Feasts of Fortune

There’s nothing quite like a New Year’s Eve party.   Revelers clinking champagne glasses, blasting off fireworks and noisemakers, knocking loaves of bread against houses, and devouring 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight.  Wait a minute!  When did tossing bread and eating grapes become part of our holiday traditions?
   
Where we live greatly impacts how we ring in the New Year.  While fireworks and noisemakers remain integral parts of the festivities, most countries possess at least one unique culinary custom for heralding the arrival of another year. 
   
In Ireland, where famine had decimated the land, celebrations often focus on sustenance.  Here folklore dictates that on December 31 citizens should strike the side of their houses with a loaf of bread while reciting a prayer for a hunger-free year.   Likewise, friends and family should gather together for a large, lengthy meal, which will set the pattern for 12 subsequent months of prosperity.
   
Want to ensure sweetness and fortune in the coming year?  Follow Spain’s example and consume a grape at every chiming of the clock at midnight.  Each grape supposedly sweetens the corresponding month.
   
Portugal possesses a similar tradition regarding grapes.  However, with each grape eaten the person must make a wish for the upcoming year. 
   
While Spaniards and the Portuguese gobble up 12 grapes, Italians nibble on a dozen desserts at the all-night dinner party the Feast of St. Sylvester.   The sweets signify the months of the year as well as Christ’s 12 apostles.  They include such Italian treats as biscotti and the nut-filled nougat torrone, and fruits such as pears, plums and apricots.
   
On New Year’s Day in Greece families share vasilopita or St. Basil’s Bread.  Baked with a coin buried deep in the dough, the sweet bread is sliced by the head of the household and then divvied up between family members.  Whoever receives the piece with the coin will experience luck in the coming year.
   
To guarantee that everyone meets with good fortune, some bakers spell out the new year in nuts or cloves on the dough.  In Dr. Nikoleta Kolovos’s family the top of the vasilopita is adorned with small pieces of dough that symbolize the family members.   “As our families grew, so did the number of pieces of dough.  My mom even includes our cats,” says St. Louis, Mo. physician.
   
In Austria pork, rather than sweets, secures success in the following months.   As a result, Austrians hold lavish feasts of stuffed and roasted suckling pig.   Since piglets are symbols of good luck, small marzipan or chocolate pigs also decorate the dinner table.
   
Austrians are not alone in their belief that pigs bring prosperity.   In Bulgaria, Spain, and other parts of Europe pork stars in New Year’s Day dinners.
   
Even on our shores pork plays an essential part in holiday meals.   In some sections of the U.S. boiled ham and cabbage bring forth fortune while in other regions kielbasa and sauerkraut do the trick. 
   
Various thoughts exist on why we eat pork on January first.   Some suggest that the rich meat signifies a rich life.   Others point to the pig’s role as a symbol of wealth and fertility throughout history. 
   
For Jody Rabenau, who grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Penn., pork means progress in the future.  “As my family says, ‘A pig roots forward,” she says.
   
In the American South pork serves not as the main ingredient but as the seasoning for the traditional New Year’s Day dish “hoppin’ John.”   Consisting of black-eyed peas, rice, onions and a bit of pork, hoppin’ John began as a meal for plantation slaves and the poor.   
   
How such humble fare became the food of good fortune can be partly explained by Southern folklore.  Folk wisdom states that by “eating poor,” i.e. consuming slave cuisine, on New Year’s Day, people will attract rich foods and wealth for the rest of the year.   Additionally, old Southern rhymes maintain that black-eyed peas are “lucky” and will bring forth abundant and heartier food in the future.
   
No matter where you’re ringing in the New Year, you’ll undoubtedly greet it with good fortune and good food. 

Hoppin’ John
Serves 10 to 12

2 cups dried black eyed peas, rinsed and soaked overnight in water
6 cups chicken stock
2 medium white onions, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ pound smoked ham
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
4 slices of bacon, cooked and diced
3 cups steamed white rice

In a large stockpot place the peas, 4 cups of chicken stock, onions, bell pepper, garlic, ham, pepper flakes, cayenne pepper and bay leaf.  Bring the contents to a boil, stir, reduce the heat and allow the ingredients to simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes.  Add the remaining 2 cups of stock as needed.  When finished, the peas will be soft and creamy.

Remove the bay leaves, add salt and pepper and taste to ensure proper seasoning.  Sprinkle in the diced bacon and stir until well combined.  Serve over the steamed white rice.

Vassilopita
Serves 8 to 10

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
6 eggs, at room temperature
Zest from 2 oranges
Zest from 2 lemons
½ cup evaporated milk, at room temperature
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 coin, washed and wrapped in foil
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon milk
¼ cup blanched almond slivers
2 to 3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Butter a 10-inch springform pan and set aside. 

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter in a large mixing bowl.   With the mixer still running, slowly add the sugar followed by the eggs.   Add the zest and beat until incorporated. 

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.   Gradually add the flour and milk to the wet ingredients, alternating between the two and beating until the batter is smooth.   Insert the wrapped coin into the batter. 

Spoon the batter into the greased pan, smooth out the top and then brush the egg wash over it.  Sprinkle the blanched almond slivers over the coated top.   Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes, until golden brown.   Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack before removing from the pan and dusting the vassilopita with confectioner’s sugar. 

Frosted Grapes
Serves 4

3 egg whites
1 teaspoon water
48 concord grapes, washed and stems removed
1 cup granulated sugar

Place the granulated sugar in a small cup.  In a small bowl mix together the egg whites and water.   Dip each grape into the egg whites and then into the sugar.  Place the finished grapes on a wire rack to dry in 1 to 2 hours. 

When dried, gently place grapes in four fluted, champagne glasses, 12 grapes per glass.  Shortly before the stroke of midnight, hand out the glasses and instruct the guest to consume 1 grape at each chiming of the clock to ensure good fortune in the new year. 


© 2009, Kathy Hunt. Distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc.