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Herring with Mustard Dill Sauce, Red Onion and Apple will help bring a bright start to the new year.
Posted on 12/30/2010 7:03:13 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
With New Year's Eve being one of the largest celebratory days on the planet, you might think that I'm one day off. But for those of us in the restaurant business, as I've been for the last 40-plus years, New Year's Eve is always our busiest workday. So as the last trembling notes of "Auld Lang Syne" are fading from the dining room, I'm just beginning my New Year's festivities.
For about 15 years, Angie's and my tradition was to race to the Burger King drive-through for the first and only Junior Whopper of the new year. Afterward, we'd be off to bed for a bit of sleep, then head to an early blowout brunch at the home of friends, with all the proper accouterments and libation that would have been consumed the night before, had we not been working.
This tradition was interrupted in 1988-'89, as New Year's Eve was Angie's last day at John Byron's and she was leaving to begin preparing to open Sanford the next year.
At the end of the work night we had an impromptu party at our house on Maryland Ave. It started innocently enough at 2 a.m. with mature adult conversation, snacks and witty toasts. It then slowly degraded into a hazy, "Animal-House-ian" cartoon, terminating with the principal persistent sycophants (Angie and I included) clasped in a weird dancing circle on our front lawn with repeated "I Love You, Mans" being passed to and fro.
Everyone left about 8:30 a.m. Angie started to clean up and I thought about helping, but the next thing I knew she was shaking me awake and said we had 20 minutes to get to our friends' house for the traditional New Year's brunch.
As we walked into their home and sat by the roaring fire, we pondered the table, blanketed with trays of huge, glistening cold shrimp, fat slices of foie gras and toasted brioche, knuckle-sized pieces of pristine crabmeat, thick chunks of herb-coated herring and a 4-ounce iced can of sparkling gray caviar flanked by warm buckwheat blinis.
I should have been in heaven, but after only one hour of inebriated sleep, my pounding head and nauseous stomach were in the opposite place. I tried to tough it out. However, when the first sip of champagne hit my lips to wash down the smidge of herring that I had tried, it was a lost cause. I had to apologize to our friends for being such an idiot and go back home to sleep it off.
In many cultures it's supposed to be good luck to have a bit of herring in the New Year. Even though it didn't seem that was the case for me, my friends thankfully didn't hold a grudge and eventually it turned out to be a great year, with Sanford opening at year's end.
So every year since then, I trot out this herring recipe that I had been making since my early days at John Byron's. As far as luck goes, I gotta tell you, I'm a believer. I hope you will be, too.
Herring with Mustard Dill Sauce, Red Onion and Apple will help bring a bright start to the new year.
However, give me a 'Cannibal Sandwich' ANY day of the year and I'm Happy, Happy! :)
We just picked up two jars, LOL! It hasn’t failed us yet!
Happy New Year, FRiend!
Think I’ll stick with Hoppin’ John
I’ll take the usual.
Black-eyed peas, collard greens with ham hocks and cornbread.
You can tune a piano but you can't tune a fish.
"..and fill my litter box with liquid gold for days"
Yum! I’ll be indulging in those while watching the Winter Classic hockey game on Saturday.
Sure, you 'can'!
My tradition is the same as yours.
Pickled herring with red onion, beets, and fresh dill.
Or a can of anchovies and a beer.
Herring....no thanks. I’ve been prepping all day for a Chinese buffet tomorrow night.
I’m comin’ to YOUR house! :)
I’m 3/4 German and some English from a Grandma and some Bohemian from my Mom. She’s a ‘watered-down’ Bohemian, so who knows where she gets this stuff?
I mean, the Germans RULED the Bohemians for all of their natural lives! I think she just pretends to be a Norski/Swede out of an ingrained persecution complex, LOL!
Holy mackerel, I guess you can.
Happy New Year! :)
I had my herring traditionally on Christmas Eve, but now I guess I’ll have to make it again.
Pickled Safeway herring in vinegar + white onions + granny smith apple + hardboiled egg + sour cream + lemon juice (all chopped.)
Black-eyed peas (for luck), greens (collards, mustard or turnip) for money, ham or other pork cut for plenty of food in the new year. Southern traditional New Years fare is good enough for me. Pickled herring?.....
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