I have a large family, so Thanksgiving at my parents house means a truck load of food.
Usually, the way it works with us; the entire family meets sometime around 2:00. We enjoy our meal, some of us fall asleep on the couch watching the football games. Others go home for a nap or whatever. Then some time in the evening, people will come back at random times for another go.
All this is fine with me. I rather enjoy it actually. But Dammit! Come Friday, I’m done with turkey and stuffing. I’m ready to move on.
Except, my parents insist we keep pecking away at the ample left overs. They often give me the finger wag when I take my sons and I to go out to eat. (I’d go home except that’s a six hour drive.)
I’m posting this because all to often do I hear people proclaim their love for TG left overs. My parents seem to be the poster children of this.
So, is anybody with me on this? Is one day of Turkey and stuffing enough for you?
You are not alone. I like a Turkey Sandwich that evening later, with plenty of Miracle Whip (oh don’t start - it’s the only time I eat it), tomato and crisp iceberg lettuce, but that’s about it.
I’m done after one or three sandwiches after Thanksgiving. And the turkey can’t have been done on the grill. It makes the sandwiches taste strange to me.
I’m SO GLAD we don’t “do” Thanksgiving anymore.
This year is McDonald’s and the bar. Just me and the husband. We’ll hit McDonald’s for buy one get one free Big Macs, a large fry, and a McDouble for the dog then go to the bar for $3 you call it drinks. Way less stress!
If you don’t like Thanksgiving leftovers, then you aren’t cooking the right foods. There’s no law that says you have to serve turkey, stuffing, etc. It’s supposed to be about giving thanks and all that, not about eating some particular foods.
That said, turkey and potatoes and such are so easily recycled into other dishes that I don’t see much to object to in terms of using leftovers. Turkey croquettes or turkey hash are pretty delightful in their own right IMO.
Final thought: You could try not preparing quite so much food. If there are no leftovers, then you won’t have to hurt anybody’s feelings by refusing to eat them.
If it was up to me I would get a full turkey dinner many more times a year. I love turkey. So no I don’t mind the left over. For the turkey and stuffing. Most of the other stuff doesn’t hold up to reheating.
I like the leftovers, but not if they’ve been sitting out since lunch. They must have been properly packed up and refrigerated, or else that’s disgusting and I want no part of it.
Frankly, I’ve always suspected that nobody likes Thanksgiving food either. Turkey? Fine, bland, whatever - I could make a way better chicken. It’s the most boring, the most constricted, of all cooking holidays, and I think I’m not the only serious cook to be bored by it. So I try something new and fun every year and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t - when I tried butternut squash soup I thought we’d have to lie to the kids but for the last seven years it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if Aunt Z didn’t make the soup. But one year I tried “real” green bean casserole and although they might have liked it any other day THAT IS NOT THAT THANKSGIVING GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE, learned my lesson there.
I don’t particularly like Thanksgiving food to begin with. Turkey and all the trimmings leave me cold, about the only thing I like is the mashed potatoes and my mom’s cranberry relish. Candied sweet potatos, mushed up soggy bread (dressing), overly salty greenbean cassarole, please, take it all.
I am, by the way, having grilled salmon and vegtables for Thanksgiving. and cranberry relish.
I have never loved turkey…yeah I’ll eat it, but if somebody told me I could never have it, ever again, I’d shrug and agree…and I don’t like green bean casserole or cranberries either. I do like stuffing and mashed potatoes but that seems like small potatoes (pun slightly intended) for a big ol’ meal if I only like two of the dishes. (Not to mention mashed potatoes aren’t exactly exclusive to Thanksgiving; I have them regularly throughout the year. They aren’t Special Holiday Food.)
I’d rather have a pizza and wings.
As for leftovers…I could do with a grilled turkey-cheese sandwich, cuz anything grilled on bread with cheese is good…but since I never craved most of it in the first place, I definitely don’t want to see it again. And get that damn pumpkin pie away from me. It looks and tastes like baby food. grumpy
Turkey is dry even when it’s fresh, microwaves don’t help but if it was injected with plenty of garlic butter before it’s fine later. Mashed potatoes and gravy keep. With enough gravy stuffing is fine reheated and honeyed ham is pretty good later too. Cranberries don’t need heating at all.
Outside of the turkey, Thanksgiving food is as good as reheated leftovers get, are you guys sure you aren’t just turning your noses up at leftovers in general?
A couple of years ago, we did a batch of turkey mole with Thanksgiving leftovers. It was fabulous and may well become a tradition. I love leftover pie with coffee for breakfast the next morning. But we try not to cook so much food that we end up with weeks of leftovers, anyway.
God bless the Cajuns and their turkey injecting ways.
You can buy the commercial turkey injection stuff, but it’s mostly garbage. Go to Louisiana and find some Cajun people. If you can’t understand them when they’re speaking English you’re on the right track. Then bribe the oldest man(yes, man) there into letting you help prepare the bird.
I did that in the early 90s and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Ever.
I haven’t eaten meat for almost 20 years now, but I always loved sandwiches with leftover turkey, cranberry sauce, and (go ahead, groan) stuffing on nice thick-cut home-baked bread. So much so that I go to the trouble of making a Quorn roast, although I usually shun fake-meat products, just to have a vehicle for the cranberry sauce and stuffing. I also like mashed potatoes and gravy, but we have those other times of the year. For some reason, we can only have stuffing and cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving. We also rarely have pie at other times than Thanksgiving and Christmas, so there’s that.
So, yeah, I love the leftovers. In fact, I’d probably make a Thanksgiving dinner just for the leftovers even if I didn’t have the family getting together.
I had a turkey and stuffing sandwich with mashed potatoes today for lunch. My huge regret is that I’m going out with friends to a turkey buffet for Thanksgiving. No leftovers. You can all send me yours. That’s PO Box ILoveTurkey, Cranberry Sauce, NY. Gravy should go in a separate envelope.
and cranberry relish.