Traditional Christmas dinner?

[Leeway]

Growing up in an Italian family, we used to have those massive, multi-course Italian meals with lasagna, veal parmigiana, Italian sausages, meatballs, etc etc. Those productions were hard to continue, so in my family we now have turkey at Thanksgiving, of course, and roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, gravy, root veggies, etc, on Christmas. I have no idea if this is "authentic" in any way (probably not), but it makes for a nice meal.

[Jazzmoose]

At this point in my life I usually work Thanksgiving and Christmas, but when it mattered, it was turkey for Thanksgiving and Prime Rib for Christmas. It wasn't my idea, but I was more than willing to go along with it!

[GA Russell]

But now I find that here in North Carolina, which may be the national pork capital, the tradition is to have a "Christmas ham."

By coincidence, yesterday's paper mentioned that North Carolina is the country's #2 state for pork production.

So I looked it up, and Iowa beats us by a mile.

http://stuffaboutstates.com/agriculture/livestock/hogs.htm

[Ed S]

Lasagna - I make both a meat and a vegetable version. Home made sauce.

I'm told it's pretty good and has become a tradition in the family as I've been hosting Christmas Dinner since 2005.

[.:.impossible]

Man, I love brussel sprouts. Pan roasted. Look up Bittman's pages on the delectable.

Dry cured Virginia Ham, Standing Rib Roast, Lamb, local oysters and shrimp, smoked rockfish, trout... Depends on who's hosting. So many great cooks in my family, there is no going wrong!

Christmas Eve is a massive family cocktail party at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Heavy hors d'ouvres and old fashioneds. Merriment abound!

Edited December 23, 2014 by .:.impossible

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

We always had turkey growing up. Every year since my wife and I married and bought our home, we've hosted my siblings, their spouses, and children (I have five sisters, a brother, and a step-sister). The first year or two we also had turkey until my wife asked the profound question, "Why are we just having Thanksgiving redux?" Since then, we've fixed roasted leg of lamb along with the appropriate side-dishes (lots of root vegetables prepared in various ways). It took some convincing initially for my siblings to break away from the moldy tradition of turkey, turkey, turkey but now it's become a new tradition that everyone looks forward to each year.

Which reminds me; time to order the leg!

We're having that this year - most often it's beef nowadays - with a shoulder as well, in case there's not enough to go round on the leg. My younger grandson - 13 and as completely obnoxious as only a 13 year old boy CAN be - insists on turkey, we think just to be awkward, so we've got some sliced turkey we can give him for tea.

Oh, in deference to grandson #2, we're also having lobster for starters - I may try a bit but to me there's nothing better than smoked salmon, which I slip into the shopping basket as often as I feel I can get away with it.

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

And a Restoration Christmas - maybe they were overcompensating for the 1650s:

More here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30530682

Edited December 25, 2014 by A Lark Ascending

[Tim McG]

Prime Rib for us.

Anybody know how to make a good au jus?

[jlhoots]

We had a traditional New Mexico winter holiday dinner - Posole, tamales, tortillas, 2 salsas, biscochitos, flan. A nice salad too.

[.:.impossible]

Tim McG, I can't tell if you are kidding or not. Hoping you are kidding and had a great meal!

Merry Christmas everyone. Poached salmon and a mustard cream sauce served to perfection this evening by my Uncle Rick.

[catesta]

My family continues the Christmas Eve tradition of the Feast if the Seven Fishes.

This year was a cannellini bean puree that consists of olive oil, lemon juice and zest, parsley, garlic and crab meat served on crostini, plus...

Shrimp Scampi

Linguine with Clams

Mussells

Baked Clams with Oregano and Bread Crumbs

Calamari

Poached Lobster in a Marinara over Spaghettini

Christmas Day was a beautiful Antipasto of imported meats, cheeses, olives, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, grilled eggplant caponata and deviled eggs.

Followed by my Mother's Crespelle (Manicotti and my Arancini. I have a Nephew who is the cheese guy for Whole Foods so we do a chees course at the end. This time was all from France for my brother-in-law.

[Scott Dolan]

Wow, That sounds absolutely delicious!

[Tim McG]

Rick,

Actually, I was being serious. Up until last night, I hadn't found an au jus recipe that was any good. But no worries, we found one that tasted pretty good online.

Tim

Edited December 28, 2014 by TimMcG

[Neal Pomea]

When I was growing up I looked forward more to Christmas Eve than Christmas Day because we were having gumbo! I made some seafood gumbo this year for our Christmas Eve. Lucky I had the day off to prepare it.

[Tim McG]

Now that sounds good, Neal!

We live in a highly Hispanic area and the local tradition is to have tamales on Christmas Eve. So, we picked up that tradition and have done so for the last 20 years.