TromboneChat

Do you have a favorite Christmas/Hanukkah food that shows up this time of year? I have to admit, and I throw myself at the mercy of the court, that I love fruit cake.

The Whole Foods veggie en croute, and their mushroom gravy.

If my kenyan wife make something she call "sambosa" Im happy. I'm tired of the traditional food. The bad thing is she love to make that norwegian food. Another food I love is hazelnuts and tangerines. It's more like snacks. The strange thing is I don't like cakes and sweets. Never liked it.

Leif

Savio wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2024 3:07 pm If my kenyan wife make something she call "sambosa" Im happy. I'm tired of the traditional food. The bad thing is she love to make that norwegian food. Another food I love is hazelnuts and tangerines. It's more like snacks. The strange thing is I don't like cakes and sweets. Never liked it.

Leif

Sambosa I’d definitely delicious, very savory I would say!

My memories of our Swedish Lutheran Christmas dinners...

-Potato sausage, originated as a "sausage helper" for poor Scandinavians but now an expensive specialty food.
-Lingonberries, of similar purpose as cranberries but better-tasting.Yet another expensive specialty food.
-Spritz cookies. Really just extruded sugar cookies but I've never had any as good for taste and texture as the ones my sister made. We're no longer speaking so... no cookies for me!

We had normal human food too, like a turkey or a ham, mashed potatoes, etc., but the weird stuff that none of my friends had ever heard of are things I will miss.

My wife has made fruit cakes every year for decades - based on her grandmother's recipe - for ourselves and our friends. She has discovered they're much better with (organic?) dried fruit (such as lemon and orange peel) from King Arthur Baking. (Far better than the candied fruit from the grocery store!) Of course there's also fresh orange - and lots of rum! Those that like them (the wise ones!) get annual deliveries and beg for more. Those that don't - are dropped from the list. This year they turned the best yet. Irresistible!

robcat2075 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2024 6:29 pm My memories of our Swedish Lutheran Christmas dinners...

-Potato sausage, originated as a "sausage helper" for poor Scandinavians but now an expensive specialty food.

In Sweden they are very good with potatoes. In many forms, I think Tom here can tell more about that.

My heritages is from Sweden and Potato sausage is one of my favourite. Potato is misleading because it's also made of pork meat and onion. Yes it's christmas tradition.

In Norway there is also some old "poor" christmas food. One is called "lutefisk" I tasted it once at my grandparents and hated both the smell and taste. In restaurants it's today expensive food.

Lutefisk (Norwegian, pronounced [ˈlʉ̂ːtfɛsk] in Northern and parts of Central Norway, [ˈlʉ̂ːtəˌfɪsk] in Southern Norway; Swedish: lutfisk [ˈlʉ̂ːtfɪsk]; Finnish: lipeäkala [ˈlipeæˌkɑlɑ]; literally "lye fish") is dried whitefish, usually cod, but sometimes ling or burbot, cured in lye. It is made from aged stockfish (air-dried whitefish), or dried and salted cod. The fish takes a gelatinous texture after being rehydrated for days prior to eating.[1]

Lutefisk is prepared as a seafood dish of several Nordic countries. It is traditionally part of the Christmas feasts Norwegian julebord, Swedish julbord, and Finnish joulupöytä.[2]

And there is something named "rakfisk"

Rakfisk (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈrɑ̂ːkfɪsk]) is a Norwegian fish dish made from trout or char, salted and autolyzed for two to three months, or even up to a year. Rakfisk is then eaten without cooking and has a strong smell and a pungent salty flavor.[1] Wiki

I tasted it one time and never more!
It's lot of money in restaurants, but in my opinion it taste shit. My daughter demands lasagne and taco in Christmas.

I hope my wife make some "samosa" for christmas or else I make a beef. But interesting to see how they did make food before the refrigerator came!

Leif

Savio wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2024 8:13 pm In Norway there is also some old "poor" christmas food. One is called "lutefisk" I tasted it once at my grandparents and hated both the smell and taste.

Among the many signs of decline of the Lutheran Church in the US is the disappearance of what had been traditional annual Lutefisk Dinners.

Not enough people left who know how to make it, not enough people left who want to eat it.

Minnesota church calls time on its lutefisk dinner after 70 years

Every year our dad would appear baffled that we didn't want go with him to the lutefisk dinner at our church, but he loved it.

My sister compared it to "fish Jell-O" but our dad seemed to gravitate to any activity that promised some misery like going skiing when it was 5°F out, or getting up early on Sunday morning to shovel snow to get to church.

I should probably try lutefisk before I die but maybe the opportunity window has closed now.

I have a nostalgic weakness for Christmas ales, from my time in Belgium when I was in the Army.

Delirium Noël is heavenly.

AndrewMeronek wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2024 9:21 pm I have a nostalgic weakness for Christmas ales, from my time in Belgium when I was in the Army.

Delirium Noël is heavenly.

I'm not familiar with Delirium Noël, but I also have looked forward to other Christmas ales from those breweries that make it and sell it where I can find it.

Posaunus wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2024 9:30 pm

AndrewMeronek wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2024 9:21 pm I have a nostalgic weakness for Christmas ales, from my time in Belgium when I was in the Army.

Delirium Noël is heavenly.

I'm not familiar with Delirium Noël, but I also have looked forward to other Christmas ales from those breweries that make it and sell it where I can find it.

Where you can buy Delirium Tremens you should be able to find Delirium Noël this time of year.

It's not Christmas without peppermint bark, candy canes, and chocolate Santas. And it's DEFINITELY not Christmas without wassail and champagne with a dash of cranberry juice.

Growing up my family always had a big ham feast on Christmas Day, so I always associate a big ham with Christmas. But those snacks and drinks are really what makes it feel like Christmas to me.

For decades, my wife has made a special pastry for Easter and Christmas mornings. Now the entire family is addicted, and the grandchildren insist that it is prepared for every holiday when they are present. Of course Grandma complies!

She's not here, but I have the recipe on my computer, so (without permission), I'll share.

We’re a Christian-Jewish vegetarian household but the food tends toward Jewish-American traditions for the holidays. So for Christmas it is homemade Mu Shu vegetable and vegetarian Hot and Sour Soup. For Hannukah we will be making latkes and buying Jelly Donuts from a local bakery.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.

When I was a small child hearing that song I pestered my Dad to get a goose instead of our traditional turkey.
His reply: "When I was grown up and married I made that mistake. When you grow up and get married you can make the same mistake."

About 50 years later I found a goose at a good price in an Army commissary and, yup, made the same mistake.
Maybe an expert chef could have done better, I dunno.

For us, it's not Christmas Eve without Posole Rojo (a red chile hominy stew), which I'm making today (with beef rather than pork) because the grandkids are with their mother this year, and we get them tomorrow, so today is the effective Christmas Eve for us.