New Year’s Eve is renowned for its excess, yet New Year’s Day gets short shrift, relegated to hangover recovery. This year, celebrate it. This make-ahead buffet allows you to live it up the night before and wake up to a ready-to-eat festive brunch. So whether you find yourself facing a visit from the in-laws or are the designated sleepover house, this spread will take care of a crowd. (Though it never hurts to toss in some good luck.)
Our brunch is engineered to cover all the bases of a good hangover meal: starch, carbs, eggs, and something sweet. Of course, you need not have indulgent party plans as an excuse; simple, make-ahead preparation is welcome any time. There’s a bubbly cocktail for those needing to cut the edge, and three variations of Bloody Marys for anyone who wants something a little stronger. If your guests are DIY types, you can set up a Bloody Mary bar with all the fixings so that they can doctor their drinks themselves.
SHOPPING LIST
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shopping list 
VIDEO
How to
Set Up a Buffet
Pre-Fête
Sure, everything can be made ahead, but in what order, you ask? Here are rough guidelines:
Up to a Week Ahead
- The jalapeños for the Bloody Mary bar can be pickled.
- The ginger vodka and chile tequila can be infused.
- The salsa verde and vinaigrette can be made, and the nonperishable groceries can be purchased.
Up to 36 Hours Ahead
- You can make the dough for the caramel rolls.
- Sear the steak and cook the beans for the salad.
- Mix the base for the strata.
- Parboil the potatoes and sweet potatoes for the home fries.
- Marinate the mango (sans mint)
- Mix the grapefruit base for the cocktail.
- Set up the buffet and the Bloody Mary bar.
All that’s left for the day of is combining the salad, throwing things in the oven, and lighting one burner to finish the hash. Before you get started, print out our shopping list to make sure you’ve got everything, and to set the morning-after mood, turn to our music mix.
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PARTY MUSIC
Download the iMix
Turning Over a New Leaf
If you’ve got your hangover under control, you’ll have time to fulfill some of your New Year’s resolutions. Though 2006 was a great year, this party will prove that—at least as an entertainer—you have nothing to fear in 2007.
I'm a little disappointed by this feature. I normally love your recipes. But I can't imagine waking up with a roaring hangover and wanting to eat a single dish from this spread, esp. the mango. Also, the photo looks kind of grim. Sorry.
Hmmm... even though the recipes themselves sound good, what about a nod to tradition here? I can't imagine a New Year's Day without pork and sauerkraut, and I know many others who need a ham and/or hoppin' john to celebrate this day.
The colors look very retro.
hey, mercyteapot: tradition? since when is pork and sauerkraut EVERYONE's tradition? i'm asian, and that isnt a tradition my family holds..... maybe they dont focus so much on that b/c it isnt applicable to everyone. there are other cultures in the world you know......
New Years Eve about midnight and New Years Day we eat Pork and Sauerkraut for good luck and wealth in the coming year. I like beef hot dogs with Heinz ketchup with sauerkraut too. I have also picked up eating black eyed peas, corn bread and 12 grapes at midnight (one for every chime on the clock) too. It is the superstition/tradition that I like to follow. We don't eat chicken, turkey or any foul as that is bad luck-scratching for money all year. Who knows if they are true or not but I still do them. I have a friend that her family eats: roast beef, pork, cabbage, pasta and fish.
So what do you eat special that day? I like learning new traditions.
The buffet looks good to me but I would still need my traditional foods that day too..