New Years Eve Dishes & Customs

[David Naylor]

I am looking for a little bit of advice if anybody can help.

I have been invited to a News Years Eve dinner in the burgundy region, three or four extended families will be in attendance. In order that I can display a little knowledge of this traditional time could anybody shed light on dishes normally served on New Years Eve (if any) and are there any particular customs?

Furthermore it is custom in England to listen to the chimes of Big Ben (bells) either on radio or TV come midnight, what is the equivalent in France?

One last request, I have invited a number of locals from the village (in Burgundy) to my house on New Years Day for a late lunch, again are there any particular dishes traditionally served on this day?

Regards

david

[John Talbott]

I am looking for a little bit of advice if anybody can help.

I have been invited to a News Years Eve dinner in the burgundy region, three or four extended families will be in attendance. In order that I can display a little knowledge of this traditional time could anybody shed light on dishes normally served on New Years Eve (if any) and are there any particular customs?

Furthermore it is custom in England to listen to the chimes of Big Ben (bells) either on radio or TV come midnight, what is the equivalent in France?

One last request, I have invited a number of locals from the village (in Burgundy) to my house on New Years Day for a late lunch, again are there any particular dishes traditionally served on this day?

Regards

david

←

I thought David's query was unique = never before. So I started putting together a compendium. Guess what I found? - An old thread on the subject. Ah the eGullet Archives.

[David Naylor]

Thanks John i'll have a look through these, i did do a search before posing the question but didn't find anything. Perhaps you have special search powers!

Regards

David

[John Talbott]

I hate to see what I think could be a potentially interesting thread go cold. So at the risk of showing my cross-cultural ignorance, here goes.

….are there any particular customs?

Furthermore it is custom in England to listen to the chimes of Big Ben (bells) either on radio or TV come midnight, what is the equivalent in France?

None except to stay out of Metro stations near the Bastille where cherry bombs will destroy your hearing.

I have invited a number of locals from the village (in Burgundy) to my house on New Years Day for a late lunch, again are there any particular dishes traditionally served on this day?

A trusted French friend, suddenly bashful, says at least on NYE, “stuff like caviar oysters champagne and other expensive foods.”

Our (Talbott) house lays on foie gras, salmon and occasionally caviar, usually from the Petrossian stand at Galeries Lafayette, brioche, Bellota-Bellota or its moral equivalent and herring from the Maison du Danmark and often Oleron oysters from our local brasserie.

Regarding

In order that I can display a little knowledge of this traditional time

her cross-cultural observation is as follows:

There's nothing traditional to eat on New Year's Eve,....considered an escape from tradition and family, to recover from the Christmas season. The very notion of traditional is avoided.

It's just eat well, drink a lot and get crazy.

Other views?

[John Talbott]

At the risk of being chastised for double-posting but with the rationalization that it will appear in the Digest too late to be helpful, an update on what to serve on Christmas and New Year's Eves from today's Figaro. Alexandra Michot wrote about (1) serving traditional dishes and where to get them, (2) with some new twists or (3) alternatives. They are:

Oysters from Cancale, Prat-ar-Coum, etc – Twist = sink them in gelatin - Alternatively = get escargots from L’Escargot Montorgueil.

Foie gras (duck from the SouthWest from say Le Repaire de Cartouche) – Twist = serve balls of foie gras with a stick like a lollipop from Lenôtre – Alt = a terrine but of pork, fish, scallops, veggies, etc.

Caviar from Pétrossian, Prunier, Byzance, Caviar Kaspia – Twist = serve on crème fraîche in a watercress soup – Alt = salmon, herring eggs.

Smoked salmon from Safa – Twist = sauces (sweet-sour, anis, honey) or as smorebrod – Alt = smoked eel, herring, trout, halibut, sturgeon.

Turkey – Alt = capon

Buche – Alt = a soup of exotic fruits

Chocolates with coffee – Alt = guimauves (that marshmallow-y stuff).