Help me with an idea for Christmas dinner!

[SmokinRosie]

Hello, all

I will start by saying, I firmly believe in Julia Child's energy of never apologizing for any meal made (or bought), and NO ONE in my family is actually expecting Pinterest perfect meals, except ME, LOL. But I love cooking, making great food, and trying new recipes that wow people. Good food is my love language. I like making nice meals for Holidays, but here's my dilemma.

I am struggling to come up with an idea for the second meal of Christmas/Eve this year. It is a small crowd, my husband, daughter, son, and in-laws (and maybe an aunt/uncle on one of the days).I recently found out neither of my in-laws likes smoked food (I can't even... like, how do you NOT like smoked food?!?!?!?.....at least they've been nice about all the smoked food I have served them over the years).

My daughter doesn't like ham. My FIL thinks he doesn't like pork. I've made salmon, beef burgundy, lasagna, and lots of smoked items over the years, LOL. It's hard for me to think of making any food in my oven that I KNOW would taste better off my smoker - personal opinion, I know, but I'm struggling with this. I like things that I can make/prep the days before since I'm working Christmas Eve, day before, and then I can just chill (mostly) the days off.

I think I will make beef bolognese one of the days. I've never made it, but I'm going to try this recipe.

I just got a new 22" griddle - maybe homemade pizzas? I do live in MN, am not afraid of cooking outside, but once in a while it's below zero on Christmas... I could use my oven I guess in a pinch, LOL (I do have a pizza stone in there). Maybe something sous vide?

I do have/will make my immediate family help as needed.

I've pored over the internet, but am hoping someone has a brilliant idea for me


Name this famous Christmas turkey, LOL!

[captainlee]

I was going to say Lasagna but you already have pasta dish. Rack of Lamb, Crown Rack of Lamb, Costco has them, or a pork roast. You have a tough crowd. Christmas duck here but that doesn't seem like an option for you.

[Jfrosty27]

The turkey is from National Lampoon Christmas Vacation.

Christmas Dinner? Prime Rib.

[SmokinRosie]

Save the neck for me, Clark!, LOL

[synodog]

I seem to do a prime rib every year now and I’m glad my family likes it.

[Donw]

I know someone above said they don’t like pork, but does their dislike extend to pork belly? I know my wife’s family had something similar to this every Christmas.

https://sailingselkie.no/crazy-crispy-traditional-norwegian-ribbe-pork-belly.html

[rodkeary]

Gumbo

[Panhead John]

+1 on the gumbo! If they don’t like that, hopefully there’s a Popeye’s down the street. 🥸

[LA Pork Butt]

Gumbo would be a good make ahead. You just need to decide Creole or Cajun and seafood or chicken and sausage.

[ecowper]

Oh man, one of my favorite scenes in Christmas Vacation!

Why not do a rib roast outside? Don’t hit it with any smoke at all (I don’t recall what your other outdoor cooker is other than the new griddle) and pay attention to Mosca who wrote an excellent Ramblings about prime rib :-)

[synodog]

I barely put any smoke on my rib roasts and you can’t tell it’s there. It could be Rosie’s little secret. 🤐

[LA Pork Butt]

The Tex-Mex tradition is tamales at Christmas. I think you can do them as a make ahead. Maybe you can search out ethnic traditions.

[Oak Smoke]

They are so good for Christmas! Mexican friends make and gift fruit tamales at Christmas.

[jfmorris]

I think I am pushing for this as my contribution to Christmas Eve this year, rather than going for a prime rib. Or I'll make beef birria tacos in advance....

[LA Pork Butt]

jfmorris Jim, in my part of the country Aldi starts to carry tamales as Christmas approaches. They usually carry beef and pork tamales and are pretty good.

[jfmorris]

I'll second Eric ecowper and suggest still cooking your larger proteins outside, but limiting smoke. I no longer use wood for my turkeys for example - just straight up charcoal, at 350, with intentionally limited smoke. I've learned the hard way that not everyone likes smoke, and poultry soaks up smoke more than most other proteins.

Our big day with the kids is Christmas Eve these days, and last year I made prime rib.

Prime rib goes on sale around here at stores like Publix for $6.99 a pound before Christmas, and last Christmas, I bought a 22 pounder, trimmed off the full slab of beef back ribs and the spinalis (rib eye cap) for future cooks, leaving me with a nice almost cylindrical boneless prime rib roast for Christmas Eve. It was still too big, so I sliced a few steaks off, froze those too, and ended up cooking an 8-9 pound "eye of prime rib" roast. I tied it up tight to make it cylindrical, and ran it indirect on the kettle with the SNS, and then seared it over the coals in the SNS, with no smoking wood at all. It came out great, with enough leftovers for Christmas Day for the two of us. A mostly hands off cook, with an eye on the remote reading for my Thermoworks Smoke until time to sear.

Good luck deciding what way to go.

I will say the the idea of Christmas Eve pizza sounds appealing to ME! Make or buy pizza doughs in advance, and have folks build their own pizzas. Bake them inside or out.

I never tried making pizza on a griddle, so don't know how that would work, but have done it on the kettle and kamado. Even my old offset back when I still had it.

[58limited]

I would say prime rib.

[Finster]

Braised short ribs has been our Christmas meal for the last several years and will be again this year.
It’s actually a pretty minimal effort day of meal. Browning the beef being the most hands on step.

[DavidNorcross]

A whole beef tenderloin.

[RonB]

Name that turkey? Fred.

How about lumpia. In case someone doesn't know, that's a Filipino egg roll. It's traditionally made with pork, but you can fill the wrappers with anything you want. I'm thinking about making 'em with ground beef and cheese. Chopped shrimp would also work, but I'm guessing that smoked and shredded chuck roast would be a no go as would pulled pork.Here's ATC's take on lumpia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMxs1eFMsGc

You can make ahead and freeze so that all you have to do is cook the day of, and they should hold their crispness for about 4 hours.

[Michael_in_TX]

Pizza, as you said, for something different....but perhaps up the game a bit for the occasion. Perhaps Spanish Chorizo (which I have fallen in love with) instead of pepperoni, a mozzarella/gruyere cheese mix instead of just mozzarella.....

[barelfly]

Bolognese is great! Whether you make the pasta or not, it’s a great meal and easy to cook for a group. I saw Crown of Lamb mentioned above, you could also do Crown of Pork, cool presentation and a great meal in the event lamb isn’t an option.

Also, someone mentioned traditions - anything you can look up for your heritage, or something your family remembers from their childhood?

Or for something fun, do a bunch of appetizers or “pot Luck” style foods that are of a theme. We always do New Mexican food on Christmas Eve, food that is easy to serve and keep warm on the stove and crock pot and heat up as we go (we serve store bought tamales) as well as my parents make flautas. I make carne adovada and posole, and sister makes queso. It’s a fun day to just snack on all the goodness and everything is made prior to the day, so keeps it easy.

[Oak Smoke]

For years we did surf and turf for Christmas. Steak and shrimp is hard to beat.

[Michael_in_TX]

...at any time of year.