For most of us, Christmas is the first or second biggest family event of the year, especially in the cooking and baking department.
Some people prefer turkey, some prefer ham, and others (like me) prefer beef.
This year, my family will be at my house, so I am doing the planning and most of the shopping and cooking. A rib roast is pricey, but the market drops the price for the holiday so that it is more affordable. I will also pick up some fresh Kielbasa.
Normally, since I have a small group on Christmas Eve, I splurge and get the rib roast, and prepare a few side dishes to complement this yummy main course. There’s a special rich potato and Gruyère cheese casserole, usually a salad and a simple green vegetable, although I have added other things, including a vegetarian entree of some sort.
On Christmas Day I usually don’t cook anything, other than breakfast, and munch on leftovers when I get hungry.
I know that some ethnic groups have special dishes and meals that are prepared for Christmas. For instance, Italians traditionally have a fish and seafood meal on Christmas Eve. Polish families often have dishes like fresh kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, and pierogi.
What do you (or your family) usually prepare for Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day dinner?
Stella's Place 
Stella, I’ve mentioned several times on recipe threads that I smoke foods a lot now. Today I am smoking two hens and a pork rump roast. One of my sons bought smoker years ago, and he’s gotten so good at it that I just had to try it, and I had wanted to even before he got into it.
He can and does smoke anything and everything, including very priced cuts of meat. But I’ve shied way from the trickier to prepare meats, especially the expensive ones. Best meat I cook is your lamb recipe!
My son will do a combination of maybe a tri tip, rib roast, or a tomahawk steak. I will do a ham. This ham recipe is the one I always go back to. Delicious, and it’s best cooked late Christmas Eve, then you leave it in the oven all night. So, oven free for whatever you need the next day.
https://www.sweetteaandcornbread.net/2012/12/kentucky-bourbon-brown-sugar-ham.html
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Good morning, Menagerie! It all sounds good.
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Never considered beef for Christmas. Now, I think I’ll go to the butcher for good steaks. The carrots with citrus look good. I like root veggies: roasted parsnips, beets, rutabagas. All would be good with steaks.
GGS said he would rather have cookies than pie, so maybe I’ll make the bar cookies from the thread the other day. Better yet, have him mix and bake them!
Czar loved to make Cuban marinated pork roast, with black beans and yellow rice, which is traditionally made Christmas Eve. Of course he was Polish.
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I had steaks one year instead of a rib roast (which is really just ribeye steaks before they are cut.) It’s a good choice! Any kind of veggie, and maybe a salad, would be good.
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These are the rolls I plan to make. They are easy, and beautiful. Usually, presentation is not my talent, so I love it when I find recipes that look so pretty and are easy to do. And they are one of my top recipes these last months, as far as flavor goes.
https://kneadedthat.com/sourdough-discard-garlic-knots/
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I think this one may be a possibility. Or I’ll just make it for us, between now and Christmas. We have a special dinner on Christmas Day with kids and grandkids, but I like to make seasonal meals for me and my husband to enjoy during the Advent season.
https://tinyurl.com/w4r4kjjy
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I think this one may be a possibility. Or I’ll just make it for us, between now and Christmas. We have a special dinner on Christmas Day with kids and grandkids, but I like to make seasonal meals for me and my husband to enjoy during the Advent season.
https://tinyurl.com/w4r4kjjy
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My husband’s family is Acadian, and they did Réveillon – the feast held after Midnight Mass. When we last lived in this province, I used to help make the tourtierre. I even got my MIL’s secret recipe for the filling that she came up with over the years, using a combination of 5 different meats, instead of just pork. She found pork too rich. They were good friends with the local butcher and would order about 30 pounds or more of ground meat. It took two days to make the pies; the first to make the filling, which was then set outside to cool overnight, the second to make the dough, which was also set outside to cool for a couple of hours, then make the pies. My MIL gave many pies away to friends for their Christmas dinners.
For a few years, our Christmas was start with Réveillon after Midnight Mass, at my in-laws, Christmas dinner at my parents on Christmas, then another Christmas dinner on Boxing day in the city with my BIL.
When we moved out of province, we were quite happy to have a quiet time at home. We did a modified Wigilia (which is supposed to be meat free, but we combined traditions) on Christmas Eve, after the first star appeared, with many courses over the evening until midnight, when we opened gifts.
We still sort of do that now. Sometimes with ham, sometimes with turkey, but once we started getting beef shares just before Christmas, we have been usually doing beef.
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