World's Most Fattening Holiday Foods

[Gifted Gourmet]

article from Forbes Magazine

Around the world, holidays are inextricably tied with food... most traditional recipes predate our era of calorie counting and cholesterol consciousness. These are foods that are often rooted deep within a culture, made from the most special or delicious ingredients--heavy creams, butter, meat, nuts, sugars, candied fruits, preserves, oils, i.e., the stuff that tastes good--that a family could afford. In some cultures, such celebrations often originated around the lifting of a fast or the approach of winter, when the extra fat from such a feast served to strengthen the body against past or future times of hunger.

Be sure to click on the link which shows the worst of the heavy duty caloric offenders ...

What is one holiday food that you positively must eat during the holidays in spite of the high calorie content?

[judiu]

What is one holiday food that you positively must eat during the holidays in spite of the high calorie content?

Fruitcake! And cookies, preferably toll house.

[Milagai]

All the Diwali sweets!

The essence of feasting on this holiday is

sweets, sweets and more sweets,

even if you don't have a sweet tooth.

Almonds, pista, sugar, milk, cream, ghee, khoa, chhena, all these

ingredients and more...

One of the fattiest is ghevar, with rabdi

(roughly speaking, milk boiled down to khoa,

lots of sugar added, deep fried in ghee, and cream with nuts poured

all over the top.)

Just reading the description makes my arteries slow down....

Milagai

[petite tête de chou]

Booze. But since that's a liquid I choose crispy, wonderful turkey skin as my solid food. I could strip a whole bird and leave the meat, no problemo.

[jsolomon]

I'd like to invite that personal trainer who said

say no

to a cage match with me!

Heh, all of those foods are what make the holidays great!

[cakewalk]

What a bummer of an article. Not only does it mention the best holiday foods and then say, "no, no!" -- but it also gives you mouthwatering photos of those foods. Is there a bit of a mixed message here?

I shall have my cake and eat it!! (And then spend some extra time in the gym.)

But the most un-give-uppable thing for me is halvah. And the holiday is Everyday.

[Jaymes]

For me, it's that dang fool sweet potato casserole. Thanksgiving and Christmas come down to four things....turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce and those sweet potatoes.

I'd be perfectly happy skipping the rest of it.

All the rest of it.

[BarbaraY]

Unless one has a medical condition like diabetes or high blood pressure, I don't see anything wrong with feasting on Christmas and Thanksgiving. Of course if one rich meal sets a person off on an endless binge it's another story.

I'm sick of the Food Police trying to make us fear our food.

OK! I'm off my soapbox now. Sorry about the rant.

I have to have creamy mashed potatoes with lots of turkey gravy and pumpkin pie with gobs of real whipped cream. The rest of it, too, but those are essential.

[I_call_the_duck]

...I choose crispy, wonderful turkey skin as my solid food. I could strip a whole bird and leave the meat, no problemo.

←

You and me both. My brother and I always fight for the skin.

I've mentioned this on other forums, but one year, my sister was in charge of carving the turkey, and SHE THREW OUT ALL THE SKIN!!!

Punishment? She's not allowed to carve the bird anymore. Payback? I've trained her kids to love the skin. It's a hard thing to do, but I sacrifice some of the skin and sneak them some every year.

[Daniel Rogov]

Melissa, Hi....

Party-poopers!!!!!!! Aside from which I think there is a misunderstanding in this article. To me a calorie has never been anything more than the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 cubic centimeter of water by 1 degrees Celsius. I refuse to think of calories in any other way! Or, as might be said,

"Damn the torpedoes - full speed ahead".

No fear, I am laughing at myself as I write this..

[JAZ]

Did anyone else happen to notice that the ingredients listed for each of the dishes were for an entire dish (1 12-lb goose, etc), and the serving sizes weren't mentioned? Makes it difficult to interpret their figures. I mean, I wonder how much goose you'd have to eat to reach 784 calories? My usual source, Food Counts, lists roasted goose (with skin) at 346 calories for 4 ounces. So I guess they're thinking of a serving of 9 ounces or so?

Likewise, they list 300 calories for creamed corn -- I see creamed corn listed at 80 to 120 calories for a half cup. Apparently they think a serving is a cup and a half?

[DTBarton]

But where's the standing rib roast with Yorkshire pudding?

[Gifted Gourmet]

it also gives you mouthwatering photos of those foods. Is there a bit of a mixed message here? 

←

I really believe that the photographs of food dishes on eGullet far exceed the quality of anything this article has to offer (couldn't Forbes have shown better pictures?)... and I have to agree, cakewalk, that to show food and say "no, no" is more than a little bit annoying! I wouldn't do that to anyone, not even my cocker spaniel!

I am not so into halvah but, for me, the one food I would be loath to give up for a holiday would be latkes. It is, after all, almost a Torah commandment to eat latkes on Hanukkah! And the mitzvah of a dollop or two of sour cream? Who would risk eternal hellfire and damnation in the "world to come" by skipping those??

[NYC Mike]

At least they didn't say to "say no" to Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast-beast!

[ruthcooks]

"Full of sugar" to describe a recipe containing 4 TABLESPOONS of sugar? What about pecan pie with the equivalent of two CUPS of sugar? I've seen dessert recipes with over 1000 calories per serving. The person who wrote this article doesn't know from calories and richness.

Oh yeah...if it's a holiday food and you don't eat it on the holiday, when ARE you going to eat it?

[Gifted Gourmet]

I've seen dessert recipes with over 1000 calories per serving. 

←

I don't suppose that you might wish to offer these particular recipes for those of us who indulge only on the holidays, Ruth?? We are already into December ... no rush, mind you ...

[kitchenmage]

We are already into December ... no rush, mind you ...

←

We are? You Georgians must have one heck of a shift when daylight savings time goes into effect!

[ruthcooks]

I've seen dessert recipes with over 1000 calories per serving. 

←

I don't suppose that you might wish to offer these particular recipes for those of us who indulge only on the holidays, Ruth?? We are already into December ... no rush, mind you ...

←

I don't remember any particular recipe, just that I've seen some pretty high calorie counts.

That is, on the rare occasions I bother to read them.

[Ling]

500 calories for a dessert is nothing.

The things I must eat every Thanksgiving or Christmas is sausage stuffing. You can keep the turkey (but I'll take the skin).

[Kris]

For Christmas time, I must have black cake (West Indian fruitcake). Conquito (Puerto Rican version of egg nog) is also high on the list. My mother-in-law makes quarts of it every year and usually gives hubby and me a 1/2 gallon of it. And I only drink a cup or two because she makes it so strong with rum. But it's not the holiday season without it. LOL

For Thanksgiving, I must have homemade baked macaroni & cheese as well as collard greens.

I hate articles like that, no we shouldn't be eating like that every single day. But eating those those fatty, rich, sweet and fat laden foods are what help make the holidays special. And create fond memories that last a lifetime.

I know I'd get sick of black cake if I ate it every day. But eating it for a few days out of the month of December makes me savor it even more.

[mizducky]

Foods that I dream of for the holidays:

--Roast turkey--especially the dark meat, skin, and the tail (I am the fastest turkey-tail absconder in the Western World--blink and it's gone! )

--Stuffing--but only when it's been cooked inside the bird

--Gravy made with the drippings and giblets

--Chopped liver with gribenes

Everything else--well, it's certainly lovely to enjoy, but the above four things make the holidays for me.

(Having spent a couple of holiday seasons in my time faithfully, and miserably, sticking to some food regimen or other, I declare never again. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of the diet-obsessed mind, or something like that.)

[Shalmanese]

I've seen dessert recipes with over 1000 calories per serving. 

←

I don't suppose that you might wish to offer these particular recipes for those of us who indulge only on the holidays, Ruth?? We are already into December ... no rush, mind you ...

←

Not exactly a dessert but Thomas Keller's BLT clocks in at around 1200 calories. recipe here

[andiesenji]

Broguiere's dairy has eggnog that is, without any additives, 420 calories per 4 oz serving. Add liquor and it goes up a great deal. Fortunately for me, I can't use alcohol and strictly limit my eggnog intake.

By the way, I once figured that my "special rich" bread pudding has approximately 300 calories per tablespoon.

[Rachel Perlow]

Did you look at the ingredient lists? They used Crisco to fry those latkes! Oy.