The first Christmas dinner I spent with Matt's family was certainty different from any other I had had before. Every family has various dinner traditions that they follow for the holiday. My Italian friends would always share their tales of large amounts of seafood for Christmas Eve. I was used to a more traditional meal or what I thought it was supposed to be. A turkey or hams, perhaps a rib roast, were the standard choices in our house.Matt's family is Polish and Hungarian, but his father, Les, who did most of the cooking, was born in Hungary. His favorite for Christmas Eve was Stuffed Cabbage. However, my father-in-law didn't care for the taste of cabbage, so he made it with sauerkraut. As you ask yourself the same question I once did, "How do you stuff sauerkraut?" you realize that the answer is, you don't. So what's stuffed cabbage in Les's kitchen? A gigantic pot of sauerkraut with the meatball stuffing floating in it. Toss in kielbosz and Canadian ham for good measure and you've got yourself a tradition.
So, what do you serve this with? Surely it's not just a pot of meat and sauerkraut. Of course not. Enter in the Double Baked, Baked Potato. This casserole-like dish is created when potatoes are baked, cubed, tossed in a dish with cheese and bacon, and then baked again to a golden bubbly. Not to be wasteful, Les, saved the potato shells and made cheese and bacon potato skins as appetizers to have before dinner. The weight watcher in me resigned herself to the fact there would be no low-fat options on this holiday. But of course, that's the way holiday cooking should be. As my father once said, when dictating his recipe for sausage and bread stuffing, one can use a non-fat cooking spray if they want, but for this you want some gusto. If you want to streamline, you might as well skip the holiday and go shopping.
Go for the gusto: that seemed to be Les's philosophy for life. Although only a part of Matt's family for a short time, I could see that their father was the driving force in their family adventures. From family road trips to Florida or just a wandering drive with his wife Carol to find some lunch in an unusual place, Les lived every bit of his life the way he wanted. His cooking reflected the same personality. A puzzle of a man, he enjoyed creating the traditional Hungarian favorites for his family as well as eating out at restaurants, particularly the American chains. At the local Wendy's, they know him by name when he walks in the door and he torments the little old lady behind the counter by asking for a Big Mac. He seemed to be in awe of the over-Americanized frozen convenience foods that were probably over processed and not very healthy for you. Matt's brother, Bob, once told me how Les could not stop going on and on about how amazing the Jimmy Dean's frozen breakfast sandwiches where. ("It's an egg and sausage on a croissant and it's already made, and you just put it in the microwave! It's great!)
These stories and so many more are ones we will share this holiday, for Les will not be with us. He passed away earlier this month. People always say that this is the worse time of year to lose a loved one, but the truth of the matter is that there's never a good time to say goodbye to the ones you love. Christmas Eve will go on tonight but there will be no stuffed cabbage. None of us feel we could do it justice and perhaps we need to save it for a time when we are a little less sad. But being together tonight, we will reminisce about him and keep him in our presence for as along as we can. Remembering the man, who for a short while, I was privileged enough to call Dad.
