The Caterist Files ~ The New Year's Dinner, Down Home, Southern Style

A traditionally dressed up, fancy celebration, New Years Dinner Parties are famously informal when it comes to the menu. We find our Southern traditions steeped in superstitions and fabulous flavors! Just the way we like it!

Many do a New Year's Cocktail Party, with hors d'oeuvres and finger foods, frills, bells and whistles.

We prefer the small, intimate gathering of friends and family to the raucous celebrations anymore. And that involves a shared meal, with some old traditions, and some new trends. We're going to look at these options for our New Years Day or Eve offerings for this year.

Go ahead and bling out your table settings! Use the chargers, the full plate set up, the fancy champagne flutes and all! I love these mini bottles of champagne! Don't you? Lends a special elegance, with them set upon small round mirrors!

So, yes, we're eating simple fare, but we're going to do it on our finest china! Texas has always been big on the whole 'denim & diamonds' thing! Our New Year's Dinner will be no different! We'll be setting the meal up, family style, on a side buffet table, so our guests can feast to their hearts' and tummies' delight!

You're probably going to have leftovers on this...but they are wonderful leftovers! In the tradition of the New Years' Dinner, we want our buffet to scream 'abundance'!!! The foods will be simple, flavorful, and abundant! The combination of foods we'll be serving represents health, wealth and good luck throughout the coming year. Ready? Let's go!

Starting with Roast Pork Pernil Style

This is a fabulous pork roast! We marinate a pork shoulder roast overnight in a special herb vinegar based brine that imparts incredible flavor throughout the pork! It's slow roasted to bring out the ultimate in tenderness, and we cook it to the brink of shredable...but we want to be able to slice this roast, and we want to experience the awesome crust that develops as it slow roasts. This would come to you ready to carve. We allow for 3/4# of meat per guest at your table. What? Is there Gravy? Well, of course! This roast makes the absolute BEST roast pork gravy, ever!!

The tradition behind the pork tells us that the pig represents health and wealth. It's also said to represent forward progress, due to the fact that pigs pretty much can't look backwards, without having to turn around...so they represent forward thinking. I'd never really thought about it, but I guess it can't, can it? Moving right along...

A Second Traditional Main, Fried Chicken

Our fried chicken is, also, overnight brined, for extra flavor and tenderness. Garlic, herbs and a hint of spice give our fried chicken extra deliciousness. The coating is a crispy lightweight blend of flour, cornstarch and our house seasoning blend plus some cayenne...just a pinch, to give the chicken 'attitude'! Chicken is a frugal food, with a single chicken feeding many. We do an eight to ten cut on our hens, depending on how big they are. We figure two pieces per guest.

Now, if you're trying to keep the fat down, we can do your chicken as Oven Fried Chicken or Herb Roasted Chicken...just say the word! We're doing fried, for the house!

Now, for the Sides of Tradition, beginning with the Black Eyed Peas.

We do our Black Eyed Peas in the Creole style...it's most closely related to our native Puerto Rican cuisine, with onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic and diced tomato lending fabulous flavors to an otherwise bland bean. To make them extra extra flavorful, our black eyed peas are cooked in ham stock with a boost from smoked sausage. We set out Steamed White Rice along with this dish, to sop up the fabulous juices. Even people that don't like Black Eyed Peas will like this dish! Eat lots of Black Eyed Peas...they represent coins! An old tradition was to place a dime in the pot of Black Eyes...whoever found the dime would have extra luck with money in the coming year. Don't do this unless you warn your guests beforehand...or you might end up with some unwanted dental expenses! That would NOT be Happy New Year!

Next Side of Tradition...Cabbage! Cabbage is said to represent paper money...the more you eat, the more wealth you'll accumulate. I need to eat more cabbage! So, we'll offer this two ways...pick your favorite!

On the left is Southern Fried Cabbage with Bacon and Onions, that everyone is familiar with. The one on the right is Scalloped Cabbage, with a topping of cheesy sauce and breadcrumbs.

Both are good as can be!

All we need to round this meal out is some good Corn Bread Muffins! A nice basket of these fills out the meal nicely! Plain or Jalapeno Cornbread, whichever you like best.

Cornbread is said to represent gold. It rounds this meal out so perfectly, with its distinct Southern-ness!

Now, a nice Dessert to finish the meal off...nothing too heavy, after this meal of gargantuan proportions!

Buttermilk Fresh Lemon Pound Cake done bundt style is absolutely perfect! Feel free to match it with some fresh berries, if you want!

This meal plan, with dual mains, with your selections from all the sides as described, above, and dessert will run $18 per person, with a minimum of 8. Dinners for fewer are $20 per person, due to minimum roast sizes that are available. The leftovers are outstanding, though! We make Cuban Sandwiches, Street Tacos, Pork Chili Verde...yep, leftovers are a GOOD thing!

We can arrange for pick up on New Year's Eve, for the evening dinner time slot, or New Year's Day, for an afternoon lunch slot or evening dinner slot. There is only one opening within each time slot, though, due to limited cook space. If Good New Years' Fortune smiles upon us, maybe we can raise enough starter money to fix that!

Anyway, give me a shout if you'd like me to put you on the New Year's Feast Schedule! This offer is available to our local current catering clients, for pick up at The Garden Gate Specialty Foods in Corsicana.

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