Christmas Meal Traditions

[Norm]

Our two sons and their families will be coming over to exchange gifts and then a big supper together on Christmas Eve. I bought a bone in prime rib for us to share for supper. The weather is going to be perfect so I'm going to cook it on my XL big green egg. First time I've ever attempted that so hopefully I don't mess it up. Patty's making her world famous deviled eggs and twiced baked potatoes. I'm doing Keri's Hog Apple beans and a New York cheesecake for dessert.

How about the rest of you folks any traditional meals or dishes you make for the big day?

[submarinesailor]

I'll be there about 11AM. food2 8) 8) :D :D ;D

Norm - we do about the same thing at my mother in laws.  Everyone comes in on Christmas eve with a dish and fills up the dining room table.  As the oldest of the bunch, I get to do most of the craving, usually turkey and ham.  I just wish they could keep a sharp knife in the house.  The last couple of years I have been bringing my own knife.  The rest of the food runs from good old potato casseroles to good Philippine egg rolls – Steve, do you want some :D ;D :D ;D :D ;D

Bruce

[Kansas]

I seem to be coming up with new traditions. Since I discovered baking at Thanksgiving, already got plans for some of what I did then, plus some new stuff. Cobbled together a fudge recipe from several different ones, and made some Jose Cuervo gold caramel dark chocolate cashew fudge last night. If I would have known that the results are this good, I would have taken up baking and cooking desserts a long time ago. Having a lot of fun with it.

[thecfarm]

Norm,start a new Christmas tradition,invite a FF member from Chesterville,Maine.  :D

[Burlkraft]

We are having Christmas eve dinner and then everyone is leaving and for the first time ever Jill and I are going to see a movie on Christmas day  ;D

So Christmas eve dinner is Halibut, cheesy hash browns, sweet corn pudding, fresh sourdough bread and for desert puh-con pie  ;D ;D

[Chris Burchfield]

Christmas and Thanksgiving a traditional recipe from my grandmother, my mom's mom.  Turkey, 1-block (4"X4"X1 1/2")of shaved salt pork, about 4 large diced onions and three tablespoons of crushed red pepper.  Work some of this mix under the skin atop of the breast and thighs, some in the cavity and the rest around the bird in the roaster pan with the top on and about an inch of water within.  In the oven for temp and time consistent with the weight of the bird.  After, allow time for the bird to cool off some, then debone.  The breast will lift off.  It's not hard to separate as the meat is falling off the bone.  After debone and carving, place the turkey back into the pan with the drippings/pan sauce.  This is served turkey to the side.  Drippings/pan sauce over scratch, cathead buttermilk biscuits and/or white rice.  Cornbread dressing is optional as target for the drippings/pan sauce.  A bit spicy for some, you can reduce the crushed red pepper to two tablespoons.  One side is bacon wrapped string beans with brown sugar atop, baked in the oven.  Jellied or regular cranberry sauce is good and is ideal to break the heat from the crushed red pepper that harmonized all the flavor in your mouth if you used a little too much crushed red pepper.  All the other sides your family does with turkey will be fine with this meal.  An uncle once brought two Louisiana swamp rabbits to grandmother's, one dressed at five lbs. one at five and a half lbs.  Grandmother fixed the rabbits the same as the turkey recipe above.  MMMMM-Goooood!

[WildDog]

You guys are making me hungry...  We are going to the inlaws in the next town over. Christmas here is normally hot we will have prawns, cold chicken, turkey, lamb and salads. All the girls try to out do each other with deserts, (I'm not complaining) there will be the usuall, Pavalova, Christmas pudding, fruit cake, trifle custard and ice cream ...Now I'm making myself hungry :( 

[Raider Bill]

Our two sons and their families will be coming over to exchange gifts and then a big supper together on Christmas Eve. I bought a bone in prime rib for us to share for supper. The weather is going to be perfect so I'm going to cook it on my XL big green egg. First time I've ever attempted that so hopefully I don't mess it up. Patty's making her world famous deviled eggs and twiced baked potatoes. I'm doing Keri's Hog Apple beans and a New York cheesecake for dessert.

How about the rest of you folks any traditional meals or dishes you make for the big day?

Hog Apple Beans? Do tell!!!!

[Norm]

Here's my version of it Bill.

[Raider Bill]

Not sure why but I can't open that file. Say's it's PHP?

[Norm]

Hmmm me too. I'll just cut and paste it here.

Norm's Hog-Apple Baked Beans

3 or 4 slices bacon, diced
 2- 28-oz cans Van Camp's Baked Beans
1/2 c.Famous Daves Sweet and Sassy BBQ Sauce (or other sweet-spicy favorite)
1 lb. smoked leftover smoked pork or beef, more or less
1 can peach pie filling (pureed in a food processor) we use Patty's homemade canned peaches
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. Mustard (prepared)
1 tsp mild barbecue rub (or your favorite de jour)

Brown bacon, and saute onion in bacon grease. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake at 325º for 1 hour.

[LeeB]

Try that same recipe with about 1/2 cup of Jack Daniels in it.

[red oaks lumber]

does the jack daniels go in the cook or the beans? ;D ;D

[scgargoyle]

Christmas Eve is always casual finger food, since I sing in the church choir. Swedish meatballs are the one thing we always have; the rest varies. For Christmas Day, I usually do a prime rib, but this year I'm throwing a crown roast of pork on the grill instead. I haven't done one in years- I can't wait!

[LeeB]

does the jack daniels go in the cook or the beans? ;D ;D

Bout half and half.  :D

[Roxie]

For 40 years, I've had an open-house Christmas Day.  My grandmother taught me how to prepare every dish that is served buffet style, as folks come and go.

Ham
Potato Salad
Baked Pineapple
Cole Slaw
Baked Butter Beans
Meatballs in gravy
Pickled Eggs
Cherry Pies

[Raider Bill]

For 40 years, I've had an open-house Christmas Day.  My grandmother taught me how to prepare every dish that is served buffet style, as folks come and go.

Ham
Potato Salad
Baked Pineapple
Cole Slaw
Baked Butter Beans
Meatballs in gravy
Pickled Eggs
Cherry Pies

Baked Pineapple? Now that sounds DELISH!

[Roxie]

Thank you, it is a favorite of Cowboy Bob's too.  If I have any leftover the next day, he warms it in the microwave and tops it with vanilla ice cream. 

Recipe:
1 large can crushed pineapple
6 eggs beaten
1 cup sugar
6 slices bread cut into cubes
1 stick very soft butter

Put all into a 13 x 9 baking dish and bake at 350 for about an hour (or until browned and somewhat firm). 

[Sprucegum]

I don't remember when or why it started - we do fondu every year instead of turkey. I guess we just got tired of eating two or three turkey dinners in a row. The grand kids are getting old enough to do their own cooking which is pretty exciting  ;)

[Jeff]

This may be a new tradition starting this year.  8) This may sound bad to some people, but I found it to be the taste treat of the day.  Tammy's mom Sharon brought cold smoked chicken gizzards. They were just flat out awesome.  They were fist boiled in water seasoned with old bay spice and lemon pepper. Then cooled, then cold smoked in Gene's (Sharon's husband) smoker for two hours with apple wood smoke.  This one rates a Raider Bill DELISH!



 

[sandhills]

mmmmmmm..... I love gizzards, funny thing is, it's bout the only part of the chicken I do like  :

[thecfarm]

I bet it's better than grits.  ;D

[WDH]

It would probably go well with grits, now that you mention it, theCfarm  :D.

[LeeB]

Sounds good to me.

[thecfarm]

You want to spoil the taste of smoked chicken gizzards with grits? Help me out here Jeff.

[LeeB]

Not really a tradition, well I guess it could of been. I do seem to have to work most Christmases. SOme pics of the side table the galley crew put together. Look close at the carved veggies. Artwork. 


 
 
 


OK.I'll try again. Must learn to be patient and wait for the pic to upload. :
Well maybe I won't. The pics are in my gallery but don't upload with an image. Maybe later.

(Lee, I don't want to spoil Christmas, but these images are PNG format and take about 1500 kbyte each to render. These will have to be jpg format. For one they take up way too much space that a 50 kb jpg can show equally as well. And those of us on dial-up would be shut right out of the forum with pages loaded with huge photos (kilobytes wise). I rendered them inert with the code function. - SwampDonkey)

[Magicman]

Good looking vittles Lee.

Our main dish may seem at bit "non tradition".  Crawfish and shrimp Etufee'.   There will also be smoked Boston Butt and the usual sides.  MMMmmmm.

[Roxie]

That food is too beautiful to eat, LeeB!  That is one happy looking galley crew!   

[WH_Conley]

The usual Christmas breakfast. Biscuits, gravy, fried apples, bacon, fried ham, sausage, fried potatoes with a few Jalapeno's on the side.

[Burlkraft]

DanG Lee!!  8) 8) 8)

That almost makes me wish I was out there with ya..... :D :D :D

Ain't nuthin' like suckling pig..... digin_2

Them gizzards are lookin' mighty tastey right now too   ;D

[Patty]

WOW Lee that is am amazing display of food!!  Imagine the patience and atwork that went into each item, truly magnificent.

Quite a kitchen as well! Your crew look like they are all having a nice time. Merry Christmas Lee!

[Jeff]

Part of that problem was me. I never disallowed PNG images on the setup of the new gallery. The forum software can not manipulate them, so it can't make thumbnails, or reduce.  The only way I could fix it, because I can't upload to someone else's gallery even though you'd think I could, I saved all of the photos, converted them to jpg, re-uploaded to my gallery, then posted them from there.

Sorry about the mix up.

[LeeB]

Thanks Jeff. I thought it was just my connection out here. Sometimes I can see photos and utube links and the like and somedays I can't. A lot of the time I have to wait till I get home to see parts of posts with vidoe and such.

That food is too beautiful to eat, LeeB!  That is one happy looking galley crew!   

It really was too good to eat. That table was mostly just for display. The sweets got eaten, but not too much of the rest of it. I was going to take some more pics after the evening meal, but the guys had already taken it down by the time I got back to the galley.

[Jeff]

Lee, if your camera is taking png format, you should see if you can switch it to jpg.

[LeeB]

They were taken by a co-worker. I didn't notice what format they were until you mentioned it. I will try to be more careful in the future.

[SwampDonkey]

That was a fine looking Christmas spread, fit for kings. 

[LeeB]

I would trade it for a bowl of beans at home but I guess somebody has to keep the lights on and the wheels turning.

[SwampDonkey]

Funny you mention the beans, as that was a choice here tonight. Home made baked beans warmed up or a chicken sandwich. I'm about to sit down to the sandwich. ;)

[Troublermaker]

Have anyone got a good Eggnog Recipe? I like to try a difference recipe than the one that I use.

[Dan_Shade]

when I had chickens, I mixed eggs, milk, sugar, and rum or bourbon together until it tasted good.

some recipes have you sepate the yolks from the whites. and then recombine after they are mixed up.

[Magicman]

The only thing left in the Crawfish/Shrimp Etufee' pot was a memory.

[LeeB]

The cooks made lobster gumbo out of the leftover lobsters tonight. Not like real coonass gumbo, but pretty good for this side of the world.

[sawguy21]

We had a light breakfast this morning, didn't really feel like eating after last night. Karen brined an 18 lb turkey with coarse salt, demerara sugar, bay leaves,orange peel and poultry seasoning (that had been cooked down in two gallons of water) for a full twenty four hours. She then rinsed and dried it thoroughly before putting it in the oven.
We were concerned it might be too salty but that was the best turkey we have ever had and the gravy was to kill for. Add dressing, sweet potato balls, mashed spuds and green bean casserole  8) Oh, and home made cranberry sauce, gotta have that.We couldn't even think about desert.

[SwampDonkey]

Reminds me I have some cranberries that need cooking in the morning. I eat them as a desert.  ;D

[Jim_Rogers]

Because we have turkey at thanksgiving and ham at easter, my wife usually makes something with Beef at Christmas.

We've had tender loin and she has put some type of stuffing in it for several years. It was good but very expensive to buy enough for the whole gang.

Well this year she asked "me" what I wanted for beef for Christmas dinner.
I know she usually does "too much" and get exhausted over it.

I told her not to do anything fancy. We don't need to spend $70 for one cut of beef.

I told her that she makes a really nice pot roast and to just get two and put them into the big pan with the potatoes and carrots like she makes in the slow cooker and it would be fine. Every time she does it in the slow cooker the meat just falls apart and is very easy to cut/break up and eat. And it isn't hard on her.

She when to Sam's club and got some beef but never told me or anyone what it was.

I heard her tell her daughter that to eat by 1pm the meat had to go into the oven by 10 am. So she wanted her to get done with making the cinnamon rolls for our breakfast snack, by then.

Ok, so 1pm rolls around and the meat isn't done. I had an appointment to bring my sister, who doesn't drive, over to my mother's house for them to visit. I wanted to leave by 3:30 and pick up my sister at 4pm.

They keep checking the meat thermometer and it wasn't where they wanted it.

2 pm came and went, 3 pm came and went. 4 pm I called my sister and told her I was going to be at least an hour late.

Finally the meat thermometer read 135 or 140 degrees for medium well, and they said it was done, and they had to warm up the twice baked potatoes for 10 minutes or so.

I walked into the kitchen and here was the huge rectangular pan with a side of beef in it like I had never seen before. She bought prime rib, with bone in. For all of us.
She said it was cheaper then tender loin.

Well, I was very surprised and mostly by the fact that she had set the table with "plastic forks and knives".
I really didn't see how we were going to eat prime rib with a "plastic knife" and fork.

I know from experience to not comment on the menu but I suggested that we might need "regular" knives to cut the meat.

Well you would have thought I said she was "fat" or something. I about got a new one chewed out of me for sure.

I got out some "steak knives" from the box in the tall cabinet for everyone to have.
Some used them, some didn't.

I do have to tell you that this "prime rib" was one of the best I have ever had and it was well worth the wait.

My daughter, who can be a fussy eater, had three slices off mine and well as one of her sister's.
It was the best.

I cut off one to take to my mother's and she and my sister didn't even put a dent in it. I gave the leftover to my sister to take home to her apartment for another meal.

I'm hoping that there will be some, at home, tonight for seconds.

And no plastic forks and knives......

I don't know what got into her for setting the table like that, they were colorful as the forks were red and the knives were green (for Christmas)......

Jim Rogers

[caveman]

I got up early Christmas morning and smoked a 20 lb. turkey and a ham on black cherry.  This is becoming a tradition as the inlaws send a turkey home with my wife a day or two before Christmas.  It was the hottest Christmas day I can remember--mid 80's, swarms of mosquitoes, and running the air conditioner.  We ate a lot of good stuff that was prepared inside as well.  Caveman

[Todd]

I'm still stuffed from this weekend and never want to eat again...but all these dishes (sans chicken parts...sorry Jeff) are making me really want some leftovers!  Couple of years ago my wife wanted to have family from out of town over for Christmas Eve..it snowballed to the point we had to go buy 2 8 ft banquet tables and set up in the dinning room and living room of our place this year.  Everyone came and of course settled in the kitchen (which is too small for 2 to work in)  Tenderloins were cold by the time we ate, diito with the rolls, twice-baked potato casserole was warm in the middle...once we got the wife to relax and enjoy the fact that everyone was having a good time and didn't care it was the best Christmas eve dinner yet!