What will you be eating Christmas day?
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- December 22, 2017
- 1392
Santa Claus will do the impossible again in a couple of days time. He’ll visit every Christmas-observing house on earth that carries a Santa tradition, distributing gifts at each through a magically accommodating chimney, and all of it in one night.
If you are a grownup who doesn’t believe this, you’re no fun anymore and you should stay away from children who have plenty of magic in them unspoiled by adults.
I wish I could accomplish a similar feat but one admittedly more voyeuristic in nature. I’m curious about what you’ll be eating Christmas day and how you make it.
If I could spend Christmas popping into each of your homes or all the homes in the country for that matter, I would. I’d love to know how you prepare your Christmas dinner and why. What are you making? What time does everyone eat? When in your family’s past did this all begin? Where do you find odd ingredients? I’d love to know all of it.
It’s impossible, of course, unless there’s some magic dust I don’t know about.
As I’ve learned in the course of research this week, each culture carries its own Christmas quirks, and those get wrangled and changed and adapted over time into the melting pot of America. It’s all quite fascinating, and I never tire of learning the mostly useless trivia such a study brings.
I saw the concept of adapted customs neatly boiled down in an internet meme recently. Under a picture of an Italian grandmother was the caption, “You wanna turkey for Christmas? Okay. I make you a nice lasagna.”
I have to backtrack a bit and correct something I wrote a few weeks ago about finding shellfish for New Year’s Eve. I lamented the unavailability of fresh crab in our area for steaming some crab legs and wondered how one could get the frozen clusters we find locally to cook properly without the shells getting too soft to snap smartly when cracked open. Since then I’ve learned a couple of things:
Unless you live on the shore where crabs are caught, you’re going to eat previously frozen crab legs. You see, they’re caught and immediately broken apart, boiled and quick frozen on the ship. crustaceans begin to break down right away after they’re caught, and there’s no practical way to ship them in quantity to the country’s interior without them spoiling. So they’re always frozen.
Second, preparing them is easy as I found after cooking a small experimental batch. They’re already fully cooked, so you’re just reheating them quickly. Set a large stock pot over high heat and add a couple of inches of water.
Place a steamer basket in the bottom (I simply used a small bowl) and cover with a lid. When the water is at a rolling boil and steam is escaping, add the frozen crab leg clusters.
Cover tightly, watch for the steam to escape the pot again and let them steam undisturbed for about 8-10 minutes. They should emerge ready to eat and give you a good pop when cracked. Don’t overcook them, or they’ll just bend, rather than snap, and the meat will be stubbornly difficult to dig out.
Merry Christmas to your family and a Happy New Year. I pray your holiday traditions are well preserved for the next generation and that you find peace and joy with all those with whom you share the day.