My SO’s family has always done turkey Christmas dinners, but mine always did ham Christmas dinners.
Our compromise was to do turkey for Christmas and a ham for Yule!
Sounds great. I’d rather have almost anything than a “traditional” xmas dinner which I assume to be something similar to Thankgiving. Our family typically orders Chinese.
That’s it. It’s tamales. Everything else is fluff. Plus, it allow you to learn how to make tamales. Hmmm. Is my local Catholic church starting their tamale sale yet? I will keep an eye out.
Sounds like a good idea to me. If you can include tamales, then so much the better, because that’s a Mexican Christmas tradition (my step-mother and ex are Mexicans, so I’ve witnessed a lot of Christmas tamale-making). But they’re very labor intensive.
How are you planning to do that? A taco is just two tortillas and some grilled meat. Are you going to have people grill their own meat?
that sounds simply dee- viiiinneee
::drool::
All meat and toppings will be prepared and set out on a counter. You grab your shell, put whatever you want in it and enjoy. Same with the Quesedillas. Do you happen to have a good tamale recipe you wouldn’t mind sharing?
Here’s the menu, so far:
Guacamole (2 kinds)
Chips & Salsa
Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
Chicken and Veggie Enchiladas
Quesedillas
Tacos
Mexican Lasagna (don’t ask, my SIL is making it!)
The husband and I will be making Angel and Caramel Apple Martinis and a niece will be hooking us up with Margaritas.
I have a Pinata shaped like a Christmas tree and am filling it up with both kid (candy, tiny toys) and adult (mini liquor bottles) treats.
Yes, it’s a shit-load of food. Why did I imagine that anyone would “scale down?”
Feel free to share your best tamale recipe. It sounds like they’re a must-have!
Tamales are pretty simple, especially if you get a train of four or five people making them. You can prepare the meat any way you like. Traditionally it’s shredded pork (and über traditional is the meat from the pig’s head) and red chile (carne adobada [adovada]), but you can prepare the meat any way you’d like (green chile chicken is a common variation). The masa is made from cornmeal dough (masa de maíz); just follow the directions on the package. Soak the corn husks in water for an hour or so, and then spread the raw masa all the way to the “top” (the flat part) about 1/3 the width and 2/3 the length of the husk. Place a dollop of meat (tablespoon?) on each one. You can experiment with both of these based on your masa:meat ratio preference. Tear off about a 1/4" strip from the side of the husk (or make a bunch before hand) and use it to tie the whole thing up. Wrap it up radially first, and then tuck the bottom up.
Place them upright in a steamer, for (I think) about 45 minutes. Since the meat is already cooked, just follow the time given on the masa package.
If I can come up with something particularly useful, I’ll definitely let you know. The fact is that I’ve never actually been in charge of the tamales. Once you get the masa and the leaves, it’s a question of what you want to put inside. To be truthful, I’ve gotten sick of the traditional tamale. I prefer cheese and guacamole. Even posole bores me.
Have you considered Mexican-style tacos, with regular tortillas that are just steamed or heated on a grill? It’s less work.
Still, that’s a great offering, and I envy your guests. My hat goes off to you as a host.
Polvorones (Mexican wedding cakes) are really simple and are always a Christmas hit.
1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a medium bowl, cream together 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Combine flour, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture to form a stiff dough. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Mix together 1 cup confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; roll balls in cinnamon mixture.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in preheated oven, or until nicely browned. Cool cookies on wire racks. Dust with additional confectioners’ sugar.
Yeah, my in-laws are ham people but we really don’t like it much. I get a headache from it.
I think most Mexican Christmas celebrations (and the big parties with lots of music and dancing that–excluding stupid songs like “Jingle Bells Rock,” etc–occur on the eve of the 24th. The next day is for menudo (if you really believe it makes a difference) and sleeping-in really late. Is that what you plan to do?
Also, your neighbors will walk in and out of your house uninvited, and the giving of gifts is purely ceremonial. No X-Boxes (except in the well-to-do classes). Just token little things. But people like to bring food which is a big thing on the 24th.
Anglo-American middle-class society internalized Christmas to a very private, nuclear family thing in the 19th century because so many poor people–who were rabble-rousing and were going door-to-door asking for hand-outs–were starting to worry them. It was kind of like Halloween for poor adults, except they didn’t wear cute costumes.
Nah…we aren’t looking for complete authenticity as much as just an escape from the typical Christmas menu. It will be Christmas afternoon and feature the foods and drinks I mentioned upthread. I’ll probably do the Mexican Wedding cookies…those sound really tasty and fairly easy to make.
So, no menudo…
Mexican? Really? Mexican Christmas dinner? With tamales?
I’m sorry, but I must have been living in a different Mexico than you guys.
Traditional, on (and around) Christmas in my Mexico:
- Bacalao a la vizcaína
- Romeritos
- Stuffed turkey Pavo relleno
- “Ponche”, which as this link might tell you is used during the “Posadas”, which start well before Christmas
- Piñatas are an integral part of any “Posada”. They are seldom eaten, though
Tamales don’t enter the picture until February (Candelaria), long after the end of the Christmas celebrations.
drool Can I come over to your house for Christmas? 
Many of us live in the USA; see the Location field. Tamales are extremely popular in the Mexican-American community. This celebration sounds like an adaptation of various Mexican, Mexican-American & other recipes.
We do lots of that mixing & matching up here…
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
I know. But in the interest of fighting ignorance, I just wanted to point out what Christmas dinner really looks like, south of your border.
Soitenly! We’re a pretty fun group!
My sis-in-law is from Monterrey, and tamales is a huge part of every Christmas for her entire family. And if you go to any mercado around Minneapolis during the holiday season, they usually have displays with all the fixins for them. She says tamales aren’t as big a deal in the west (But they are much larger size wise there).
Santo Rugger almost has it right. 
I’ll alter his recipe below!
Just joshing Santo, your recipe sounds darn good!