Need an idea for home cooked Christmas dinner

[echappist]

We were going to have a tradition of cooking osso buco for Christmas. However, my wife is having second thoughts, as she became aware of the Scottish Highlander calf (see below) and now really wants to stay away from eating veal.

I don't mind spending a lot of time on this project, but there are some limits. 1) no roasted poultry. We actually roasted a duck for Thanksgiving, and while it came out quite nicely, the whole room smelled like duck fat afterwards. Goose is too large, and chicken seems a bit too mundane. 2) no prime rib and no Beef Wellington. I'd love to do a prime rib, and while my wife is perfectly fine with eating medium rare or medium well steak, she finds these two off-putting, especially the Beef Wellington.

Anything else that has a bit of a wow-factor?

[JoB]

I grill a boned out and trussed leg of lamb, let it rest, and then carve it up on a board sauce (see amazingribs.com for details) and it's amazing. Highly recommend that, along some Middle Eastern sides (stuffed grape leaves, baba ghanouj, fattoush, etc.).

[echappist]

We'll probably give this a try. I mentioned your suggestion to my wife, and she said, "we already get that cut of lamb." Hadn't occurred to me that the lamb we use for curries is basically the cut you mentioned.

[kdawg]

I did brisket last year - doesn't have the issues about being rare that the others you mention have.

We've had ham in the past too and that was good - some sort of honey glazed thing. My wife talks about a good spiral cut thing she had years ago so I've ordered something which looks like that - I'm not sure if it has a glaze but it is thinly sliced before cooking so that you get lots of texture apparently.

[robin3mj]

I grill a boned out and trussed leg of lamb, let it rest, and then carve it up on a board sauce (see amazingribs.com for details) and it's amazing. Highly recommend that, along some Middle Eastern sides (stuffed grape leaves, baba ghanouj, fattoush, etc.).

Ottolenghi lamb recipe with the sides you mentioned would be nice.

[Peter Polack]

Seafood, for a change?

[Chik]

How about lobster? If interested, I can forward a couple of good receipts.

[echappist]

Thanks for the suggestion on seafood. Haven't really thought of those.

I could certainly give the lobsters a try, and I think my wife actually has a recipe she likes. As long as it's not steamed lobster on butter...

Otoh, we saw an old episode of Great British Bake-Off, and one contestant did a seabass en croute with Puy lentil (basically a seafood Wellington). A lot of work, but the presentation on that thing is amazing. Might give that a try.

[JoB]

Ottolenghi lamb recipe with the sides you mentioned would be nice.

oh yeah for sure! I have a couple of his books at home but haven't done the lamb. His stuff is reliably great.

[j44ke]

Big slab of wild salmon grilled on a cedar plank. Can be amazingly good.

[hampco]

My brother and I - and our families - are partial to Bo Ssam, Korean roast pork:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...mpaign=website

[9tubes]

Lasagna, the Christmas dinner of my family for, well, most of my life. My sister and I have cooking duties these days, using my Italian mother's recipe. One with meat and one vegetarian. A nice bottle (a few!) of wine to go with them, and mangiate!

[fastupslowdown]

Why not Carp? In Poland this is traditional Christmas fare

[echappist]

Why not Carp? In Poland this is traditional Christmas fare

I can’t stand the small bones and otherwise blandness of carp

Also, at last count, osso buco is back on the menu (but for only once a year). But as my wife’s birthday is only a few days after, all the other suggestions are still much welcomed.

Much thanks to the suggestions i got earlier this year, we’ll cook the osso buco ultra slow this time (and have it sit in the oven for a few hours), as opposed to using the InstaPot

[JoB]

Would strongly recommend this. It's surprisingly little work and everytime I serve it, people love it.

My brother and I - and our families - are partial to Bo Ssam, Korean roast pork:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...mpaign=website

[robin3mj]

My brother and I - and our families - are partial to Bo Ssam, Korean roast pork:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...mpaign=website

Bo Ssam is amazing. We’ve done it about every four months since COVID started. David Chang has a few recipes that are easy as pie. It’s like pulled pork to the Nth degree. Lettuce cups and kimchi put it over the top.

[AngryScientist]

My brother and I - and our families - are partial to Bo Ssam, Korean roast pork:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...mpaign=website

Thanks for this. Wife just bought the pork, going to do this in the green egg grill tomorrow, looking forward to it!

[JoB]

Thanks for this. Wife just bought the pork, going to do this in the green egg grill tomorrow, looking forward to it!

FWIW, whenever I make this (frequently), we used run out of the ginger scallion sauce so now I make a double batch.

[fastupslowdown]

Big slab of wild salmon grilled on a cedar plank. Can be amazingly good.

I do this year round

[j44ke]

I do this year round

We've cut back on eating fish simply because of species depletion, especially salmon over the last several years with warming trends and forest fires in spawning areas. It is a special occasion only fish for us now.