A good restaurant trick for serving prime rib to a group with different tastes in level of doneness is to cook it fairly rare but keep a large pot of au jus simmering on the stove. If a person wants their piece more done just drop it in the au jus for a minute or two and then fish it out.
Yup. They’ll usually keep the roast quite cold to stop continued cooking, and even the rare pieces need a dunk in the ‘ow juice’ to warm it up.
It’s interesting that there isn’t more uniformity in what people eat for Christmas lunch in the US. Presumably because of its proximity to Thanksgiving.
In the UK, it’s roast turkey all the way (the odd posh person or super traditionalist will have goose, but for the majority, it’s turkey). Always served with:
chestnut stuffing
pigs in blankets (mini sausages wrapped in bacon, yum)
sprouts in some form
braised red cabbage
roast potatoes
cranberry sauce
… and whatever additional veggies people prefer.
Dinner always always always accompanied by Christmas crackersand party hats.
Followed by Christmas pudding, flambed in brandy.
You could go to every house in the country and it would follow the same pattern.
Roast beef is a very very common Sunday lunch (probably our national dish), so wouldn’t be different enough for Christmas, although the few turkey haters may have it as a default.
We’re doing a roast goose with little roasted potatoes and baked carrots. And whatever green vegetable I can come with. I might try some roasted sprouts, although no-one else likes them.
Does anyone know how to cook a goose?
I roast the bird at 350F, starting breast down, then rotating to one side, then the other, then finishing breast side up. Before starting, clean the goose, and stuff it, or place some citrus fruit in the cavity. Rub salt peppers and herbs into the skin. You need to poke holes all over the skin to let fat drain (and plenty will). If you get any smoking, turn down the heat. The last 20 minutes of cooking increase the heat to 400F to crisp up the skin. I’ve made a goose version of Yorkshire pudding using the fat and drippings, interesting flavor.
For Christmas Eve my family does the Polish Wigilia (which I’m sure I spelled wrong) which is traditionally meatless and involves 14 dishes. We have lots & lots of pierogi (potato/cheese and farmer cheese), fried fish, stewed fruit, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp, rice piggies (cabbage stuffed with seasoned rice instead of meat), oplatki with honey, pickled herring so my mother can eat one piece and throw the jar away in April, pastries, and some stuff I’m forgetting.
Chrismas Day we have ham, fresh and smoked kielbasa, salads, and a greasy abomination known as Cheesy Potato Bake “because your sister likes it” and my mother fussing that that’s not enough food for 7 people 
Oddly, I never feel like eating much during the week between Christmas and New Year’s 
Mom does theCook’s Illustrated* version, which includes a little dip in the hot tub (pot of simmering water) and then 24-48 hours in the icebox before the actual roasting. This helps get out the excess fat during roasting (and there is a LOT of excess fat in a goose!)
If you like roast beef, you’ll love goose. Save the fat for cooking later - there will be a lot of it, and it’s amazing as a cooking fat. Were I to have any goose fat on hand, I’d use that for Roasted Vegetables of any kind, instead of bacon grease or vegetable oil.
*It might make you register to see the page. I’ve not gotten any spam from them, and it’s free for 14 days, so I think it’s worth it.
Poor menu. Same stuff every year with an emphasis on low cost rather than quality
Ham which is not my favorite but this is the cheapest, poorest quality ham that the local grocery store sells. She’s very proud that it’s only $.49 a pound or something. Not tastey, too salty, just gross.
Green bean casserole. I know this is favorite with many people but canned cream of mushroom soup is disgusting IMO as are the Durkee’s onion things on top.
Dessert, however will be fabulous because she is an excellent baker.
OK, maybe I’m being overly harsh. She also lets us know how difficult it is for her to put dinner together at her age (87) and we beg to assist her by bringing side dishes or helping cook or even hosting but this is how they’ve always done it and she’s not going to change so we go along.
Sukiyaki. Since the big family get-together is Christmas, not a family Bōnenkai, we combine the two for our “holiday” meal.
We have roast beef throughout the year but a good 20lbs prime rib is a once a year treat. It’s a costlier hunk of meat and not the healthiest, not something we would do every weekend.
You are probably right about Thanksgivings influence on our traditions, when I was very young we had turkey, but after just having it a month before on Thanksgiving, it never seemed that special.
Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner is clam chowder and a meat and cheese plate with bread for sandwiches. The clam chowder was adapted from oyster stew that my great-grandparents had as tradition but everyone else hated. I think they key to the meal is that it’s fairly light and easy, for us it’s more about relaxing after the run up to Christmas and we don’t want to have to worry about cooking and stuffing ourselves two days in a row.
We’re all grown up now, so we can make the rules. Plan a coupe with your relatives and have everyone at least bring an edible vegetable.
If my husband does not get turkey for Christmas dinner, I think he will boycott. My mother-in-law has tried to vary the menu with little success - neither her husband or her two boys will tolerate a turkey-less Christmas dinner. It’s always turkey and ham and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. She’s done carrots and fancy green beans before, too. This year I’m in charge of dessert and I’m making a sticky toffee pudding.
Christmas Eve, on the other hand… because we’re always doing Christmas with my in-laws, I claim Christmas Eve as my own. As of yet I’m only cooking for my husband and me, but I will eventually get up the guts to have people over.
This year I’m making a garlic pork tenderloin with roasted sweet potatoes and creamy onion rice. It’s going to be delicious, and I’m going to be fancy and put it on our two place settings (all we have) of wedding china. New Years will be tourtiere and mashed potatoes, and probably onion soup to start (thanks to this thread for reminding me about onion soup).
In my nuclear fam it is oysters, cold and freshly shucked. My job is to procure, clean and shuck. I also make the mignonette. This year I will get about six dozen chincoteagues. Yum!
Christmas dinner at Sis’ will be smoked beef ribs (BIL does an awsome job of this out on the green egg), baked potatoes, a Caesar salad, snap beans cooked with onion, bacon and little red potatoes and bourbon pie with homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. My contributions are the salad, green beans and bourbon for the pie (of which I can eat about two bites of…very sweet and rich).
Sadly, I was too late for the Christmas crackers. Costco has good ones, but they sell out fast. The others I’ve seen around have pretty crappy prizes. Costco’s are actually useful.
I think this year we are up for a roast beef tenderloin. My mother used to make it for our Christmas dinner when we were too young to really appreciate it. It appears this may be our mother’s last Christmas with us so I’m thinking that’s the item I should make for her and the few other family members who will be with us.
A long time ago we fell into the tradition of a Christmas brunch. Potluck and served buffet style, everybody brings something so the menu varies but it’s usually a pretty good spread. Some things are standard…biscuits & sausage gravey, a good spiral-cut ham, egg dishes (souffle’s, quiches decorative scrambles, etc) bagles and smoked salmon, fruit dishes, glazed poppyseed bread, assorted muffins, pies cobblers, etc. etc.
I think the tradition started under pressure from the kids who didn’t like to wait into the p.m. to get to the presents.
SS
Not having a family, roast beef is too much for regular eating. So I make the roast on Christmas. The rest of the year I’ll go to the corner market for some nice rib-eye steakes, which I pan-fry.
I usually make turkey for Thanksgiving. (It’s another once-a-year thing.) SO wanted ham this year, so I’ve had no turkey since last year.
The spiral-cut ‘commodity hams’ (as the stock person called them) were $1.49/pound and wrapped in mylar so you couldn’t see them. I opted for a Hempler’s (locally grown) spiral-cut ham, which was $3.49/pound, but very tasty and you could see it since it was wrapped in clear plastic. I’m not a huge fan of dinner hams, but this was good for once a year.
Tacos.
Seriously. Tacos.
Who the f*ck has tacos for Christmas dinner?
<sigh>
Nothing wrong with tacos any time! Especially fish tacos with cabbage, pico de gallo, and crema, and a squeeze of lime on two soft, small, corn tortillas!