New Year's Eve Dinner 2001

[Fat Guy]

I'm doing my shopping tomorrow. Thoughts?

[Liza]

Oh the plans we had for Christmas...and then I got either food poisoning or a virus, and D. had a head cold. BUT...if you're planning ahead, as you wisely are, you could do worse than what we did (and barely ate): foie gras terrine, the Jacques Pepin way. Foie gras purchased at Citarella as the price is pretty much the same everywhere. (We saved a quarter of the foie gras to make a foie gras butter which we're keeping in the freezer for last minute whisking). Served the terrine with a caramel-citrus sauce. We also got two sides of salmon in Chinatown and cured one, ginger-brined the other. Got a beautiful filet at Lobel's, definitely the most tender one we've had in NYC. Per Charlie Trotter, we made a wild-mushroom broth, a red-wine reduction, and the foie gras butter and mixed the three for a fantastic sauce. Best prices and freshest mushrooms were at Chelsea Market.

Hmm..we still have the sauces, the terrine, the foie gras butter...all we need is a filet...my dad's got a barn, we could whip up some costumes...!

[Fat Guy]

Can you provide a little more detail on foie gras butter?

[Liza]

Half to half, butter to raw foie gras - just whizz it up in a bowl or in the cuisinart-type appliance. Use it as you would ordinary butter to finish a sauce for meat or game.

[Sandra Levine]

We are thinking about a midnight supper of my hubands's specialty,  lox, eggs and onions.  We'll eat croissants with the eggs and toast each other and the New Year with a gift bottle of Perrier-Jouet.

[Fat Guy]

Okay, I've done my shopping and I think I've got it figured out.

New Year's Day is easy: Scrambled eggs with creme fraiche and caviar. American caviar this year.

New Year's Eve: In addition to the usual nuts, chips, pretzels, and such, we'll have a small cheese board with Brin D'Amour, Cantal, and Affidelice au Chablis. Probably going to serve crackers with that in order to avoid the hassle of buying bread on the 31st. Crabmeat and lobster salad with cranberry beans, roasted peppers, and various diced vegetables, served on crostini. Cod and potato puree (basically a brandade but not from salt cod) with roasted garlic, served the same way. Fake confit of lamb, in other words some braised shanks chopped fine, mixed with eggplant and maybe something else. Spanish mackerel sliced thin and done in sort of a ceviche style.

All sparkling wine this year will be Argyle.

[Jinmyo]

Sounds wonderful, Fat Guy.

Me: grilled swordfish with grilled Shanghai bok choy, remoullade, roasted tomato soup with Chinese celery and pancetta, crostini with chevre and raw minced fennel.

But for supper just old, dry sherry with Rouy, a good Camebert, Stilton and four other cheeses and toasted walnuts to roll the cheese in. Kind of a tradition. Watching Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" on DVD. An ancient tradition.

[Liza]

We're getting set for a boneless buffalo roast with a Charlie Trotter mole sauce. Mashed potatoes with gruyere. Individual molten chocolate cakes. Both husband and I are over are various bugs and have appetites ablaze. Finally!

[Holly Moore]

I believe the menu calls for blackeyed peas, greens and corn bread on New Year's day.  

Blackeyed peas for luck and/or peace, greens for dollars or wealth, and corn bread for gold.

In Philadelphia the Mummers bring in the New Year.  Their traditional meal is beer.

[Jaymes]

New Year's Eve -

Everyone arrives around 10 or 11pm. Have done this for years and it seems to work. Often they go to other parties, but arrive here late, but of course really, "just in time."

When they arrive, I have dessert and coffee ready: Bourbon Pecan Pie, Cheesecakes, nuts, cheeses, etc.

Also: Champagne, smoked salmon appetizers, Caviar Pie.

And in addition to the real caviar in the Caviar Pie, we always have "Texas Caviar" which is really black-eyed peas pickled in a vinegar/jalepeno dressing, and I have jars of it ready for the guests to take home.

We toast with champagne. At midnight we do the traditional Spanish "grape" thing - where you feed your beloved twelve grapes - one for each chime of the clock.

I open up breakfast buffet around 1am or so. Scrambled eggs with smoked oysters, sweetrolls, sausage ring, fresh fruits & juices.

At about 2AM, I say, "Well, I guess I'm going to have to go to bed so you nice people can leave." And I DO go to bed. And sometimes the nice people leave and sometimes they're still there when I get up in the morning.

Traditional New Year's Day menu:

Hamhocks and Black Eyed Peas, Cornbread, greens and pot likker.

And for snacking upon while watching "the game" on TV: mini-Reuben Sandwiches, chips, pickles, beer, Bloody Marys.

Prospero Año to you all!

Edited December 27, 2002 by Jaymes (log)

[nightscotsman]

Cocktails, cocktails, cocktails! This time the menu includes:

Aviation

Champagne Ritz

Apple Pie

Bellini

Vesper

Gimlet

Floridita

Champs Elysées

Moulin Rouge

Black Velvet

Scofflaw

and of course... the Mystery Cocktail

[CathyL]

I'm a New Year's Eve minimalist: Steak tartare garnished with quail eggs, capers, parsley, onion. Green salad, possibly frisée with walnuts and Roquefort. Orange or lemon soufflé. The Producers on DVD.

[baphie]

Foie gras butter also makes a fantastic addition to hollandaise sauce (in place of some of the regular butter.) A few years ago, my wife and I did a steak showdown on New Years Eve between filets of Black Angus, prime and a local organic, free-range beef raiser (using a Charolais-something cross). This foiellandaise was our sauce. (The local producer won hands down. Less tender than prime, but way more flavor. Black angus struck out totally.)

This year we might forego anything special for NYE or NY and do something special for Fiesta Bowl Friday (since OSU is playing.) I am leaning toward osso buco and risotto primarily because a bottle of '88 Quintarelli Amarone has been whispering to me from the cellar lately.

A cheese plate for NYD does sound good though. We discovered Affidelice this year and my wife loves it, especially since it is a little milder than the Epoisses.

nightscotsman: We just love Aviations! Finished off my the maraschino just a couple of days ago and can't find it anywhere. Where are you getting it? I have a bottle of something from some part of what used to be Yugoslavia that I am told is as good. Haven't tried it yet.

[Jaymes]

Cocktails, cocktails, cocktails! This time the menu includes:

Aviation

NSM -

Baphie and I both want to know... where to find the Maraschino liqueur??

Any tips? Could my local Ye Auld Booze Shoppe special order it do ya' think??

Edited December 27, 2002 by Jaymes (log)

[Beachfan]

Fois gras

Cheese Board (Perail if I can find it, a Chevre, and a very aged Gouda)

Nuts

Grilled Shrimp (flavored with with Chipotle pepper and garlic paste)

A Vegetarian Entree TBD

Salad w/ Roquefort dressing

Cake

The rest of the Payard Chocolates that we got as a gift (Wow, these are good)

Very good champagne, and another bottle or two

Pelligrino

Any suggestions on what to serve with the Fois gras. A sweet fruit preserve of some sort? Or we may do our traditional cornichons

[nightscotsman]

Cocktails, cocktails, cocktails! This time the menu includes:

Aviation

NSM -

Baphie and I both want to know... where to find the Maraschino liqueur??

Any tips? Could my local Ye Auld Booze Shoppe special order it do ya' think??

I believe there are two types of maraschino that can be had in the US. "Luxardo" is from Italy and comes in a green bottle, but I haven't been able to find it in stores. "Maraska" is the brand I use. It comes in a clear bottle and is imported from Zadar, Croatia. I think this is actually the original version. Here's what it looks like:

And here is the web site: Maraska

It's normally stocked by two or three liquor stores in the Seattle area. Not very expensive and the bottles are very large - could last years depending on how big a lush you are. Looks like you can purchase it online here.

[La Niña]

I'm a little torn about New Year's Day brunch. We're going to Jewel Bako on New Year's Eve, so that's taken care of. I'm thinking about fluffy scrambled eggs with chives, with sour cream and caviar. I'm also thinking about crepes. Maybe a multi-course meal is in order.

FG, what kind of American caviar did you get, and where did you get it and what did it cost? Jaybee, if you're reading - what was your final caviar decision?

[baphie]

nightscotsman: Excellent. That Croatian one is exactly what is down in the winecave. Glad to know my Aviation quaffing won't be impaired. It should last a while - we love 'em, but more than one doesn't sit well. I don't have the bottle of the Italian one anymore - the cap broke and I transferred it - but I think the brand name was 'Stock.' They make Fernet Branca, I believe. We got it when we lived in NOLA a few years ago.

A.

[snowangel]

We get together -- as families with kids -- with three other couples. Five adults, 11 kids, down in New Ulm, MN. The New Ulm contingent has the largest house, and a hot tub. On the menu: carnitas, fajitas (sp?) made with skirt steak (like my neighbors make), salsas (fresh and fried), "embellished" rice, and Crux (my neighbor) and I will make tortillas the morning of 12/31 before we go down.

Beverages -- whatever the kids want, Schell's Beer (it's locally brewed) and champagne.

At some point after midnight, we will lay the kids out like cordwood in the basement, and the adults will quaff for a while. Adults get beds. Kids get the floor.

The next morning, Eggs Benedict. Diana and I are in charge of the English Muffins (we make them frequently), Diana is in charge of sauce (bernaise is her choice), and the bacon will come from a local purveyor. One of our New Ulm hosts is in charged of the poached eggs. That and a ton of fresh fruit.

We've been doing it with the same folks since we were in college. We went from couples and elegant dinners, to the year when almost every woman was pregnant, to the year that every woman was breastfeeding, to now, when kids vary from grade 1 to 11.

This year, I will present everyone with a special gift -- each year, we do a group photo, and I have made copies, put them in order on foam core in poster frames, with room for years to come.

[Jinmyo]

New Year's Eve, after midnight:

Handmade soba (buckwheat noodles) with shoyu-mirin dipping sauce.

Toasted mochi (rice cakes) with a citrus glaze.

Sesame tofu (silken tofu with sesame mixed in then set) wrapped in shiso leaves.

Thin apple and daikon napoleons with a miso and shallot sauce in rice paper wrappers.

Gari (pickled ginger), takuan (daikon pickles).

Deep-fried yuba (tofu-milk skins) with much salt.

Flight of five sakes for non-drivers. Flight of three ancient China teas (one is 85 years old) for drivers.

[MHesse]

What would New Year's Eve be without Jelly Donuts?

yeah yeah - I know.... Better! (but I must honor my German roots).

sigh! I miss Royale Bakery on 72nd St.

--Mark

[Jon Tseng]

We've got some relatives flying in from stateside so I'm trying to cooking a blow-out dinner for eightish

haven't detailed the specifics, the basic ideas are below. mainly old standbys which I know will work:

?soup (some sort of pureed veg)

sauteed foie gras with orange

grilled chorizo on apple-braised lentils with a ham-flavoured broth

slow-roast salmon with beetroot-blackcurrant jelly and sour cream

confit duck ravioli with ???

roast pork belly with black pudding mashed potato

some sort of pud

we're getting our hands on a fresh raw foie gras from france (whoppee). as i am off work next week I have a couple of days prep, hence the ridiculous length of the menu.

and i am aware the menu, as it stands, has no balance in terms of cooking styles/temperatures, is comprised largely of pig and duck and has less greenery than a central london roof garden. but it should be fun.

i shall probably write more when have done some more tinkering. alternately i may still be in rehab

cheerio

J

[seawakim]

Cocktails, cocktails, cocktails! This time the menu includes:

Aviation

Champagne Ritz

Apple Pie

Bellini

Vesper

Gimlet

Floridita

Champs Elysées

Moulin Rouge

Black Velvet

Scofflaw

and of course... the Mystery Cocktail™

I can't believe Dave and I won't be able to make it to that

All that and a fabulous view of the Space Needle I presume

[suzilightning]

new year's eve is john's and my christmas as well so we are starting off with maltaushen, shrimp, crab cakes, godiva chocolates, a bottle of port for john, and a bottle of iron horse wedding cuvee 1998 and nv nicholas feilleute rose.

for new years day i have a ham slice, greens, blackeyed peas, corn bread at about 11 am.

supper later will be roast turkey breast, corn bread stuffing(using the extra corn bread i made), a beet and red cabbage salad, and brussel sprouts.

[Suvir Saran]

I believe the menu calls for blackeyed peas, greens and corn bread on New Year's day.

We must be related.

I will cook this for the eve though.

Do it each year. Will make some to bring to friends.

PS: I love to go to Russ & Daughters (Houston St., NYC) and let Mark Fedderman (owner) pick the best caviar for me. He will never steer you in the wrong direction.