What are you cooking for New Year's Day (2014)

[alanz]

For a few years, we hosted an intimate New Years Eve party for a few friends. It usually centered around a large paella.

However, it became apparent that over time, everyone wound up having conflicting plans for the Eve, so we changed course.

For the last dozen or so years, we have had an open house on New Years Day.

So people can sleep in after their late night, we tell folks to arrive after 2 p.m.

We never quite know how many people will visit, because we never actually invite anyone (that way no one can be insulted that they weren't invited). We generally wind up with between 50 and 75 people wandering in and out. That's quite a stretch for our little home in NJ... fortunately everyone is very friendly.

My bride and I cook, and every year we add new things to the menu... mostly to keep ourselves amused.

This year the menu includes

• Bo Ssam (two 9 lb pork shoulders)
• Kalbi (8 lbs of prime sliced beef rib.. this is a recurring item, we have some people who threaten revolt if I don't make this)
• Sausages and potatoes
• Oxtail (15 lbs)
• Chicken and waffles (we will fry the chicken, haven't decided how yet, might be MC@H recipe. Guests make their own waffles)
• Sous vide soft boiled eggs, served over rye toast and creamed asparagus
• Spaghetti carbonara (3 lbs pasta, lots of pancetta... NO CREAM... do it right with egg and Parmesan)
• Lots of rice
• Various dishes brought by our guests

To spend time with our guests, we're pre cooking as much as possible, and will reheat via sous vide, and serve in steam trays.

We will have lots of fun showing the new toys to our guests. (Anova immersion circulator, Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, ISI whipper, etc.)

So, what's on your menu for New Years Eve or New Years Day?

[Alex]

Your NYD menu sounds wonderful. I agree enthusiastically with "NO CREAM."

New Year's Eve: going out for dinner here, then coffee here, then doughnuts here

New Year's Day: breakfast = pancakes with banana, strawberries, and BLiS Bourbon Barrel Maple Syrup; dinner = Hoppin' John plus a baked pear/goat cheese/honey dessert

[Shelby]

New Year's Day for us absolutely must include black eyed peas. I will post again when I nail the menu down.

For New Year's Eve we are roasting a duck. My first ever store-bought domestic duck. I've only had wild duck so I'm looking forward to the crispy skin etc. I need to think about side dishes….I'm obviously a procrastinator lol.

[annachan]

NYE, we will be going out for a late dinner (2nd seating) on the riverbank, which should have a good view of the fireworks. Menu here: http://www.puresouth.com.au/uploads/documents/New%20Years%20Eve%2013%20Menu%20&%20Details%2013%2009%2012.pdf

If the lamb ribs defrost in time, we'll be having that for dinner on NYD.

[ChrisTaylor]

I'm cooking dinner tonight. Keeping it simple: burgers made using elements from the Modernist Cuisine and Hawksmoor at Home recipes.

[FauxPas]

It's just going to be the two of us for dinner tomorrow and it's a simple menu at home, as we are just getting over a nasty bug - so, filet mignon and crab legs, some kind of salad (probably butter lettuce, pears, blue cheese, pecans and pomegranate seeds with a pom juice vinaigrette just because that is comfort food to me). We're in Arizona this year and we really hope to at least have cocktail and salad outside. It should be about 70F. We want to sit outside, drink some bubbly and watch the constellations move by!

But we'd really like to catch a flight to alanz's for New Year's Day. Wowza!

And Alex, that Grove menu looks pretty tempting. How will you possibly have room for more food after that?

Shelby, I vote for something with artichoke for a side. Hot artichoke and potato salad?

[catdaddy]

Have to work service that night so maybe a braised tofu/eggplant thing a la Bittman for lunch. Collards and black-eyed peas at work. Very low carb diet at home.

[alanz]

Hmmm, now I am considering adding black eyed peas to the menu. I have never cooked them before, but it looks like a fine candidate for the pressure cooker. We are using butter beans (Lima) in the oxtail dish, so legumes are already represented, but I like the peas-New Years tie in.

[heidih]

alanz - if you want the black eyed peas without having another hot bean dish you might consider the cold salad as a dip often refrred to as Texas caviar Sample of a pretty standard recipe http://www.farmgirlgourmet.com/2013/01/texas-caviar.html

[annabelle]

I'm doing Pennsylvania Dutch pork and sauerkraut with roasted potatoes and applesauce.

I go Southern one year and Dutchy the next. Last year was ham, collards and black-eyed peas with cornbread.

[Shel_B]

I'm not cooking a thing! NYE we're going out to dinner with friends, and afterwards to Toots' place for dessert and coffee, maybe a game of Scrabble or Quiddler, maybe play a few hands of poker.

NYD, Toots is going to visit a long-time friend, and I'm going to stay at home, watch a movie or two, and organize my sock drawer <LOL>

[cookingdiva]

I'll celebrate New Year with only some close family members so I'll just cook beef steak with mashed squash and brownies for dessert. I'm also thinking of cooking spaghetti... Happy New Year everyone!

[Jaymes]

No mystery here. I'm a Southern gal so you know there's gonna be hamhocks and blackeyed peas eaten at some point on New Year's Day. I sure don't want to deal with bad luck all year.

And cornbread, too, of course. The blackeyed peas represent coin money, so you have to have that. And greens of some sort (usually collard greens but any greens will do) represent folding money, so you've got to have some of that on New Year's Day as well.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Jaymes (log)

[Simon Lewinson]

My standard after the Xmas rush is to make a ham and mushroom risotto. Ham bone, skin and off cuts for a killer stock, fresh herbs from the garden and loads of butter and Parmesan at the end. Don't forget a good handful of dried porcini mushrooms and loads of garlic confit.

This started from ham leftovers and now is a tradition that the family loves.

Simon

[Norm Matthews]

Eating black eyed peas is supposed to be good luck. I guess it follows that not eating them on NYD is bad luck. I had black eyed peas on New Years EVE last year and didn't have any the next day, (along with ham hocks and collard greens). The day after that I slipped on some ice and broke three bones in my ankle. I was not planning to cook this year but will make my sisters recipe for black eyed pea dip to have with some chips.... just to be on the safe side. Her recipe uses some mashed peas, jalapeno and green chilies, garlic, butter and Olde English cheese. Served hot.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Norm Matthews (log)

[kayb]

Black eyed pea cassoulet with farm-made smoked sausage and pork rillettes. Crittenden County Jail slaw (that's where I learned to make it, and no, I wasn't an inmate!) -- vinegar and mustard based slaw, very tart and very crunchy. That takes care of my menu tomorrow, but I'll also have fingerling potatoes with creme fraiche and caviar, and beer candied bacon, because they are the two ultimate munchies in the world, and one should start off the year with good munchies.

Tonight, my hot NYE date is my 18-month-old grandson, so we'll probably have grilled cheese and animal crackers. Which is Just Fine. The companionship makes the meal!

[Toliver]

I've posted about this previously on an old thread, but my family has never been a fan of the black-eyed peas & ham tradition for NYD.

I decided to make my own luck by cooking a meal I really like but don't get to eat much: Corned Beef and cabbage. I make it every St. Patrick's Day but then that's it for the rest of the year.

Now on NYD I throw the corned beef into a slow cooker and then when it's done cooking, I use the water from the slow cooker (with all that great corned beef flavor) to steam the cabbage and boil the potatoes and carrots. I use Red Rose potatoes that don't need to be peeled and use the ubiquitous pre-peeled baby carrots. It couldn't be easier to cook unless someone else cooked it all for me.

Eating something you really enjoy...it's a great way to start out the New Year.

[judiu]

Norm, don't cook, make this:

Johnny Mac's 4 can salad

Can blackeyed peas

Can cannallini beans

Can chick peas

Can diced tomatoes

Drain and rinse all beans, dump into a large-ish bowl, add drained tomatoes and about 1/2 their juice,

a good sized red onion, minced, a celery heart (1 of 2 sold together in a pack; regular celery is mostly too strong), minced, Italian herbs seasoning (mixed basil, marjoram, etc from a jar) and some dried thyme, crushed up in your hand. Add enough vinegarette to moisten and a bit more, so you have a little in the bottom of the bowl.Stir well, but gently. Fridge for at least 3 hours for flavours to marry, bring to cool room temp to serve.

[Norm Matthews]

That sounds good judiu. I will save the recipe for another time. I have already made the dip for NYD and have decided to make chicken, sausage and seafood gumbo for the dinner. Everything is done except last minute cooking of the shellfish and scallops.

[glennbech]

I made this for six grown ups and 3 kids today

Apetizer (kids and adults)

Carbonated grapes (w/champagne for adults)

Deep fried salsify stick w/cheese (in spring roll flakes)

Bacon wraped dates.

Starter for grown ups

Jerusalem choke soup. chimmichurry / garlic confit oil & fried shi-take mushrooms

Starter for kids

Miniburgers/sliders. Of course from home ground rib-meat (also user for beef stock) w/firecrackers

Mains for grown ups

Beef tenderloin sous vide, deep fried @ 200c for crust. Oven baked vegetables. MCAH potato puree, MCAH grilled apple sauce condiment, green salad, Gravy made from MCAH brown beef stock (pressure cooked).

I infused the gravy with Shiitake mushrooms & rosemary for about 2 minutes using my iSi gourmet whip. This added a subtle layer of flavor to my sauce that I really like. There are some compounds in shiitake that tastes like black truffles.

Dessert for grown ups

MCAH raspberry panna cotta. Improvised with coffee granules, mint and vanilla custard. The coffee had an amazing effect while the panna cotta was not set. Afterwards; when served it had no big effect.

Mistakes

- In the MCAH potato puree, you hold the potatoes for 35 minutes at 70c to bind the starch. Potatoes should be cooked and pressed through a sieve immediately after this step. I kept them cold for 12 hours. They got an off- color. Taste wise no different; visually less appealing.

All in all my best planned dinner service so far. A lot of components in total. I spent about 4 hours prepping last night, and maybe 2 hours this morning. A couple of hours before the guests arrived everything was clean & calm. Good feeling

[Martin Fisher]

We always start of the new year with traditional pork and sauerkraut, because, you know, a pig roots forward...while poultry scratches backwards and cattle stand still!

[Dejah]

Supper just for the two of us tonight:

Steamed Alaskan King Crab legs, strip loin steaks, homemade fries with spicy ketsup:

Tomorrow, I'm going to make savory tong yuen - Cantonese rice dumplings in a soup with shredded daikon, dried shrimp, and pork.

For supper, if I'm not too lethargic, will do rack of lamb for hubby and me.

Enjoying the peace and quiet after a hectic Xmas with the families!

[Lisa Shock]

I'll be cooking a simple lunch for a group of low income senior citizens. I'm going Italian this year:

turkey soup with fennel, green beans, and turkey meatballs (stock made from the bones of the Christmas turkey last week)

semolina bread

fennel, orange and olive salad (my neighbor has gifted me with pounds of lovely organic oranges)

orange & Tahitian vanilla panna cotta (made with peels from said oranges)

[SylviaLovegren]

Going to my first Canadian New Year's Day party and have no idea whether there are any Canadian food traditions associated therewith. Will find out!

My sorta Swedish family always had cheese and cold cuts (especially rolla polsa, which is Norwegian, I think, and which no one has heard of anymore, at least not meat shops) and a big pot of split pea soup. Dessert was all the left over cookies and fruit cake. Very easy on the cook!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

NYE was more about food than NYD will be. NYE we had turkey chill with black eyed peas in it (no-pork household), big green salads with avocado dressing, and chunks of Ambateño beef chorizo, which were cooked on the NYE fire - about this more in a moment.

Ecuador has some fun food traditions, though, which we observe (especially since my barrio is in the habit of having a block party on NYE). It's usually a potluck affair, and since everyone knows that I'm the baker on the block, I generally bring the chocolate cake (chocolate representing luck in love - it's one of the traditional must-haves). Other things on the traditional list include: empanadas de verde (green plantain stuffed with cheese) for folding cash, empanadas de morocho (flint corn masa stuffed with spicy beef) for coin, tamales de gallina (chicken, egg, olive, and avocado tamales) for family, quimbolitos (sweet corn and raisin steam-bread) for children, chorizo (and here we have the all-beef Ambateño version, which is famous across the country) for home, and 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight so that nobody will have hunger in the 12 months to come. All of this was at out block party, and all of it was incredibly tasty.

There are also the toasts, which are traditional for health. Everyone in the barrio of legal age brings a bottle of liquor of their choice and a shot glass to the party, and we all toast each others health, luck and prosperity until every single bottle is empty. On my block, that's 15 different bottles at the moment; next year it will be 16. At the end of the night, after the 12 grapes have been eaten, we burn the old year in effigy and dance around the bonfire until we can't stand any more.

Given this tradition, NYD is more about managing your hangover and other assorted body pains - hence my simple NYD breakfast of pancakes and copious amounts of water.