ISO a traditional Christmas Menu!

[RBarry]

Thanks to advice from you guys, Thanksgiving dinner was a hit. It was my second time making everything and it was wonderful. But, it's easy to think of typical Thanksgiving dishes: turkey, swt. potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc.

This will be my first year cooking a Christmas dinner for my family and friends So, what is a typical Christmas dinner like? I remember always having a ham growing up, but I can't think of any other traditional dishes to go with it. I was thinking of starting with a mushroom soup, but other than that and the ham, I have no ideas on sides or desserts.

I'd appreciate the recipes for any "must make" dishes!

Thanks to everyone!

Raquel

[jphilg]

I think that traditional Christmas menus are much more varied than traditional Thanksgiving menus. I really like your idea of mushroom soup as a first course. Then with the ham you could do some sort of potato gratin, some roasted veggies, and maybe something steamed like green beans or brussels sprouts.

In my family, the traditional Christmas dinner is Roast Tenderloin, popovers, potatoes au gratin, roast brussles sprouts, green beans almandine, some sort of salad with pears and blue cheese, and for dessert, plum pudding, pecan pie, something chocolate that changes from year to year, and a big bowl of hard sauce.

I can't remember ever changing up the menu much...although when I start hosting, I am sure there will be some changes.

Good luck, Raquel! I am sure that whatever your menu, your guests will appreciate the effort and love that went into preparing it.

[greysangel]

Jen which tenderloin recipe do you use?

:D

J

[RBarry]

What's a popover?

[MKSquared]

Guess it all depends on your definition of "traditional," doesn't it? What type of "tradition" are you going for? :D

[RBarry]

Didn't think about there being different traditions. Good point. I guess I meant just a typical american Christmas dinner. I'm from the south, so I'm not sure if there's a difference there. Like pp pointed out, there are so many different types of meals for Christmas. That just makes it that much harder!

[jphilg]

JeAnne-
My mom just roasts it: sear first with salt/pepper/olive oil, pop into 400 degree oven, roast to 130 degrees (or whatever Medium rare is for beef). She deglazes the pan with red wine while the roast stands, and then adds beef broth and flour to make a little bit of gravy. I think the reason that this is a tradition in my family is that it is one of about 3 dishes that she makes well. Poor mom. Family full of foodies, and she can't cook for squat. She's got clean up duty the rest of the year.

Raquel-
A popover is just like a yorkshire pudding, without the beef fat. Or at least that is the distinction I make. Yorkshire pudding is sort of somewhere between a custard, an empty cream puff shell and a muffin...but not sweet. You take eggs, milk, and a relatively low proportion of flour, beat them up into a thin batter, and then bake at high temperature, either in a pan of beef drippings or in individual muffin-tin-like pans greased with oil. They are my favorite part of the meal!

MK- Absolutely. I don't think that there is such a thing as a traditional Christmas dinner in this country. I get so jealous when I hear about all of the different family traditions...my family is old school pre-revolution English settler stock, so we get stuck eating Brussels spouts while the rest of the country gets seafood lasagne, weinerschnitzel, and lamb dumplings.

[Michelle Achuff]

We always had ham when I was growing up (although we did our big dinner on Christmas Eve...cooking on Christmas day? That's for presents and napping, are you kidding me? LOL). I remember that we *always* had scalloped potatoes or potatoes au gratin with ham (ditto on Easter too). Pecan pie was an absolute, along with some kind of homemade rolls, they weren't popovers and weren't anything fancy, but since my mother didn't typically bake bread it was a BIG deal for us.

One year we did Christmas Crackers at the table...although that is an English tradition, it was a lot of FUN :) I'm not sure where on earth my mother got them...if anyone has a source for that I'd sure appreciate it. Next year I want to do a traditional English Christmas Dinner. This year, it's likely to be a Thanksgiving repeat. (Hey, we're moving...at least, that's my excuse as I cook amidst the boxes...lol).

Anyway...good luck! I saw a recipe for Fire and Spice ham somewhere around here and that looks totally awesome, might be a fun recipe for Christmas!

Smiles~

Michelle

[tbb113]

Originally posted by Michelle Achuff
.

One year we did Christmas Crackers at the table...although that is an English tradition, it was a lot of FUN :) I'm not sure where on earth my mother got them...if anyone has a source for that I'd sure appreciate it
Michelle

Cost Plus carries Christmas Crackers. I wouldn't be surprised if Pier One carried them as well.

[SueK]

I'm almost positive that Pier One carries Christmas Crackers, as Tyra mentioned. I also saw them recently at our TJ Maxx, although I don't know if TJM is in your area.

[greysangel]

Michelle - That fire and spice ham ROCKS!!!!

j

[Michelle Achuff]

J~ I gotta give that ham a try soon...I know you love it...LOL!


Thanks for the info on the Christmas Crackers :) I know my kids will just think that is the *coolest* thing!

[leebee]

In my DH's family, it's tradition to have Meat Pies (pork) & Oyster Stew...in our house, we do the pork pies, but serve w/ French onion soup (one of the more recent traditions is my reaction to Oyster Stew...not pretty...I get puffy & red & sick, sick, sick). That's for Christmas Eve. Christmas Day I have been doing Roast Chicken w/ all the trimmings--dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans (nice crispy ones, not in a casserole!). Ham sounds good, though...Sometimes I think we get in a bit of a rut. I'm thinking of trying a nice lamb shoulder or something fun. We'll see...I bet I'll come home w/ a nice chicken no matter what my intentions when I go to the store to shop for Christmas dinner!