We had turkey every Thanksgiving and Christmas, although my Dad never particularly cared for turkey, so we eventually started doing rib roast for Christmas. And then when Dad died, we started going out on Thanksgiving, and everybody ordered whatever they wanted.
I ended up picking up an asparagus/onion/mushroom medley, frozen roasted Brussels sprouts, and the haricots vert from TJ’s. I’ll let Mrs. L.A. choose which she wants.
I can’t believe I almost forgot the snails. I commented on that point when the checker at the supermarket put the can into a bag. She made a face. I said, ‘You have to have snails with prime rib!’ The woman behind me said, ‘I’ve never heard of that. Are they crunchy?’
Anyway, we have the hunka flesh as big as my head, potatoes, a variety of veg, snails for appies, and salad; and Trader Joe’s New York Style cheesecake for dessert.
Please tell me you’re not serving old wine too.
Perhaps some sparkling Muscatel?
I am helping Mrs. J. make Chermoula-Rubbed Pork With Brown-Butter Stuffing.
I was a bit alarmed when I glanced at the recipe and thought it said Chernobyl-Rubbed Pork. :eek:
That’s in the same cookbook as Turkey Tetrachloride.
Serve with Three mile bean salad.
Am doing a Seven Fishes dish Buccotini con Sarde or pasta with fennel and sardines
Classic Italian Christmas tradition
The meat turned out very nice. The veg… Not so much. I sautéed the mix of asparagus, mushrooms, and onions from Trader Joe’s. The asparagus was ‘woody’. You know, the bottom part that you’re supposed to discard. Not Good Eats.
We started early with simple salads of lettuce, tomatoes, and mushrooms, with chopped up leftover bacon from breakfast. Next I cooked the escargots. Mrs. L.A. loves my escargots. 
The roast was nice and bloody, and I mixed up some horseradish sauce that was just right. Neither one of us liked the woody asparagus, but I ate my baked potato. Mrs. L.A. didn’t have much capacity after the salad and bread and snails, so she just ate her meat. I tried to make smaller slices this year but neither one of us could finish. I wanted to, as Costco’s meat is delicious. I just didn’t have the room.
We have six and a half slices of prime rib left, including one small end-cut. Plus the leftovers from our plates. We’ll probably just reheat slabs and eat them as-is, and I’ll probably make a prime rib sandwich at some point. (Dad always liked prime rib sandwiches.) Maybe some will wind up in an omelette, though that seems like a waste of good meat. Or some prime rib might wind up in a salad.
I bought a spiral sliced ham. Unfortunately since it’s just the two of us and I wasn’t able to find a quarter-ham, just a half-ham. So we will be eating ham leftovers for a while - tonight it’s fettucine alfredo with ham and peas added. I should freeze some of it too.
My Dad used to always say the definition of eternity was two people with a ham.
My Pernil was good, but not perfect. I tried to amalgamate from several internet recipes including efforts to maximize crispy skin. Unfortunately I followed bad advice there and instead of crispy skin, or even a nice char(which Is good on slow cooked pork) I ended up with flat out burned about 3/4 inch thick all the way around. Which unfortunately included pretty much all of the area the rub would have flavored. Fortunately it’s a big enough there was still tons of yummy slow cooked pork. I’m putting it down as a learning experience and plan to try again someday, with modified technique of course.
Mine did too. His favorite restaurant was a chop house that served last night’s leftover prime rib as a very good open face sandwich, cheap too. Oddly though they called it a baron of beef, which is not the usual application of that term as I have heard it generally used.
We ate part (loin roast) of Pinkie the pig Friday. She was tasty. The rest of her is in the freezer.
We need to get some more piglets.
I blame the modern invention of ham=cured on people generally being ignorant of where the food comes from these days.
The dining room table was cleaned off for the second time this year. A runner was placed down the middle and new candles were placed in the center piece. The good china was brought out, the silver was polished, and the Waterford was filled with a good Cabernet.
The tenderloin was trimmed, tied, and roasted so the ends were a nice medium and the center pieces were a perfect medium rare. The petite Yukon gold potatoes were tossed in olive oil, a little salt and crushed Rosemary and roasted with the beef. The sugar snap peas were steamed, and the rolls were baked to a nice golden brown and drizzled with melted butter.
Lots of toasts and laughs and everyone ate their fill. The older son pulled the younger one over for a selfie.
“Wait… that is my phone!” A quick punch to the shoulder and a lot of laughter from my older son. and then the quick delete of the Instagram with the inappropriate caption followed.
Such are the holidays in our house… I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mmm mmmm; slow roasted pork, Emmentaler, avocado and tomato on sourdough made all melty in a sandwich press. Undeniably the best part of the Holiday roast.
Unless you’re married to a nice Italian girl. Lots of prosciutto and sopressata around here in December. Christmas day is where the WASP gets to make his Rump Roast and Yorkshire pudding.
The first year I made Christmas dinner, my wife and her father acted like this was some exotic meal. Meanwhile, my Mother-in-Law (she’s a WASP, too) was telling me she hadn’t had Yorkshire pudding in over thirty years.
And now I want leftovers.
Me too. Sunday I sliced a slab and a half of rare prime rib and added it to sautéing onion half-rings, then made grilled cheese and beef and onion on sourdough sandwiches. This morning I heated the 3" long by 1" (widest) crescent of the edge I didn’t use for the sandwiches and ate it. I think I’ll have a slab-o-beef for lunch.
Tonight it’s simple salad. Just iceberg lettuce, sliced mushrooms, diced tomatoes, chunks of blue cheese, and croutons. I’ll slice the prime rib thinly and probably give it a quick sear before adding it.
turkey for Christmas, Chinese for New Year. where the ham comes from