Thursday, December 21, 2006

The Battle of the "Feast of the Fishes" Every Christmas Eve

The ANNOTICO Report

 

I look forward every year to the continuing, ongoing, never ending debate over  "The Feast of the Fishes".

 

How Many?? Is it Seven, or  Eight, or Nine, Thirteen, or Twenty two???????

 

What is the significance of the Number???

 

Which Fish are to be included?????

 

 

ITALIANS DISH SEVEN WONDERS

 

The New York Post 

By Cynthia Kilian 

December 20, 2006

 WHICH dishes are best of the Feast of the Seven Fishes? Go fish. The traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner, created as a meatless way to prepare for the Christmas feast, is all about seafood. But the kinds and even the number are subject to interpretation.

"There are no seven specific fishes. I generally make more than seven," says Michael Capasso. The general director of the Dicapo Opera Theatre has been cooking the multicourse extravaganza in his Upper West Side apartment for several years.

But he's not exactly serving the dishes of his youth.

"One of the fish I grew up with was called stocco, which was this horrendous, big, smelly fish. I replaced that recipe with cod steaks. They taste a lot better, and people are much happier."

"My entire childhood I just remember eels swimming around in the sink. It's pretty hysterical," he says.

Capasso does serve eel, however, when he can get it.

Bacala, or salt cod, is also a traditional course. In Naples they eat fritto misto - assorted fried fish.

The significance of seven is a little hazy, too. Most say it stands for the seven sacraments, some for the seven days it took Joseph and Mary to get to Bethlehem, a few say the seven hills of Rome.

Others plan the meal around totally different numbers, such as 13, for Jesus and the apostles.

"But, uniformly, you find that everybody has their own version of it, and nobody ever lands on seven: it's eight, it's nine, it's 22," Capasso says. "You know, typical of an Italian kitchen, it's completely disorganized but fabulous."

We asked Capasso and six local chefs serving the feast at their restaurants to name their favorite dishes from their dinners, for the ultimate Feast of the Seven Fishes.

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