So many people I have talked to lately have mentioned how they wish the Christmas celebration could be simpler with more focus on the spirit and being together. I was going through a drawer looking for my musical bracelet and reread a letter I received from my father in December of 1968 – my first year away at College.
Excerpt from Letter of December, 1968
“I find myself thinking of all the wonderful Christmases we had over the many past years and the reluctance always to take the tree down after Christmas in order that the season might be prolonged for a few more days. – I feel that Tommy senses the mood for last Friday he said to me ‘Cathy wants the house decorated when she comes home so you & Mom go to the Cape and Sunday when you return I’ll have it all done’. Sure enough when we came home Sunday afternoon, he greeted us at the door & proudly gave us a tour. He apparently found decorations that we did not know existed. His reactions were really great.”
Everybody has heard the story a hundred times about how Lobster Newburg came to be a part of a Christmas tradition (Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill came to our house for several years on Christmas eve and Mom served Lobster Newburg and the really small peas. Perhaps one you didn’t hear was the one Christmas Eve where the present opened was a gumball machine – present opened, being carried upstairs at house on Church Street, and the gumballs got loose from machine and came blasting and tumbling down the upcarpeted stairs – some even got into heating vents. I bet today every Christmas eve when the heat comes on at that place – you can hear the rattle of the errant Christmas gumballs.
Merry Christmas!
Family recipe for Lobster Newburg
This was made by my mother every Christmas Eve for my dad throughout my childhood. She served it on toast points with small green peas. She then instituted a Christmas tradition after my father died of hosting a family dinner for her 8 children (no grandchildren) and their spouses and served us Lobster Newburg on the Pepperidge Farms patty shells cups with the small green peas. This tradition lasted many, many years.
RECIPE:
1 cup butter (seems she used more than 1 cup of butter)
½ cup flour
¼ cup cornstarch
5 cups milk
2 cups light cream
3 and ½ lbs cooked lobster meat
1/8th teaspoon nutmeg
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
3 eggs, slightly beaten
¾ cup sherry or so to taste
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (or so)
Melt ½ cup of the butter in a large, heavy saucepan. Blend flour and cornstarch with 2 cups of milk. Add gradually to melted butter, stirring constantly. Add remaining 3 cups mild and the cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and is smooth.
Meanwhile, lightly sauté lobster meat in remaining ½ cup of butter in a large skillet. Add nutmeg, paprika, salt, and pepper to hot sauce. Gradually add about 1 cup of the thickened sauce to the eggs, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and gradually stir egge mixture into sauce. Add lobster. Cook about 1 minute longer. Add sherry and lemon juice. Serve in patty shells.
This recipe makes 24 servings.
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