Thanksgiving Day Meal...
 

In my own family we have tried, with stunning failure, to introduce new food traditions to the Thanksgiving Day feast. Things like: cornbread dressing (hissed at), cranberry salad (instead of the requisite solid cranberry mass thunked from the can), DRESSING WITH GIZZARDS! Mom was nearly lynched because of that AND--chocolate chip pecan pie. Sounds better than it is. From now on--only traditional Pecan Pie will do. And don't put any untoward things in the gravy.

Any of you tried to mess with the Holiest Turkey of the Year?

Yeah. Once we did a huge salmon filet baked in filo dough. Better than any turkey I ever had.

The only part I felt bad about was there were no turkey leftovers for open faced sandwiches the next few days.

We've had Cornish Hens roasted on a spit over a campfire. That was OK, but turkey is better.

But we do have a somewhat new tradition - brined boneless turkey. The turkey is deboned before roasting and soaked for hours in brine. It takes MUCH less time to cook, is much easier to carve, and very moist.

I have the last two years. Since I am making it and there is going to be a max of 4 people there, I am not making a whole turkey. I am just making a boneless turkey breast.

Our Christmas Day Feast is like your Thanksgiving (we dont do Thanksgiving) but with an Aussie twist I guess.

Its usually stinking hot here, so we will have hot/cold lunch.

Seafood - hot and cold dishes.
Roasted Lamb/Beef & Chicken
Cold Meats
Roasted Vegies
Various Salads

Dessert
Pavlova
Steamed Plum Pudding with Custard and brandy sauce
Fruit Salad


ohhh, I love Christmas day feasting!!

chocolate chip pecan pie was boo'd away?!? what kind of children are you raising Bri????
we tried a turducken a year or two back.. man some of that meat was tender.

Like Ducks - it's our Christmas Day that can't usually be messed with, but over the years my parents established their own traditions. This is partly because they moved 60 miles away from their families - which was a long way in pre-motorway times - and partly because their own family traditions were so old fashioned.

We always have a roast turkey dinner, but it also always includes
- yorkshire puddings (traditionally served with roast beef)
- Italian Pointed bread on the side from the local bakery
- two choices of dessert (tradition is Christmas pudding, but no-one wants more than a mouthful)
- cheeseboard after with more bread as well as crackers - and we always, always have Boursin (soft cheese with garlic and herbs). It's the only time of year we have it
- My brother, my Dad and I tell the jokes from the crackers and swap the punchlines over. Every year. And it still confuses the rest of the family. Eh?
- my great Aunt - Fatty Alice - will offer to help clean up every year, and every year will do something hideous - wiping all the crumbs straight onto the carpet, or folding up the dirty tablecloth and putting it back with the clean ones, or rinsing a wine glass in the water where the roasting tin is soaking....

Boxing Day has become the time for the extended family to get together. We always have salmon en croute, as it's my SIL's favourite. And pickled red cabbage for me - which I eat with smoked cheddar.

AHhhhhhhh, Christmas. If I wasn't off for a huge vegetarian curry feast right now I'd be eating my desk.

Mrs. Dallas and I are both very traditional. Well, with respect to Thanksgiving at least. And we use it as an opportunity to cook, which we both enjoy but don't do much of these days.

The main dish is a roast turkey, a speciality of Mrs. Dallas. It includes a nice stuffing--I can't imagine anybody objecting to cornbread stuffing, though. In fact, maybe we'll try it this year. She also prepares a cranberry mold from scratch, using real cranberries, that ought to make any self-respecting can of solid cranberry mass rust in shame.

While she's doing that, I make candied sweet potatoes, another vegetable dish of some kind (last year was steamed asparagus & onion--we'll see what we come up with for this year), and of course a pumpkin pie.

We then collapse and enjoy leftovers for the next week. :drool:

I can't believe I'm actually saying this but it was TOO SWEET! I did just what the recipe said and used 2cups of choco chips...I think if I had used 1/2 cup it would have been delish.

For hubby and I it is a joint affair; I bake pies (pumpkin and 1 fruit) the night before and he cooks the entire holiday meal the next day. Including clean up!
Turkey in the oven and he likes to do a ham in a Dutch Oven outside in a home-made brick oven over briquettes.
Gravies for both. Mashers with sour cream and cream cheese instead of the usual milk/butter. Sweet potatoes. Two veggie dishes. (I love rutabegas!) Homemade bread. Shame, shame, shame...I like the canned gelatin mass of cranberry sauce.
Cornbread stuffing sounds great, maybe I'll request it.

Mother made stuffing with walnuts and apples one year that was to DIE for!

But that's the best part!
 

What does this mean? :confused: Your crackers have jokes on them?

I read this and laughed out loud. Too hilarious!

I think she meant the British kind of "crackers", not the ones you eat.

That makes SO much more sense. Thanks, SD.

I do like the getting together with family and friends but the over abundance of food seems out of place in our modern society. When this country was founded people were hungry and pulled all their resources to make a feast. I know there are some poor people who this tradition means alot too ..for they may have even more reasons to be thankful which would enclude a special meal that isn't always available. As for the rest of us it is just an other excuse to eat. I'd rather eliminate the eating and just hang with friends and family.Traditionally As a family we either pull together and do potluck style or the job falls to the one who isnt working. As far as food I am thinking less could be more. I havn't figured out what that is suppose to look like because that damn turkey is so ingrained in our psyche. I could I NOT want a little turkey?

For me...to provide a service such as handing out food boxes to the poor would give me a much better appreciation of the occassion. That's the way I would mess with him. ( the turkey)
That said I think I would like to try a deep fat fried turkey someday .:yum:


http://www.fabulousfoods.com/index.html

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/cards/thanks/tg10sm.jpg

I'm usually in charge of Thanksgiving when we're with my family, even though we're at my parent's house. This year, I think the menu will be:

Turkey (done on the grill, by my husband and father)
Gravy
Mole sauce
Mashed potatoes
Cornbread dressing with garlic and jalapeño
Cranberry-walnut relish
Green beans with almonds
Roasted brussel sprouts
"Squashage" = sauteed butternut squash with raisins, pecans, fennel, sage,
chili flakes and garlic & onions

Pumpkin pie or sugar-free pumpkin panna cotta

My mom and I have to watch the sugars and starches. Mom is also a vegetarian, so everything but the turkey and gravy is meat-free.
I'm debating internally whether to just do two boneless breasts, or a whole turkey. There will be five adults and two kids eating meat, and leftovers aren't really appreciated. I guess we'll decide when we get there.

We're very traditional, I think the kids would revolt if I changed anything on the menu. The only thing I mess with is the stuffing, I still haven't found a keeper. I make it all myself. While we eat, everyone talks about what they are thankful for.

Roast Turkey w/stuffing
Turkey gravy
Green bean casserole (usual thing with cream of mushroom soup and onion rings)
Mashed potatoes
Candied yams (steamed, then sliced and broiled with a syrup of brown sugar and orange juice drizzled over)
Green salad
Cranberry sauce (dumped straight from the can)
Dinner Rolls
Pumpkin and apple pie w/whipped cream if desired
Ice cream
Sparkling cider


Now on Christmas Day, we do something totally different but it has also become a tradition. I only cook one meal, so we start out with munchies early in the day.

Munchies - assorted olives, cheeses, sausages, chips, raw veggies and dips

Steaks (marinaded with my patented soy sauce/garlic powder/celery salt marinade) on the grill - filet mignon and/or T-bones
Caesar Salad w/aged parmesan
Mushrooms sauteed in garlic butter
Corn on the cob
Dinner rolls
Pie - usually pecan and pumpkin
Whipped cream
Sparkling cider

My family usually ends up having the traditional Thanksgiving meal (turkey, jello salad, yams, all that), but afterward... the Iranian part of us comes out and the leftover turkey gets shredded up with peas and olives and mayonnaise and made into this DELICIOUS lumpy stuff called... salad olivea? I think that's how to spell it.

It's basically Persian turkey lumps with olives on top. Yummm. :)

That salad sounds yummy Novae. :yum:

My ukraninan friend would make Perogies for sure. Probably potato and cabbage rolls along with the turkey. :)

That would be no debate for me. The dark meat is the more tender and flavorful meat. No contest. Do the whole bird.

That does sound good. Do you have the recipe? Or, an idea of how much of this and how much of that to use?

I would agree, but I am also feeding a vegetarian who doesn't like to see a whole bird being carved... and doesn't want too many leftovers in the fridge.

Can you carve it in the kitchen and bring a platter of meat out to the table?

It's an open kitchen, leading right to the dining table. :neutral: Perhaps I'll do a whole bird, but break it down to parts first. That will also make the cooking time easier -- put the dark meat on the grill first. What do you think? Anyone ever cooked a turkey in parts?

Now, don't get confused here folks, but this sounds awfully like what we Brits call Russian Salad, and the Russians call "Olivier" ... (we got it from the Russians who got it from a French chef called Olivier, I think). Anyways ...
Use leftover cooked vegetables (or dice (small) cooked carrots/potatos, cook peas/sweetcorn, spring onions (syboes), whatever you can get your hands on for the veg. Dice the turkey (or ham, or beef, or garlic sausage, you get the picture) small, mix the lot together with enough mayonnaise (or garlic mayonnaise or salad cream). It's lovely. Don't use beetroot or it'll all go very red.
Cooking is my forte as you can see :3_eyes:

Thanks, limey!

Thanksgiving dinner is always a bit different b/c my mother doesn't follow her recipes exactly and often forgets how she does things. We're pretty open about tryin new stuff but there has to be the turkey, cornbread stuffing (mostly my g-ma's recipe and then whatever changes mom makes), giblet gravy (even the year my parents and nanny got drunk and ate the giblets, they went out the next morning and scrounged for some), the contents of the rest of the meal fluctuates depending on what we want to cook.

Oh, man, this is going to be my first meatless thanksgiving...


Being a southern family, we always have DRESSING, not stuffing... typical southern thanksgiving dinner 'n all.

We're none too rigidly fixed about our menu, so long as it is, sine qua non, a feast.

We once hit an Indian place a couple Thanksgivings ago for tandoori turkey. It was plenty good, but somehow for me didn't quite hit the spot; it didn't seem Thanksgiving-ish enough somehow.

But a whole roast turkey is best for carcass-pickin' to make turkey & dressing sandwiches until you're tired of the things a week later, with a good tablespoon's worth of cranberry jelly laid in. These work best with bread-and-sage dressing, and we always use whole wheat bread for this.

The stripped turkey carcass is used to make chicken stock. I often concentrate this stuff well enough for it to be softly gelatinous.

We like cornbread dressing just fine, and could probably do something pretty marvelous based on quinoa, but sage/bread dressing still tops them all. Chopped pecans can go well in cornbread stuffing, if you have any left after a good'n'proper pecan pie. A large enough turkey can have a worthwhile amount of two kinds of stuffing, one in each cavity, with any extra baked, covered in a dish. Stuffing is best when it is quite moist with butter and broth.

Our family likes both kinds of cranberry jelly, and served 'em both together. The canned stuff -- and we like to lay it on with the can's rings visible on the jellied burgundy-colored cylinder -- suits sandwich-making best for obvious reasons.

The wife thinks candied or marshmallow-topped and candied yams/sweet potatoes should be a dessert dish. For me, they're just how you have them done up extra special. She, uh, rather lacks a sweet tooth, from my point of view.

She won't have anything with mayonnaise in it. Mmmmmooookayyyyy.... it's a quirk. Sounds like carrot-and-raisin salad is not a likelihood, then. I think real mayonnaise isn't the stuff to use to make C&R salad, anyway: it's better using Miracle Whip. Unless the secret with the mayo is to add sugar to sweeten.

Soups we don't usually do for this meal, as we'd rather fill up on something more chewy; it being a feast, favorite vegetables are used, which usually means peas unless somebody just has to make green bean casserole, roofed with Tater Tots. You can get more Tater Tots into a casserole if you peg 'em into it endwise rather than just pouring them on top. The garlic-flavored kind are worth using. Doubtless some minced garlic mixed into the concentrated cream of mushroom soup and the green beans would work as well.

Mashed potatoes, of course. Baked sweet potatoes one way or another, those too. Bread and butter, or dinner rolls, and probably as special and nice as may be -- King's Hawaiian Rolls, or something.

Among the crudite`s, celery sticks and black olives are perennial.

Desserts could be anything, and usually several things to choose from. Of pies, there should at least be pumpkin. Mince is usually a given. I've gone as far as lemon meringue pie with graham cracker crumb crust (homemade is the only way proper for a great feast!), making it at the friends' house we'd come to Thanksgiving dinner for, as its meringue does not travel well -- vibrations break it down into a sweet, egg-white fluid again -- a bit of this does nice things for the crumb crust, but too much turns pretty sloppy and the sugar content makes it sticky too. Favorite cakes may also put in their appearance. Chocolate Vienna Torte, or a rather formidable thing with a coffee-flavored cream frosting that I haven't made recently enough to recall the name of, but oh so delicious.

2004 edition home page but the 2006 edition contains as the centerpiece, naturally, Turkey and Gravy Soda, flanked by Stuffing Soda, Peas Soda, Pumpkin Pie Soda, and, wait for it, Antacid Soda (pink, of course). Yum!

Remember that Pepto-Bismol ice cream?

Sigh. I get Thanksgiving from Flying J. Wherever I happen to be at the moment. I miss family feasts!

Brian, baby, if you're anywhere near Dayton, come on over! There's plenty and my family is...well...let's say they're very strange and funny. You'll get a kick either way (whether you think they are 'strange' or 'funny') and there is TONS of great food!

If ya wanna--PM me!

I want to deep fry a turkey this year. I told my parents that I would only come home if they bought a turkey fryer, but they said they would not even acknowledge my bribe. I may just buy one myself and bring it to their house.

No one in my family likes dark meat, so we usually just make turkey breasts. My dad does a great job of smoking them on the grill.

I don't really care about the turkey... my thing is the sides. I have to have a wide variety of sides which include:

Green Bean Casserole - made with cream of celery (not cream of mushroom) and those crunchy onions. I highly recommend making it with cream of celery instead - it has a really great flavor.

Stuffing - corn bread or regular. Nothing fancy and certainly no gizzards.

Mashed Potatos

Cranberry sauce out of the can, in the shape of the can. One year, my mom smashed it up to make it look more fancy - she was practically banned from the house.

Sweet potatoes - anyway is fine, just as long as there are lots of marshmellows and pecans!

Orange jello made with orange juice instead of water - yum!

Some sort of home made bread - maybe my cheese and onion biscuits.

Dessert - usually one fruit pie (apple, hopefully made by Mr. Saur - he makes the BEST apple pie) and something made with pumpkin. I just like the pumpkin part of the pie and liberal amounts of cool whip.

I've never been big on turkey and either is my wife. This year we will be staying on a ranch west of San Antonio. I think we will grill some lamb chops or cabritto if we can get some. When I used to do a lot of waterfowl hunting we would grill duck or goose. One year I grilled a sandhill crane, really was good.

The most repeated tradition we have is drink several bottles of Nouveau Beaujolais which has just been released.

I made a plea to my parents that we should forego the turkey/ham/meat this year in favor of a side extravaganza.

I was met with this response.

Dad: That is the stupidest idea ever.

Because I am so picky about sides, I have been put in charge of them. Yay!

Please suggest a side we can make for Jacquelita's mom's annual thingie. We are already set to make a sweet potato dessertish item. I'm looking for something advanced that works in a potluck situation.

My sister is in charge of Thanksgiving dinner this year. Whatever it is will have to be finished cooking before 1500 hrs and fit into a microwave safe container, as I'll be working.

My contribution will be the Rachel Ray Smoked Salmon dip from the back of the Ritz Crackers package. A small portion will remain at home, and the rest will accompany me to work for the 4-12 feast.

What about something involving Squash? I assume someone is already doing the Green Bean Casserole.

Sauteed cabbage is really nice - fry up two slices of bacon, remove from pan. Add chopped up cabbage, sautee untill browned. Crumble bacon on the top - very delicous.

Also, there is a really simple orange salad that I am making. You peel and slice oranges - make sure to remove the pith well. Slice up a red onion and sprinkle it over the top. Drizzle the oranges and onions with a little olive oil, raspberry or redwine vinegar, and salt and pepper. It is really light and refreshing and not to mention, very pretty. It goes well with most meat dishes.

Hope those help!

I was gonna suggest the one with almonds.

Scalloped Corn:

1 and 1/4 sticks melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1 can corn
1 can cream corn
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

Mix all wet ingredients thoroughly, then add corn muffin mix and pour into a 13x9 pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350, until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Hey Bri, look the cornbread casserole has reappeared! Oh well from another post in food. But still great.

Hey, buster! You are correct, sir!

the corn casserole is an awesome dish, full of indulgence and velvety goodness. I hope to eat this the day I die!

Good call, buster!

I can't believe it but we are doing 3 dinners this year. Already had the first one last Sunday for our neighbor Kay who has left for her winter stay in Florida. It was traditional with roast turkey, gravy, candied yams, cornbread dressing, 2 kinds of cranberry sauce (the whole berry, and my favorite, jelly dumped from the can), tossed salad, steamed cauliflower and cheese sauce, twice baked potatoes, home made rolls, and 2 kinds of pie, pumpkin and mixed berry, with whipped topping optional.

Round 2 is for a friend who cannot be with his family on Thanksgving Day. It wil be very much like the first meal, if a little toned down with only 1 kind of pie, apple.

Round 3 will be at my parents house. Mom is making 2 kinds of pie, custard and sweet potato and making homemade whole berry cranberry relish. A cheese and cracker/relish tray. Weather permitting, the turkey will be grilled outside. Our contributiuon will be Mr Fargon's homemade cornbread stuffing (his mother's recipe.) And on top of that is the traditional sage dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green bean/cream of mushroom/fried onion casserole.

I'm getting full just thinking about it. And since I have to work the actual holiday, no doubt there will be some kind of feeding at work. uh!

If you are looking for something that travels well and doesn't need to be heated up again at the destination, do some sort of cold dish.

Celery sticks stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese and nuts is one of my wife's favorites. I even think it's pretty good. Sometimes it's nice to have something light and crispy to chomp on in between all the other stuff on the table.

I make a huge batch of deviled eggs for my family's Thanksgiving every year. It's been my assignment since I was about 12. I usually eat about half of them myself.

After much thought, no one here but me. Think I'll fix a small pan of oyster dressing, 8X8 and a take off of this pie. http://www.mccormick.com/recipedetail.cfm?id=11454

I noticed not much talk about pecans or pecan pie. No wonder. I buy from collins street bakery sometimes and they sent me an e-mail for pecans.
"Shipped in our Needlepoint tin to ensure freshness.
1lb 7 oz for only $28.95
Shipping is only 2.95 per U.S. address."
What a bargain, stock up.

Okay, I wound up eating at T/A...not too bad.

Turkey was moist, I avoided the grayish-green stuff though.
Ham was good but fatty. Sweet potatoes were good. Could have used some brown sugar though. My preference. Mashed were good for instant. Gravy was...wet.

All in all, not too bad for a truck stop and 11.99.

We ate out ourselves, at a dinerish place in Oxnard that we favor particularly for its Joe's Specials* -- comfort-food place named Henri's, at the Five Points intersection where Rte. 1 turns due north. The kind of humble but steady joint that serves you open-face roast beef sandwiches and at least three kinds of flaky pie kept on footed pie keepers on the counter.

Okay, a serving of white meat with a stuffing that incorporated shredded dark meat in it, with raisins to give it a piquancy. Robust for a stuffing, watch for drumstick tendons. Brown gravy on the breast meat, a chicken gravy with shreds of carrot on the mashed potatoes, sweet corn bread, and finished up with pie, pumpkin a la mode for her, apple for me.

Tasty enough, and not bad as a plan B, plan A having gone out the window, but I think I'll push for cooking our own feast next year.

*Joe's Special or Joe's Breakfast: ground beef, chopped onion, more chopped spinach, a little garlic and sauteed mushrooms scrambled together with eggs. Season(ed) with abundant black pepper and salt to taste, usually served with hash browns. Invented early in the twentieth century in San Francisco by a guy named Joe. Well, that's one of three origin stories, anyway.

Joe's Special, one of several recipes that a google will get you.

Another.

We ene up having a great meal at our ranch in the middle of nowhere, west of San Antonio.

For breakfast:
Homemade biscuits slathered with butter and citrus marmalade, coffee and OJ

For lunch:
Crab cakes and a light salad with vinnagrete and a glass of wine

For dinner:
Roast Cornish Game Hens with an orange/redwine basting and reduction, a wild rice and dried cranberry dressing, braised brussel sprouts, a nice red wine and home made pumpkin pie with a dollop of fresh made whipped cream.

After that we passed out. :D

Ohhh over here, truck stop food is highly coveted. The prices of food over there are a bit funky. Considering you work on the tip system n all.

Our waiting staff get $16 to $18+ per hour and our prices are very similar....but in most other circumstances our costs are heaps more....the only place I found eating out prices in line was in Hawaii.

Can someone please point me in the direction of a tried-tested Bean Casserole Recipe???


Oh and this Sweet Potato with marshmallows n pecan?? must try it too me thinks

My mother-in-law makes an excellent one, if nobody has one at their finger tips, I'll effort that.

It's so easy, you'll kick yourself with your big orange webbed feet, Ducks: it's really a matter of opening a few cans.

Depending on the number of hungry mouths expected:

Mix and put in a deep casserole:

1-2 cans cut green beans; frozen ones work too but take rather longer to cook
1-2 cans condensed Cream of Mushroom soup, or Cream of Celery soup if you like that better, straight from the cans, not diluted with milk -- it's a sauce
Black pepper to taste; with the soup's salt content salt won't be needed.

Top with frozen Tater Tots, plain or garlic. I haven't had any particular luck with minced garlic in the casserole for some reason -- just doesn't seem to do much of anything. You can pack more Tater Tots into the casserole if you peg 'em in endwise and upright, rather than just laying them on top.

Heat, uncovered, at 375 F until heated through, about 1 hour.

I've tried variations on this, like adding canned tuna -- okay but nothing great -- perhaps tuna casserole should just be tuna casserole, without any beans. Lima beans for green beans is good.

See - I have never even *heard* of Green Bean Casserole???? or Sweet Potato with marshmallows???


I'm going to try though, I love beans.

Do we have canned beans Ali???

Look here. http://www.campbellkitchen.com/recip...astIndex=false

What the hell you mean, Tater Tots?? Everybody knows that the only proper topping for green bean casserole is Durkee's French Fried Onions.

Oh, and use frozen french cut green beans. They're better.