What's cookin', good lookin'?

[IrisAlthea]

What do you have on Christmas that would make this undesirable? Just curious. Is it already in casserole form or something?

We have a buffé style meal with several kinds of pickled herring, a casserole made with potatoes, onion, anchovies and cream, meatballs, different kinds of sausages both warm and cold cured, paté, head cheese, cheeses etc. Some people have gravad lax, smoked salmon, lutefisk, spareribs etc. You can really extend this into absurdity and a lot of people do.
This is followed by ham and cabbage of some kind and for dessert there is a ricepudding with some sort of jam.

Oh, and we do the same thing Seela mentioned with the hidden almond. Whoever gets the almond has to write a rhymed little poem and then they get a gift, usually made from marzipan.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

We have a buffé style meal with several kinds of pickled herring, a casserole made with potatoes, onion, anchovies and cream, meatballs, different kinds of sausages both warm and cold cured, paté, head cheese, cheeses etc. Some people have gravad lax, smoked salmon, lutefisk, spareribs etc. You can really extend this into absurdity and a lot of people do.
This is followed by ham and cabbage of some kind and for dessert there is a ricepudding with some sort of jam.

Oh, and we do the same thing Seela mentioned with the hidden almond. Whoever gets the almond has to write a rhymed little poem and then they get a gift, usually made from marzipan.

Wow... I can honestly say I have had only one of those items with my Christmas dinner. Cheese

 

[seela]

We have a buffé style meal with several kinds of pickled herring, a casserole made with potatoes, onion, anchovies and cream, meatballs, different kinds of sausages both warm and cold cured, paté, head cheese, cheeses etc. Some people have gravad lax, smoked salmon, lutefisk, spareribs etc. You can really extend this into absurdity and a lot of people do.
This is followed by ham and cabbage of some kind and for dessert there is a ricepudding with some sort of jam.

Oh, and we do the same thing Seela mentioned with the hidden almond. Whoever gets the almond has to write a rhymed little poem and then they get a gift, usually made from marzipan.

How interesting! I had no idea Janssons frestelse is a Christmas dish for you! We eat it randomly all throughout the year.

We have many similar Christmas dishes, but also many differences. Sausage and meatballs would be a New Year thing for us, but the fish department looks very similar. We also have ham, but no cabbage to go with it. And we have lots and lots of casseroles. In my family the dessert has usually been plum or lingonberry parfait, sometimes blueberry. Ricepudding is Christmas Eve breakfast.

Here some families have incorporated singing into the almond thing. You have to sing a christmas song and only after that you'll get your one wish or good luck for the entire year. My cousin lived in Norway for years and they gave a marzipan "almond gift" as well, usually it was shaped as a pig. Good thing we don't do it here, because I hate marzipan. I'd make a very lousy Scandinavian in that respect, so I better stay this side of the border.

 

[Endless_Night]

Slightly off topic here, but when staying with friends in Amsterdam I was amazed at having fish practically every meal! Not something you see in Texas much.

And, nom v!

Pues, claro
Parrilla para dos.

https://33.media.tumblr.com/293788b5b899fce12456cc925aa15c7b/tumblr_nfxu3iI37W1ttoj3bo1_400.jpg

 

[Kalamain]

Slightly off topic here, but when staying with friends in Amsterdam I was amazed at having fish practically every meal! Not something you see in Texas much.

When I had a holiday in Portugal a few years ago there was ALWAYS a fish meal on the menu for lunch and dinner. Often the main meal on offer, and it was really good stuff too!

It seemed that they went for fish over land meats. Although I did like that they seemed to prefer pork over beef!

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

The same in Spain. Lots of seafood. They ate it cold as well, which I did NOT enjoy... The big Christmas meal was cold seafood. Very disappointing for me. And creatures that I have never seen or heard of before. Some of it was too hardcore for me. I didn't care for whole baby eels (think spaghetti strands, in eel) and I didn't care for some little fish they would bread and fry up whole (bones, skin, head, everything) and eat like popcorn but lots of it was amazingly delicious.

 

[midwestyankee]

Pues, claro
Parrilla para dos.

https://33.media.tumblr.com/293788b5b899fce12456cc925aa15c7b/tumblr_nfxu3iI37W1ttoj3bo1_400.jpg

Translation, please. I don't speak Tex-Mex.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Translation, please. I don't speak Tex-Mex.

(Pues, claro) Well of course!
Parrilla is the name is the dish. You could translate it roughly as Mixed Grill.
(Para dos) For two
On top is a chille relleno, a stuffed poblano pepper that is usually fried. The rest is chayote squash, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, grilled onions and green peppers, mushrooms, corn, and a grilled lemon. Probably some other stuff I can't remember buried in there. It's served up sizzling, unless you get it to go, which I often do

 

[IrisAlthea]

How interesting! I had no idea Janssons frestelse is a Christmas dish for you! We eat it randomly all throughout the year.

We have many similar Christmas dishes, but also many differences. Sausage and meatballs would be a New Year thing for us, but the fish department looks very similar. We also have ham, but no cabbage to go with it. And we have lots and lots of casseroles. In my family the dessert has usually been plum or lingonberry parfait, sometimes blueberry. Ricepudding is Christmas Eve breakfast.

Here some families have incorporated singing into the almond thing. You have to sing a christmas song and only after that you'll get your one wish or good luck for the entire year. My cousin lived in Norway for years and they gave a marzipan "almond gift" as well, usually it was shaped as a pig. Good thing we don't do it here, because I hate marzipan. I'd make a very lousy Scandinavian in that respect, so I better stay this side of the border.

Yup, it's the only "låda" we do at Christmas. At least around here.
It's popular at other times too.

The overcooked cabbage is not my thing and noone else in our generation likes it either, so I do a salad with thinly sliced red cabbage, orange filets and a orange vinaigrette. We still make the old kind of cabbage for my parents though.

I've done the lingonberry parfait thing once and a saffron parfait another time, because I dont like rice pudding and most of us are way too full for that size dessert anyway. My dad looooves it though, so I gave up trying to change tradition. I'm happy with coffee and a glass of port.

My brother still expects me to do the rhyme for him if he gets the almond.

 

[midwestyankee]

(Pues, claro) Well of course!
Parrilla is the name is the dish. You could translate it roughly as Mixed Grill.
(Para dos) For two
On top is a chille relleno, a stuffed poblano pepper that is usually fried. The rest is chayote squash, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, grilled onions and green peppers, mushrooms, corn, and a grilled lemon. Probably some other stuff I can't remember buried in there. It's served up sizzling, unless you get it to go, which I often do

So, fajitas for vegans plus a chile relleno. Got it. Looks tasty and especially worthy as a takeout dish.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

So, fajitas for vegans plus a chile relleno. Got it. Looks tasty and especially worthy as a takeout dish.

On the nose

 

[IrisAlthea]

Wow... I can honestly say I have had only one of those items with my Christmas dinner. Cheese

What can I say? Overeating oldfashioned food like crazy is just our thing for Christmas.

We have a very scaled down version of the Christmas meal here and I think many families try to do that.
Still, many restaurants serve a Christmas buffét during this month and many companies have a tradition of inviting employees to something like that.
Most people who have to be involved in representation dinners, get homicidal if you even talk about Christmas food in a few weeks.

 

[BonBon1976]

Lettuce tacos with an abundance of black olives and roasted garlic.

For dessert something new...pumpkin cake with apple cider glaze.

Yum. My house smells so good!

Bon Apetit

 

[Curious_in_Cali]

Turkey and spinach lasagna with oven toasted almond meal coated zucchini sticks on the side.

Dessert is vanilla almond ice cream with chopped candied pecans and crumbled pumpkin spice cookies on top.

 

[desertslave]

Turkey & wild rice soup from the stock I made yesterday, along with buttered biscuits. I told my daughter I was worried it would be okay (it's been a while since I made stock) and she messaged me back "Don't worry, that's your souperpower!"

 

[Netzach]

Why does Scandinavian food have so much appeal and then three generations here and people throw down a little vile lutefisk and grandma's decent lefse and some abomination made with Kraft cheese and cream of something soup on a table and call it done?

And then act like lox (lax) and herring are weird things only a swarthy New Yorker would want for breakfast?

You'd think there'd be a few really excellent places for food from the old country (ies) all along! But this did not exist in Mpls till like, 2 years ago. There's one mid range spot and one cha ching spot.

Weird! A heaping handful of German restos, but honestly, I'd rather have the best of Scandinavian food over the best of German (which is underrated in the states as well.)

I'm still gnawing on the turkey and the chestnut/sausage stuffing which I have been elected to keep making for the duration of my life.

 

[desertslave]

Why does Scandinavian food have so much appeal ...<polite snip>...
Weird! A heaping handful of German restos, but honestly, I'd rather have the best of Scandinavian food over the best of German (which is underrated in the states as well.)

Love me some BOTH! I'm a Penn Dutch grrl, and can't/won't part with the classics like jaegerschnitzel and anything with noodles and gravy. And I'm a pushover for anything with nutmeg or cardamom. (ooh! adding to my holiday cookie list!)

Note to self: export son some time soon to make something yummy with mushrooms, too.

 

[BonBon1976]

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/Niome_album/litstuff/mwah_zps22458a09.jpg

 

[DiskoTroop]

I've got a hankering for moussaka but it isn't cooking. Maybe this weekend

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/Niome_album/litstuff/mwah_zps22458a09.jpg

Too cute!!

 

[IrisAlthea]

Why does Scandinavian food have so much appeal and then three generations here and people throw down a little vile lutefisk and grandma's decent lefse and some abomination made with Kraft cheese and cream of something soup on a table and call it done?

And then act like lox (lax) and herring are weird things only a swarthy New Yorker would want for breakfast?

You'd think there'd be a few really excellent places for food from the old country (ies) all along! But this did not exist in Mpls till like, 2 years ago. There's one mid range spot and one cha ching spot.

Weird! A heaping handful of German restos, but honestly, I'd rather have the best of Scandinavian food over the best of German (which is underrated in the states as well.)

I'm still gnawing on the turkey and the chestnut/sausage stuffing which I have been elected to keep making for the duration of my life.

You'd think after Marcus Samuelsson's success with Aquavit in New York, there would be some more following.

 

[desertslave]

You'd think after Marcus Samuelsson's success with Aquavit in New York, there would be some more following.

There's only one Aquavit. The rest of the country thinks IKEA (meatballs) when they think Scandinavian.

 

[Netzach]

You'd think after Marcus Samuelsson's success with Aquavit in New York, there would be some more following.

Here's what's worse. There were two, actually. For a year and a half or so.

We now have a good crop of restaurants of that level here, only one of them or two of them rightfully so. (Don't get me started on what people get excited over.) But we had an Aquavit opened up here in the late 90's. It was too soon. In the city that has to have the highest population of Scandinavian Americans, it closed. CLOSED. *sigh*

I don't get to a lot of big food places, but I did get a meal there. One of my top three ever.

I do think if it opened now, it would work. That's the sad part.

 

[Kalamain]

Made Chicken Goujons for tea.

No idea what I did wrong but they were not very good at all.
Too crispy and really lacking in any real taste. Not bad per se, just very underwhelming.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Made Chicken Goujons for tea.

No idea what I did wrong but they were not very good at all.
Too crispy and really lacking in any real taste. Not bad per se, just very underwhelming.

Less healthy, but no doubt very tasty deep fried : )