# A preemptive Thanksgiving rant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 23, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312 "2004-11-23T17:42:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/81 "2004-11-24T00:55:19Z")
Dear Food Snobs, Aren’t Sweet Potatoes and Yams **Two** seperate vegetables? I have always wondered this. Thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/82 "2004-11-24T01:23:47Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Dear Food Snobs, > Aren’t Sweet Potatoes and Yams **Two** seperate vegetables? > > I have always wondered this. > > Thank you very much. [Yes and no](http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-23-a.html). Yams and sweet potatoes are different things technically but most of what gets called “yams” in the US are actually sweet potatoes. Real yams (from Africa) are really quite different from what you get in the cans of “candied yams.” ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/83 "2004-11-24T02:02:12Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > That’s just gross. Is the radio even cooked? It depends. In my case, I had my radio on NPR so it came out rather tepid. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/84 "2004-11-24T02:23:11Z")
Man, it’s a really good thing none of you are eating at my house…I’m having sausage stuffing and “mock” mashed potatoes (mashed cauliflower), sugar-free jello, “mock” rice pudding (it’s just ricotta cheese), a crustless pumpkin pie…The only thing I got going for me is my homemade eggnog. I’m making the most of it, of course, but this thread is kinda making me sad. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/85 "2004-11-24T02:32:11Z")
Am I the only one then, who thinks turkey tastes awful leftover? My parents always fixed it by heating it on the stove in a pan with the gravy and it just tastes awful. Of course, cold turkey, chopped up and mixed in a salad or in a pita wrap is good. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/86 "2004-11-24T03:29:56Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Am I the only one then, who thinks turkey tastes awful leftover? My parents always fixed it by heating it on the stove in a pan with the gravy and it just tastes awful. > > Of course, cold turkey, chopped up and mixed in a salad or in a pita wrap is good. Guck!!! No wonder it tasted awful. It needs to be warmed seperately from the turkey. And the turkey should be nuked or warmed in the oven, not panfried with the gravy. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/87 "2004-11-24T03:33:59Z")
succotash anyone? ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/88 "2004-11-24T03:40:31Z")
My partner’s mother makes her stuffing with a ton of romano cheese in it. Have never heard of this before. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/89 "2004-11-24T04:43:24Z")
I’ll add my mini-Thanksgiving rant too. To my dear, sweet grandmother–please, please stop making that awful mix of grated carrots and raisins. You make it every year and every year it sits there on the table and no one ever goes near it. The only time that bowl of grated carrots and raisins sees any action is when someone accidentally drops a crumb of stuffing or turkey in it. I’m beginning to think that it’s the same carrots and raisins and maybe she just freezes it and thaws it out every year. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/90 "2004-11-24T05:07:31Z")
> [@supervenusfreak](#): > > My partner’s mother makes her stuffing with a ton of romano cheese in it. Have never heard of this before. Heh! It’s Italian stuffing (or “filling”, as we call it in Altoona). It’s nice and salty and spicey and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… I so want Saturday to get here NOW! Incidentally, I used to have a Filipino roommate whose mother made calamari with Thanksgiving dinner. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/91 "2004-11-24T05:28:29Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Heh! It’s Italian stuffing (or “filling”, as we call it in Altoona). It’s nice and salty and spicey and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… I so want Saturday to get here NOW! > > Incidentally, I used to have a Filipino roommate whose mother made calamari with Thanksgiving dinner. OK now I am hungry for seafood! LOL. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/92 "2004-11-24T06:59:40Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Guck!!! No wonder it tasted awful. It needs to be warmed seperately from the turkey. And the turkey should be nuked or warmed in the oven, not panfried with the gravy. They don’t pan fry it, just heat it up on the stove top. I’ve never really liked poultry fixed that way. (Except for creamed chicken and rice, and even then I eat very little of the chicken, just the sauce and the rice). I dunno, reheated poultry to me just doesn’t taste very good. Cold, chopped up on a sandwhich or in a salad, yes. This year it’s just the four of us, and we’ve got a 25 pounder thawing out in the fridge as I type this, so chances are, we’ll be eating a lot of bird for the next couple of weeks. (Although my dad will probably find something to make with it, he always does.) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/93 "2004-11-24T09:39:38Z")
As much as I love biscuits, I don’t think they are appropriate for a Thanksgiving dinner. Too much there there. I like biscuits for meals where the biscuits are the main attraction. Like breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/94 "2004-11-24T14:05:53Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > No. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it. Of course, it could just be that you don’t like olives? All my life I’ve hated olives, but in the past few years I’ve been “training” myself to like them. But I only like the expensive ones that don’t come in a can. They have a very strong and distinctive flavor that seriously alters the character of anything they’re in. I feel the same way about green peppers in any kind of stuffing (such as seafood). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/95 "2004-11-24T14:08:41Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Man, it’s a really good thing none of you are eating at my house…I’m having sausage stuffing and “mock” mashed potatoes (mashed cauliflower), sugar-free jello, “mock” rice pudding (it’s just ricotta cheese), a crustless pumpkin pie…The only thing I got going for me is my homemade eggnog. > > I’m making the most of it, of course, but this thread is kinda making me sad. **pepperlandgirl** , I love you and I want to bear your children, but seriously, I’m so glad I’m not eating at your house. Mock mashed potatoes? That’s a hangable offense, and I believe it violates international gastronomic treaty. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/96 "2004-11-24T14:10:18Z")
**Tdn** , I tried your cranberry sauce recipe last night, and it hasn’t set yet after more than 12 hours. Did I screw it up somehow, or is it supposed to be runny? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/97 "2004-11-24T14:13:47Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > **Tdn** , I tried your cranberry sauce recipe last night, and it hasn’t set yet after more than 12 hours. Did I screw it up somehow, or is it supposed to be runny? Only a little runny. Cranberries have natural pectin which should help it set up. That sucks. Can you try to drain it a little? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/98 "2004-11-24T14:16:47Z")
You did cook it until the berries started to burst, right? ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/99 "2004-11-24T14:18:47Z")
Hey **gobear** , did you get the brownie recipe? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312/100 "2004-11-24T14:25:32Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > You did cook it until the berries started to burst, right? I cooked it according to the recipe you gave, and the berries burst on cue. I cooked past the bursting stage for the full time given. Maybe I cooked it too long? Mind, it taste wonderful, but it is, y’know, runny. **Auntie Em** , sorry, but your recipe hasn’t arrived in my inbox yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-preemptive-thanksgiving-rant/276312.md?page=6)