The Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

[bigfreak]

This will be my last post before Christmas. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, but that's not the main reason I started this thread.

I have spent every Christmas eve at my inlaws now for going on eight years. Out of all the Christmas festivities, the part I've never really looked forward to is Christmas Eve Dinner. It's not even the company that I usually dred. It's the food.

Now, I love Italian food. I have to admit that my pot belly is probably due to countless bowls of spaghetti and plates of lasagna. You can give me Italian food 364 days a year and I won't complain. None of the Italian dishes served on Christmas Eve, however, top my list of favorite foods.

I'm not sure of the origin, but a traditional Italian Christmas Eve Dinner has seven courses of some sort of fish. That's right. Not ham. Not turkey. Fish. It usally starts with cocktail shrimp. I always savour my shrimp cause that's the last thing I'll eat that tastes any good. After shrimp, it's onto the fish soup. It's usually got some bits of smelt floating in it and it sure does taste fishy. After the fish soup, it's onto the fried smelts. Surely something could be done to these buggers to make them worth eating, but even ketchup doesn't bring any excitement to these bland and bone riddled fishies. Now it's time for the Bacala! Bacala is salted cod. Two days before serving it sits in a bath of milk to rehydrate. After that, it must be boiled or baked or something (I think). Then, here is the kicker. You take a perfectly good bowl of spaghetti, and you neglect to put any sweet itanlian sausage in the sauce *crys* -- instead you put in it's place slimy salted cod. It's salty fishy spaghetti and tastes BAD!!

I know I'm forgeting some dishes, but none of them are any good. The first few Christmas Eve's I smiled and ate a few bites of each thing to be nice. My mother in law picked up on this for 3-4 years she used to make up some perogies and heat some kobasi so I didn't starve.

I have a feeling this tradition is going to end with my family. My father-in-law is the last member alive on his side of the family. My mother-in-law passed away suddenly just before Christmas last year. So it's only my wife and kids, my wifes father and my sister-in-law that come for Christmas Eve Dinner. We're doing our best to keep the time honored tradition going, but I don't see my kids passing it onto their kids.

Anyway, I though I'd share one of the more obscure things folks around these parts do for Christmas Eve Dinner. Maybe something you didn't know.

EDIT: tried to fix some of the grammer and spelling, but didn't do so good. sorry.

 

[NCNitro]

What part of Italy your wifes family is from? My inlaws are straight off the boat from Sicily, and I can guarantee you Chritmas dinner does not consist of seven fish dishes, thank God, lol. Must be more of a family tradition as opposed to an ethnic tradition. I feel for ya man, stop by BK on your way there and fill up first. Anyway hope you have a nice Christmas. And btw, don't forget the tums, lol.

 

[msly]

The women I work with just got done telling me all the fish she has to cook for dinner.... she also told me that some even cook 12 fish dishes one for each of the apostiles.... There was one women I used to work with that actually got graves from all the iodine in the fish her eyes bulged like a fish.. I hated her anyway so I just laughed to my self.... Merry X-Mas fish head!


sLY

 

[FastEddy]

I have heard of this before.
If I'm correct it was from Chris when I was at the ECB2.

Just be happy that you didn't have to put up with eating gafiltafish for the last 6-8 days.

 

[NCNitro]

I never heard of it before. Guess I am lucky my wifes family aint big fish eaters. Not that I have anything against fish, but damn, 7-8 fish courses, uh no thanks.

 

[Mike02vr6]

I think the fish thing is actually a Catholic deal (I am catholic but I never heard of it til my wife). Her family is 100% polish and thats what they do on Christmas eve is fish. Not as bas as yours big freak. But none the less they do do the fish thing, boy did I get strange looks when I asked for steak or ham or something to eat cause I wasn't touchin fish thank you very much. (Thank go for desserts...and a mother in law who made the gordons fish for me...hehe)

~Michael

 

[Diver6127]

I'd make a trip to Wendy's, Burger king, Mickie Dee's or even Colonel Chicken if I was in your shoes! When all else fails, Belly bombs (white castle) will always be open.

Being asian, you would expect me to be fine with fish, but not me. I'll catch 'em, but you gotta eat em. It's gotta moo, cluck or squeal to make it to my plate.

 

[bigfreak]

NCNitro, I think my wife's grandma too was 100% Sicilian. I donno if she came off the boat or what. I never had the oportunity to meet her. She had passed a year before I met my wife. My mother-in-law largely carried on the Christmas Eve tradition as my father-in-laws request. I think Mike02vr6 is right. I think it is a Catholic thing. ( Shows you how much I've gone to church in my life. LOL ) I think I mis-labled it as being an "Italian" thing. I stand corrected.

 

[Rolex]

I feel your pain, man. I despise seafood. The only thing I'll eat that comes from the sea is mermaid.
Just be thankful you weren't raised Norwegian, and on Christmas you'd have to eat Lutefisk.
The house would smell like a bus terminal men's room for a week, while the lye was being flushed out of it in the basement utility sink.

 

[flash]

I feel your pain, man. I despise seafood. The only thing I'll eat that comes from the sea is mermaid.

lmfao! never heard that one before. i love your thinking, but now i just gotta know what mermaid tastes like...fish? tuna? :shrug:

 

[Buncrana]

A lot of Italian families here do the fish fest on Christmas Eve. The only dinner I was at consisted of mostly shell fish, shrimp, lobster and regular cod so I guess the type of fish eaten is preference.

 

[NCNitro]

Bigfreak, you may be right in both instances. It may be both an Italian and catholic thing. I asked my wife about it last night, and she said yes a lot of Italian families do this, hers just chose not to. Hers does however make octopus around midnight, who the hell wants to eat an octopus any time, let alone at midnight, lol. She said her family just never did the fish only thing, so I guess I got lucky.

 

[FastEddy]

I like fish. The more exotic the better.
Sushi is an all time favorite. You haven't lived until you tried properly prepared Monk Fish Liver or fresh Sea Urchin.

While we are out Tuna fishing its a long time tradition to slice off a chunk of the first tuna in the boat while its still alive and much it down. As a matter if fact, I ate the beating heart of my first tuna I landed.

I love to eat fish.

 

[NCNitro]

Sushi is just too nasty, that's bait man! My wife likes that nasty poop too. I want my fish broiled with some butter and lemon.

 

[Rolex]

lmfao! never heard that one before. i love your thinking, but now i just gotta know what mermaid tastes like...fish? tuna? :shrug:

Come to think of it, I've always loved tuna. It's the only seafood I still buy. I knew there had to be a good reason.

 

[Buncrana]

Sushi is just too nasty, that's bait man! My wife likes that nasty poop too. I want my fish broiled with some butter and lemon.

Broiled sole just doesn't sound as cool as eating raw fish or the beating heart of the savage tuna. :nono: