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.