BS: sauerkraut on New Years

Subject: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: olddude
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:03 PM

sauerkraut For some reason it is a family good luck tradition

anyone else do this on New Years? Not my favorite but I will eat it

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:10 PM

Down here in Texas they eat black-eyed peas. Some kind of bean. I don't bother, it isn't a tradition I grew up with.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: olddude
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:25 PM

SRS can we trade?

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:32 PM

Here in our part of the South, it's collards and some kind of pea. I think I'll make some sauerkraut, too. mmmmm sauerkraut mmmmmm

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: robomatic
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:44 PM

As with Chrismas: Chinese food!

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: maire-aine
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:47 PM

While not part of any tradition, I happened to have a bowl of Potato-Sauerkraut-Kielbasa Soup for lunch today. It's my favorite. So maybe I'll get some residual good luck.

M

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:52 PM

robomatic, I've sometimes wondered, why Chinese? As opposed to say, Thai, or Jamaican, or Ethiopian, or Greek, or California, or any other sort of cuisine.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 06:53 PM

..or Indian. I would think curry would be an excellent food to have on the day one doesn't celebrate Christmas.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: ClaireBear
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 07:54 PM

Black beans in my family, but we do it on new year's eve, not the day itself. It's a Latin American/Caribbean thing, I seem to recall.

OK, so Wikipedia has several mentions of traditions (Italy, Malta, Brazil, the U.S. South) in which some sort of bean is to be eaten on new year's day, or new year's night. Not one mentions new year's eve, so I've probably just misremembered. So, the big pot of black bean soup I took to a party last night probably didn't pack all the good luck juju I thought. Shame (tasted great anyway, though).

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Janie
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 08:19 PM

My family's tradition is corned beef,cabbage and cornbread. Used to cook it with one shiny new dime - was good luck for the year for whoever found it. At supper tonight I asked Mom if there was a dime to look for. She said the way metal in coins have changed, she was afraid to do it. Afraid of lead, mostly.

Where I live now, in North Carolina, the traditional New Year meal is "beans and greens", meaning black-eyed peas and collard greens.

I'd go for pinto beans and kale, mustard or turnip greens, but will pass on the black-eyed peas and collards.

I'll take good cornbread any time and anywhere I can!

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 08:57 PM

I happened to have a bowl of Potato-Sauerkraut-Kielbasa Soup for lunch today.

Maryanne, that sounds wonderful! Please post your recipe, if it isn't a state secret. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 09:12 PM

New Year's Eve is still leftover time with us.
Hornchen-crescents-croissants (whatever one calls them) cut open, buttered and lightly toasted, covered with creamed turkey and cranberry sauce. Lots of turkey pieces, please.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 09:31 PM

Black-eyed peas on NewYear's day is the one I've always known.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: maire-aine
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 11:08 PM

Here's the soup recipe. I know I've posted it before, but I can't get any results out of "search" right now.

Hearty Potato-Sauerkraut Soup

8 C chicken or beef broth (I use Swanson's lower sodium)
16 oz. jar of sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted (again, lower sodium)
3 medium potatoes, cut into small cubes
3 medium carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
one big link of smoked Polish sausage, cubed (I use Butterball turkey kielbasa)
1 C chopped cooked ham
2 T vinegar
2 t dried dillweed
½ t pepper
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced (if you like mushrooms)

Put the whole thing in a big pot and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 4-5 hours.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 12:19 AM

With that cream of mushroom soup it must be more a stew than a soup. Without that ingredient it sounds exactly like what I visualized when you named it. It sounds wonderful.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: catspaw49
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 01:13 AM

Everyone is right here plus a few more.............

I grew up with kraut and pork cooked with a silver dollar in it and for years I kept one just for that purpose. After it disapppeared I tried 4 silver quaters and eventually just said, "Ta' hell with it," and skipped the coinage altogether.

When I lived in the south at various times the two main ones I added were turnip greens and blackeyed peas and added Hoppin' John a bit later. Now our New Year's day includes all of that and also Crab Cakes which Connie's family from the Chesapeake area always had. Karen and I were happy to add that one!   So we eat like hogs and hope something or another brings luck and money and all of that.

I'm not sure it works though.................We barely have 2 nickels to rub together and buying food for New Year's is getting pretty damn costly! But we have a home and all that entails so maybe it does work.

Then again, I have had more than my share of health problems in the past 12 years so I'm not sure either about the health thing working. But I tell ya'...... I have had some damn serious illnesses and I'm still alive.....so maybe it does.

I dunno' which way it goes but as long as I'm still going through it all with my best friend for a partner, well, hell............It doesn't get any better than that does it? (;<))

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: CarolC
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 02:22 AM

I don't know if this is specific to our part of North Carolina (southeast coastal - and northeast South Carolina, where some of our neighbors come from), but the kind of pea here doesn't seem to be all that important. When we were living in Georgia and Alabama, it had to be black eyed peas. But here they have field peas as often as black eyed peas, and I was told today that even sweet peas would be ok. I was very happy to hear that, since I'm not terribly fond of field peas or black eyed peas. We asked if beans would be ok, and were told that peas were better.

I find it all very interesting, since I don't recall there being any foods that were traditional for my family to eat on New Years eve or day while I was growing up. In fact, I never had any particular New Years food traditions until I moved to the South to be with JtS.

One of our neighbors also has a tradition of not allowing any women to enter the house until a man has entered it on New Years day (bad luck otherwise). It's ok for women to be in the house already, but no woman can enter it until a man does. This produced some funny moments, I was told, because some of her female relatives wanted to enter the house, and she wouldn't let them until they fetched one of their male neighbors to enter the house first.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: maire-aine
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 08:49 AM

"First foot" is what people call it. My mother used to say that having a dark-haired man enter first brings good luck. It isn't even supposed to be a fair-haired man, altho that's better than a woman.

It used to be that some of my mothers's friends and their husbands would drop by on New Years Day, and mother would aways have the men enter first. Sometimes she'd call the neighbor from across the street to be the "first foot" across the threshold.

And my mother was NOT superstitious. Noooo.

M

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 03:16 PM

Hmmm...just had a second post disappear within the past two days.

I said something like...despite being very very German and brought up in that cradle of sauerkrautery, Milwaukee, sauerkraut was not a part of my family's New Year's tradition. We had sauerkraut in every part of the year, but it certainly wasn't specific to New Year's.

Herring, on the other hand... Have to have pickled herring in one form or another, with or without sour cream. Dad made sure it was in the refrigerator a few weeks before Christmas so there would be plenty throughout the holidays.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: CarolC
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 03:21 PM

Our neighbor didn't say anything about hair color, but that may be because dark hair is the default around here. Most of our neighbors are African American.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 04:12 PM

I love pickled herring, but I usually have it here year round. (I prefer the wine sauce).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Ed T
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 05:34 PM

I am of Acadian (French), German and Irish background. So Christmas is a bit of a mix. My wife is of German decent.

Acadian Meat pie is always a huge tradition at Christmas....we eat it cold (with tea) and also with cramberry sauce..also heated with Molasses. Rum based plum putting and (some may not like it)....light fruitcake are also a tradition, as is mince pie, and fish cakes and wild blueberry pancakes, for breakfast.

Irish dishes (Potato is King) abound betwen Christmas and New Years.

Since I now live in Nova Scotia, Christmas Lobster has become a newer tradition....it loves warm butter....and is even cheaper the past few years.

New Years leans more towards the German side, with local Solomon Gundy... yes pickled herring, (some local recipe's are great) and German sausage is always nearby.

We eat localy made sauerkraut throughout the year....with sausage, but never during Christmas or New Years.

And, yes....like others Chinese food and Italian dishes are a great back up ( I do the Chinese, my wife Italian) and my son is partial to home cooked Indian Food. When my daughter's family visits...we tend to gravitate more towerds traditional North American dishes.

Now this may surprise you....but a Christmas cannot go by without me drinking a hot toddy....hot water, sugar and private stock Moonshine (delivered each year) ...it brings me back to my youth...and warms my innards.

BTW, I grew up with baked navy beans....but just love black beans (turtle beans) and also black bean soup. I would welcome new recipe's (Clair Bear, or othersZ).

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: olddude
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 05:37 PM

pickled herring, never had it but lots of people say it is really good. Never tried it even once ... sometime perhaps ... sound good

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Ed T
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 06:12 PM

olddude

Pickled herring (Solomon Gundy) is relatively simple....kind of like pickles,but with herring....though the mixtures differ, and the fat content (time of year) of the herring is very important, as is the aging.

Basically, it is salt herring, onions, vinegar, pickling spice and sugar.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: maire-aine
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 07:14 PM

I went to Scandinavia many years ago, and there was always herring on the breakfast buffet table, but I could never summon up the courage to try it.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: maire-aine
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 07:19 PM

Since I went out and looked for the recipe, I figured I'd add a link to Acadian Meat Pie

M

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Ed T
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 07:51 PM

I use one that's closer to this....and use a healthy shortning replacement (never used lard). It's kind of like a biscuit crust with chicken/pork/onion/savory-pepper mix between....ummmmm.

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Ed T
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 07:52 PM

Acadian Meat pie:
http://www.tourismpei.com/index.php3?number=15988

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: MarkS
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 01:35 PM

Black eyed peas and sauerkraut on New Years Day here. Oh, and just after midnight on New Years Eve, you open the front door to let the old year out and the new year in!

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 06:19 PM

Put money outside on New Year's Eve -- bring it back in on New Year's Day to encourage prosperity.

Black-eyed peas, lentils, etc. are all money magic, too.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 07:09 PM

No,not sauerkraut - still have some red cabbage left from Christmas!

Kitty

Subject: RE: BS: sauerkraut on New Years
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 06:07 AM

We have always had pork on new years day. Never thought of putting sauerkraut with it but we did have red cabbage and apple with it this year - Very good too.

As to first footing - we always have a 'kit' comprising of food, drink, fuel and silver. This year it was a choclolate biscuit, a minature of tequilla left over from the hols, a can of gas lighter fuel and a 20p piece. It got brought in by me. Not very tall or dark but you don't get much stranger...

:D (eG)