In the first days of the new year, I decided to tell you how this holiday is celebrated in other parts of the world and what I definitely recommend you try – either cook on the spot or by yourself.
Hoppin John is a New Year’s dish from South America. It does not look very festive but it is important to know the history of the place. The Southern states are an incredible fusion of cultures, where the fabulous gastronomy of the French settlers and the severe poverty of the black slaves converge – after all, it was here that the main cotton and sugar plantations were located.
Hoppin John is just one example of such a union. The name itself, French pois pigeons, is an English adaptation of baked beans. A classic West African dish often taken as slaves to the New World: boiled rice with beans, but seasoned with braised pork in seasoned butter—an all-French style of cooking. It is hearty, delicious and brings good luck in the new year, as the locals believe.
Tamale is one of my favorite dishes. There is such a thing as “comfort food”. I don’t like it, because what does the other food mean – uncomfortable or what? But tamales are just like that.
The basis of tamale is one of the main Mexican products – masa. It is unleavened (flour-water-salt) dough made from corn boiled with lime; This process – nishtamalization – increases the nutritional value of the grain, thanks to which the Indians survived on an almost completely maize diet.
For tamales, masa is stuffed with beans, cheese, vegetables, wrapped in corn leaves and steamed. Special New Year’s tamales served with soup in Mexico – surprise! – corn and offal. This particular set is believed to be the best remedy for New Year’s drinks.
In Georgian supermarkets, until December 20, large boxes of walnuts appear at the entrance, which, despite their size, are emptied several times a day. This is because the New Year holidays are not represented here without satsivi. Satsivi is usually a festive, homemade dish. Since you need to cook it for at least a day, and preferably 30 hours, you must first boil the chicken so that the meat itself comes off the bone. Then knead the broth with mashed nuts (for squeezing out at least a few tablespoons of golden nut butter for serving) and spices, and bag the sauce. And finally, insist the chicken in this sauce at least on the same day, so that it is not just some kind of chicken with nut sauce, but satsivi itself.
In general, less (or perhaps more) important than a duck or goose, pork was considered a Christmas dish. Especially in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. Read “The Summer of the Lord” by Ivan Shmelev, which, as we will now say, begins with the description of a pop-up fair on Bolotnaya Square, where only pork is sold on Christmas Eve.
In modern times, everyone eats meat, and even more so pork, but it does not hurt to follow this tradition. During the New Year holidays in Germany and the Netherlands marzipan is made in the form of a pig. Piglets are safe, so to speak, and anyone who needs them is fed.
In Japan, on New Year’s Eve, it is customary to eat soba – thin cream noodles made from buckwheat flour. The most famous Japanese noodle, ramen, appeared in the country in the 1950s. But buckwheat stove is a dish described in medieval sources. The easiest way to serve soba without the broth is to serve it with tsuyu sauce (a mixture of rice vinegar, sweet soy sauce, and dashi broth made from tuna flakes), finely chopped green onions, and shichimi (a mixture of sesame seeds, dried seaweed, poppy seeds). . , flavor, a few spices, and most importantly, ground cayenne pepper).
What about sugar free? Cransekake can be translated as “wreath cake”. But I would definitely call it a Christmas tree pie.
These are pyramid-shaped macarons glued with icing. Such a dessert is brought out for the New Year in the Scandinavian countries. But the most New Year’s dessert is, of course, the same notorious pie with a coin inside: whoever gets it in a piece will have a special luck next year. This tradition is not usually Christmas, but entirely New Year’s. For example, in Greece, a magnificent, airy rich cake with coins is called vasilopita, or “Vasily’s pie”: a hint that the New Year exactly coincides with Vasil’s Day according to the holy calendar.
Well, in the finale, after the gala dinner I can recommend that you read Tolkien’s little-known short story “The Blacksmith from Big Wootton”, the whole plot of which revolves around this New Year’s cake with a coin hidden in it – well, or a bright star as in this case . But the main character, who received this star, took much more than luck. What do you want.