It's barely Thanksgiving and I already see Christmas all
about me. The other day I saw signs for u-cut trees (you pay a fee and
cut your own tree from the Christmas tree farm), the stores have
Christmas decorations and are selling Christmas specialty items. Since I
am a food nut I always check out the Christmas foods for sale,
particularly the sweets. I have already bought seasonal peppermint ice
cream, Christmas hard candy and varies peppermint candies, some
gingerbread cookies and....well you get the idea.
One thing I hide from every year is eggnog. The varieties sold in stores isn't really true eggnog and is much worse than the real stuff. But even real eggnog sends chills up my spine. Yuk! I don't particularly like eggs, and when you put raw eggs in a drink it is wholly unpleasant to me. Some people make their own eggnog. I suppose they also make fruitcake, another seasonal food that many people despise (though I like very much). Fortunately, eggnog is perishable, so the nuts who make their own rarely give their eggnog as gifts.
All those Christmas food offerings facing me made me think about some of the traditional Christmas foods of New Orleans. One who grows up in New Orleans is never food deprived but the local Christmas favorites take their food to an even higher level. At Christmas time, when eating at home, someone else's home or in a restaurant one will see a number of favorite New Orleans Christmas foods. Some are strictly local and others found elsewhere , but like most food in New Orleans, just prepared better in New Orleans.
Here are some of my favorites: oyster dressing (dozens of oysters and the oyster 'liquor" goes into this type of stuffing for a turkey. Even people who don't like oysters like the dressing); oyster/artichoke soup (Yes, another oyster dish. Oysters are at their peak in December, that's why); Shrimp with remoulade sauce (this dish uses a New Orleans style variation of the classic French remoulade. It has mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, paprika and Cajun seasonings as the base.); Shrimp or Duck and Sausage Gumbo (the favorite soup of New Orleans that is served over rice and is therefore not so soupy in consistency) ; Spinach Madeleine ( an enhanced version of a creamed spinach....very well seasoned and not bland like most spinach dishes); Turduken (It's a chicken stuffed inside a duck, which is stuffed inside a turkey. Each layer has a highly seasons rice stuffing accompanying it); Daube Glace' (slow cooked beef in a sinful gravy. After cooking it is refrigerated in its stock to form a cold, jellied meat, which is then simmered down to create the Glacé .) Dirty Rice (It only looks dirty, but it does have pureed chicken livers and gizzards in it); Shrimp Stuffed Mirliton (Mirlitons are a weird vegetable that grows wild in New Orleans. Trust me on this, they are wonderful when stuffed with shrimp, spices, veggies, and bread crumbs) ; and Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce (made with stale New Orleans style French bread and tons of cream and butter).
Ok that is SOME of what they eat in New Orleans at Christmas time. I can't go on any longer writing about this because the cravings of those missed delicacies are too much for me to take...
One thing I hide from every year is eggnog. The varieties sold in stores isn't really true eggnog and is much worse than the real stuff. But even real eggnog sends chills up my spine. Yuk! I don't particularly like eggs, and when you put raw eggs in a drink it is wholly unpleasant to me. Some people make their own eggnog. I suppose they also make fruitcake, another seasonal food that many people despise (though I like very much). Fortunately, eggnog is perishable, so the nuts who make their own rarely give their eggnog as gifts.
All those Christmas food offerings facing me made me think about some of the traditional Christmas foods of New Orleans. One who grows up in New Orleans is never food deprived but the local Christmas favorites take their food to an even higher level. At Christmas time, when eating at home, someone else's home or in a restaurant one will see a number of favorite New Orleans Christmas foods. Some are strictly local and others found elsewhere , but like most food in New Orleans, just prepared better in New Orleans.
Here are some of my favorites: oyster dressing (dozens of oysters and the oyster 'liquor" goes into this type of stuffing for a turkey. Even people who don't like oysters like the dressing); oyster/artichoke soup (Yes, another oyster dish. Oysters are at their peak in December, that's why); Shrimp with remoulade sauce (this dish uses a New Orleans style variation of the classic French remoulade. It has mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, paprika and Cajun seasonings as the base.); Shrimp or Duck and Sausage Gumbo (the favorite soup of New Orleans that is served over rice and is therefore not so soupy in consistency) ; Spinach Madeleine ( an enhanced version of a creamed spinach....very well seasoned and not bland like most spinach dishes); Turduken (It's a chicken stuffed inside a duck, which is stuffed inside a turkey. Each layer has a highly seasons rice stuffing accompanying it); Daube Glace' (slow cooked beef in a sinful gravy. After cooking it is refrigerated in its stock to form a cold, jellied meat, which is then simmered down to create the Glacé .) Dirty Rice (It only looks dirty, but it does have pureed chicken livers and gizzards in it); Shrimp Stuffed Mirliton (Mirlitons are a weird vegetable that grows wild in New Orleans. Trust me on this, they are wonderful when stuffed with shrimp, spices, veggies, and bread crumbs) ; and Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce (made with stale New Orleans style French bread and tons of cream and butter).
Ok that is SOME of what they eat in New Orleans at Christmas time. I can't go on any longer writing about this because the cravings of those missed delicacies are too much for me to take...
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