How to Shop and Cook for Feast of the Seven Fishes

[Celerity]

Chef Daniel Paterna shares tips for this Italian seafood spread on Christmas Eve.

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/how-to-shop-and-cook-for-feast-of-the-seven-fishes


Baccalà & peppers

The first time I tried to recreate my mom’s lasagna in the United States, I felt sad. It was my freshman year of college in Boston, and to comfort that lingering—and inevitable—feeling of homesickness of the first few months, I had decided to treat myself with some authentic Italian flavors. I picked a Christmas classic in my family: lasagna. My lasagna would be like Proust’s madeleine. But it didn’t work. It was flavorful, but something was different, and it wasn’t as comforting as I had envisioned. Vicenza, Italy felt even more distant, and as the ragu scent faded out the open window, so did my memories of home. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure I remembered my mom’s lasagna anymore, and I thought that maybe I should just abandon the mission.







When Daniel Paterna wrote his book, Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn-Italian’s Recipes Celebrating Food and Family, he wanted to prevent just that—family traditions, and flavors, fading away. “At some point, you as a direct descendant are going to have to throw up your sleeves and dig in to carry on the tradition,” he says. “If you’re constantly relying on grandma and grandpa to carry these out, they just evaporate.” But he warns that expecting to recreate the exact flavors only begets disappointment. It took him many years to hone down his family’s torta di ricotta, a staple dessert in the Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner. The secret is to keep trying to master the family dishes year by year, and that’s enough for traditions to live on.







The Feast of the Seven Fishes—a Christmas Eve celebration that originated in Southern Italy—is a tradition in which seven different kinds of fish and seafood are served for dinner, ideally before midnight. Throughout the years, it found its way into Italian-American homes, and it is now a staple holiday tradition for many families of Italian descent in the United States.







Ironically, I had never heard of it before. Being born and raised in Italy, at the very least I should be familiar with anything that’s considered traditional. (To cut myself some slack, I quickly decided it was probably because I’m from the northeastern arm of the country, and it was not really a thing there.) But we do have our own mini-version that allegedly finds its roots in the Catholic Church. Simply stated, on Christmas Eve, you’re supposed to eat fish. Different Italian regions disagree on the “why”—some cite abstinence from “heavy meals” as a sign of respect, others quote ancient official church codes. With time, the religious aspect of it faded, but the tradition remained. Similarly, there isn’t a single way of looking at the meaning of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Paterna says the number seven can be traced back to religion, referring to the Seven Sacraments or the seven days of Creation. As for the fish, it is a symbol of Catholicism that’s been historically attributed to Jesus Christ and, in a broader sense, to life and abundance.

snip