Holiday Foods

I just made a batch of sweet & hot mustard and put it in the fridge...it takes a week for the flavors to properly meld. Gonna have it during the next couple of months with cheese & crackers and a summer sausage. It's my alternative to the expensive Hickory Farms packages.

I really enjoy it, but for some reason never think to make it until Thanksgiving is upon us. I might make another batch in a month or so, but when winter's behind us I won't make it again until the next year.

The same goes for Spritz cookies. I'll make the trees, wreaths and camels at Christmas, but even though I really like the cookies, I usually won't make them any other time of the year.

I know that turkey's not sold for 29¢ a pound the rest of the year (making it a seasonal bargain), but most people don't make any of the tasty sides (candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce) for any meal but Thanksgiving.

Anyone else here have their "holidays-only" foods they enjoy?

 

Besides the traditional turkey and dressing with cranberries and sweet potatoes; one of my favorite holiday foods has always been mincemeat pie. My Grandma Bailey used to can venison in the fall after hunting season, and she made real mincemeat using some of the canned venison, and those pies were delicious.
Nowadays, it is hard to even find a mincemeat pie at the grocery stores, either fresh or frozen.
How do you make the hot and sweet mustard, @John Brunner ? That sounds really good !

 

Mincemeat pie!!! My mother was British and made the best!!! I don't recall what was in it.

Here's the recipe for Sweet & Hot Mustard.

In a small bowl, combine:
1/4 c dry mustard (I always use Coleman's for this, since it's the main ingredient)
2 Tb water
Set aside a minimum of 10 minutes.
(The longer this sits, the hotter the mustard will be. 10 minutes is not hot at all. I do 20 minutes for medium hot.)

In a 1 qt saucepan (or a double boiler), combine:
2/3 c water
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 c sugar
3 Tb all-purpose flour
1/2 t coarse salt (kosher or sea)

Cook, whisking constantly over low heat until thickened ... about 3-5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir mustard base into the saucepan. Transfer to another container. Cover and refrigerate at least 24 hours.
Keeps up to 4 weeks, per the recipe. Some sites say will keep fresh for up to 1 year in glass jar and in the fridge.

I grind black mustard seed and brown mustard seed in a spice mill and substitute about 1 tsp of that for a tsp of the yellow mustard powder, just to add a depth of flavor. That's been my standard modification to this.

The process is very similar for making Chinese hot mustard, except you use rice vinegar and corn starch instead of cider vinegar flour...and you simmer the ingredients. I can post the recipe for that if you like. It's also very good,and very sinus-clearing.

 

Both Bobby and I love that hot mustard, but the only place we have found it is when we go to the Chinese buffet down the road from here. It sounds like it would be simple enough for me to make. I will see if I can find the Coleman’s powdered mustard, I have never heard of that (definitely NOT a Foodie person).

My MIL was English and French, and she made the best mince tarts in the whole world ! She used lard for the pastry, and it was totally flaky and melt in your mouth pastry.
I am pretty sure that none of those tarts lasted long enough to cool down except the ones she put away for my FIL, with orders that no one else was to touch those tarts.

 

@Yvonne Smith

That mustard is more like the Hickory Farms stuff.

This is what Coleman's mustard powder looks like:

It comes in a yellow tin.


Here's the recipe for hot Chinese mustard:

In a small bowl, combine:
1/4 cup mustard powder (again, I use Coleman's)
2 Tb peanut oil
Mix until blended.
Gradually add 2 TB water, stirring constantly

In a wok (I guess you could use a saucepan), blend together:
1/4 cup sugar
1 TB cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

Gradually stir in:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup white vinegar

Blend thoroughly.
Cook at 225' stirring constantly until thickened.

Gradually add the base to the mustard mixture, stirring constantly to blend.

I misremembered the ingredients and the process. It doesn't look all that different. And you don't let the mustard powder/oil/water sit, but it sure gets hot. Must be the oil. Or maybe the white vinegar makes the difference.

 

The only thing I make out-of-season is green bean casserole. Sometimes I'll roast a chicken, and it seems like the perfect side dish to make.

I've made cranberry sauce a few times. It's way better than the canned jelly stuff. I took it to my brother's place for Thanksgiving one year and my 4 year old niece just about ate the whole thing herself. I was a little surprised because it had a tart edge to it, but it was probably like a bowl of jam to her.

 

I keep homemade rolls and bread in the freezer all the time. I gotta have bread with my salad.

I have a new recipe I'm gonna try this year, but most often make a powdered milk-based dinner roll recipe from the Mormon Church. It makes a good roll, and rises in only an hour.

 

That's interesting.

I've worked with multinationals and have seen canned brought in by coworkers, but I've never heard of any of them making it from scratch.

My mother was British, and one of the few traditionally British foods I recall her making was Yorkshire pudding...and maybe trifle. But never any of the dessert puddings.

edit to add: This reminds me of the steamed breads I've made in my Crock Pot over the years. Date & Nut Bread was a holiday gift favorite.

You gotta get one of these steam inserts and try it. I bet you'll make great use of it:



Absent this, cans of various size covered with foil (and holes punched in it) will suffice.

 

Steaming certain foods helps the flavors meld and deepen better than other methods of cooking. I'll have to try my hand at making a steamed pudding.