My MIL is hosting Thanksgiving, and she’s making just about all the other dishes, which is too bad, 'cause she’s not a great cook. A great mom, and a great MIL, but not a good cook.
She assigned me the green bean casserole this year, and I want it to kick all sorts of ass.
So now I seem to have two options:
Classic casserole, with Campell’s mushroom soup and the french-fried onions on top. I’ve used canned green beans in the past for this, and it always tastes…tinny. Seems the easiest route.
Find something new.
Most folks in my sweet in-law family hate change, so if I bring something other than classic, they might be disappointed. So a new recipe would have to kick serious ass.
Is there a way to bring together the best of both worlds? Like, use the classic recipe but make my own mushroom soup or something? Use fresh green beans only? Anyone out there have a to-die-for recipe they’re willing to share?
Side note --> I’ll have to make the dish at home and bring it over to MIL’s, then reheat at a later time.
I prefer using fresh green beans. Canned beans just don’t do it for me.
Doing your own mushroom soup might be a nice touch, or even just adding some actual mushrooms.
But I wouldn’t deviate too far. Quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever eaten was a version of GBC that added canned corn niblets and canned green chiles to the traditional recipe. Oh, God, that was awful.
Throw her a change up. Make something out of a green veggie, but it doesn’t have to be green beans. Maybe a roasted Brussels sprouts. Online recipes available. Others in the family may say-----------“thank you, thank you.”
Make this recipe. I’ve made it several Thanksgivings/Christmases, and it’s not only a great update, it’s just great, period. I get asked for the recipe every single time I make it.
The last step in the recipe tells you what to do to make it ahead of time.
If you are a member of America’s Test Kitchen’s website you can get their version online. If you get their recipe books, it might be in one of those (or the new 13th anniversary book.)
Someone has posted something claiming to be ATK’s version up on Food.com, but I’m not familiar with the recipe so I can’t say if it’s the real deal.
Bottom line, shake it up. The classic is gluey, tinny, and all sorts of wrong. You can only improve on the original. The only danger being you’ll be asked to do all over again next year.
I par cook fresh green beans and add fresh crimini mushrooms to the mushroom soup. I stick with traditional fried onions from a bag on top. That’s my trick - it gets compliments.
If i were you, I would stick with a traditional dish but with improved ingredients, like the one Athena posted. I might also make something I think would be a fun addition, but I wouldn’t show up without the expected dish too.
Keep in mind some people like the same old stuff year after year. They want green bean casserole that tastes just like the green bean casserole they’ve eaten all their life. Even if you offered them a dish that they agreed was better than the old recipe, they’d still want the old recipe. So as long as people are eating the traditional recipe and enjoying it, let it go.
What I posted was the Cook’s Illustrated version; the ATK version looks like the same thing, only with more mushroomy goodness. I’m betting the ATK one is at least as good as the CI one, if not better. (CI and ATK are essentially two versions of the same place for those who don’t follow such things.)
if I’m one of the others in the family the word before “you” won’t be “thank”.
I’m not a picky eater in the least, but I hate Brussels Sprouts. I can’t think of any other vegetable I do not like. Also I like Green Bean Casserole and I get it exactly one time per year. Feel free to make it with fresh ingredients and I’ll thank you graciously… substitute Brussels Sprouts and I’ll cause a scene.
This. One year my husband made a gourmet green bean casserole: fresh green beans and mushrooms, superb white gravy and home-made onion rings on top. It was sublime. This year my Dad requested the “traditional” one. He is a great cook with a stellar palette, yet he insisted that I make it like his Mom used to make it. I was sort of taken aback at first and then it totally clicked with me that this was a major connection to his childhood and his mother. I got it and was sort of touched by it
My mom makes the best green bean casserole, everyone in my family loves it. It doesn’t have those onion things, it has crushed cornflakes on top. I don’t know why everyone wants those weird onions (not that I’ve ever had them).
This. Many of these classics are part of the holiday experience, and even if you serve a new and improved version, it won’t evoke the same feelings.
By all means, make another dish and bring it AS WELL if you want to, but if people are expecting a classic dish, don’t disappoint them. This would be entirely different if almost nobody liked the dish in question, but apparently this family likes the classic version, so don’t mess with it.
Next year, if you have a dish that you want to offer, then volunteer to make it before you get an assignment. You might start a new tradition. Or offer an improved version of the GBC at another family dinner, one that isn’t a holiday dinner, because then you’re not messing with expectations.
We only make these “classic” green bean casseroles for Thanksgiving - and yeah, tradition and all. Any other side dish could be good as well, but I would always keep at least a small portion of the classic green bean casserole on the menu, just because.
A few years ago, I started adding a package of sliced almonds into the mix - nice crunchy texture to go along with the somewhat crunchy onion thingies.
If you decide to try something new, test the recipe before making it for Thanksgiving. It’s really risky to try a new recipe on a large group of people. And there’s something riding on this other than this one dish. I assume that since your MIL isn’t a good cook, you want to take over some of the cooking duties from her. If you hit this out of the park it’s more likely that you’ll be asked to do it again. This could also be a reason to stick with the traditional dish - a surprise might get you blacklisted, no matter how good it is.
If you decide to make green bean casserole, the single thing that would improve the dish the most would be to use fresh beans rather than canned. Some of the recipes mentioned here look pretty good - it’s up to you to decide how elaborate you want to get.
Lynn nailed it.
Bring the traditional one for the purists and then get your freak on and bring a second one with whatever you like (me, I’d either do blanched green beans in a warm bacon vinaigrette or sautéed in olive oil and lots of garlic or shallots).
Without even reading the rest of the thread—please don’t do this. As a many harried host I can tell you, if I ask you to bring the green beans, just bring the green beans, dammit! I may have my own brussel sprout recipe up my sleeve, or some other green veggie dish.
Thank you. climbs down off her soap box
If you want to stick to the classic, frozen green beans taste great. I often roast the whole ones.
Yep. I’ve made Alton Brown’s, and it really is very very good. My family likes it, and we all agree that it’s far superior to the frozen green beans and cream of glop soup version…and that for Thanksgiving, the frozen green beans and cream of glop soup is much preferred. I’m allowed to make AB’s for regular dinners, but not holiday ones.
Yes, it does have to be green beans. Green bean casserole, to be exact, because that’s what her hostess specifically asked for, and what she agreed to.
Also, her family might say “thank you” or they might say “Why are you feeding us these things that taste like someone farted in our mouths? Why? What have we ever done to you?”
I don’t like green bean casserole, frankly, but I’d rather eat a whole dish of it by myself than be in the same house with Brussels sprouts.
