Holiday cooking thread

Mr Janny

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I know the holidays are often a time for get togethers and big family meals. Hams, rib roasts and the like. Is anyone doing anything special this year?

I usually do a prime rib, but our Christmas Day gathering is going to be light hors d'oeuvres and charcuterie this year. So, I thought I'd try my hand at making pork rillettes, because it seemed to fit the theme.

It's supposed to be better if it's had a couple days for the flavors to marry, so I was cooking today.

Not a tough recipe, just takes time, and so far the results are really good.
 
Prime rib roast using the copycat recipe for Texas Roadhouse which will be our third year for this Christmas tradition. Created the marinade today (salt, pepper, garlic, liquid smoke, and soy sauce) to let the flavors blend for at least 24 hours, tomorrow I'll marinade the prime rib and put it back in the fridge over night to let the marinade absorb into the roast and Christmas Day we'll pop it in a 450 degree oven for 30 minute to sear and then 250 for about 2 to 3 hours.

With that we'll have a baked potato with a light coating of bacon grease and sea salt, topped with butter, sour cream, green onion, and bacon, along with a Caesar salad in a Parmesan dressing and a side of jalapeño bread bites.
 
I've been doing a reverse sear the past few years for my prime rib. I put it in the smoker at 225 for 25ish minutes per pound. Take it out to rest when it gets to 130. Then toss it in a hot oven to sear right before we slice and eat.
 
I was going to try roast goose this year until I saw the price.

Now we're doing ribeyes and crab legs.
 
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Made veggie beef, chicken noodle and potato cheese soup for later tomorrow afternoon. Sam’s Club rotisserie chicken is what I used in chicken noodle soup. Put 1.5 lbs of Webster City bacon in the potato cheese soup. Fareway had it for $2.99/lb.
 
We usually do an appetizer/hors d'oeuvres type of thing with my wife's side of the family on Christmas Eve. I'm doing bacon wrapped brown sugar smokies on my smoker, and will be smoking cream cheese dusted with cinnamon sugar as well.
 
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Homemade Cioppino (fisherman's stew w/ cod, crab, shrimp, clams and scallops) tomorrow, Prime Rib on New Year's Eve. Use the 5 minutes per pound at 500 degrees, then turn oven off and don't open oven door for 2 hrs. Salt, pepper and garlic crust and it turns out perfect every time.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the Cyclone fans!
 
Prime rib roast using the copycat recipe for Texas Roadhouse which will be our third year for this Christmas tradition. Created the marinade today (salt, pepper, garlic, liquid smoke, and soy sauce) to let the flavors blend for at least 24 hours, tomorrow I'll marinade the prime rib and put it back in the fridge over night to let the marinade absorb into the roast and Christmas Day we'll pop it in a 450 degree oven for 30 minute to sear and then 250 for about 2 to 3 hours.

With that we'll have a baked potato with a light coating of bacon grease and sea salt, topped with butter, sour cream, green onion, and bacon, along with a Caesar salad in a Parmesan dressing and a side of jalapeño bread bites.
With that little amount of juice, is the marinade more of a paste?

I bought 2 prime ribs today and will smoke them. I'm trying to find alternative seasonings than my usual rib/brisket/pork mixes.
 
We were supposed to host my family, but a cousin's plans changed. So, we're having dinner Xmas Eve night in Des Moines. They're making brisket, but I can barely digest beef, so I'm making the creamed chicken half of my grandmother's chicken and dumplings recipe as a second entree. The dumplings take too long and I don't want to destroy THEIR kitchen to make them there (this recipe is not what most midwesterners think of as 'chicken & dumplings', where it's like chicken stew with biscuits on top - they're more like a large leaf-shaped pasta). Anyway, need to salt the chicken tonight and get it started in the afternoon. Kinda wanted to make the whole thing, but it didn't work out. Will have to give it a go later in the winter, just cuz. Funny thing is that this recipe is my dad's most favorite meal, ever. He asks for it for his birthday and it wasn't even HIS mom's dish. It was my MOM's mom's recipe. It's hard to duplicate, but when I get it exactly, it's like when Ego tastes Remy's ratatouille in the movie. It's that good.
 
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We’ve gone the route of telling all extended family we are by ourselves on the 24th and 25th, so it’s just the 5 of us.

One thing the kids always demolish is Fareway’s ham loaf on the smoker, so Ive been doing a Christmas tree shaped loaf the last few years. We’re doing that on Christmas Day and doing some flat irons tomorrow for Christmas Eve.

I did smoke a Turkey last weekend for my side of the family. We’ve gone themed the last couple years where we did Italian and Cajun, which was pretty cool.
 

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