What are your favorite foods and/or drinks?

[Rusty Edge]

Well, it is weird to do things that you don't like simply because you've always done them.

Sometimes, though, doing  what we do is a part of our heritage and culture, which can be pretty cool.  I always enjoyed singing the hymn "A mighty fortress is our God" because it was a tie to nameless ancestors centuries before.

But sometimes traditions aren't what they seem. I'm reminded of the story about the man who asked his wife why she always cut the ends off of a roast before cooking it. Because her mother always did it that way. When she asked her mother why, it was because Grandma always did it that way. Grandma happened to be alive, so they asked her.
She said it was because they were too poor to afford a pan big enough to cook the whole roast at once.

I can't help but wonder if the tradition of jellied fish didn't originate with "We're having the whole family here in our home for our special Christmas dinner. The main course is smoked shark, but of course the grandparents have no teeth and can't chew it. We will serve jellied shark, too, so they won't feel left out."

Don't people eat lutefisk with mashed potatoes or something that has a similar texture?


I think that food preservation and preparation has come a long way over the centuries. For example, the traditional turkey at Thanksgiving ( basically the American harvest feast  with origins in one of the Colonies in the circa 1621) is a smoked and grilled turkey breast at my in-laws celebration. It's the best turkey I've ever had in my life. Flavorful, moist, and perfectly done.


I think there is a lot of room to update traditional dishes. I think our ancestors did the best they could with what they had.

[Valka]

One year for our Shire's annual Harvest Feast, we had turkey with chocolate sauce (our branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism was New World, so we got away with serving lots of New World stuff).

[Zoid]

Well, it is weird to do things that you don't like simply because you've always done them.

Sometimes, though, doing  what we do is a part of our heritage and culture, which can be pretty cool.  I always enjoyed singing the hymn "A mighty fortress is our God" because it was a tie to nameless ancestors centuries before.

But sometimes traditions aren't what they seem. I'm reminded of the story about the man who asked his wife why she always cut the ends off of a roast before cooking it. Because her mother always did it that way. When she asked her mother why, it was because Grandma always did it that way. Grandma happened to be alive, so they asked her.
She said it was because they were too poor to afford a pan big enough to cook the whole roast at once.

I can't help but wonder if the tradition of jellied fish didn't originate with "We're having the whole family here in our home for our special Christmas dinner. The main course is smoked shark, but of course the grandparents have no teeth and can't chew it. We will serve jellied shark, too, so they won't feel left out."

Don't people eat lutefisk with mashed potatoes or something that has a similar texture?


I think that food preservation and preparation has come a long way over the centuries. For example, the traditional turkey at Thanksgiving ( basically the American harvest feast  with origins in one of the Colonies in the circa 1621) is a smoked and grilled turkey breast at my in-laws celebration. It's the best turkey I've ever had in my life. Flavorful, moist, and perfectly done.


I think there is a lot of room to update traditional dishes. I think our ancestors did the best they could with what they had.

Interesting thought about the lutefisk... In Sweden it's traditionally eaten with an allspice flavoured bechamel and boiled potatoes. In Norway they add other things...

Lutefisk is usually served with a variety of side dishes, including, but not limited to, bacon, green peas, green pea stew, potatoes, lefse, gravy, mashed rutabaga, white sauce, melted or clarified butter, syrup, geitost (goat cheese), or "old" cheese (gammelost). In the United States in particular it is sometimes eaten together with meatballs. Side dishes vary greatly from family-to-family and region-to-region, and can be a source of jovial contention when eaters of different "traditions" of lutefisk dine together.
Today, akvavit and beer often accompany the meal due to its use at festive and ceremonial occasions. This is a recent innovation, however; due to its preservative qualities, lutefisk has traditionally been a common "everyday" meal in wintertime.

Lutefisk prepared from cod is somewhat notorious, even in Scandinavia, for its intense (and to those unacquainted with the dish, offensive) odor. Conversely, lutefisk prepared from pollock or haddock emits almost no odor.
The taste of well-prepared lutefisk is very mild, and often the white sauce is spiced with pepper or other strong tasting spices to bring out the flavor. In Minnesota, this method (seasoned with allspice) is common among Swedish-Americans, while Norwegian-Americans prefer to eat it unseasoned with melted butter.

[Unorthodox]

Offensive odor is correct.  And it don't leave the microwave...

Would have been the Norwegian version, fwiw. 

[Rusty Edge]

Well, it still sounds to me mostly like a diet  from the days before dentistry and refrigeration.

Well, Chef Zoid, since I watch too many cooking shows.....    I challenge you to put a modern twist on the traditional foods for some kind of Scandanavian holiday. You don't have to actually cook it, just propose a menu. Of course you don't have to use lutefisk, but you do have to use a kind of fish often prepared that way.   

[Geo]

One year for our Shire's annual Harvest Feast, we had turkey with chocolate sauce...

  

[Valka]

It was an Aztec feast. That's what they ate.

[Geo]

Mmm. Would have thought vanilla would be their thing. At least, I read the Aztec knew about vanilla, but never heard of Mexican chocolate...

[Buster's Uncle]

Oh no - they were all about the unsweetened cocoa.  Drank it and put it on everything.  Tell 'im, Uno, M, Valka.

[Unorthodox]

Cocoa more or less = currency to the Aztecs, practically worshipped.   

Think Oompa Loompa's...only they rip out your guts instead of sing silly songs. 

Though I've never heard of the sauce on the turkey...

Their cuisine wasn't exactly an area of my interest. 

[Zoid]

Well, it still sounds to me mostly like a diet  from the days before dentistry and refrigeration.

Well, Chef Zoid, since I watch too many cooking shows.....    I challenge you to put a modern twist on the traditional foods for some kind of Scandanavian holiday. You don't have to actually cook it, just propose a menu. Of course you don't have to use lutefisk, but you do have to use a kind of fish often prepared that way.   

Interesting

[Zoid]

On second thought, I don't do modern food so I wouldn't know where to begin or what is considered modern these days. In Sweden traditional food is very hot and trendy and has been for quite some time...

[Buster's Uncle]

You only cook OLD food?

[Unorthodox]

I don't know how to cook "modern" really either, but I do tend to update a lot of 'traditional' family recipes.  This is seen as either sacreligious or fantastic, depending on who you ask. 

Most famously, I built our holiday mix up from a list of ingredients that mostly do not exist anymore, to something you can at least put together.  That was fine with most, but taking advantage of the MICROWAVE so I could make a batch in 40 minutes instead of 4 hours was blasphemous!!!

But, there's no way a CHEF would call ANYTHING I do "modern". 

Have a whole pile of recipes my grandma was throwing out as they were 'too hard' or 'can't find the ingredients anymore' that I've been putting together and updating.  Mostly holiday stuff.  The few meals that were in there have been quite mixed in the results.  A lot of it was war time stuff that is not the greatest quality of meat available, so doctoring it to no end.  Eyebrow raising hamburger recipe, for instance.  There's kernels to be gleaned from all of it, though. 

2 things that define my cooking.  I was a naughty boy, mom loved to have us stand in the corner on her 'up' days, when we weren't having to stand with the encyclopedia held up on our outstretched arms.  My designated corner had a great big poster that listed virtually all spices and what meats they should be paired with, and what other spices they best coordinate with to make what type of dish.  I have that thing memorized...

And, experimenting with Grandma's recipes. 

Between them, I can usually just toss stuff together and know what's going to taste good.  I'm not afraid to screw it up either.  Recipes are a guideline at best. 



One of the silly things in the house is Mashed Potatoes.  Easy thing, right?  Hard to mess up.  The boss and I don't see eye to eye on them.  So, I shut up and let her make them.  Period.  Even though I'm pretty sure I'm technically "right". 

[Geo]

In Sweden traditional food is very hot and trendy and has been for quite some time...

Lax?