Chili Alert

Cooks who make a mean chili — or even a nice but tasty one — may wish to fire up their cauldrons, as the Great Bonac Chili Cook-Off is on the horizon. 

The event, which will raise money for the Clamshell Foundation’s scholarship fund and food donations, will take place at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett from 1 to 4 p.m. on Jan. 31. Home cooks and fire departments can enter for $25, while professionals must pay a $100 fee. Preregistration is required and can be done online at ClamshellFoundation.org. 

Contestants will be judged by anyone who pays $15 to sample all the different chili recipes; the cost for kids from 6 to 16 is $10. Kids under 6 can sample for free. 

For Football Watching

Super Bowl fans who wish to order takeout barbecue for noshing on during the Feb. 7 game have been advised to order early from Smokin’ Wolf Barbecue in East Hampton. A special game-day menu is posted at smokinwolfbbq.com. Those who order at least $85 worth of food will receive a free 12-pack of beer.

Looking ahead to an upcoming holiday, Slow Food East End has announced plans for a “Shuck Em” Valentine Oyster Brunch on Feb. 14 at the Art of Eating catering company’s headquarters in Amagansett. Oysters will be served in various ways, raw and cooked, along with other brunch items and local wine and beer. A complete menu is to be posted on the group’s website at slowfoodeastend.org. Reservations must be made by Feb. 8. The brunch will cost $125 per person, or $110 for Slow Food members. 

Wine Tasting

Fresh restaurant in Bridgehampton is collaborating with the folks at Park Place Wines in East Hampton for a dinner tonight from 6 to 8 that will feature a complimentary tasting of six different wines. 

The meal will start with leek and potato soup, followed by a choice of braised beef short ribs, fish Provencale au pistou, or gluten-free macaroni and cheese as an entree. Apple crisp with homemade cinnamon ice cream will be served as dessert. The cost is $30 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations have been requested.

Visits to Wolffer Kitchen

The Wolffer Kitchen restaurant in Sag Harbor is developing a fan base, if comments by diners on social media are any indication. The restaurant is offering brunch on weekends as well as a prix fixe menu and has a happy hour from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, as well as Sunday, with specials on beer and wine and complimentary bar snacks.

At Southampton Campus

The South Fork Kitchens cafe at the Stony Brook Southampton campus has reopened after a break during the school holiday and is serving a seasonal winter menu, with weekly specials, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cafe also serves coffee and snacks made by local producers. 

Espresso Reopens

The Espresso Italian Market reopened last week in a new location in Sag Harbor at 2 Main Street, in a space at the top of Main Street near the water where the Cigar Bar once was. The market is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is serving its popular sandwiches on homemade focaccia bread with signature house dressing, classic Italian entrees, salads — some available premade, to grab and go — and more. 

Cappelletti

3284 Noyac Road

Noyac

631-725-7800 

Open daily, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

If you have ever been to Il Monastero (R.I.P.) in East Hampton, or Il Capuccino in Sag Harbor, or had a sandwich from Espresso or pasta from Cappelletti on Noyac Road, you have had food made by the Tagliasacchi family. If you haven’t, then you live under a rock and you are missing the best garlic knots, focaccia sandwiches, and their delicious, mysterious dressing “like Caesar without the anchovies,” which could keep a swarm of vampires at bay for centuries. If I were to try to explain the restaurant/Italian deli empire and experience and background of this family, it would take up this entire review. In a nutshell, Luigi Tagliasacchi and his wife, Robin, now own and operate Cappelletti, serving all these iconic gems and more.

Cappelletti appears small from the outside but is a swarming warren of rooms, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week. The front is the take-out area, very neat and clean and organized despite the volume they produce and sell. To the right is a dining room, with another dining room beyond that. On the night of our visit, some of the Christmas decor was still in place in the window, a phantasmagorical display of white tulle and feathery angel wings and cotton-fluffy faux snow with twinkly lights all around. It was quite a fetching sight on this dark, curvy part of Noyac Road.

We were greeted warmly and led to the back room, which has the same mustardy-color walls (giallo Napoli — Naples yellow) as the exterior of the restaurant. There was a fireplace with floppy-eared garden bunnies, olive jars, big mirrors, and some beautifully executed nude paintings and drawings by Robin Tagliasacchi.

Upon being seated you get a basket of the garlic rolls, after which I was ready to ask for the check. They are fresh, oily, and coated with coarsely chopped garlic and parsley. For starters we ordered the baked stuffed clams and a wedge salad with crumbles of bacon and gorgonzola cheese. The dressing comes in a squirt bottle, which didn’t fit into my purse, so I politely left it there. The salad, like all things here, was enormous, probably a third of a head of iceberg lettuce. We noted that the bacon was fried a la minute and crisp, not limp leftovers from breakfast. The baked stuffed clams, three large ones, were reminiscent of the ones that used to be served at Spring Close House, densely bready and garlicky, but full of clams and drizzled with butter before baking. 

For entrees we ordered the penne with Bolognese sauce, eggplant parmesan, and flounder. I asked our waiter for as light a flounder preparation as they could manage, and he suggested Francese, not on the menu but he’d be happy to get it for me. Very nice. The penne Bolognese was respectable, or “damned adequate” as my father used to say. The eggplant parmesan was very good, and the portion was definitely enough for two people. The eggplant was sliced thin, battered and fried but not too oily, and there was a good ratio of sauce and cheese. 

The flounder dish was pretty much a slab of fish, easily three quarters of apound. It was served with mashed potatoes, or more like smashed potatoes with skins on. Underneath the fish were some very good, just-cooked to al dente, broccoli florets and string beans. The flounder had been battered and had a good bit of lemon butter sauce, but this is probably as “light” a dish as you can get in a Northern Italian-style restaurant. The side order of spaghetti with tomato sauce that came with the eggplant was nice, a bit sweet.

Our waiter, Corrado, was exceptionally solicitous. He kept offering to adjust the thermostat for us. The teenager was cold (they never dress right) and we old bats were hot (no need to explain, right, ladies of a certain age?). 

The prices at Cappelletti are moderate. I would say bordering on expensive (my flounder dish was $29.95), but because the portions are so huge, I’ll stick with moderate. Some of the menu descriptors are “chunks,” “crumbles,” and “sticks.” I would extend them to include “gargantuan,” “colossal,” “mammoth,” and “behemothic.” Salads, appetizers, and sides are $6.95 to $16.95; salmon, chicken, veal, and other entrees are $16.95 to $32, pastas are $16.95 to $29.95, desserts are $6.95 to $8.50.

Just a few of the desserts are made in-house, so we only ordered two, the tiramisu and cannoli. The tiramisu (shockingly!) was a dainty portion served in a coupe glass. It was good, you could taste all the elements, a bit of espresso and brandy in the soaked ladyfingers/spongecake, fresh mascarpone, and a fine dusting of cocoa powder. The cannoli (commercial shell, homemade ricotta filling) was very good, the shell crisp and cinnamony, the filling lightly sweetened.

Cappelletti is a friendly, family-style restaurant, an institution. Any restaurant that is open year round for locals and offers good value is a winner in my book.

Heartwarming Valentine’s

For those whose Valentine’s Day forecast calls for a dinner out, the 1770 House in East Hampton will present a four-course tasting menu option for the holiday, featuring a dozen “amorous and warming” dishes, according to Michael Rozzi, the 1770 House chef. The winter dishes to be served will follow Mr. Rozzi’s philosophy of building “like a crescendo,” beginning with “small bites and lighter flavors” and growing into “big full flavors and multilayer dishes.”

First-course bites will include oysters on the half shell, smoked salmon and caviar crostini, and beet tartare; they will be followed by items such as Maine lobster bisque and cumin and honey-braised pork belly with black truffle risotto. Among the entree selections will be rack of lamb, day boat halibut, and duck breast with spiced sweet potatoes, bok choy, and dried cherry glaze. A selection of house-made desserts will top everything off, and the restaurant’s wine director will be on hand to recommend selections by the glass or bottle. The cost of the dinner will be $85 per person.

February Ladies Night

A once-monthly ladies night at the c/o the Maidstone inn on East Hampton’s Main Street will take place on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m., when all cocktails and wines by the glass will be offered at half price in the lounge. The February get-together will feature Tracy Anderson, a fitness entrepreneur, and Stefanie Sacks, a “culinary nutritionist” who is the author of “What the Fork Are You Eating?” There will be a raffle, with the book and a fitness class as prizes, and an opportunity to purchase the book as well as exercise DVDs by Ms. Anderson. Only cash will be accepted. 

Those interested in attending must R.S.V.P. by tomorrow to soulmanager@ themaidstone.com. The restaurant will also offer a gluten-free prix fixe dinner that night for $34.95.

Winter at La Fondita

New menu items and specials for the winter season are on the menu at La Fondita, the Mexican takeout shop in Amagansett. They include calabacita con elote, zucchini cooked with corn and tomato, topped with queso fresco, roasted and seasoned butternut squash, a Friday special of chicken or beef fajitas, and a Saturday night special of pork ribs cooked in tomato salsa served with rice, refried beans, and handmade tortillas.

But how does it taste? 

I know that’s the number-one question on your mind about the new, history-in-the-making, right here on Long Island, this-recipe-was-formulated-by-the God-of-all-fish-cookery-Eric Ripert(!), etc., etc. Dock to Dish Montauk Fishburger introduced at the Bridgehampton School on Friday. Well, you’ll just have to wait a few paragraphs.

First, a bit about our hometown heroes, saints, and angels who made this happen. One day in 2012, Judiann Carmack-Fayyaz, an environmental design teacher and co-founder of Bridgehampton’s Edible School Garden program, was having coffee with Sean Barrett, co-founder of Dock to Dish, the first community supported fishery (C.S.F.) in New York and the first restaurant supported fishery in the country. They wondered why our abundant local bounty of nutritious fish isn’t on school lunch menus. Enter Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, the chefs Joseph Realmuto, Jason Weiner, and Sam and Kat McCleland; Stefanie Sacks, a culinary nutritionist, and Katie Baldwin, a co-founder and farmer at Amber Waves in Amagansett, and the ball got rolling. They brought in some big guns, Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin, who developed the fish burger recipe, and Dan Barber of Blue Hill to help formulate the bun recipe. The wheat for the buns is grown at Amber Waves and the buns are baked by Carissa Waechter’s Carissa’s Breads in Southampton.

At an assembly the day before the first fish burgers were served to the entire school, kindergarten through 12th grade, the school superintendent, Dr. Lois Favre, told the children that in her 32 years of education she had never seen people so committed to a project. Ms. Brady said she had been trying to implement such a program without success for many years until now.

Ms. Sacks asked the kids to raise their hands if they cared about nutrition and most of them did. She asked them to raise their hands if they cared about the environment. Oh, well, maybe that word is too big for kindergartners. A short video from ABC’s “The Chew” featuring Mr. Barrett’s Dock to Dish was shown next. This being the era of fast-paced, get your attention TV, the segment was titled “Slim and Sexy,” and had exciting, dramatic footage of fishing and filleting and loud music and the ubiquitous Hamptons montage of girls in sundresses drinking rosé on the beach. 

By this time I was squirming along with the youngsters. Mr. Weiner cracked some jokes about being the only chef with the guts to stand up and talk in front of the kids.

Then came Friday, the moment of truth, history in the making. The Bridgehampton School cafeteria is more like a beautiful dining room, with a tall ceiling and bay windows looking out onto playing fields and the school greenhouse. There are posters all around encouraging kids to be healthy, “eat your colors,” and “live well, eat well.” The refrigerator contains Snapple and ham and American cheese sandwiches on kaiser rolls. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

I arrived before the feeding frenzy to talk with Daniel Pacella, the school chef, and his right-hand woman, Fay Gholson. Said Mr. Pacella: “I hope it works.” Said Ms. Gholson: “Some people will like it. Maybe if they put cheese on it, they’d like it. We’ll see.”

The first fish burgers were not exactly the Eric Ripert version, which contains striped bass and some soigné accompaniments like shaved fennel, roasted tomatoes, and garlic aioli. These fish burgers were made with winter skate and were served with tartar sauce, romaine lettuce, and sliced plum tomatoes with coleslaw and sweet potato fries on the side. More kid-friendly, to say the least.

Were the fish burgers a hit? Did the kids actually ate them? I would have to say a resounding yes. They were a huge success. And by that I mean that probably about 70 percent of the kids ate the fish burgers. Amelia loves fish and ate her tomato first. Saevion didn’t like it, but he tried it. Kudos for that! Luis loved it and ate an orange when he was finished. Constantine said, “I liked it because I like fish and it’s healthy for you.” He then asked for Luis’s tomato. 

Eustorgio, clearly a budding gourmand, assembled his into a sandwich with all the fixings and informed me that he likes to make salads at home with “lettuce, onion, cabbage, nuts and seeds, and ranch dressing.” Max piled coleslaw on his and gave it an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Probably one of the more touching moments was when a high school student said she didn’t like fish but would try it in honor of her father, a fisherman who recently passed away. She liked it and said thank you. 

Throughout the lunch hours Mr. Barrett, Mr. Weiner, and the McClelands stood at the front of the room, beaming. Mr. Weiner got the kids worked up with a “Gimme an F!” “F!” Gimme an I!” “I!” and so on. Mr. Barrett got a bit emotional, recalling the years it took to get this project going, and now here it was, right in front of him, kids eating local, sustainable, wild-caught fish. “I’m having a moment,” he said. “Today is a dream come true.”

When the teachers and administrators got a taste, the fish burger garnered more raves. Coach Carl Johnson topped his with hot sauce. “I’m from the South,” he explained. Robert Hauser, the assistant superintendent, declared it delicious with no more than lemon on it. Ron White, president of the school board, loved it so much he had to leave before he was tempted to grab a second. “I’ll take my wife to Almond and get the adult version.”

Fish burgers are being served at Almond and other restaurants, and they sell out consistently. It is a brand-new work in progress. Mr. Barrett will provide whatever fish is seasonably available. Next will probably be scup, then golden tilefish, black sea bass, tuna, fluke, flounder, and so on. Each chef involved in the project will take turns coming up with a complementary sauce and side dish each month. The fish burger will be served the third Friday of every month. Mr. McCleland is working on a blackened version with remoulade.

And what did this fusspot restaurant critic think of the Montauk Fishburger? I though it was outstanding for several reasons. First and foremost, it was geared toward children. It wasn’t fishy tasting or moist or flaky or exotic, things that we adults might look for in a fish dish. It was dense and compact, with a texture closer to a hamburger, something the kids would like. The buns are nutritious, but soft. Again, more appealing to children.

These people are genuine hometown heroes and it was an honor to bear witness to history in the making. Schools across the Island and around the country are now lining up to try to do what this team is doing. The words I heard repeated over and over were “community and family.” As Ms. McCleland put it, “We are very fortunate to be a part of such a small but powerful movement working to change the way our children eat and the way they think about their food.” Amen, sister!

Now, gimme an F-I-S-H-B-U-R-G-E-R!

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Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Enough about Christmas and the music and the decorating and how many more shopping days we have until the big day. To my mind, some of the more interesting aspects of this massive holiday are the Christmas Eve food traditions celebrated by different cultures. There is Noche Buena, celebrated throughout Latin America; Kucios, the traditional dinner served in Lithuania, and, for Italian Americans, Esta dei Sette Pesce, or Feast of the Seven Fishes. (I assume Dec. 24 is the only day that “fishes” is grammatically correct?)

The rituals that accompany Kucios are many and varied, some solemn, some amusing. It is important that as many family members as possible make the effort to travel to be together for this evening. A handful of hay is laid upon the table before a white tablecloth is placed over it. The hay represents baby Jesus being born in a stable. If a family member has died within the past year, a place setting without silverware is laid out for that person with a candle upon the plate. The candle is lit throughout the meal in their memory.

The meal begins when the first star in the sky appears, representing the Star of Bethlehem. There are fir boughs and candles for decoration but no live flowers. Plotkeles, wafers similar to Communion hosts, are shared first, with each person breaking off a piece and passing it along. No meat or dairy or hot food is served, but it is an ample feast with as many as 12 courses. Fish, such as herring or eel, bread, vegetables, beet soup, mushroom dumplings, cranberry kissel, poppyseed milk, sauerkraut, and cider are some typical foods served. The meal itself is relatively somber and quiet, and each person must sample a bit of each dish. 

After the meal, family members reach under the tablecloth and draw straws from the hay underneath. The length and width of straws drawn signify longevity, how low, tall and thin, or short and wide your future spouse will be, how many decisions must be made that year, and more. Even the shadows cast on the walls from candlelight hold significance. If the shadow reflects the whole person, the coming year will be healthy; if the shadow is skinny and wavering, the year will be difficult. If the shadow is headless, well, that signifies that something bad may happen. In a touching and sweet ending to the evening, the table is left as is with leftover food, so that the souls of departed friends and relatives will feel welcome.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is believed to have originated in southern Italy, perhaps Naples or Sicily. The significance of the number seven has many theories. It could be the seven sacraments, the seven hills of Rome, the fact that the number seven appears most often in the Bible, and perhaps Genesis 2:2: “By the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing. . .”

The menu dates from the Roman Catholic tradition of consuming no meat or dairy on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, during Lent, or on the eve of special holidays. Some common offerings are baccala (salted cod), eel, lobster, clams, whiting, sardines, squid, octopus, mussels, anchovies, and more. Preparing and consuming this many fish dishes does sound daunting, but there are plenty of ways to do it. As Melissa Clark of The New York Times suggests, anchovies in a salad dressing is perfectly legit, as is a dab of salmon roe on a potato chip dabbed with creme fraiche. Okay, that’s kind of cheating with the dairy product, but she’s Jewish, so no need to follow the “rules.” And I like her idea of ending the meal with chocolate babka.  

Considering the bounty of fresh fish out here, I think a feast of the seven fishes would be a culinary delight, perhaps starting with some smoked striped bass or bluefish paté, searing some scallops, whipping up a cioppino, or a fish in parchment paper, clams casino, the possibilities go on and on.

For many of the last several years my son and I have been guests at our friend Kathleen’s Cuban Christmas Eve. She is an excellent cook, and it is a feast of marinated and roasted fresh ham, mojo criollo, a garlicky citrus sauce, black beans, rice, fried plantains, salad of watercress, avocado, and mandarin oranges, and flan.

According to the Cuban chef and scholar Maricel Presilla, Christopher Columbus is partially responsible for pork being served instead of fish on Noche Buena. When he brought pigs from Europe to Hispaniola (the island that now comprises the Dominican Republic and Haiti), they multiplied all over the islands, resulting in approximately 30,000 pigs roaming around Cuba by the 16th century. When they became a nuisance to farmers, the settlers began hunting them and roasting them whole. Well, when you’ve got that much animal roasting, you have to have a party with all your friends and family! 

“The Caribbean was a looser society. It didn’t have all the ecclesiastical apparatus. That’s why we have a gigantic feast surrounding pork,” she explains.

My personal heritage is mostly Irish mutt with a bit of Norwegian. After working in a Scandinavian restaurant for five years I realized that Swedish meatballs, herring five ways, and St. Lucia buns (sweet yeast rolls flavored with saffron) are definitely not my cup of tea, or aquavit. Perhaps someday I will attempt a feast of the seven fishes, and I am definitely intrigued by some Lithuanian recipes. Imagine how beautiful a big bowl of saltibarsciai (beet soup) would be on the Christmas table! 

For now, we are honored to be a guest at Kathleen’s Cuban Christmas Eve table, with all the traditional, savory, and colorful dishes that entails. Buon Natale, Linksmu Kaledu, and Feliz Navidad!

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Luis Deloera of Michaels’ at Maidstone bar and restaurant prepared a holiday dinner for senior citizens that was served at the Springs Fire Department last weekend. Community volunteers served the meal.

Michaels’ has holiday plans for a Christmas Eve a la carte menu as well as a special Feast of the Seven Fishes traditional dinner that night. The fish dinner will cost $85 per person, or $145 paired with wine, and begin with grilled shrimp, followed by courses of house-smoked salmon, marinated anchovies, grilled calamari and octopus, Montauk bigeye tuna, and baked branzino. Toasted pannetone will be served for dessert with a Chianti, poached pear, chocolate ganache, and red wine syrup. 

The Christmas Eve a la carte menu at Michaels’ will be available from 3 to 9 and will include starters such as a crispy fried lobster roll, duck two ways, bouillabaisse, and a “bouquet of pearls from the sea,” featuring a seafood medley for four or eight people to share. Entrée choices will include rack of lamb, surf and turf, veal with crab meat, lobster ravioli, and five-spice-crusted Chilean sea bass.

Certificates for Barbecue

The Smokin’ Wolf barbecue shop in East Hampton is offering $20 certificates for holiday gifting, and will give a bonus to those who buy them for several people on their gift lists. Those who purchase five certificates for $100 will receive a sixth one free.

Holiday Market

The Amagansett Food Institute’s holiday market at the Amagansett Farmers Market on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. will provide an opportunity to buy local food and other holiday gifts. Many East End and New York State-produced items will be sold at half price, and items will available to create custom gift baskets. Free hot cider and doughnuts will be served. 

A wintertime indoor farmers market takes place on Saturdays in Riverhead, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 117 East Main Street.

Now comes the decision of what to drink with your holiday dinner. Have you decided what you are serving? Roast goose? Prime rib? Another turkey, or heaven forbid . . . tofurkey? How many guests will you have? Do you want to splurge on champagne and wines or have you already blown your budget on Christmas shopping? So many decisions, and then New Year’s Eve is upon us, with more debate over what to serve.

For a holiday open house or a long day of family and friends waiting for the big feast, it’s a good idea to have a cheese board. Start with a good Stilton, the quintessential British Christmas cheese. Granted, this is often the one that has the most left over when the rest of the platter has been decimated, but you can find a lot of uses for it later, such as an escarole salad with beets and toasted walnuts. You should also have a great cheddar, like a Montgomery, a semi-soft white rind cheese like Camembert, a young goat, and a sheep’s milk cheese like an aged manchego. Sweet sherry or port goes beautifully with Stilton, and riesling goes well with most of the other cheeses. 

You could serve all young cheeses with wines that are juicy, fruity, and fresh: sparkling wines, crisp whites, dry roses, or reds with good acidity. For older cheeses, try wines with more body. And don’t forget to garnish the plate with plenty of dried apricots, figs, dates, and a bowl full of nuts for cracking.

If you are starting off the meal with a glam first course such as cheese souffle or blinis with caviar, then of course a sparkler like champagne, cava, or prosecco is in order. But a good pinot grigio would be great with cheese souffle as well.

If you are going in a smoked ham or roast pork direction, try an Oregon pinot noir for ham and Chateauneuf du Pape for roast pork. Even chardonnay works with pork if its seasonings are light and herbal. Splurging on prime rib? Enjoy a peppery one with cabernet sauvignon. If you’re putting a mustard rub on it, try syrah.

My Aunt Tink always served a roast goose for Christmas dinner. This is gamier and fattier than turkey, which means it calls for an acidic wine. What are you serving/stuffing it with? If red cabbage and chestnuts, then pinot noir is a good choice. If you’re thinking apples and onions and potatoes then riesling or gewurtztraminer are good matches. For a splurge, try Barolo (sans cabbage) or Barbaresco. For variety (and the young hipsters at your table) try a Belgian beer like Chimay.

Remember Beaujolais nouveau? That thin, watery wine that always came out in time for the holidays? The release date, the third Thursday in November, was a savvy marketing ploy that worked for a while, but the fun frenzy for this gamay grape juice has died down significantly. Half of the production is still consumed in France, the rest is popular in Japan, Germany, and the United States, but sales are a tenth of what they used to be. Thinking this would be an entertaining, retrowine to serve (like brie and Chablis!), I tried a bottle recently and just couldn’t remember what all the fuss was about. Then I remembered that we served it chilled. Well, that didn’t help much. I have decided to give it another chance, try another winery, and risk serving this cheap and cheery wine through the holidays.

As much as I enjoy champagne, it is too expensive. So I like to create original cocktails with cheap champagne, cava, or prosecco. Just as the French put a drop of cassis (black currant liqueur) in champagne to create a Kir Royale, or Framboise (raspberry liqueur) for a Framboise Royale, this year I am going to make use of the beach plum cordial that has been waiting in a dark cabinet since September. It has turned a beautiful hot pink color, which should be quite pretty in a drink. I have also become enamored of an odd drink I learned about from Chimene Macnaughton at Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits. During a recent flurry of sake purchases, she turned me on to a spicy plum sake-based liqueur that is amazing when added judiciously to a glass of sparkling wine. Needless to say, I have no idea what foods to pair with this, but it will be fun trying.

Another beverage possibility is hard cider. It can go with the obvious, like pork and chicken, but is also good with certain cheeses, cream sauces, some risottos, quiche, ham, and crepes.

Now that I have given an oversimplified primer on wine pairing with holiday foods, allow me to confuse you. You don’t necessarily have to choose a wine that complements a food; you can choose one that contrasts with that food. In other words, sometimes you want to play nice and sometimes it’s fun to play rough. For instance, a sauvignon blanc pairs complementarily with a broiled fish with lemon and dill. Try the same wine with a tomato-cream-caper sauce on fish and you have a delightful surprise.

So plan your holiday meal, and then have fun pairing it with a variety of wines or other spirits. There are no right or wrong ways, just different directions.

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News for Foodies

With one holiday upon us, it’s time to think ahead to the next, in case a night out at a local restaurant for New Year’s Eve is on your agenda.

In Sag Harbor, the Wolffer Kitchen will host a New Year’s Eve dinner with seatings to begin at 5:30 p.m. The last seating will be at 10:30. For $85 per person, dinner will include four courses along with a glass of Wolffer sparkling rosé for toasting.

Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton will serve dinner from 6 to 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, with holiday specials on the menu. They include seared Hudson Valley foie gras with house-made peach jam and toasted brioche as a starter, wood-oven roasted lobster with spaghetti squash as an entrée, and a caramelized puff pastry, served with chocolate mousse and chocolate-chestnut ganache, for dessert. 

At Rowdy Hall, also in East Hampton, a New Year’s Eve lunch menu available next Thursday will feature truffled cauliflower soup, country paté served with a fried egg, and an omelette with smoked trout and crème fraiche. On the dinner menu will be braised short ribs and chocolate meringue cake. On New Year’s Day, the restaurant will serve “Hair of the Dog” soup — a soup with cheddar cheese and beer — along with omelettes with poached salmon, caviar, and chives, and a special of sweet potato and duck confit hash to accompany poached eggs with hollandaise sauce.

Osteria Salina in Wainscott will be open tomorrow, Christmas Day, from 2 to 8 p.m. On New Year’s Eve, a $125-per person party from 5:30 p.m. till 1 a.m. will include a four-course meal, a D.J., dancing, and a champagne toast. For the first time, the Italian eatery will remain open year round.

The folks at Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett will ring in 2016 with some holiday specials, available through Jan. 2. They include, as appetizers, pan-seared sea scallops, grilled artichoke, roasted butternut squash and apple salad, and roasted beef bruschetta. Entrée specials will include prime rib, braised beef gnocchi, coq au vin, fresh local fish, and roasted Long Island duck.

Also in East Hampton, Cafe Max will have a New Year’s Eve prix fixe dinner for $40 per person.

Artists Night

Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton will start 2016 with another of its Artists and Writers Night events on Jan. 5. Beginning at 7 p.m., it will feature a three-course dinner, served family style, for $45, which includes a glass of local wine or craft beer. 

Zachary Lazar will be the guest speaker. A Guggenheim Fellowship recipient who has written for The Sunday Times magazine, NPR, and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications, he is the author of four books, including “Sway,” a novel named Best Book of 2008 by The L.A. Times, and the memoir “Evening’s Empire: The Story of My Father’s Murder,” a Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2009. His latest novel is “I Pity the Poor Immigrant.” Mr. Lazar has a house in North Sea and lives in New Orleans, where he is on the faculty at Tulane University. Reservations are required for the event.

Once upon a time in medieval England, a Christmas dinner “pie” was created consisting of two bushels of flour, 20 pounds of butter, four geese, two rabbits, four wild ducks, two woodcocks, six snipes, four partridges, two neats’ tongues, two curlews, six pigeons, and seven blackbirds. Now I’m sure you’re wondering, first of all, what is a snipe, a neat’s tongue, and a curlew? They are shorebird, beef tongue, and shorebird again. I imagine that those two breeds of shorebird, existing on a diet of fish, added a dash of mystery and umami to that monstrous pie. And what the heck did they do with the leftovers?!

According to numerous sources, we consume over 7,000 calories on Christmas Day, three times what we should. In England, no surprise, folks are known to consume over 8,000 calories. With a full English breakfast, pints of ale, mincemeat pie, eggnog, and all the other rich dishes that are a part of that day, I suppose this is possible — and appalling.

Americans eat 22 million turkeys on Christmas Day and 318 million pounds of ham. During the 17th and 18th centuries venison was considered a good option for this holiday meal, but you had to hunt for it. There was always plenty of pork, so that wasn’t special occasion-y enough. Turkeys hatched in spring would be nice and fat and ready for slaughter by Christmas. Before turkey was introduced to England around 1540, swans, geese, and peacock were popular. But swans tasted fishy and, for the life of me, I have not been able to find reliable source on what peacock tastes like. I’ll go with tough, stringy, gamey, dark meat chicken.

Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” cemented turkey as the centerpiece of a holiday meal, available to rich and poor alike. Around the 20th century, according to “America’s Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking,” turkey remained popular for Thanksgiving, but the wealthy turned to more exciting and expensive fare like game meats and beef.

How did ham become the star of some people’s Christmas meal? Apparently, its roots are in ancient pagan ritual. A wild boar was the chosen sacrifice to Norse god Freyr, associated with harvest and um, ahem, phallic fertility. When pagans were converted to Christianity, the meal became linked to St. Stephen, whose feast day is Dec. 26. This may be a bunch of hooey, but it makes for a good story.

Dorothy Parker defined eternity as “two people and a ham.” What are you going to do with all those leftovers if ham is your chosen Christmas meat? Fortunately, you can cut off chunks and freeze them, use the bone for split pea soup, and, my favorite, make deviled ham or ham salad. Leftover turkey meat is a bore, especially if you just had it a month ago for Thanksgiving. Again, you can cut the meat off the carcass and freeze it, or make soup, enchiladas, mole, tetrazzini, basically anything you would do with leftover chicken.

What if you had leg of lamb or a beautiful prime rib? The lamb can be repurposed into a Moroccan tagine served over couscous, or simply made into a stew. Assuming your prime rib was deliciously rare, simply manicure it, slice thinly, and incorporate into a fast beef stroganoff with chanterelle mushrooms. For a lighter meal, make a Thai beef salad with chilis, red onion, and lime juice.

I recently attended a holiday party for 70 people. I spent a good deal of time playing a mental game of “What would I do with these leftovers?” The crudite platter leftovers could easily be turned into a vegetable soup, made French style with a dollop of garlicky pistou on top. The random cheese scraps could go into a fondue. What if someone bestows a panettone upon you for Christmas? Make French toast, or better yet, Ina Garten’s panettone bread pudding. I also save the leftover candy canes from my tree. I crush them into bits and fold them into slightly melted premium vanilla ice cream to make the best peppermint ice cream to go with homemade shortbread.

Try not to consume those 7,000 to 8,000 calories this Christmas, because if you do, you’ll have to pay extra special attention to my upcoming New Year’s Eve resolutions column. Snore. And, you will have extra leftovers to play with in new and creative ways.

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Those without New Year’s Eve plans who are still looking to have an evening out could consider a visit to the new restaurant that has taken over the Mirko’s space in Water Mill. Marco Barrila, a chef, has opened Manna, and the fireplace will be roaring for a winter holiday night tonight to ring in 2016. Mr. Barrila focuses on rustic, traditional-style farm-to-table seasonal dishes.

To Head Wine Council

Roman Roth, the winemaker and a partner at Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, has been named the new president of the Long Island Wine Council, which works to spotlight North and South Fork wineries.

Mr. Roth, who has served as president for the Long Island Merlot Alliance, is also a winemaker for Roanoke Vineyards in Riverhead. His wines have received numerous accolades. He started at Wolffer in 1992, and last summer two Wolffer wines received high scores of 94 from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate, the highest score a Long Island wine has ever been awarded by a wine critic. Last month, Mr. Roth’s Grapes of Roth merlot was named one of the top 100 wines in the world by Wine Spectator

New Year’s Brunch

At Serafina, on East Hampton’s North Main Street, a New Year’s Day brunch will be served. In addition, both lunch and dinner will be served tomorrow through Sunday.

Momi Ramen

Momi Ramen in East Hampton will be open on New Year’s Day and will offer an extended happy “hour,” with drink specials from 5 to 11 p.m.