New Years Eve/Day Food Traditions?

OK.. With Christmas over (barely) and the New Year just around the corner, I was wondering if anyone had any New Years Eve/Day food traditions..
My father used to eat herring on New Years Day saying that if you did that, you'd have good luck though the year. Don't know if he was right but I used to enjoy eating it with him - with some crackers and a beer (when I was old enough to drink of course, before that it was with a Coke..:)
Lets hear what ya' got....
~~jerseygirl~~

On New Years Day we always eat black eyed peas for good luck in the coming year and boiled cabbage for money. And since it goes so well with cabbage and black eyed peas we have a ham and cornbread muffins to go with it :)

quote:

Originally posted by Farfromhome

On New Years Day we always eat black eyed peas for good luck in the coming year and boiled cabbage for money. And since it goes so well with cabbage and black eyed peas we have a ham and cornbread muffins to go with it :)

A tradition that i too have gladly adopted!!!

My New Year's holiday is never the same. When I was growing up and as a teenager, the family always went out for dinner or had a nice dinner at home. In my teens, after dinner I would hang out with some friends or ask a couple girlfriends to sleep over. A bunch of us would gather around the diningroom table and play games all night, til it was getting time to watch the ball drop. The adults would have champagne, we had sparkling grape juice while we watched Dick Clark.

After graduating, I was working two jobs (bartending, waitressing, cooking), and there were a string of New Year's Eves I had to work. I'm not a real big partier, but there were a couple occasions I got kinda loopy. Sometimes after the bar closed, the employees would sometimes have a private party til early morning. I remember one occasion when all of us were in the restaurant kitchen making omelets at 6 am...that was fun!

Two years ago, I rang in the New Year up in Kitchener, ON, Canada. Here I say i don't party that much.. lol.. I did that time. Yowza, it took me 3 days to recover from it. It was a bunch of friends getting together, playing games, watching some movies, eating, while drinking the entire time. I think that was another occasion when omelets were being made at 6am, New Year's Day.

Last year, I had dinner with my mom. Some friends came up around 10 pm, had a couple drinks and just gabbed. I bought some movies, but we never watched them.. too busy talking.

New years Day, I always have to watch The Rose Parade!!!.. that has been a constant every year, if I didn't have to work. Good Topic!

New Years Eve is my birthday. One of my favorite foods is fondue, so every year on my birthday my mom drags out the old fondue pot fron the 70's(I was born in '69) and we eat fondue with sirloin.(she puts some kind of oil in the pot, maybe peanut?) It's served with different butters to dip the meet in like garlic butter, onion and mustard butter. Then we top it off with a Mudpie from Baskin/Robbins. I'm a vegetarian now, But I slip on christmas and my birthday dinner. when I was living at home, my mon would fix black eyed peas on New Year's day for luck. The only way I would eat them is to pour A-1 all over it!

We always have our traditional Southern New Years Menu:
Roast Pork or Pork Chops
Applesauce
Blackeyed Peas
Collard Greens
Corn Bread
Sweet Tea
Chocolate Pie

A few years ago, to rebel against having to dress up, and to avoid drunk drivers, we started having an annual pajama party. Guests can spend the night if they drink too much or want to avoid the roads. We all wear PJ's and sweats. Entertainment is board games, which my generation of mostly childless friends don't usually have the opportunity to play. This year we will also borrow a karaoke machine.

Anyways, back to the question...for the party, I like to make little fussy appetizers. Now that my husband is in on it, we have more manly "Superbowl" type food as well. This year so far the menu is:

Hot Wings
Mini gourmet sausages (from Costco) with dips
Cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped Jalapenos
Mini filo shells filled with goat cheese and sauteed, minced ****akes
Cheese plate
Fruit kebabs with that cream cheese/Fluff dip
English cucumber rounds topped with crab rangoon mixture or shrimp pate (from the Stern's Post Office cookbook)
Mini cream biscuits with ham
Champagne, with mixers like peach nectar, creme de cassis and framboise for when we run out of the good stuff

Is it obvious who is making which dishes?

For New Year's Day it used to be Hoppin' John...now it is leftovers.

quote:

Originally posted by zussers

New Years Eve is my birthday. One of my favorite foods is fondue, so every year on my birthday my mom drags out the old fondue pot fron the 70's(I was born in '69) and we eat fondue with sirloin.

My kids like to fondue so we've sort of adopted it as our NYE tradition - probably because they wanted to do it some other time and we told them we'd save it for a special occasion (guess who gets to do the setup and cleanup).

For a few years in the '70s my parents would take us to The Skyroom in the Greater Rockford Airport (IL) terminal for dinner. I'll bet it's been 20 years since the terminal and restaurant we're torn down and replaced.

Brad

Here in the Columbus area people traditionally eat some sort of pork and sauerkraut dish.

Happy birthday Zussers! Mine's a couple days after yours on the 3rd, the UGH day when everyone goes back to school, work, and are still hung over, broke and generally in a bad state of mind

I too am a New Years Eve fondue fan, using sirloin, kafta meatballs(middle east spiced), and large prawns in tempura batter......also in an avocado green, sterno fueled fondue pot. Peanut oil is a must as well as an array of sauces including a soy-ginger, peanut, Cumberland, Remoulade, Honey and stone grained mustard, cocktail, and lemon beurre. Steamed crablegs and steamed clams accompany as well as some cheese balls, candied bacon and other noshes. Since is just Adam and I, I do this in small quantities.
For New Years Day we do a Herbed Dijon Glazed Pork Loin with potatoes, sauerkraut and Hopping John as sides.

Happy birthday to you Redtressed! Wow! Your fondue sauces are great! What is in that Cumberland Remoulade? Maybe I will surprise my mother and actually bring something this year! I never thought of having asian sauces, but I think I will bring something like that too! I'll mix up some soy sauce with chinese mustard and red pepper sauce and give it a try! Thanks for the ideas! My mom's fondue pot is a funky yellow color by the way!

Cumberland Sauce


2 1/2 cups port wine, divided
1 (10 1/2-ounce) jar red currant jelly(can substitute grape if currant can't be found , and add a tablespoon of lemon juice for tartness)
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Bring 2 cups wine and next 8 ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring constantly; reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, 20 minutes.
Stir together remaining 1/2 cup wine and cornstarch until smooth. Stir into hot mixture; bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Remove from heat, and cool. This can be stored covered, in the fridge for two months.




Remoulade Sauce




REMOULADE SAUCE




2 hard cooked egg yolks, sieved
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp. prepared mustard
1 1/2 c. mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
1 tbsp. Worcestershire
1 tbsp. paprika
1 1/2 tbsp. horseradish
Dash of Tabasco
2 tbsp. vinegar
1/4 c. finely chopped parsley
Salt & pepper to taste
Blend ingredients and chill. Makes about 2 cups.


Peanut Satay Sauce


4 tbsp. brown sugar OR honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 c. coconut milk or cream
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp. curry powder
Dash chili hot sauce


Mix all ingredients in small pan and keep warm until serving

I read the topic wrong. I thought it was asking for New Year's Eve traditions...not food traditions. I guess I don't have any, since it's never the same thing. Every year is different.

As long as I can remember, I have had black eyed peas and hog jawl. It was to bring good luck for the next year. (In aka with my Grandmother) There must be something to it as I am 75 and still going strong. Happy New Year to all!!!

My family does the same thing every year - and I love it. We get live lobsters - watch them fight in the sink all day.

Then we start with some appetizers - caviar (osetra) and champagne.

Then my mom and dad cook up a feast of steamed or broiled lobsters, linguini and clam sauce, cream spinach and my mom's caesar salad. This year we were tossing around the idea of having stone crabs shipped from Joe's in Miami. I don't know what was finally decided on. But my mouth is watering just thinking about Friday night. YUMMY!!

redtressed and zussers- happy january birthday--mine is the 12th.....

like hearing about all these traditions-- and meals and such.. i've never had black eyed peas but it seems as though that's a common thing here...

enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :)

quote:

Originally posted by BaconBits

My family does the same thing every year - and I love it. We get live lobsters - watch them fight in the sink all day.

What, no lobster races????

julie-- I was wondering if anyone had any New Years Eve/Day food traditions..-- don't worry-- i was asking for both actually-- food or otherwise............. no biggie.. (as long as there's no mayo involved.. hahaha --inside joke!)

lobster races?? then what-- what does the winner get-- a boiling bath? or does that go to the loser??? haha would love to see that happen......

New Years Day I always have pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, The sauerkraut is always home made, Yumm!

Happy Birthday Red and Zussers. Mine's the 5th.

Happy Birthday to Michael and JerseyGirl too! A big thanks to Red for her recipes! I'm going to use them and make my mom proud!

Thanks Mr Hoffman and jerseygirl. Zussers, you are most certainly welcome!

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

Here in the Columbus area people traditionally eat some sort of pork and sauerkraut dish.

Pittsburgh PA, too. Although it's as likely to be kielbasa and sauerkraut as pork loin and sauerkraut.

Happy birthday to all the birthday boys and girls!

We will be having roast pork and/or kielbasa, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and applesauce. It's supposed to bring good luck in the coming year. A year when we would be in the Carribean on Jan. 1st necessitated an emergency stop at the grocery on the way to the airport. On New Year's day, we each had a forkful of cold sauerkraut and a bite of Vienna sausage from the two cans I stuck in my handbag on the way. I didn't want to tempt fate.

As long as I can remember, everyone in our family makes what they call "red sauerkraut" for New Years's, with tomato juice, chopped onion, grated apples, garlic, brown sugar, wine and other ingredients mixed in before baking with the meat. Last year, I ended up mixing up about 20 quarts of it for my friends and relatives.

We have Pork roast, Kielbasi with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, blackeyed peas, collard greens and cornbread.

Charlie

Happy Birthday, everyone! I'm sandwiched in there on the 9th!

Around Pittsburgh (at least the west suburbs where I grew up), the New Years pretzel was everywhere! It was a big, sweet dough pretzel with icing that was for breakfast on NYD or maybe cut at midnight.

Since Dean and I can barely make it until midnight, we usually cook a nice dinner, then watch movies in front of the fire for as long as we can make it (11 PM ). This year, dinner was spareribs roasted with vinegar and honey, roasted veggies and a bitter greens salad with dried cranberries, maytag blue cheese and a maple vinagrette, with champagne with tropical fruit puree to wash it all down.

Lauren