Christmas Gifts from the Smoker

[raceyb]

My budget is tight this year and I've been thinking about how I wasn't going to be able to do much for my friends and neighbors this year as far as gifts go. Then I started to get to thinking, they all love and praise my BBQ and grilled fruits and such, why not smoke some gifts?

So this year, I am going to BJ's and getting some big block cheeses and i am going to cold smoke them and wrap in colored cello and ribbon. I also thought about roasting/smoking some nuts, or making a cream cheese dip and smoking it.

So my question is this, have you ever smoked or grilled gifts of food and how was it received? If someone were to gift you food from their grill or smoker, what would you wish it to be? Is giving a gift of smoked food cheesey?

Any ideas and discussions are welcome. Maybe some qview of gifts as well?

 

[hoser]

I have frequently given gifts from my kitchen Racey, and they were always well-received.
I mean, think about it...going to the effort of making something for a friend...well, it's truly a gift from the heart. Something like that would mean more to me than anything that was store-bought.

I'll be smoking up bunches of mixed nuts, different salts, and spices to hand out.

Just my $.02
Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

 

[pops6927]

Going to make up 10lbs. of smoked summer sausage, and have been collecting mayonnaise jars since summer, have 8 of them. Going to cut up the summer sausage into 3" links, fill up the jars and pour in a vinegar pickle for pickled sausages and let soak for a couple weeks until Christmas and give out to my sons and families. Great with beer and crackers! May toss in some hardboiled eggs too! I'll post some Qview when I do them.

 

[meatball]

My family did a lot of homemade gifts last year (not just food, but my wife does a lot of baking and I do the BBQ and smoking) and it's definitely not cheesy. I'm planning on making some jerky, nuts and other goodies, maybe some BBQ sauce or something for some family members this year.

 

[gnubee]

Heck I'd love to get any of the items you mentioned. I would worry a little about the cream cheese though. Cream cheese would be the only thing on your list that goes off quite quickly.

Taken directly to a party as a dip the cream cheese would probably be a big hit though.

Now if you showed up with some smoked ribs I might even forget about opening any of the other gifts for a while..

My neighbour bless her heart brings me a mason jar of real home made Ukrainian borscht. Made properly and good enough to make your ears flap.

I love the stuff. I cut her lawn all the time and give her 1/2 my peach crop and about 50 pounds of grapes from my vines in exchange for Cucumbers, peppers, squash, sweet corn and other things from her huge garden. We have the barter system going. She pays me 2 jars of almond/rum peaches for each time I mow her lawn.

Last year I did a sliced pork butt and 2 racks of ribs for her and her daughter. She brought over the borscht and some incredible Ukrainian preserves. Her comment about the butt and ribs the next day was, "I'll have to double my jars of borscht next year"
Yahoo!

 

[mballi3011]

First off Racey if you feel close enough to the people that you are thinking of giving them food for a present then they would be the first ones to praise you for the gifts. After all it is a labor of love to think of that person enough to buy and smoked or just cook some meat/cheeses or any food of any kind and give that to them. It will probally be liked more then a gift you picked up and wrap bang here you go. This gift you really worked to give it too them. I would personally feel very good receiving a present of food. Great idea too in these hard times.

 

[raceyb]

Thanks for the replies and the ideas guys and gals! I'm gonna do it.

The cream cheese dip is definitely going to the Xmas party. I'll do up some qview. I have to wait for my EBT benefits to replenish and I'll be off to buy some cheese and nuts.

Walmart had some great holiday tin sets that were cheap and great for gift giving. They got metal and plastic tins for less then a dollar a piece. So anyone else doing food gifts, it's a thought.

 

[athabaskar]

Home made Christmas gifts are definitely not cheesy, unless of course it is actually cheese. We do it almost every year. A favorite of mine is infusing olive oil or vinegar with whatever herbs you have still growing, or garlic, or whatever else you can dream up. I bottle them in those old style Grolsch flip top beer bottles and Mrs. Athabaskar wraps some ribbon around the top. The people that get them sometimes look at you funny, but almost always will later make a point of telling you how much they enjoyed it. Best of all, I get to enjoy that wonderful Grolsch beer!