HOLIDAY TRADITIONS…
I want to thank all who responded. Although no one sent in any “Festivus” traditions I do want to share the following – from Thanksgiving through New Years.
First the Thanksgiving feasts…
From: Bruce Paton [
bpaton@jdvhospitality.com ]
Good Day Peter
It is nice to here from you. Here in San Francisco, Dungeness Crab season starts just before Thanksgiving so we add cracked crab with lemon butter and cocktail sauce to the table along with Turkey and all the trimmings. As for the beverage selection, during the cooking process I like to enjoy something lighter like a Saison Dupont or two, with the crab some Barrel Aged Temptation from Russian River and after dinner what better time then to hit the cellar and break out a vintage Chimay or a three year old Sierra Nevada Bigfoot.
Bruce D. Paton CEC
The Beer Chef
Executive Chef
The Cathedral Hill Hotel
415-674-3406
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From: Jaime Jurado
To: Peter LaFrance
Besides the traditional American meal, my mother also slow roasts a pork soaked in lime juice and prepares frijoles negroes (black turtle beans) and rice for 30+ guests. Our own heritage in Galician, yet my father spent much of his medical career in Florida and we did get to love the traditions of Cuba which infuse everything and everyone Hispanic in the state. As you know, Miami is less of a city in the USA than it is the unofficial business capitol of the Caribbean, and I and my 4 brothers and sisters were raised there as children as my dad went through medical school at the University of Miami and our mother taught at Coral Gables High, and then my father later served at Homestead Air Force Base in Miami…so Cuban émigré’s in the early 60’s were everywhere. All our neighbors spoke of “Los Americanos” in such a way that suggested they were strange and foreign that I didn’t realize I was actually an American until I was near the 5th grade. Even the way those different people enjoyed their coffee from the sweet and milky wonderful cafe-con-leche that we children came to love made me recognize differences between what were then called ‘Florida crackers’ and ‘everyone else’. The local beer would have most likely been La Tropical, a light lager, or Jax. Las mujeres, the wives, would have enjoyed sangria, which was wildly popular and citrusy in the days of my childhood.
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From:
Gary Regan [
gary@ardentspirits.com ]
To: 'Peter LaFrance'
Subject: RE: From Peter LaFrance at BeerBasics.com
Hi Peter:
Perhaps your readers would like to hear how we celebrated Thanksgiving?
Mardee and I went to see the new Bond flick, which was wonderful. Instead of turkey and trimmings we had warmed-up leftovers: Mexican food for Mardee, Seafood Stew for me. My only drink of the day was one solitary bottle of room-temperature Long Trail India Pale Ale, which is one of my new fave brews.
So, we had no cooking to do, to speak of, no guests, very few dishes to wash, and what few we had got thrown into the dishwasher after a quick rinse, and no cleaning up after everyone else. We didn’t have to dress nicely to go to someone else’s place for dinner, nor did we have to make pumpkin pies or Piscorita Aromaticas (my new fave cocktail) to take with us.
In short, we had lots to be thankful for. God Bless America.
Hope you’re well, my friend!
Cheers, Gary
Gary Regan
Ardent Spirits
Office: 845 534 4298
Mobile: 845 863 7841
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From: Craig Hartinger [
craigh@mdvbeer.com ]
Thanks for asking, Peter.
My family has a great winter food tradition that actually came from my wife's Swedish great-grandmother, Emma Swan Peterson: pickled herring! I don't think I ever had pickled herring until I met her. Really tasty; serve with a rich stout or porter (Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout or Taddy Porter) - the deep flavors of the dark malts balance the zippy vinegar/fish/onion flavors.
Recipe below -
Merchant du Vin, America’s Premier Specialty Beer Importer Since 1978
18200 Olympic Ave. S.
Tukwila, WA 98188-4721
EMMA SWAN PETERSON PICKLED HERRING....about 12 pints
7 lb Icelandic,salted,fileted herring
3 lb onions, brown
1/2can Whole allspice
3/4can Black Peppercorns
1 can Bay Leaves
1 dozen pint jars with seals and screw tops (sterilize jars in dishwasher)
1+1/4 qt Cider vinegar
1/4 box fine granulated sugar
3 red apples
3/4 cup water
Preparation: rinse fish in cold water for 2 to 3 hours, changing water 4 or 5 times.
Cut herring into 1" slices. Peel and cut onions in half with the grain.
Cut halves into semi rings about 1/8 inch thick. Mix vinegar with water.
Pack thin layer of onions, liberal lay of fish, 4-6 peppercorns, 3-4 allspice.
Repeat until pint is 1/2 full then slip in 3 bay leaves between fish and jar.
Continue layering until almost full. Add 2 small slices of apple with skin on.
Add 1 heaping tablespoon of sugar and fill to top with vinegar/sugar mixture.
Put on seals and screw lids tight. Refrigerate Let herring pickle for at least a week before eating. Will keep in refrigerator for many months but will turn soft with age
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From: Lew Bryson
To: Peter LaFrance
Peter,
Our Thanksgiving and Christmas food traditions are pretty mainstream 50s: roast turkey with a fairly bland stuffing, succotash, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce from the can, and a roast beef and mashed potatoes dinner for Christmas. The only regional dish we have is scalloped oysters, and I'm not sure how regional that is.
On New Year's Day, however, it's ALWAYS pork and sauerkraut, with at least four pounds of Kissling's kraut (a local brand), lightly rinsed and the liquid replaced with a dark lager; this year I'm using Sly Fox's new canned Dunkel. That's probably what we'll drink with it, too. We travel for New Year's sometimes, and if we do, I insist on cooking, and I make pork and sauerkraut, and that's what we eat. It's just that simple: I gotta have it on New Year's Day!
Cheers,
Lew Bryson
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From:
MIBeerguyd@aol.com
To: peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
In a message dated 11/16/06 11:32:03, peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com writes:
Hi Peter,
There are only my wife and I in our home and, outside of the usual traditions in
the modern sense of the holiday, i.e. feasts and gifts, we both come from
traditionless backgrounds. As a special treat, the one thing we do is on New
Year's Eve, when I go to the fish monger and buy the best seafoods I can find;
lobster, king crab, shrimp, muscles, clams, bass, monkfish if I can find it, and
the appropriate spices, like saffron, and I make a hundred dollar pot of
Bouillabaisse. With the fish stew we enjoy higher fermentation temp fruity
saison or triple, like
Flint's Redwood Lodge Saison or the magical barrel aged
Luciernaga from Jolly Pumpkin in Dexter, or both.
Not being sports fans, the next day, New Year's Day, my wife and I sit in front
of the TV with a continuous selection of exotic breads, cheeses, fruits and of
course ales and lagers selected to pair with the cheeses while viewing the
entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, "cover to cover." A delightful blend of
epicurism and fantasy.
Then there is Chinese New Year, Feb 18, year of the boar!
Cheers!
Rex Halfpenny
Michigan Beer Guide
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From:
Bernie Kilkelly [
kilkellycom@gmail.com ]
To: Peter LaFrance
Peter - Here's my tradition contribution.
Cheers,
Bernie
My
tradition is one I've had for at least the last five years, and it involves the
Saranac 12 Beers of Winter sampler. When I get together with my in-laws at
Christmas, I always bring the Saranac 12-pack and a few bottles of my homebrew,
and do tastings to try to expand the palates of this mostly Bud-Heineken
drinking crowd. Saranac's holiday sampler always includes its reliable Pale
Ale, IPA and Black and Tan, but also includes some more
adventurous styles that help me make the case for enjoying more flavorful beer.
This year the 12 Beers of Winter includes Belgian Ale, Bock, Rauchbier and three
beers that always get a good response when I open them with dessert -- Caramel
Porter, Chocolate Amber and Mocha Stout. I think I've made some progress over
the years, and my relatives are no longer surprised that great beer comes in
many different flavors and colors.
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And Finally I think I saved the best for last. Of course, with roots in Quebec I may be a bit biased… but from my good friend Alan Moen…
From:
alanmoen@televar.com
To: Peter LaFrance
By Alan Moen ©2006
My great-grandfather, Oliver Blanchard, was French-Canadian, and brought many culinary traditions with him when he moved to the Northwest. He was, as far as I can tell, the first farmer to sell his produce at Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market in August 1907. I’m still not sure what that produce was, but my grandmother always claimed that he grew the first tomatoes out here, too.
One French-Canadian specialty he enjoyed was tourtière – a rustic meat pie traditionally served on Christmas Eve. This is named for the French word for the round mould or dish typically used to cook and serve a pie or tart (tourte), a staple of French regional cooking.
Recipes for tourtières often include water, but I like to add a little beer to give the pie more richness. A good malty brown ale or brown porter will do, but the perfect beer is a bière rousse (amber ale) from Québec such as Boréale Rousse.
Santé et Joyeux Nöel!
Tourtière
(French-Canadian Meat Pie for Christmas Eve)
Ingredients:
Pastry for 2-crust pie
1 pound lean ground beef 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pound ground pork 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 small onion, chopped pinch ground cinnamon
12 oz ale (brown ale, porter, or rousse) 1/2 teaspoon sage
Salt to taste (about 1 tsp) 1/2 teaspoon thyme
Freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 teaspoon parsley flakes
Directions:
In a large, deep skillet, combine beef, pork, onion and ale and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 30 minutes. Correct seasonings.
Drain and reserve liquid. Chill both liquid and meat mixture. Discard congealed fat from surface of liquid.
Preheat oven to 400°
Roll out pastry and fit bottom crust into pie pan. Spoon in meat mixture. Add 1 tablespoon of reserved liquid. Place top crust on pie, crimp edges, cut steam vents.
Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 50 minutes. Serve hot. Serves 6 – 8.
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© Peter LaFrance 2006