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Interesting Holiday food traditions...

jmotivator

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So has anyone developed interesting, somewhat different food traditions for the holidays? If so what?

Mine: Out of the blue many years ago my wife decided to make my primary gift one Christmas a motherlode of dried, cured meats. I got probably 10 lbs of assorted jerkies and related meat snacks.

It was such a great hit that it has continued to this day, and I've almost stopped treating myself to beef jerky (a favorite snack of mine) in order to make the Christmas treat all the more enjoyable.

The tradition has also begun to spread. I had so many bags of awesome jerk that I began bringing in in to work to keep at my desk and share. Several guys in my office liked the idea so much that they have put in the annual requests with their own family and started their own tradition.

You're welcome, jerky industry!

Also, she makes a habit of trying to find the weirdest jerkies she can each year to throw them into the mix. Most are nice to experience, but also rather not my taste... had some really ghastly alligator jerky last year *shudder*.. and pemmican, especially with fruit, is not my thing either.

There are also foods that are so absurdly good that they have become a mini-tradition of their own, such as:

Korean Fragrant Jerky. It is a sort of candied, grilled bacon jerky that is just so amazing.

Favorite moment in my jerky-filled Christmas was when I received a "Man Crate" of beef jerky, a little shipping crate that came with its own crow bar to open it. After gingerly trying to finagle the crow back into a grap to pry the box open I finally gave up. My wife said "Hey, they have instructions on their website, would you like to take a look at them?" ... after fussing a bit more I finally said "Oh FINE!" and she tapped away on her tablet and then turned the screen of instructions towards me. In bold 72 point font it said, simply, "Step 1: Try Harder."

I bust out laughing and got a hammer.
 
German gingerbread (lebkuchen)
Egg-nog (so glad it’s not commercially available year round)
Smithfield salt-cured ham (grandfather started the tradition long ago)
Marzipan (as a child we made these at home)
 
Your wife is a lovely person! Just today I received my shipment of right around 12 pounds of assorted Molinari salamis. I wouldn't necessarily call it a tradition but it is heading that direction.

The one tradition we have is fish on Christmas Eve. It's an Italian thing carried over from that side of the family.
 
My Christmas food tradition comes down from my grandma. Whenever me and the other grandkids would stay at her huge house during X-Mas season in VA she always had the following:

- cold cuts, including ham and Italian salami
- olives (green and black)
- assorted cheeses from Europe
- Pecan pie (of course)
- other pastries like icebox cake, lemon squares, chocolate mousse, brownies

Her master bedroom also contained other goodies year around, but thats another topic.

For lunch or dinner, she didnt like turkey (thought it was too bland), so it was usually roast beef or lamb with all the trimmings.

I continue to follow her tradition by having buying the same foods even though Im in a 3rd world country now.
 
Your wife is a lovely person! Just today I received my shipment of right around 12 pounds of assorted Molinari salamis. I wouldn't necessarily call it a tradition but it is heading that direction.

The one tradition we have is fish on Christmas Eve. It's an Italian thing carried over from that side of the family.

That is the "Feast of the 12 Fishes" or something like that, right?
 
That is the "Feast of the 12 Fishes" or something like that, right?

7 fishes. But we usually don't do 7 dishes. We have in the past but no need to get carried away!
 
Oh, another tradition that my wife has carried over from my dearly departed mother is thumbprint cookies.

In theory they are run of the mill shortbread thumbprints, or so I have been told, but my mom's twist on them was that, after much experimentation, she ended up replacing all of the butter in the shortbread with margarine. Freshly cooled out of the over they are slightly crisper than the usual butter based shortbread, but over the course of a few days they seem to ripen as the moisture from the jelly seeps into the cookie, making a wholly different delicacy.

Granted, it may very well be an acquired taste thing, and it only seems magical because it is what I grew up on, but several non-scientific tests done over the years with the uninitiated indicate that at least some of the magic is nature, and not purely the product of nurture.
 
7 fishes. But we usually don't do 7 dishes. We have in the past but no need to get carried away!

But 5 more wouldn't hurt. :D

Heh, where'd I get 12 from? (could have googled it but I find google ruins a good chat)
 
But 5 more wouldn't hurt. :D

Heh, where'd I get 12 from? (could have googled it but I find google ruins a good chat)

I’m gonna guess; disciples?
 
Also, for those interested, here is the amazon page for that Korean Bacon jerky. You're welcome!

Fragrant Jerky
 
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OK, where did the 12 days of Christmas come from?


Edit: never mind, I cheated....

Either way, you gave me too much credit. :)
 
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