Clearly, next year I will have to make Danish Christmas cookies at Thanksgiving and ripen them in tins. For this year I must go to the fancy store after herring, salmon, prunes, rye bread, red cabbage, songbirds and candles. 23 December is the day to do it.
Very basic versions of the Scandinavian menus, modified for Maringouin, are:
CHRISTMAS EVE
Herring and rye bread, and we should have gravlaks but I will make salmon ceviche with some of my many lemons.
We should have akvavit and certain pickles but we are really having olives and cerveza Modelo Especial, as there is so much of these left over from my party. We should acquire Irish butter but we may not.
FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS
Ducks or Cornish hens stuffed with apples and prunes; red cabbage.
We should have rice pudding with almonds but we might have buttermilk soup. Rice pudding is not arroz con leche and is not made of leftover rice, and you need dark beer for it.
SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS
Chicken in cauliflower sauce with potatoes, carrots and leeks.
THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS
Cuban black beans with ham shank and peppers.
FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
Camembert, Port, and Kråsesuppe.
Take a goose or duck carcass, not picked clean. Remnants of the apple and prune stuffing should still be sticking to the bones. Put the carcass in a pot, and add any leftover giblets and gravy you may have. Cover with water and add at least two large spoonfuls of vinegar, or more to taste. It is very important to have at least some vinegar since this will release the flavor from the bones.
Bring the pot to a boil and then simmer slowly until you have a rich broth. Remove clean bones, and add: chopped green apples, prunes, sliced leeks, shallots, and carrots. Simmer until vegetables are done. If you have leftover potatoes or rice dressing and want to make a heartier soup, you can include them.
SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
High quality cold cuts, a variety of breads, and other random delicacies: Turkish delight, clementines from Mallorca, hazelnuts.
There are twelve days of Christmas but the seventh is New Year’s Eve, the eighth New Year’s Day and the twelfth, Twelfth Night. For these days one has to start serving more springlike food and of course, Andean soups for the cold. I might want pistou and some sort of well spiced and juicy, but lean pork or lamb. For Twelfth Night this year I want to make my own rosca de reyes, with marzipan.
My consulting business can design menus for you as well as your wardrobe and house, and they will be more original than any you find in a magazine.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 