Holiday Menu - Generous Dinner & Beyond

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around holiday meal traditions, specifically focusing on Christmas and other festive occasions. Participants share their customs, dishes, and experiences related to holiday cooking and dining.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes a "generous dinner" on Christmas Eve, featuring trout, cabbage soup, and various traditional customs like cutting an apple for luck.
  • Another participant shares their experience of making Tamales and Carne asada, expressing a preference for these over turkey.
  • A different participant mentions a traditional Christmas meal of turkey, stuffing, and Christmas pudding, emphasizing family gatherings.
  • One participant highlights their husband's adventurous cooking style, mentioning dishes like elk and prime rib for Christmas.
  • Another participant expresses interest in making potato dumplings, discussing variations and ingredients, including the use of shrimp.
  • There is a discussion about the traditional recipe for potato dumplings, with differing opinions on ingredients like cheese and bacon.
  • A participant reflects on the ethics of hunting, suggesting it may be more ethical to consume animals that lived freely compared to those from supermarkets.
  • One participant shares their experience of Hanukkah, mentioning potato latkes and fancy doughnuts as part of their celebration.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants present a variety of holiday meal traditions and preferences, with no clear consensus on a single approach or dish. Multiple competing views on holiday cooking and customs remain evident.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about specific recipes and ingredients, indicating a reliance on personal experiences and regional variations. There are also differing interpretations of traditional dishes.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in holiday cooking traditions, cultural customs related to festive meals, and diverse culinary practices may find this discussion engaging.

Sophia
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What do you usually eat for Christmas/other holidays around this time? Do you have any customs or traditions connected to Christmas meals?

Here, the main meal is called "generous dinner" because it is the first meal after fasting season has finished. It is on Christmas Eve. It is customary to have a fish, because it is an ancient symbol for Jesus. We'll have trout this year. We'll also have a traditional cabbage soup with homemade sausage and forest mushrooms. After that there should be waffers with honey, various nuts and cutting the apple. If you can see a "star" when the apple is cut in half, you'll be lucky next year :) Some people put fish scales into their wallet to attract money. In some Christian families, parents make a sign of cross with honey on their children's forehead. After the dinner, we open the presents and then watch fairy tales- even adults love watching the same old stories every year :)
On first Christmas day, we'll have a duck with orange sauce.
On the second day of Christmas we'll probably have a German-style pork with potato dumplings and mustard sauce.
And of course, there will be pastries, both sweet and salty, exotic fruit and some good wine :)
 
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We can't cook a turkey worth a dam, so we stopped trying lol. We make Tamales and Carne aside outside. Much tasty then a bird full of steroids.

My neighbors who are African-American, make something called a fried turkey. Best turkey i have ever had.
 
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Thanks, I've searched for Tamale and it looks fine. Maybe I'll make it sometime :)
 
We have the traditional turkey and stuffing balls with cranberry sauce, gravy, roast potatoes, roast parsnips,sprouts and may be carrots. followed by Christmas pudding with brandy butter.
Our tradition is to have all the family together, brothers sisters ,mother in laws etc there will be about 16 of us this year.:eek:
Tea time is just nibbles, sausages in blankets( little sausages wrapped in bacon) cheese and pineapple on sticks etc and of course Christmas cake.
My daughter doe's all the cooking and prep, normally i do the washing up:frown:
That is all on boxing day, Christmas day we just have a normal meal after church.
 
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My husband is a very creative and adventurous cook. He'll cook elk, duck, quail, venison...anything that strikes his fancy.

For example, this last Thanksgiving we had turkey, pheasant, and quail. He called it Roast Aviary :wink:.

This Christmas we'll have prime rib. Not too unusual - fine by me, I love rib roast!
 
I've never eaten potato dumplings before. Last night I watched a couple of youtube clips about how to make them. Today or tomorrow I'll try it out (these ingredients in my area are cheap). But I will change the pie with use of shrimp or other sea food meats instead of bread crumbs (?). :DD
 
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Silicon, I used the word potato dumplings in this recipe because I have no idea how to call it. It Is made of potato dough but it looks differently than traditional dumplings. We saw this in Wienna. I really don't remember the German name lol
Of course, real potato dumplings with a special kind of cheese called bryndza are considered our traditional meal. You can use feta cheese instead. You are right, they are cheap, that's why they ate them frequently in the past.
 
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Silicon, I don't understand where you saw the bread crumbs. You probably found a completely different recipe. In the classic recipe, you use an aromatic soft cheese and bacon. I'll sent you a video when I come home.
Well, you may use shrimp sauce. I've never tried that before, but it's good to experiment!
 
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lisab said:
My husband is a very creative and adventurous cook. He'll cook elk, duck, quail, venison...anything that strikes his fancy.

For example, this last Thanksgiving we had turkey, pheasant, and quail. He called it Roast Aviary :wink:.

This Christmas we'll have prime rib. Not too unusual - fine by me, I love rib roast!
Lisab, that may be cool! Is your husband a hunter? In the past, I was really against hunting but now I think it is more ethical to eat animals that were happy all their life compared to those that we buy in supermarkets. Of course I am talking about legal hunting in a strictly controlled way.
Once I tried a venison and it was yummy [emoji2]
 
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MidgetDwarf said:
We make Tamales
Wish I knew how to make authentic tamales. I do know the process is very time consuming.
 
  • #11
hannukah just ended a couple weeks ago, we're not huge on keeping tradition here but on one night my mom made potato latkes with sour cream and we bought these really fancy doughnuts from a bakery
 

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