Stonehenge Twinkie pilots

The song goes, “Christmas is coming, the goose is
getting fat!” But when is the last time you had a goose during the holidays? My
family’s tradition was beef fondue on Christmas Eve. Mom would dice up some
nice tenderloin, and dad would get the hot oil going. Mom would spread out
condiments from which we could make sauces: homemade mayonnaise, peanuts,
coconut, chopped capers, scallions, mustard, and curry powder. We’d also have a
nice Caesar salad and would drink copious quantities of Beaujolais Nouveau.

            There are
plenty of interesting holiday food traditions. New Orleans chef Greg Duva
suggested I research King Cake, part of a tradition that goes back to Roman
Saturnalia festivals. These days, a NOLA King Cake would be like brioche in a
doughnut shape, rolled in cinnamon, covered with colored sugars, and iced.
Inside would be a “king cake baby,” and the person who gets it would win something
(it used to mean you get to be royalty and host the next party). For a
fascinating history, visit www.mardigrasunmasked.com/mardigras/king_cake.htm.

            Related
only by a strained act of convoluted logic, we find Rob Tyler and Patricia
Pauly of Pittsford throwing a yearly Solstice party. Tyler says they picked the
Solstice because “it’s equally pagan for everyone.” To aid in navigating the
multicultural waters, Tyler searches for “the ultimate druid fluid,” which
means a trip to Beers of the World for Polish mead and whatever odd ales catch
his fancy. Hen’s Teeth is a favorite (Nick Park would approve). Further
stretching the theme, Tyler and Pauly serve food in the shape of Stonehenge.
One year it was Twinkies, another it was gingerbread.

            Celebrating
where traditions meet is of particular importance in families of mixed
heritage. My childhood friend Caroline Levy describes hers this way: “One
parent Jewish, one parent Protestant, both parents really would have been
secular humanists if they’d felt like getting together in any kind of group at
all, which they didn’t.” With both families primarily German, Caroline says her
Jewish grandmother’s recipe for lebkuchen “speaks volumes to me about the
blending.” Her mother called her grandmother’s recipes “a small measure of
immortality.” Lebkucken is a cake-like cookie, honey-sweetened, very spicy,
lemony, and iced. (Write to foodguy@rochester.rr.com for this or other recipes
mentioned here.)

            Salt fish,
usually salt-dried cod, is common to many cultures’ holiday traditions. Most
folks of Italian ancestry have a preparation of baccalà — the French
say morue, the Spanish bacalao — that figures in their holiday
mix. Any use of saltfish starts by soaking it for a couple of days in several
changes of water. My friend Brandon Heffernan wrote to rave about his Italian
grandmother’s soup, in which the fish is cooked with onions, garlic, parsley,
tomatoes, and white wine.

            Vince
Giordano, owner of VM Giordano imports at the Public Market, grew up in the
Basilicata region of Italy. His family holidays were about seafood: Spanish
mackerel, pan-fried in olive oil with garlic and rosemary; smelt, fried or in a
casserole; baccalà, fried or cooked with onions and peeled tomatoes; and
stuffed squid. For the kids, there was pettole, strips of fried dough
dusted with sugar or dipped in vino cotto (cooked wine). Vince’s mother
would also make fried ravioli stuffed with her own chestnut jam.

            Karin
Cross, wife of City writer Dave Cross and a very fine cook, is happy
that baccalà has disappeared from her family’s holiday menus as the
older generations have passed. One tradition she maintains is serving fennel
which, she says, “is damn good stuff, unfairly overlooked by many but not us
Italians.” She likes to munch on it like celery, but also sent a
fabulous-sounding recipe for a salad of thinly sliced fennel and blood oranges
with shaved parmesan or Romano.

            My friend
Sarah Webb says her fondest memories are from the blossoming tradition of our
families spending New Year’s together, especially my daughter Iris cleaning the
bones of Sarah’s apricot-soy chicken wings (another recipe available on
request).

            And that’s
just it: you have to eat, and at the holidays, it has to be special. Whether
you’re creating your own neologistic holidays like Rob Tyler, participating in
something with a 2,000-year-old history like King Cake, or just doing what
you’re parents’ parents did, keeping a tradition in food can be a most blessed
sacrament.

Food tip

Try the Dutch Market at 257 Park Avenue for unique holiday
treats. Where else would you find Borrelnootjes, Gevulde Speculaas, Mergpijpes,
or 30 flavors of licorice? Owner Betty French also serves the only Indonesian
food in town. Info: www.park-avenue.org/dutchmarket.

Michael Warren Thomas

Tune in Michael on Saturdays for gardening, restaurants, and
travel (9 a.m. to noon); and on Sundays for antiques and wine (10 a.m. to noon)
on WYSL 1040 AM. Listen live on the web at www.SavorLife.com.

This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2002.