both Methodist and geographically close to fresh oysters, they wouldn't have any seasonal significance for us. They were there if you wanted them more or less year round."
And, I suspect that there probably weren't a lot of either Irish or Italian Catholics where you grew up. Same with me. It was all Germans, so that oyster stew tradition didn't worm its way into our cultures.
The seasonal aspect of it should have some significance, though, because the old saw of "you only eat oysters in months with R in it" is a good one no matter what.
In warmer months oysters aren't nearly as good as they are in the winter months. The water is warmer, more bacteria laden (which was a BIG consideration in the days when oyster estuaries were also the public sewers for many large cities). And, it's breeding season, which also affects the quality of the oyster.
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And, I suspect that there probably weren't a lot of either Irish or Italian Catholics where you grew up. Same with me. It was all Germans, so that oyster stew tradition didn't worm its way into our cultures.
Nope. That area was (at the time) heavily Protestant Scots-Irish, English, and black folk with a salting of Native American. I didn't meet my first Catholic until we moved to VA.
The seasonal aspect of it should have some significance, though, because the old saw of "you only eat oysters in months with R in it" is a good one no matter what.
In warmer months oysters aren't nearly as good as they are in the winter months. The water is warmer, more bacteria laden (which was a BIG consideration in the days when oyster estuaries were also the public sewers for many large cities). And, it's breeding season, which also affects the quality of the oyster.
Entirely possible on all points. Oysters weren't a thing for us (as in cooking them at home). When it came to seafood, it was always shrimp and various inshore fish like spot, flounder, and croaker.
Chris
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Are the Carolinas know for oysters in general?
I always thought it was more shrimp and other shellfish, but that the water was generally a bit too warm for good oysters.
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Are the Carolinas know for oysters in general?
I always thought it was more shrimp and other shellfish, but that the water was generally a bit too warm for good oysters.
Not "known for", but that never stopped folks from eating them as long as they were edible.
And that may be why we didn't have them often, instead eating a metric buttload of shrimp. :D
Chris
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Well, judging by your metric buttload, you've eaten a LOT of shrimp over the years...
:rofl: :rofl:
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I just had something of a personal revelation...
I'm not making Shrimp Scampi with angelhair on Christmas eve...
I'm making shrimp in brown butter white wine sauce with the gnocchi recipe that Millcreek posted in this thread: http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=55169.0
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We've always done German Christmas, which means opening packages on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve/day food is sauerkraut, ham, homemade bread (ham and sauerkraut are put on the bread open faced style), and tater salad. It's meant to be early evening food to eat before everyone heads to the living room to start imbibing, watching the fire, listening to old timey kraut Christmas music, and opening gifts later in the evening.
The ham and sauerkraut starts slow cooking early, so it actually gets nabbed in bits throughout the afternoon. The family has been getting smaller, but the food is easy to adjust to any number of people, and is easy to turn into leftovers.
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Opening presents on Christmas Even is a German tradition? That's what we did in my family until I got married and my wife insisted we do it on Christmas Day.
Christmas Eve was family presents. Christmas Day was "Santa Clause" (when we were little kids).
Chris
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Opening presents on Christmas Even is a German tradition? That's what we did in my family until I got married and my wife insisted we do it on Christmas Day.
Christmas Eve was family presents. Christmas Day was "Santa Clause" (when we were little kids).
Chris
German and many European countries. Likely other parts of the world as well. Ukrainians and others in the Russian regions also do it. Hot Ukrainian ex coworker did so, plus did Krampus. Also St Nikolaus and getting gifts on the 6th. My parents had that too, but I don't think we ever did that here (maybe when I was too young to remember).
https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/holidays-and-celebrations/christmas/saint-nicholas/
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German and many European countries. Likely other parts of the world as well. Ukrainians and others in the Russian regions also do it. Hot Ukrainian ex coworker did so, plus did Krampus. Also St Nikolaus and getting gifts on the 6th. My parents had that too, but I don't think we ever did that here (maybe when I was too young to remember).
https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/holidays-and-celebrations/christmas/saint-nicholas/
Dec 6, St Nicholas Day was a bigger deal for getting presents emotionally than on Christmas. St Nick's gifts were usually small and was food of some sort, fruit, nuts, some candy but stuff my brothers and I really liked but didn't get much of the rest of the year. I used to love coming downstairs and there would be a bag of tangerines and couple cans of cashews for us. I think the whole leaving your shoes out for St. Nick to fill with treats was much of the fun.
Christmas was the typical presents of larger scale, but St. Nicks was more fun.
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Opening presents on Christmas Even is a German tradition? That's what we did in my family until I got married and my wife insisted we do it on Christmas Day.
Christmas Eve was family presents. Christmas Day was "Santa Clause" (when we were little kids).
Chris
Swedes too.
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That's how my mom's side does Christmas. That way everybody's free to go see other family on Christmas Day. Other holidays, we do lunch to keep them free (though usually still full) at dinner.
Naw, it's like Ben said. Some families have retained the old world ways for Christmas.
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I caught up with an episode of Good Eats I'd not seen in years; it was about Christmas food and drink.
One of the things they talked about was oysters, and they mentioned that in the south, oyster pie was HUGE during the holidays for a long time.
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I made my shrimp scampi for Christmas Eve. It was very good, but when I was cooking it, I grabbed the wrong wine bottle and poured in a healthy glug of red wine.
Nothing like a big plateful of pink shrimp scampi.
It was, however, quite tasty.
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Thought I would resurrect this...
I'm spending Christmas with my friends at their new home on the water in Virginia.
Making shrimp scampi tonight to go with the crab cakes they are making. Decided not to pull oysters from their floats for tonight, but we're taking them with us to his sister & brother in law's tomorrow.
Interesting, because last year's discussion talked a lot about oysters, crabs, and shrimp.
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Having friends over for supper tonight. Wife's birthday is tomorrow so she picked the menu. Glazed ham, funeral potatoes, jiffy corn bake and a Dutch apple pie (which is currently in the oven). I got to pick the cocktails, so Old Fashions and Brandy Sidecars.
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Nice menu! I've not had a sidecar in forever.
We're thinking that we're going to pop some more champagne tonight with dinner. At Thanksgiving I got throughly wrecked on champagne before we sat down to dinner.
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Nice menu! I've not had a sidecar in forever.
We're thinking that we're going to pop some more champagne tonight with dinner. At Thanksgiving I got throughly wrecked on champagne before we sat down to dinner.
Me too, me too. I forgot, glazed carrots also. Can't be all grains and potatoes.
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We've always done German Christmas, which means opening packages on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve/day food is sauerkraut, ham, homemade bread (ham and sauerkraut are put on the bread open faced style), and tater salad. It's meant to be early evening food to eat before everyone heads to the living room to start imbibing, watching the fire, listening to old timey kraut Christmas music, and opening gifts later in the evening.
What's considered old timey kraut Christmas music? My family is originally German, 100 years removed, and our Christmas eve is almost identical to yours.
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What's considered old timey kraut Christmas music? My family is originally German, 100 years removed, and our Christmas eve is almost identical to yours.
Just some old traditional songs mostly sung kinda choir-like on a couple of albums my parents brought over with them when they left krautland (I guess they thought they were going into the wild west, because they packed the kitchen sink - I'm surprised the ship didn't sink).
Anyway, albums from like the 40's that were all scratched to hell after decades of play. I digitized them and got at least a little of the noise filtered out just to keep the traditional music from when I was a kid. I searched the hell out of Amazon and everywhere for the stuff but no joy (songs are there but not sung the same), so better scratchy than nothing. :)
Here's a song list from one of them:
SIDE 1
O Tannenbaum
Stille Nacht Heilege Nacht
Kommet Ihr Hirten
Susser Die Glocken Klingen
Liese Rieselt Der Schnee
Wiegenlied
Vom Himmel Hoch
SIDE 2
O Du Froliche
Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen
Am Wiehnachtsbaum
Alle Jahre Wieder
Ihr Kinderlein Kommet
Transeamus
Kling Glockchen
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That's really cool. Agreed, better scratched up than gone entirely. Thanks for sharing.
Merry Christmas!
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The shrimp scampi and the crab cakes, plus a bottle of champagne, made for a fantastic Christmas eve dinner.
There was even scampi left over for breakfast!
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German and many European countries. Likely other parts of the world as well.
South America, also. As I learned the hard way.
My first Christmas with my late wife, we were in her native country and headed to her brother's house for a Christmas Eve dinner party. Not having been clued in (since it didn't occur to anyone there that we Americans might do it differently), I left her gifts in the apartment where we were staying, to be given on Christmas morning. I was extremely embarrassed when midnight rolled around and everyone [else] started passing out Christmas presents.
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Our tradition is the MIL makes lasagna and we decorate cookies. The lasagna is prego, cottage cheese, oven ready lasagna noodles, and mozzarella. This year she bought mozzarella flavored Velveeta by mistake.
We all manage to choke it down, then laugh about it later.