Feast of the Seven Fishes---Updated

Not being Italian or Catholic, I wasn't all that familiar with this Christmas Eve dinner.

Anyway, the theatre critic for the Toronto Star has a nice piece on the tradition, along with recipes updated for modern tastebuds.

The only trouble was that – as I started to research – I realized that no one in my circle of family and friends would want to eat a traditional "Seven Fishes" dinner. Salted cod and eel aren't high on anybody's list of fave foods anymore.

http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/163081

Nice piece. Anybody here follow this tradition?

 

I've never been through the real seven fishes feast but as a kids we used to go to my aunt's on XMass Eve and she'd do a variation with baccala (not cod balls but dried strips of salted cod that look like cardboard), calamari, scunglli, mussels, lobster and a few other fish dishes.
My 2 aunts and my father used to eat the baccala and scungilli and reminisce about how "Mama" (my Italian grandmother) used to spend two days preparing the seven fishes.

 

Oh.
my.
god.

 

There are folks who follow the tradition in Boston. I went once. I discovered that, indeed, I had no taste for eel.

 

Did you try the baccala? Disgusting!

 

Hey, after four shots of Galliano, I think I ate the napkin rings.

 

The baccala tastes like the napkins...only saltier.

 

Tastes like chicken!

It's at times like this I wish I had been born 1)Italian and 2) Catholic

I can't think of any seafood I don't like.

 

I bet my Grandmother's lutefisk could make you rethink that statement.

 

Baccala will change that.

 

My wife is Italian, Catholic and from Boston. They used to do the 7 fishes on Christmas Eve. Now we do a modified version. My mother-in-law did do the traditional smelt a few years ago, and I wan't loving that.

Now, we start with sushi, have pasta with squid sauce, crab cakes, and lobster. I love the modified tradition. Can't wait for Sunday!

 

1. Yes, eel is just like chicken, which also can be said about alligator.
2. You can have my Italian Catholic feast of the seven fishes. As a kid, I would have preferred the feast of the seven pizzas.