Christmas, what to plan....

I'm not much help here, Imelda......maybe Ms. Tina has a suggestion as she worked in the 'meat department' of a grocery for many years.

I've had prime rib for Christmas for as long as I can remember. My grandfather use to raise cattle so it was a tradition HE started in the 1950's ~ a long, LONG time ago.

This year I am going to break tradition since there will only be 6 of us. I'm going to cook a beef tenderloin ~ the same meat as a filet mignon steak. It's not any cheaper than a prime rib but takes less time to cook and (hopefully) won't cause me any worry at all.

Whatever you make, I'm sure it will be delicious. You have great instincts in the kitchen!

Turns out there will only be four of us for dinner so this will be super easy!

Menu is easy, too:

Filet of Beef, Mashed Potatoes (made ahead), Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes (made ahead), Garden Fresh Green Beans (picked that morning), Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Corn Souffle, Cabbage Apple Salad with Asian Dressing, Pickled Red Beets (already made) and an Apple Crostata with Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert.

The dessert may change depending upon what we feel like.

We're trying to decide if we should serve 'family style' or try to do a 'plated dinner' and pretend we're in a restaurant.....LOL

Lyn & I decided today to plan to do a 'plated' meal....no serving dishes to wash and the table doesn't have to have a leaf added to make it larger. She can leave the holiday decorations sitting in the middle and we'll all pretend we're in a 'high-end' restaurant enjoying our meal.

We went to Fresh Market and got a prime beef tenderloin. We had to buy a whole one and the meat man said they could cut and tie it for us. I said I wanted a 3# center cut roast and anything else cut into steak or beef tips. (and at $19/lb. it should have been tied in gold string!)

I didn't see it until we got home ~ and now I'm pi$$ed! They cut 3 nice steaks off the thick end and LEFT THE SILVER SKIN ATTACHED !!! WTH??? The 'roast' ALSO HAD THE SILVER SKIN and they had just wrapped that thin end (that I would have cut into beef tips) and tied it with 3 pieces of string. They didn't tie the steaks at all.

So, instead of leaving it at Lyn's to toss in the freezer for a couple days I brought it home with me and I'll take it apart, remove the silver skin and trim the way I wanted and re-tie everything the way it should have been done.

That just irritates me to no end. Done correctly you only loose about 10-12 oz. of waste when you clean it up. But left on gives you prime beef you cannot chew.

That's the last time I buy tenderloin from them. I wish I would have known we were going to do this for Christmas because I could have bought a whole prime tenderloin when we bought neighbor Sharon's that I cleaned and cut for her. It would have cost half the price and would have been cleaned the right way.

Grrrrrrrrrrr! They will hear from me ~ just not today when I'm so irritated.

I am making cookies to take to my sisters house for Christmas.  She is having a buffet with turkey and ham and crab rangoon dip.  The two of us will have a rib roast for dinner the day before.

PS I took a cue from Beth and made a roast in the oven.  The last couple of times that I did it in the pressure cooker the last couple of times, it came out tough.  This time it was nice and tender.

NormM wrote:


PS I took a cue from Beth and made a roast in the oven.  The last couple of times that I did it in the pressure cooker the last couple of times, it came out tough.  This time it was nice and tender.

There really is nothing that beats a good old fashioned ROASTED pot roast. The InstaPot may be nice for, say, stew but a chuck roast cooks much nicer in a pot in the oven. IMO.....Looks really good!

I took apart the tenderloin that was cut & tied at Fresh Market ~ tomorrow I'm going to return and ask to speak to the meat department manager. WHY say you'll perform a service and then do it WRONG??? All the silver skin makes prime beef inedible. And, yes, I do trim a bit more than they probably would, but fat that's more than 1" chunks will NOT melt into the meat during roasting since it's tenderloin and not a rib roast.

Imelda HL wrote:I talked to the butcher and told him what I wanted to do, I told him I wanted to make stuffed roast beef with mushrooms and bacon, then top my roast with bacon, I don't want to use prime rib or rib-eye roast, so he handed me a whole cut of eye of round, more than 7 lbs, he butterflied it for me, even gave me some strings to tie it. Now I need to find out how long I need to roast it, I'm browsing around for the recipes to get the ideas. Wish me luck

Imelda, I would plan to roast it the same as I would a prime rib roast ~ an internal temperature of 125° will end up being medium rare (or go to 130° if you prefer more medium). Be sure to tent it with foil and allow it to sit to 'rest' for at least 30 - 40 minutes.... it WILL remain hot. That will allow all the meat juices to settle in the meat and you will have a beautiful holiday roast. Just be sure the bacon in your stuffing is cooked because it won't cook inside the meat roll. That sounds absolutely yummy!

You can do this!

(ps: How nice of the butcher to butterfly the roast FOR you. That's what service is suppose to be!)

NormM wrote:


PS I took a cue from Beth and made a roast in the oven.  The last couple of times that I did it in the pressure cooker the last couple of times, it came out tough.  This time it was nice and tender.

here's a hint for getting meat tender when using the pressure cooker....you need to let it do a natural release. if you don't the meat boils and becomes tough. Ask me how I know....lol

That's good to know.

Does anyone else have to write down their menu and then a check list when they're making a big holiday meal? My memory is terrible the older I get (and I'm not all that old.....). I had to make a menu and then break down the things I need to take to Lyn's because I'll be cooking there.

Christmas Dinner, 2019
Bill, Lyn, Dane & Beth

Filet of Beef
Mashed Potatoes
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Corn in Cream Sauce
Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Garden Fresh Green Beans
Red Cabbage-Apple-Cherry-Almond Slaw with Asian Dressing
Pickled Red Beets

Apple Crostata with Vanilla Ice Cream

Our family takes turns doing the Thanksgiving dinner and this year was my turn. I started planning and making a menu in September. I started buying non perishable things in October.

Phew! I thought I was alone in my own, personal O.C.D.

Hahahahahaha!

OMG ~ I am SO proud of today's Christmas dinner.  After the fiasco of having to clean the tenderloin I'm glad I didn't return it to the store for a refund and then try to find something else.  I followed the 'new' instructions from Ina & ATK.....LOW oven (275°).  Room temperature roast, season with s&p and 1 tsp. Baking Soda (to change the ph of the meat) ~ brush with oil just before into the oven. My 'roast' was just 2 pounds so I guesstimated 35 minutes.  I tempted it and it was suppose to be between 120° to 125°/  I was at 123°.  I let it sit for 15 minutes and when I cut into it there was NO gray band but perfectly cooked from edge to edge:




Lyn, Dane & I had twice baked sweet potatoes, garden fresh (picked today) green beans, shaved Brussels sprouts with bacon.   And the cabbage/apple/cherry/almond slaw.....



Bill doesn't like the vegetables we had so I gave him mashed potatoes, green beans & corn.  And he had pickled beets instead of the slaw......




And for dessert we had Bill's favorite ~ apple crostata with soft ice cream ~ Today is Bill's birthday, that's why there's a candle.....



And when he saw the pie before supper he was concerned because the apples looked 'funny' to him.  He thought I was trying to get him to eat something other than apple pie.  I had to let him taste some of the filling I had saved for him for another time in the refrigerator so he could see it was, in fact apple and not something weird.  I cook them with cinnamon candies and when they melt they give a pink tinge to the fruit.  ((sigh))

I had an opportunity to go over to Fresh Market today. I didn't want to go in to complain before Christmas because they were just too busy. I had a nice chat with the meat manager, a lovely lady who comes from a long line of beef producers. Her father was a dairy farmer and now raises Brahman Cattle in Brazil. She became a butcher.

She was interested in the pictures I had and asked me to send them to her or just let her take a picture of MY picture....LOL I just wanted to let her know how disappointing it was to not get what I expected.

I also showed her a picture of the cooked beef ~ she asked, "who cooked that?" I told her I had and said I had used the 'new' method of low roasting instead of searing and roasting. She was surprised when I told her about the baking soda and how it did a nice job of changing the ph of the meat so it retained more moisture. I think it also allowed the outside to seal and not let any juices escape when it was resting.

I don't blame you for being ticked at the "butcher" -- especially at Fresh Market, where you pay a pretty penny for anything you purchase!

I did a standing rib roast for the two of us -- I got a three rib roast that was Black Angus (Choice) as I didn't want one that the store was promoting that was Select and I didn't want to pay $22.00/lb. for prime beef either for just the two of us and we always enjoy the choice ones. The man I approached stocking the meat counter at Rouses, where we regularly go and love, was particularly grouchy (it was Monday morning about 10 a.m.; the store was crowded but not maxed out yet, as it was too early in the day). I asked if he had any standing rib roasts that weren't select and he twisted around so fast and said, "You wanna pay $22/lb. for prime?"

My response was, "Well, I will if I have to as I plan to leave here with a standing rib roast but don't you normally have Black Angus ones at holidays?" He told me he'd have them out in 10 minutes and continued stocking. Once I said "I'll wait," he asked how big I wanted and I told him three ribs, erring on the smaller size rather than larger. He went in the back and came out with a perfect one that weighed 5.72 lbs. and was $52 -- I think it was $8.99/lb. And the bones had been cut off and re-tied back on, which I always appreciate being done for me.

Since it was just me and Brian, I decided to do that high temp/don't open the oven method. I mixed together 4 oz. of room temp. unsalted butter with a teaspoon of freshly grated black pepper and a teaspoon each of both minced fresh thyme leaves and minced fresh rosemary, rubbed it on the room temperature rib roast and then generously salted it with kosher salt.

I put the roast in the preheated 500 degree oven, set the timer for 5 minutes a pound, rounded to 29 minutes, plus a minute to allow the oven to get back up to temp after opening it and putting in the roast. After 30 minutes, I turned the oven off and tied a kitchen towel on the front of the oven so I'd remember not to open it. It was ready and perfectly medium rare in two hours. I think you cooked yours like this last year, didn't you Beth? I wasn't worried about it turning out right because I used our Smoke system (by ThermoWorks) to monitor the temperature of the meat as it cooked so we knew it was at a perfect 125 degrees when I took it out of the oven.

I made my usual Christmas Sauce for the beef and we had Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts with bacon and shallots (and a tiny bit of honey) on the side. Brian's not crazy about mashed potatoes but said as long as he had tons of the Christmas Sauce to put on them, he'd had no problems.

We really enjoyed our first Christmas Day in a long time by ourselves, and Brian was just fascinated by the cooking method I used. I debated doing a reverse sear method (I was going to use baking soda on the meat if I did this, too, Beth!) but then decided the 500/shut off the oven method was easier, especially since I didn't need the oven for any other dish.

Michelle.....when I read this:  "because I used our Smoke system"

I read it as:  "because I used our SMOKE ALARM SYSTEM......."


Hahahahahahaha!  Especially since if your oven ISN'T spotless that method truly becomes a 'smoke alarm system' of roasting meats.

It sounds delicious.  And it was a couple years ago that I used that method ~ did it for a large group and I think it was a $165 HUGE prime rib roast.  I was sweatin' it big time on that one.  But it came out perfectly so I did have a big sigh of relief when I carved it.




I just went back and checked.....I cooked the rib roast using the "500° / turn off the oven method" in 2016 ~ goodness sakes, how time flies!