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**58limited** · December 24, 2025, 01:04 PM

About 20lbs of beef jalapeno cheddar summer sausage. The beef is the brisket trim that Redbird BBQ gave to me in July. I separated the lean from the fat and vacuum sealed it in 5lb increments so this was easy: I pulled out three bags of lean and one bag of fat. Brisket lean has quite a bit of fat in it so this sausage will be around 28% fat, maybe 30%.

The seasoning was purchased from Smithville Food Locker in Smithville, Texas - I really like their summer sausage and they agreed to sell me the seasoning even though they normally don't sell seasonings. It helps that one of my best friends has a cattle ranch and processes all of his beef there. I ran out of casings so there is about 3lbs extra that I froze in a ziplock until new casings arrive in a week or so.

Smoked on the KBQ using post oak with some hickory and applewood chunks.

Finished! I put them into an ice bath, wiped the smoke soot off, and now they are blooming on the island. I probably won't vacuum seal and freeze until I come back into town on Friday. I beleive that this is the first all beef summer sausage that I've ever made, the ones in the past were all venison and beef blend.

$fracmeister$ · December 24, 2025, 01:28 PM

last pic above …. Exterior hasnt changed much but it will!!

7 rib roast. Part in sous vide and part on the smoker. Not much change in 1.5 hours as the internal went from 40 to 75 so I am nudging the smoking temp up to 240

**SheilaAnn** · December 24, 2025, 03:57 PM

Snacking…. Mayocoba Bean and Pepper Jack Dip with Fritos.

and some TDHH, of course!

**Hedgehog BBQ** · December 24, 2025, 03:58 PM

My parents came up to Washington for early Christmas.
Crown Pork Roast with a cranberry orange glaze, Sausage stuffing, and mixed vegetables.
We crossed the water to Seattle and did some shopping at Pike Place Market. If you go to Seattle go to Pike Place.
For the glaze I used Fresh crushed cranberries, fresh squeezed blood orange, and homemade Maple sugar. Reduced the orange juice into a syrup with the maple sugar.
Made Stuffing with some local olive rosemary sourdough, carrot, celery, onion mix. I seasoned the roast and the stuffing with our Cactus Sand rub.
Then cooked a medley of colorful root vegetables and brussel sprouts.
dressed the roast and put it in the oven. I was going to do it on the smoker but heavy rain and winds defeated that idea.
meanwhile made the stuffing and vegetables. once the roast hit 120 I added the stuffing while the veggies cooked below.

**Hedgehog BBQ** · December 24, 2025, 04:28 PM

The Glaze is very simple, technically.
I juiced 3 blood oranges, what juice I didn't get I added regular good quality pulp free orange juice(not from concentrate) till I had about 2 cups.
3/4 cups fresh cranberries. I crushed them with a knife then very roughly chopped them.
2Tbls maple sugar
add all ingredients together heat and let it reduce by at least half.
Brush on the meat.

The maple sugar is where it gets tricky. You can buy it from some places but I make it myself. Get high quality pure maple syrup. Heat it on med high and let it boil. you are trying to get the moisture out of it. kinda like making caramel. let it boil for a bit and when it stops boiling take it off the heat stir it. basically you just made ruined caramel. stir and stir. it will start to crystalize, keep going. It will be chunks of hard crystals. It's done. let it cool and put in a food processor till it's like granular sugar.

**barelfly** · December 24, 2025, 08:49 PM

With the flu forcing changes with the family Christmas festivities, this is what the kids asked for this evening. Bolognese, however, I went with a new recipe on this. I followed an Andrew Zimmern recipe I saw on YT a few days ago. This is the uncle to the more traditional red bolognese, as it doesn’t use tomatoes. One other difference, is the use of chicken stock and white vermouth. This was really good - didn’t have that sweetness or acid from the tomatoes, so a nice change from that recipe. Everyone enjoyed the dish, especially the fresh GF pasta that we now use that Nature’s Grocer carries

**Dewesq55** · December 24, 2025, 08:49 PM

I didn't cook this, my step daughter did for Christmas Eve. Shrimp Scampi, linguini, sauteed asparagus and toasted bread brushed with olive oil.

**Michael_in_TX** · December 24, 2025, 08:59 PM

I had no idea what to do for Christmas Eve dinner so I just decided to wing it.

(Yes, I ate one before the previous photo was taken lol.) Wood is pecan, my favorite for poultry. Rub was Meat Church's Holy Voodoo, my favorite chicken wing rub.

Rotate the dome every 12 minutes three times and they are done. You can't get any simpler.

Plated up after a quick toss in some Red Hot....macaroni salad courtesy of HEB.

**jfmorris** · December 24, 2025, 09:55 PM

Well, today, Christmas Eve, I made a few things.

First - a big batch of Chuy's creamy jalapeño dip, from a copy cat recipe. Folks gobbled up a quart of it too! No pictures.

Next up - a sourdough boule...

I feel it needed more rise/ferment/proofing time, as the crumb was a little dense at the bottom, but it ate good sliced up with some butter on it.

Then, a batch of blasphemy ribs, with Holy Gospel rub, and Blues Hog smoky mountain bbq sauce... cooking on two levels, I swapped the ribs top to bottom halfway through the 2.5 hour cook.

And finally, a batch of Vortex buffalo wings, on the kettle. I had more, but stopped when I had it this full...

Towards the end, I brushed both sides with my home made buffalo sauce, and when my son showed up I put him to work pulling wings off as they looked done...

Everyone loved the ribs done this way, and the wings. I sent most of it home with the kiddos. I'll be doing more ribs this way soon, as I like the shorter cooking time. I had gotten away from it, but this is a great treatment for baby backs.

And finally....

Ho Ho Ho!!! Merry Christmas!

I wish the best for each and every one of you during this season.

**theroc** · December 25, 2025, 12:13 AM

Pivoted to a quiet Christmas Eve dinner with flyingpiglet after weather forced us to cancel travel plans. Shrimp, calamari and sausage gumbo with provisions in the freezer. Panhead John, this is the roux spoon we picked up in Lafayette.

**Skip** · December 25, 2025, 05:30 AM

Not a very good picture but it tasted pretty good. Christmas Eve Pizza last night. A Peter Reinhart Crust with Italian Sausage and Vegetables. Merry Christmas everyone.

**jfmorris** · December 25, 2025, 09:00 AM

And boom! Christmas Day 2025 starts off with the 7am bake of another sourdough boule... to take to my parents house where I will be put in charge of grilling some steaks on my Dad's Weber Spirit...

Merry Christmas!

Jim

**Santamarina** · December 25, 2025, 11:58 AM

Xmas Eve taco prep included buying diced steak labeled “taco meat”, so I don’t know what cut it was. But it was a nice time saving option, especially since they didn’t have skirt or flap meat I like to use for carne asada.

Used my citrus marinade on the meat with just a dash of my taco seasoning rub. Prepped everything in the morning so as soon as we got home from church last night I fired up the Blackstone and got cooking. Dinner was served in probably 20 mins after getting home!

Ive said it a dozen times, and ill say it a dozen more…doesn’t matter if your refried beans a made from scratch, bought at a Mexican market, or out of a can - fry them on the griddle!

Half the fam likes flour tortillas, half prefer corn. So I used both, without judging the flour folks. 🤣

Food was devoured in record time.

Served with my home made pico de gallo and salsa.