Our snow that we had is almost gone now. I wonder how much will still be around by the time Christmas gets here. My wife has things down to a science for her family Christmas festivities. We have a spreadsheet that has been honed over years of what people like and what they don't. I think I am smoking a brisket this year. We will see how that goes.
Over the last several years it became a contest to see who could make the most flavorful or juicy turkey on Thanksgiving, or get creative with whatever choice of meat any of us were preparing. Sure there was a lot of meat leftovers but there was also that four day limit everyone could carry out to take home and get creative with. My one son got into smoking meat. Let me tell you, there was some doozies until he got good at it. He'd bring whatever pride and joy he was trying to make early on into the house and the smell was just awful. We couldn't wait anymore longer to want to wait for him to exit the kitchen, swing shut the swinging door, spit out the meat, open the door and all the windows as he could wanting us to give it a pre-sample taste run. Those early couple of experimental years praising him for that which we couldn't wait to spit out paid off though as he got much more skilled at it.
Haha, I hope my family doesn't feel that way about me. I can do a pretty mean turkey breast, but brisket is still pretty intimidating for me. I hope I can make some improvements on last year this year.
That is great support. Here, people would likely complain from day one, killing any chance of another attempt for day two. Probably why the food doesn't change.
Once he got good at it we could confess our sins and get a good laugh among everyone, including him.
The snow is gone here too. Not expecting more before Christmas. Climate change.
A spreadsheet is next level. Here, it is all in memory. Though "like ad don't like" doesn't matter, when it had to be the same. :)
Still, at least I like the ham.
I agree, a spreadsheet is next level. Damn @bozz you are a serious Christmas cooker. I am curious how the brisket turns out. We are supposed too have some unually warm temps for the holiday, so thinking about firing up our smoker.
Last year when I did a brisket it was something like negative ten out, so I am looking forward to some warmer temps this year!
This sounds decent - what will you smoke? Here, they pretty much only do salmon.
I do love fish especially salmon, but the wife not so much. Most likely it will probably be something thathas been in the freezer for a while that needs cooked. The wife will most likely choose. I just run the grill...or at least Im allowed to think so :-)
A lot of it probably has to do with the nostelgia that getting to eat that spectacular dish, desert, that only grandma, aunti, uncle, etc., makes to perfection only comes once, maybe twice a year at the holidays. As simply and silly as it seems, even something of the most basic gets cherished. You would hardly think that green onion wraps would be considered to look forward to but that is exactly what happens when one family member makes them, never a bad onion wrap in the lot, each sized in equal equations of the green onion, the cheese and the wrap. If there was ever anything such as the perfect green onion wrap each time, she can do it, nothing overpowers the other in each and every bite, though I could do without her gravy.
I get it when there is that "one dish" but really here, everything is so homogenous when it comes to the food, that there is nothing that really stands out. :D
I get it. One year I tried throwing in some Kielbasa cooked in sauerkraut in a slow cooker, I found myself eating it alone over several days, lol.
We have actually scaled ours down over the years because we realize there is just too much food. I think each person gets one of their favorite things.