The Christmas Dinner Thread 2020

[coachschaller]

Shan decided we are going Italian with her Lasagna as the main course


What about you ???

I have been a huge proponent of lasagna for Christmas. White cheese, green spinach (in ours), red marinara - it is the perfect Christmas food!!!! My typical family gathering normally had a turkey.
Alas, my son isn't a huge fan of lasagna so we came up with our personal meal this year as gatherings are not happening:

Stromboli (close to lasagna )
Salad
Potatoes
Sweet Potato Pie

[planeden]

and I made 4 batches of homemade chex mix today. And yeah, bourbon in honor of TC.

How big is your "batch"? I got my grandmother's recipe and never get to make it because it's made with 5 boxes of cereals. I've only made it once, but I think it fills my roasting pan about half full. I would love to make it more often, but it just makes too much and not like you can buy half a box of Kiks.

[planeden]

Hope your son comes out OK.

[ScoutHikerDad]

How big is your "batch"? I got my grandmother's recipe and never get to make it because it's made with 5 boxes of cereals. I've only made it once, but I think it fills my roasting pan about half full. I would love to make it more often, but it just makes too much and not like you can buy half a box of Kiks.

I just use the standard Chex Mix measurements here: https://www.chex.com/recipes/original-chex-mix/I modify it in several ways. Leave out the pretzels and put in a couple cups of Cheerios like my Mom used to do. 1.5 to 2 cups of mixed nuts. Double the dry ingredients except for the seasoned salt (2 teaspoons is plenty). 3 -4 tbsp. of Worcestershire Sauce, and 9 tbsp. of butter (a little over 1 stick). Richer and more flavorful than the standard recipe. All my friends and family look forward to their bags every year.

That 4 batches made enough for 12-14 quart bags not all the way full, plus a few for us to snack on. 1 batch fills each of my roasting pans about 2" deep. I cook them at 250 F convection bake for 1 hour, turning every 15 minutes. I do 2 batches at a time, and rotate the pans top to bottom at each turn for even cooking. Sometimes I'll even shake on more of the dry ingredients (except the salt!) and some more Worcestershire at each turn. I sometimes even add paprika, though I can't tell that it adds much flavor-wise.

Some people make them hot or sweet. It's a great platform for experimentation, and you get to eat your screw-ups!

edit: Thanks for the good thought for my son. He is a very rugged young outdoorsman; in fact, picture Casey from Yellowstone, and you'd be real close. I'd be surprised if he actually gets sick with it.

[planeden]

I just use the standard Chex Mix measurements here: https://www.chex.com/recipes/original-chex-mix/I modify it in several ways. Leave out the pretzels and put in a couple cups of Cheerios like my Mom used to do. 1.5 to 2 cups of mixed nuts. Double the dry ingredients except for the seasoned salt (2 teaspoons is plenty). 3 -4 tbsp. of Worcestershire Sauce, and 9 tbsp. of butter (a little over 1 stick). Richer and more flavorful than the standard recipe. All my friends and family look forward to their bags every year.

That 4 batches made enough for 12-14 quart bags not all the way full, plus a few for us to snack on. 1 batch fills each of my roasting pans about 2" deep. I cook them at 250 F convection bake for 1 hour, turning every 15 minutes. I do 2 batches at a time, and rotate the pans top to bottom at each turn for even cooking. Sometimes I'll even shake on more of the dry ingredients (except the salt!) and some more Worcestershire at each turn. I sometimes even add paprika, though I can't tell that it adds much flavor-wise.

Some people make them hot or sweet. It's a great platform for experimentation, and you get to eat your screw-ups!

edit: Thanks for the good thought for my son. He is a very rugged young outdoorsman; in fact, picture Casey from Yellowstone, and you'd be real close. I'd be surprised if he actually gets sick with it.

I suppose I need more friends to share with . A box is about 11 cups, so my batch seems to be about the your 4 batches.

It is funny, but this is another one of my "old family recipes" that clearly came from the back of a box. I am never sure if the box changed or if my grandmother tweaked them.

[32t]

I suppose I need more friends to share with . A box is about 11 cups, so my batch seems to be about the your 4 batches.

It is funny, but this is another one of my "old family recipes" that clearly came from the back of a box. I am never sure if the box changed or if my grandmother tweaked them.

My maternal grandmother could not cook other than Jello. I am sure she followed the recipe on the box!!!!!

My mother learned from her maternal grandmother who was a wonderful cook.

Her trouble is that she had a hard time cooking for less than 20 people with threshing crews and hired hands around!

To my generation I have a hard time arguing with my wife. She wants to modify a recipe as soon as she sees it. I try to say make it at least once following what is "supposedly" good and then modify it after you know the results.

[cudarunner]

As far as when trying a recipe I'm with you 100%. I ALWAYS follow a recipe word for word when I first try it. I also usually will try it again to make sure it comes out the same. And then I'll play with a recipe.

I feel that it's only right as someone spent a lot of time coming up with the dish.

A guy on YouTube that has been doing old recipes and trying to use what was called for. It's interesting. NOTE: (This is the same guy I got the formula to dry cure bacon)

Here's a link:

https://www.youtube.com/c/legourmettv/featured

While I once fixed a spaghetti dinner for 120 people I usually fixed for between 4 to 8 or 10 but I still struggle fixing for only myself. I get tired of leftovers and even when I freeze the remains when I dig looking for something to warm up they never seem real appetizing--oh well--

[planeden]

My grandmother... Oh boy. Two quick things about my mom's mom. She was ill my whole life, so she didn't do a lot of cooking. The other thing is there were some things that she never quite got right, and while I have the recipes I'm not quite sure how she screwed them up to make the nostalgia dish I want.

My first time with a baking recipe I generally follow it except no one adds enough vanilla. Although, like when I made kalaches I liked the dough in this recipe and the filling in that recipe. So I'll do that a lot of the time.

Mostly when it is meals and stuff I think of it more as a guideline for cooking time and such. I generally just season without measuring.

[gssixgun]

You gotta love living rural sometimes

We were rather surprised last night to learn that Far North Idaho has so many Italians living up here LMAO

Shan and I met after she got off work to finish up shopping for Christmas dinner

Not one tub of Ricotta cheese in all of Sandpoint all 4 Grocery stores including Walmart were out..
We got back home and I called up to Bonner's Ferry, one was out the other had 2 tubs left so at 9pm in the snow there I was driving north to pick up Ricotta..

Christmas Dinner Lasagna is still on the menu

[rolodave]

That will be great lasagna and one that has a story for later years