"As New Year's Day approaches, people around the world will plan for the coming year, eager to get off to the best possible start! Many people will "eat for luck"-they plan to eat special foods that, by tradition, are supposed to bring them good luck. Throughout history, people have eaten certain foods on New Year's Day, hoping to gain riches, love, or other kinds of good fortune during the rest of the year. For people of several nationalities, ham or pork is the luckiest thing to eat on New Year's Day. How did the pig become associated with the idea of good luck? In Europe hundreds of years ago, wild boars were caught in the forests and killed on the first day of the year. Also, a pig uses its snout to dig in the ground in a forward direction. Maybe people liked the idea of moving forward as the new year began, especially since pigs are also associated with plumpness and getting plenty to eat. However the custom arose, Austrians, Swedes, and Germans frequently choose pork or ham for their New Year's meal. They brought this tradition with them when they settled in different regions of the United States. New Englanders often combine their pork with sauerkraut to guarantee luck and prosperity for the coming year. Germans and Swedes may pick cabbage as a lucky side dish, too. In other places, turkey is the meat of choice. Bolivians and some people in New Orleans follow this custom. But other people claim that eating fowl (such as turkey, goose, or chicken) on New Year's Day will result in bad luck. The reason? Fowl scratch backward as they search for their food, and who wants to have to "scratch for a living"? Frequently, fish is the lucky food. People in the northwestern part of the United States may eat salmon to get lucky. Some Germans and Poles choose herring, which may be served in a cream sauce or pickled. other Germans eat carp. Sometimes sweets or pastries are eaten for luck. In the colony of New Amsterdam, now New York, the Dutch settlers still enjoy these treats...In some places, a special cake is made with a coin baked inside. Such cakes are traditional in Greece, which celebrates Saint Basil's Day and New Year's at the same time. The Saint Basil's Day cake (vasilopeta) is made of yeast dough and flavored with lemon. The person who gets the slice with the silver or gold coin is considered very lucky! Many of the luck-bringing foods are round or ring-shaped, because this signifies that the old year has been completed. Black-eyed peas are an example of this, and they are part of one of New Year's most colorful dishes, Hoppin' John, which is eaten in many southern states. Hoppin' John is made with black-eyed peas or dried red peas, combined with hog jowls, bacon, or salt pork. Rice, butter, salt, or other vegetables may be added. The children in the family might even hop around the table before the family sits down to eat this lucky dish. In Brazil, lentils are a symbol of prosperity, so lentil soup or lentils with rice is prepared for the first meal of the New Year. Thousands of miles away, the Japanese observe their New Year's tradition of eating a noodle called toshikoshi soba. (This means "sending out the old year.") This buckwheat noodle is quite long, and those who can swallow at least one of them without chewing or breaking it are supposed to enjoy good luck and a long life. Finally, Portugal and Spain have an interesting custom. As the clock strikes midnight and the new year begins, people in these countries may follow the custom of eating twelve grapes or raisins to bring them luck for all twelve months of the coming year! " ---"Eat for Luck!," Victoria Sherrow & David Helton, Children's Digest, Jan/Feb94 (p. 20)
"Whether New Year's day is celebrated on Jan. 1 according to the Gregorian calendar, in September or October as the Jews'
Rosh Hashanah or in midwinter by Asians, foods serve as edible talismans to assure luck, happiness or prosperity in the
coming year. The notion, for example, that eating gold-colored food will put money in your pocket is common in Peru, where
papas a la huanchaina, a potato dish tinted with tumeric or with a saffron-colored spiced called tadillo, is
served on New Year's Eve. In China, dumplings made from golden egg pancakes, crisply gilded spring rolls and oranges are the
aureat foods appropriate for the Chinese New Year's celebration...The Chinese also value fish. A whole one is preferred,
suggesting that prosperity has favored you wtih more than you can eat. Pork is on the New Year's table in many cultures,
connoting riches because at one time having a pig to slaughter guaranteed food for the coming year. In Italy and in southern parts of
the United States, pork is eaten in the form of sausage, stuffed pig's trotters (zampone), ham hocks or pig's knuckles, invariably
accompanied by a dish of dried beans. The Italians eat lentils, or lenticchie, which since Roman times have represented coins...
parsley decorates the dish because it was thought to ward off evil spirits. In the American South, greens are added to
black-eyed peas or hoppin' John (black-eyed peas with rice). The symbolism is straightforward: the greens represented dollars
and the black-eyed peas coins. Dried beans, garnished or plain, represent the changing over of years, for they can be stored
throughout the winter and then be planted to create the harvest. Sometimes a silver coin or trinket is buried in a dish of black-eyed
peas or hoppin' John, providing an extra measure of good luck to the person finding it...In Spain...12 grapes are eaten just
before midnight, one for each chime of the clock. Good luck will come to those who finish the grapes before the final
stroke."
---"Culinary Talismans for a Lucky 1987," Florence Fabricant, New York Times, December 31, 1986 (p. C3)
Coins and other trinkets baked in cakes are also common elements at Christmas and Twelfth Night.
New Year's food in the United States: a multicultural celebration
Pork & Sauerkraut
"In the nineteenth century, sauerkraut was a cold-weather food. Sauerkraut with fresh pork was a
fall dish. Sauerkraut with turkey was a Christmas dish. And sauerkraut with pork was eaten for
good luck on New Year's Day, because, as the [Pennsylvania] Dutch say, "the pig roots
forward." Thus rooting forward into the new year, the Dutch ate sauerkraut with salt pork in the
late winter, and finally, sauerkraut with fish in early spring."
Colonial American collations
Colonial/Early American cookbooks do not contain suggested menus/bills of fare for New Year's
Collations. What we know about these gatherings is gleaned from primary sources such as
journals, letters, household accounts, and newspaper articles.
"The custom of paying New Year's calls originated in New York, where the Dutch held open
house on New Year's Day and served cherry bounce, olykoeks [doughnuts] steeped in rum,
cookies, and honey cakes. From New York the custom spread throughout the country. On the
first New Year's after his inauguration, George Washington opened his house to the public, and
he continued to receive visitors on New Year's Day throughout the seven years he lived in
Phildadelphia. On January 1, 1791, a senator from Pennsylvania hoted in his diary: "Made the
President the compliments of the season; had a hearty shake of the hand. I was asked to partake
of punch and cakes, but declined...Eventually, it became de rigeur [common social practice] for
those who intended to receive company to list in newspapers the hours they would be "at
home." It was a disastrous practice: parties of young men took to dashing from house to house
for a glass of punch, dropping in at as many of the homes listed in the papers as they could.
Strangers wandered in off the streets, newspapers under their arms, for a free drink and a bit of a
meal. The custom of having an open house on the first day of the year survived the assaults of
the newspaper readers. The traditional cookies and cakes continued to be served, along with hot
toddies, punches, eggnogs, tea, coffee, and chocolate. But public announcements of at-home
hours were dropped at the end of the nineteenth century, and houses were open only to invited
friends."
[Maryland]
[New York]
New Year's cookies & cakes
"New Years Cakes were considered a delicacy most peculiar to New York and the Hudson Valley, but we do find professional bakers in many other East Coast
cities advertising these cakes. A baker in Philadelphia advertised in 1840 that he "sells the real New York New Year's Cakes, the genuine Knickerbockers, of all
sizes, from a cartwheel to a levenpenny bit...But how is it that New Years Cakes are also called Knickerbockers? We have already seen this term in connection
with the olie-koecken...Yes, early Americans were sometimes confused about names, but at least this does tell us that people in the 1840s were well aware of the
Dutch origins of this recipe."
"New Year's Cake. This name is somewhat misleading. The ingredients, as [Eliza] Lea ordered them, make a stiff cookie that was once popular in Pennsylvania and
Delaware under the name of apees cake. It is closely related tot he springerle but was sold by street vendors the year round. For rural Quakers, it was a special
treat for children at New Year's, which may explain the name Lea used for it. The cookie is not related to the crumb cake that is now sold under the name of apees
in Berks County, Pennsylvania. More likely it was related to the New Year's cookies that were associalte with the Dutch settlers in Colonial New York. Those
cookies were often stamped with elaborate carved mols. The leavening agent inthem was potash or pearl ash."
"New Year's Cookies. Christmas and New Year's have always called for special recipes, and the Dutch New Year's koekjes, traditionally baked in molds that
produced the design of an eagle or the name of a famous person like Washington, were once among the most ornate. In 1808, Washington Irving's Salmagundi:
Or, The Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaf, Esq., and Others claimed: "These notable cakes, hight [called] new-year cookies...originally were
impressed one side with the burly countenance of the illustrious Rip [Van Winkle]."
New Year's cookie recipe sampler
[1844]
[1845]
[1850]
No. 2. New Year's Cake.
[1847] New Year's Dinner; A Cold Collation
[1857]
[1886] New Year's Day in New York
[1886] New Year's Table, Leavenworth Kansas
"When refreshments are provided for callers on this day, the tastes of gentlemen only are to be consulted, and it is understood taht they prefer rather
substantial dishes. Handsome decorations for the table are desirable. Hot coffee is a prime requisite. Sandwiches, salads, pickles,
jellies, and three or four kinds of cold meats may be provided. Escaloped oysters are relishable. Two or three ornamented cakes for
decoration, and one or two baskets of mixed cake, will be needed, and such fresh fruits as can be obtained, including bananas, oranges, and
white grapes. Wine is no longer found upon the New Year's table in this latitude."
[1901] Creole menus, New Orleans
Breakfast
Dinner.
A More Economical New Year's Menu
Breakfast
Dinner
Supper.
[1911] New Year's Afternoon Tea
"Menu No. 1: Attleboro Sandwiches, Jam Jumbles, Walnut Meringue Squares, Salted Almonds, Five O'clock Tea
[1930s] New Year's Buffet
New Year's Eggnogg
Marian Manners recipe column [Los Angeles Times, December 31, 1938 (p. A7) states "This Sunday supper would also be appropriate for a New Year's
Eve Snack...Sliced Cold Breast of Turkey, Potato Chips, Cranberry Relish, Fresh Pineapple Fingers, Ribbon Sandwich Loaf, Coffee, Fruit Cake."
[1950w] New Year's Buffet
"Eggnogg or Fruit Punch
"New Year's Day
[1960s] New Year's buffet
"A Buffet Supper for New Year's Eve
"A Dinner for New Year's Day
1. Consomme Julienne
Chinese New Year food traditions
"Calculated on a lunar calendar, it is New Year's that evokes the greatest celebrations in Chinese life. Celebrated on the first day of the first month with dragon-led
parades, incense and fireworks and banners of red everywhere (signifying good luck), New Year's is traditionally usred in by family feasting...New Year's is
celebrated for the first fifteen days of the new year, especially for agrarian families who take this period as the opportunity for an annual rest as well as for visiting,
feasting, and wearing new clothes...In ancient times during the New Year's period, palace dignitaries were presented with purses embroidered with eight Buddhist
symbols called "Eight Treasures," which they proudly hung on their chests. In more recent times this is recalled by the serving of a fruit-fuilled rice pudding called
Eight Treasures rice pudding. Customary too at this time is the setting around the room small bowls of lichees and longans, platters of steamed rice cakes and
jujubes (red for luck), and salted seeds. During the festive dinner itself, red sweet-and-sour sauce is sure to be part of at least one dish, be it pork or fish. This is
also the time to give the "Kitchen God" some sticky sweets so he won't give a bad report on the family."
"Why do so many Chinese regard New Year celebrations with such delight? We think it is due to a combination of circumstances, among which food is very
important. Besides good food there are many other ingredients: (1) a real sense of family togetherness and of the good life, (2) holidays (plenty of rest and fun), (3)
new clothes, (4) ritual fanfare to ancestral spirits, and (5) general festivity. During this celebration, food is not important for the living alone: a large part of the ritual
fanfare to ancestral spirits consists of fancy food and drink (tea and alcohol) offerings...For weeks before the New Year, women in every northern Chinese home
are busy making meat dumplings called chiao tzu. These consists of a filling of chopped pork and cabbage, salt, ginger, scallions, and ground white and black
pepper, wrapped in a thin skin of dough. In a large household the number of dumplings may run into the thousands...But pork and cabbage dumpling...are only part
of the New year fare. many northern Chinese households make wine, bean curd, and sausages and slaughter a pig or two for home consumption...For days before
New Year's Eve, regular stores in towns and cities are supplemented by temporary markets with hundreds of trading stands...When the shopping is done, the
celebration begins with New Year's Eve dinner. This dinner begins in late afternoon (five o'clock) and is usually sumptuous. Even among the relatively poor, it would
include four to six big bowls...featuring vegetables (chiefly cabbage, turnips, and dried musrhooms), chicken, fish, mussels, and especially pork. For the better-off
families, there would definitely be eight big bowls...preceded by four or six cold plates and followed by one or two "big items"...In the cold plates are pickles, sliced
cold meat, pigs'-feet jelly, roasted peanuts, thin-sliced jellyfish skin in vinegar and soy sauce, sugar-preserved green apricots or kumquats, or salted dried shrimp
with peas, and so on. In the eight big bowls are...also such delicacies as sea cucumbers, sharks' fins, birds' nests, pork sausages, ham, giant pork
meatballs...termed 'lions' heads', with cabbage, and fresh and dried shrimp. One of the big items usually is 'eight precious rice,' a sweet production of sticky rice
mixed with eight other ingredients including lotus seeds, almond seeds, sliced red dates, several kinds of candied fruits, sweet bean paste, and brown-sugar syrup.
In addition, there is usually a fancy,s weet soup, such as that made with white tree ears (a kind of edible fungus) and crystal sugar, which comes after the other
dishes. White rice and wine or spirits are served with the entire meal...This feast is the opener. Beginning with New Year's Day, quite a few other sumptuous meals
for members of each household and for visiting relatives and friends follow. Snacks in the form of watermelon seeds, sesame candy and other sweets, roasted
peanuts, fruits such as pears and oranges, and cakes are available at all times. Visitors are served tea, watermelon seeds, and sweets as soon as they sit down...At
this time...each child, up to the age of fifteen, is given a candle in the shape of his or her own birth animal made of mung-bean dough filled with candle wax and a
wick."
"One period when food is offered to the Kitchen God is that of the Chinese New Year. Several days before that date, the Kitchen God is given a farewell dinner,
by only of sweets, such as sweet rice, cake, and candied fruit. In addition, his lips are sealed with sticky sweets, such as honey, molasses, or sugar candy, in the
further hope that he will say only sweet things when he visits Yu Huang...the "Jade Emperor" or supreme Taoist god, to give his annual accounting of family affairs.
Then the represenation of the Kitchen God is removed and burned, along with spirit-money and other things to use on his journey, and he is sent on his way,
accompanied by the sound of firecrackers. A new representative of the Kitchen God is set up several days later, on New Year's Eve, when his return is celebrated
with firecrackers and he shares food and other offerings with the family ancestral spirits and other deities, and once again presides over the family hearth."
"Traditions vary from region to region in China and, as in the United States, from family to family. The Wang family traditionally eats a huge noon meal on the day
before Chinese New Year. Because Chinese believe even numbers are lucky, there will be an even number of dishes, usually 12, with four cold dishes and eight hot
ones. Some of the family favorites include cold sausage, cooked pork skin, peanuts and a salad made of finely shredded cucumber and vermicelli. The hot dishes
will include different vegetables stir- fried with pork, mutton stir-fried with green onions (scallions) and a fish dish. Because the Chinese word for fish is a homonym
for "plenty," no family will celebrate the holiday without a fish dish. There is always much more food on the table than the Wangs can eat, but the idea is to have a
large spread to signify the hoped-for abundance in the coming year. In northern China, the most important meal is the fresh dumpling dinner at midnight. After
setting off firecrackers to scare away evil spirits, the family will throw open their front door to welcome in the God of Wealth. Wang's father and mother, as the
senior members of the family, will then pass out "red packets," of money to their grandchildren.Only then will the Wangs sit down to bowls of rice piled high with
jiao zhi, or boiled meat-and-vegetable-filled dumplings. The dumplings are supposed to represent prosperity and riches because they are the same shape as yuan
bao, a gold or silver ingot that was used as money in ancient China. Their rounded shape also represents unity, and eating them symbolizes the reunion of the family.
Inside one of the dumplings will be a coin. "Whoever eats that dumpling will be blessed with special good fortune in the new year," said Wang. But just as fortunate
are the cooks in the family: The days before the festival are spent in front of the chopping board and the stove because one of the important traditions surrounding
this ancient festival is that no one is supposed to cook during the first several days of the new year."
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"New Year's Celebrations. Although champage has become de rigeur as midnight strikes, no single food
epitomizes the contemporary New Year's holiday. The menu may be luxurious caviar at a New Year's Eve
bacchanalia or a sobering hoppin' John on New Year's Day. Celebrations marking the inexorable march of
Father Time often involve foods imbued with symbolism, such as in the Pennsylvania Dutch New Year's
tradition of sauerkraut (for wealth) and pork--the pig roots forward into the future, unlike the Christmas
turkey, which buries the past by scratching backward in the dirt. Seventeeth-century Dutch immigrants in
the Hudson River valley welcomed the New Year by "opening the house" to family and friends. The
custom was adapted by English colonists, who used brief, strictly choreographed January 1 social calls for
gentlemen to renew bonds or repair frayed relationships. Ladies remained at home, offering elegantly
arrayed collations laden with cherry bounce, wine, hot punch, and cakes and cookies, often flavored with
the Dutch signatures of caraway, coriander, cardamom, and honey. Embossed New Year's 'cakes," from
the Dutch nieuwjaarskoeken--made by pressing a cookie-like dough into carved wooden boards
decorated with flora and fauna--were a New York specialty throughout the nineteenth century...The New
York custom of open house spread westward in the nineteeth century...In the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries those of French and English backgrounds celebrated the twelve days of Christmas with gifts of
food and festive dinners on January 1...African Americans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
made one of the most enduring contributions to the modern holiday. Starting in the Carolinas but
extending throughout the South, hoppin' John and greens became traditional New Year's fare, black-eyed
peas bringing luck and the rice (which swelled in the cooking) and greens (like money) bringing prosperity.
In the early twentieth century Japanese Americans adopted the open house tradition, serving glutinous
rice dishes, soups, boiled lobsters (signifying health and happiness), and fish specially prepared to appear
live and swimming."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith [Oxford University Press:New
York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 189-90)
This is a German custom. Pennsylania Dutch, of German descent, also serve these foods.
"Throughout history, the lowly cabbage has played side dish to the pig on New Year's Day, not
because it bears a special significance, but because it's a tasty complement to pork. "It's a
traditional combination," said William Weaver, an internationally known food historian who
lives in Chester County. Any Pennsylvania German worth his or her salt knows pork is served
on New Year's Day because it brings good luck. With their snouts, pigs root forward, signifying
progress, lore dictates, whereas chickens and turkeys scratch backward."
---"Eat 'sour cabbage' for a sweet year; Having sauerkraut on New Year's Day brings luck,
some say," Kathleen Parrish, Morning Call [Allentown:PA], January 1, 2004 (p. A1)
---Sauerkraut Yankees, William Woys Weaver [University of Pennsylvania Press:Philadelphia]
1983 (p. 176)
Many Colonial-era Americans greeted the New Year with collations, informal social gatherings
often held in "open" houses. This custom originated in New Netherlands (New York) and
quickly became popular in other parts of the country. Food and drink served reflected the
pocketbook of the host as well as the location of the home. Some concentrated on desserts and
light snacks; others offered elaborate and complicated menus.
---American Heritage Cookbook and Illustrated History of American Eating & Drinking,
American Heritage:New York] 1964 (p. 392)
"New Year's Day Collation at Mount Clare:
Crab Imperial, Oyster loaves, Boned Turkey Breast with Forcemeat and Oyster Sauce, Fried
Chicken, Maryland Ham, Fruits in White Wine Jelly, Beaten Biscuits, Sally Lunn, Apricot Fool,
Minced Pies, Pound Cake, Light Fruit Cake, Maryland Rocks, Little Sugar Cakes, Coconut
Jumbles, Peach Cordial, Syllabub, Egg Nog, Sangaree."
---The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook, Mary Donovan et al [Montclair Historical
Society:Montclair NJ] 1976 (p. 176)
"New Year's Eve was especially noisy, with the firing of guns to bring in the New Year.
Ordinances in both the Netherlands and New Netherland eventually prohibited such behavior.
The special treat for New Year's Day in the Netherlands was nieuwjaarskoeken (thick crisp
waters), which originated in the eastern part of the country and adjoining parts of Germany.
These wafers were made in a special wafer iron. The oblong or round long-handleed irons, made
by blacksmiths, created imprints of a religious or secular nature on the wafers. Wafer irons were
often given as a wedding gift, even in this country. Enourmous quantities of wafers were
prepared on New Year's Day. The were consumed by family, servants, and guests distributed to
children, who went from house to house singing New Year songs, while collecting their share of
treats along the way. There is ample evidence in diaries and letters that Dutch Americans
continued the custom of visiting each other on New Year's Day. In New Netherland...the
nieuwjaarskoeken were molded in wooden cake-boards, instead of wafer irons...The American
New Year's cake is a combination of two Dutch pastries brought here by the early settlers, the
nieuwjaarskoeken described above and spiced, chewy, honey cakes formed in a wooden mold or
cake-board. It was in the late eighteenth century that this homemade pastry prepared in heirloom
wafer irons by the Dutch, changed to a mostly store-bought product purchased by the
population at large."
---Matters of Taste: Food and Drink in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art and Life, Donna R.
Barnes and Peter G. Rose [Syracuse University Press:Syracuse NY] 2002 (p. 24-5)
We can thank our colonial era Dutch settlers for introducing New Years cookies to America. Sometimes called
New Years Cakes, these thin crisp sugar cookies were traditionally flavored with caraway, lemon and sometimes cider.
Some recipes specify cutting the dough into fancy shapes, similar to Christmas cookies.
Recipes for New Years cookies proliferate in the 1840s-1850s. By the late 1880s, they fade from the pages of "modern"
culinary literature.
---The Christmas Cook: Three Centuries of American Yuletide Sweets, William Woys Weaver [Harper Perennial:New York] 1990 (p. 140)
[NOTE: This book contains a modernized recipe based on one published by Eliza Leslie, circa 1838.]
---A Quaker Woman's Cookbook: The Domestic Cookery of Elizabeth Ellicott Lea, William Woys Weaver [Stackpole Books:Mechanicsburg PA] revised
edition 2004 (p. 339)
[NOTES: Eliza Lea's New Year's Cake recipe here. What were Philadelphia's Apees?]
---American Heritage Cookbook, Helen McCully recipes editor [American Heritage Publishing:New York] 1964 (p. 608)
[NOTE: Modernized recipe from this book here.]
[1796]
"New Year's Cake. Take a pint milk, and one quart yeast, put these together over night and let it lie in the sponge till morning, 5 pound sugar and 4 pound butter,
dissolve these together, 6 eggs well beat, and carroway seed; put the whole together, and when light bake them in cakes, similar to breakfast biscuit, 20 minutes."
---American Cookery, Amelia Simmons, facsimile second edition printed in Albany, 1796 with an introduction by Karen Hess [Applewood Books:Bedford MA] 1996 (p. 45)
"326. New Year's Cookies.
Rub to a cream, three-quarters of a pound of butter, and a pound of sugar; add three well-beaten eggs, two spoonsfuls of caraway seed, a grated nutmeg, and a
pint of flour; stir in a teaspoonful of salaeratus dissolved in a teacup of milk, and strained into half a teacup of cider; add flour to make the cookies stiff enough to roll
out. As soon as cut into cakes, bake in a quick oven till of a light brown."
---The Improved Housewife, Mrs. A. L. Webster [stereotyped by Richard H. Hobbes:Hartford CT] 5th edition, revised 1844 (p. 120)
"96. New Year's Cake.
A very good plain cake can be made without eggs. Take seven pounds of flour, two and a half pounds of sugar, two pounds of butter, one pint of water, and two
tea-spoonsful of saleratus well dissolved. Roll it out thin, and bake it on tin sheets. It will keep good a long time."
---The New England Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book, Mrs. E.A. Howland [E.P. Walton and Sons:Montpeilier VT] 1845 (p. 29)
"No. 1. New Year's Cake.
Beat to a cream three quarters of a pound of butter, and one pound of sugar; add three eggs well beaten, a grated nutmeg, and a pint of sifted flour;when these are
well mixed, add half a tea-cup of cider, in which a tea-spoonful of supercarbonate of soda is dissolved, and flour enought to make a stiff dough; roll the dough
very think cut it into fanciful forms, as of men, beasts, birds, &c., and bake on buttered tins."
Rub a pound of butter into a pint of sifted flour, and add three eggs well beaten; then stir in a pint of honey, a grated nutmeg, two table-spoonsfuls of caraway
seeds, a teacup of cider in which is dcilloved a tea-spoonful of supercarbonate of soda and a small bit of alum, and sifted flour enough to make a stiff dough; roll it,
cut it, andbake it as above."
---The Practical Cook Book, Mrs. Bliss [Lippincott, Grambo & Co.:Philadelphia] 1850 (p. 187)
[NOTE: This books also offers a recipe for New Year's Pie, which is strikingly similar to turducken.
"In New York City, where it is the custom for ladies to remain at home to recieve the calls of their gentlemen friends, there is not time nor
occasion for dinners; should it be desirable, it would be similar to that for Christmas, or instead--a cold roasted turkey,
(bone it if you can) cold boiled ham or tongue, a large glass salad-bowl of pickled oysters, or an oyster pie with dressed celery or
a chicken salad, with jelly puffs and tarts and small mince pies, blancmange, de russe and jellies and icecream and fancy cakes, with
syrup water and orgeat or lemonade for temperance, or wines and punch. The manner of celebrating New Year's day by calls, is a
peculiarity of our own, and having so few which are 'native here,' many of our wisest and best, have wished that this might in no wise be slighted. Many a feud-divided
family have been united, and misunderstanding friends been brought together, under the all-pervading hospitality and genial influence which
distinguishes the day."
---The American System of Cookery, Mrs. T. J. Crowen [T.J. Crowen:New York] 1847 (p. 405)
"New-Year's Cake.--Stir together a pound of nice fresh butter, and a pound of powdered white sugar, till they become a light thick cream. Then stir in,
gradually, three pounds sifted flour. Add, by degrees, a tea-spoonful of soda dissolved in a small tea-cup of milk, and then a half salt-spoonful of tartaric acid,
melted in a large table-spoonful of warm water. Then mix in, gradually, three table-spoonfuls of fine carraway seeds. Roll out the dough into sheets half an inch
thick, and cut it with a jagging iron into oval or oblong cakes, pricked with a fork. Bake them immediately in shallow iron pans, slightly greased with fresh butter.
The bakers in New York ornament these cakes, with devices or pictures fiased by a wooden stamp. They are good plain cakes for children."
---Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book, Eliza Leslie [T.B. Peterson:Philadelphia PA] 1857 (p. 605)
"A general and cordial reception of gentlemen guests upon the first day of the year, by the ladies of almost every household, also
by clergymen, and by gentlemen upon the first New-Year's Day after marriage, is a Knickerbocker custom which prevailed in New York, with scarce any
innovations, until within the last ten years. It was once a day when all gentlemen offered congratulations to each of their lady
acquaintences, and even employes of a gentleman were permitted to pay their respects, and to eat and drink with the ladies of
the household. Hospitalities were then lavishly offered and as lavishly received. This custom began when the city was small, but
it has now quite outgrown those possibilities which the original usages of the day could compass without difficulty. Beside, there
came a time when this excessive social freedom was proportionate to our over-large liberties, therefore, our hospitalities were
narrowed down to a lady's own circle of acquaintences. Even this boundary in many instances widened to so extended a
circumference that not a few of our kindliest and most hospitable of ladies have been compelled either to close their doors upon
this day of hand-shaking, eating, and drinking, or else to issue cards of welcome to as many of their gentlemen acquaintences
as they can entertain in a single day. Not many ladies in New York are, however, placed upon such heights of popularity as to
make this limitation a genuine necessity, and others may choose to receive congratulations upon New-Year's-Day only from relatives
and intimate friends...ladies who recieve in a general way whoever choose to call upon them are now almost certain that the
old-time crowds which thronged all open doors a decade ago will no longer intrude upon those from who they are uncertain even
of a recognition...to be considered a man of to-day, he must be well-bred and unobtrusive, even during this gala season...
Those who entertain elaborately upon New-Year's-Day sometimes send out cards of invitation...They are handsomely engraved...
Many gentlemen, even among those who take wine ordinarily, refuse it upon this day,
because they do not like to accept it at the hand of one lady and refuse it from that of another. Again, many ladies, form whose
daily tables the glitter of wine-glasses is never absent, do not supply this drink to their guests upon this day, because it
is dangerous for their acquaintences to partake of varied vintages, the more specially while passing in and out of over-heated
drawing rooms. Delicacies, coffeee, chocolate, tea, and bouillon, are supplied in their places, whether the wines be withheld by
kindly considerateness, or through conscientious scruples."
---Social Etiquette in New York, Abby Buchanan Longstreet, facsimile 1886 new and enlarged edition [Eastern National:
Fort Washington PA] 2002 (p. 187-196)
---Kansas Home Cook-Book consisting of recipes contributed by ladies of Leavenworth and other cities and towns,
compiled by Mrs. C.H. Cushing and Mrs. B. Gray, facsimile 1886 edition [Creative Cookbooks:Monterey CA] 2001 (p. 39)
Oranges
Oatmeal, Cream
Radishes. Cress. Olives
Broiled Trout, Sauce a la Tartare.
Potatoes a la Duchesse.
Creamed Chicken. Omelette aux Confitures.
Salade a la Creole.
Batter Cakes. Louisiana Syrup. Fresh Butter.
Cafe au Lait.
Oysters on the half Shell.
Spanish Olives. Celery. Pickles.
Salted Almonds.
Green Turtle Soup, Croutons.
Broiled Spanish Mackerel, Sauce a la Matire d'Hotel.
Julienne Potatoes.
Lamb Cutlets Breaded, Sauce Soubise.
Green Peas.
Sweetbreads a la Creole.
Ponche a la Romaine.
Roast Turkey, Cranberry Sauce.
Baked Yams. Cauliflower au Grating.
Asparagus a la Matre d'Hotel.
Lettuce, Salad Dressing.
Broiled Snipe on Toast.
Pouding a la Reine, Wine Sauce. Mince Pie.
Cocoanut Custard Pie.
Biscuit Glace. Petits Fours. Fruits. Nuts.
Raisins.
Cheese. Toasted Crackers.
Cold Turkey, Currant Jelly.
Celery Salad.
French Rolls. Butter. Assorted Cakes.
Fruit. Nuts.
Tea.
Sliced Oranges.
Oatmeal and Cream.
Broiled Spring Chicken. Julienne Potatoes.
Radishes. Celery.
Egg Muffins. Fresh Butter. Louisiana Syrup.
Cafe au Lait.
Consomme.
Radishes. Celery. Olives. Pickles.
Boiled Sheepshead, Cream Sauce.
Mashed Potatoes.
Vol-au-Vent of Chicken.
Salmi of Wild Duck. Green Peas.
Banana Fritters.
Roast Turkey, Cranberry Sauce.
Baked Yams, Sliced and Buttered.
Green Pepper and Tomato Salad, French Dressing.
Points d'Asperges au Beurre.
Mince Pie. Roquefort.
Vanilla Ice Cream. Sponge Cake.
Assoprted Fruits. Nuts. Raisins.
Cafe Noir.
Cold Turkey, Cranberry Sauce.
Tomato Salad.
Cake. Fruit. Tea.
---The Picayune's Creole Cook Book, facsimile 2nd edition, 1901 [Dover Publications:New York] 1971 (p. 432)
Menu No. 2: Devonshire Sandwiches, Buttered Eduators, Scotch Five O'clock Tea, Sultana Sticks, Hickory Nougat, Russian Tea,
Hot Chocolate and Whipped Cream
Menu No. 3: Noisette Sandwiches, Peanut Crisps, Rochester Sandwiches, Florida Orange Sticks, Turkish Delight, Iced Tea,
Five O'Clock Cocoa
Menu No. IV: Lobster Patties, Huntington Chicken, Tea Rolls, Orange Honey Sticks, Pineapple Mousees, Macaroons, Silver
Sponge Cakes, Oriental Punch"
---Catering for Special Occasions With Menus & Recipes, Fannie Merritt Farmer [David McKay:Philadelphia] 1911
(p. 3-25)
[NOTE: This book is online...New Year's menus & recipes
begin on scanned page 16.]
Thin Chicken Sandwiches
Asparagus Tip Canapes
Fruit Cake, Salted Nuts, Candies
Lobster Bisque
Toasted Crackers
Chicken and Pineapple Salad
Finger Rolls
Syllabub
French Almond Cake, Coffee."
---America's Cook Book, Home Institute of The New York Herald Tribune, [Charles Scribner's:New York] 1937(p. 861)
Tray of Crackers, Bowl of Cheese Spread
Baked Ham (Sliced), Roast Turkey (Sliced)
Buttered Thin Slices of Rye, Whole Wheat, and White Breads
Olives, Celery, Radishes, Pickles
Potato Salad, Cranberry Jelly
New Year Clock Cookies."
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, Revised and Enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw-Hill:New York] 1956 (p. 57)
Susan's Rib Roast of Beef
Horseradish Sauce 1 or II
Potatoes and Onions (browned with meat)
Lettuce with French Dressing
Brown-and-Serve Rolls
Eggnogg Ice Cream
Prickly Butter Balls or Fruitcake
Coffee (instant), Milk."
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Dorothy B. Marsh [Good Housekeeping:New York] 1955(p. 609)
Punch Charentaise
Anchovy-Egg Boats
Chicken-Liver Pate
Sesame-Cheese Roll
Thin Slices of Dark Bread
Cold Glazed Corned Beef
Cauliflower Pickle
Mixed Salad Greens
Mistard French Dressing
Cranhberry Sponge Roll
Bisque Tortoni."
---New York Times Menu Cook Book, Craig Claiborne [Harper & Row:New York] 1966 (p. 51)
1. Cantaloupe with Honeydew Balls
Stuffed Squabs
Wild Rice
Brussels Sprouts with Celery Knob
Chickory with Mandarin Oranges
Chestnut Pie
Beef Wellington
Sauce Madere
Rissole Potatoes
Spinach with Sauteed Mushrooms
Grand Marnier Pudding."
---ibid (p. 48)
---You Eat What You Are: People, Culture and Food Traditions, Thelma Barer-Stein [Firefly Books:Ontario] 1999(p. 100)
---Food in Chinese Culture, K.C. Chang editor [Yale University Press:New Haven CT] 1977 (p. 297-299)
---Food in China: A Cultural and Historical Inquiry, Frederick J. Simoons [CRC Press:Boca Raton FL] 1991(p. 27-28)
---"Foods Fill With Meaning at the Chinese New Year," Lena H. Sun, The Washington Post, Jan 20, 1993 (p. E15)
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