Thanks. Tryin’ to. 
So if I throw two chicken carcasses (with some meat sticking to them) into a pot, along with the necks, hearts, and gizzards, and the leftover leg that no one wanted to eat, then toss in a halved onion, a stick of celery, the carrot shavings in the freezer, and maybe a sprig of parsley, sprinkle some kosher salt over it, toss in a couple of peppercorns, cover with water, and set the instant pot to “high pressure for 90 minutes”, I am making bone broth? Stock?
I suppose I’ll be making turkey broth after t-day, too. Of course, I don’t love turkey broth for cooking. It has this turkey flavor… so maybe I should retain some meat, add some barley and whatever veggies are around, and make soup.
Yep. I have never used high pressure, so maybe 90 minutes is not enuf.
I have 3 sisters, all older than me. My middle sister has been hosting Thanksgiving for quite a while. She provides the turkey (cooked the day before), potatoes, and dressing. Various siblings and nieces/nephews bring the rest. (I make pumpkin cheesecake) This year my middle sister is not hosting as she is expecting grandchild #4 soon and is isolating. My oldest sister sort of said she might host.
So at this point I don’t know what i am doing.
Brian
Definitely stock. As stock reduces further and further it can become glace or demiglace, which is a highly concentrated base for making soups and sauces.
My MIL has always hosted Thanksgiving, but this year they will be out of town for medical procedures. My sister-in-law will be hosting Thanksgiving at her house, but I informed my wife that there are only so many things I’m willing to do for her love and to maintain familial harmony, and eating at her sister’s where her son’s in-laws will be present, plus the fact that there will be many people in a small space ignoring social distancing rules, is simply not one of them. I would rather be eaten alive by cannibals with dull spoons than spend T-day at their house. Luckily, my wife has just as low an opinion of them as I do, so we will be doing a small dinner here at home, just us and our two teenage boys. Perhaps two other people, although they have yet to RSVP. This will be the first Thanksgiving ever that I will not spend with either my parents or my in-laws.
Anyway, our traditional Thanksgiving meal at my in-laws has always been, well, a traditional Thanksgiving meal: turkey, ham, potatoes and gravy, all the assorted side dishes, 3 or 4 kinds of pies, and for some inexplicable reason, this massive manhole cover-sized charcuterie board that had what was essentially a Super Bowl party spread on it: chips and crackers and ranch dip and bean dip and and and… I always kind of rolled my eyes at it, but now that we won’t have it… I may miss it.
So, for this year, I’m definitely doing a turkey. I kicked around the idea of doing it in my charcoal smoker, but I’ve never done a whole bird in it and I really don’t want Thanksgiving to be a the trial run. So I’ll roast him. My MIL always has mashed potatoes, but maybe this year I’ll make twice-baked potatoes instead. I actually like green bean casserole, but my wife and kids do not. Maybe I’ll do some sort of roasted veggies instead. I’ll have to think about that one. We will have dinner rolls of some sort, I’m sure. We usually have a green salad, but I’m not sure how many people would eat it so I may just stick to the roast veggies. My MIL always wanted Stove Top stuffing ( 
), and I’d like to have real stuffing this year but I have no idea how to make it. I’ll have to think about that one. Turkey gravy and cranberry sauce, both homemade of course, are a must.
I may end up doing that charcuterie board after all.
I’ll talk my wife into making an apple pie or two. I don’t think any of us like pumpkin pie, so if our guests do RSVP, I might get a pre-made Marie Calendar’s or some other monstrosity, just to have one on hand in case anyone wants it. For some reason my in-laws never liked whipped cream with their dessert (“Too fancy!”) so I’ll make some actual whipped cream when it’s time to serve the pies.
I’m actually really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. I don’t have to listen to my in-laws gossip about their church for 5 hours straight and I get to cook for a menu that I designed.
Homemade stuffing is dead easy. It’s so easy I make it for my regular Thanksgiving for One each year. This recipe makes too much for me so I usually cut it in half and bake it separate from my Rock Cornish game hens.
The basics from Betty Crocker:
Cube up a bunch of white bread, whatever kind you like, 9 cups. Melt a cup of butter in a large saute pan. Chop up about 3/4 cup onion and 1 1/2 cups celery with leaves. Saute the vegetables in the butter till tender. Stir in about 1/3 of the bread cubes, then turn the mixture into a deep bowl. Mix in the remaining bread cubes, 2 tsp of salt (or to taste), 1 1/2 tsp dried save leaves ,1 tsp dried thyme leaves and grind some pepper in. Toss lightly and Bob’s yer uncle.
This recipe makes about 9 cups of stuffing and will fill a 12-lb. turkey.
You can adjust this recipe easily to accommodate personal tastes.
Some people like to substitute broth for some of the butter.
If you want to make it with sausage, decrease the bread cubes to 8 cups and saute about a pound of your favorite sausage to add in. Decrease salt accordingly and use part of the sausage drippings in lieu of the butter.
If you prefer cornbread stuffing, substitute corn bread cubes for the white bread cubes.
If you like fruit or nuts in your stuffing, decrease the bread cubes to 7 cups and fill up the difference with your preferred fruit or nuts.
You get the idea.
Hope this helps!
::drool::
That looks delicious. I’ll make some in the next week or two as a sort of trial run. I like the idea of adding cranberries and sausage, so we’ll see how that works out.
Thank you!
I do a cranberry wild rice stuffing in goose or duck that I adore.
Saute onion, celery, and mushrooms in a lot of butter while you boil up some wild rice. Chop some parsley. When everything is ready, drain the wild rice, and mix it with the veggies and a lot of whole fresh cranberries. Stuff your goose.
I am not a stuffing fan. I don’t care for soggy bread, and sage is just so-so. (And as a kid, sage was WAY to strong a flavor for me to enjoy. But as I age I tolerate strong flavors better.) But this is fabulous.
Yeah, once a year is plenty for me. Like you, I don’t like soggy bread, which is why I always use a dense French bread (homemade) for the cubed bread, never add broth instead of butter and bake it separately, not inside the birds – which I suppose technically makes it dressing, not stuffing. 
Your wild rice stuffing is perfect with goose! I’d never do bread stuffing inside a goose with all that fat. Plus the fruit is wonderful with goose. When I had a large family to cater to, I always made goose for Christmas. Now it’s just me and I can’t justify it.
@Lancia, so glad it is of help! You’re most welcome.
I’m probably also doing thanksgiving for one, also. My usual friendsgiving is unlikely to happen, as one of the host household is pregnant, and the other usual guests are on the other side of the country. Maybe the locals will get tested and have it if we’re all clean.
i will have only feline companions this thanksgiving. my family is in different bubbles. after reading so many stories of families mixing bubbles, i decided that it would be better not to be “that” cousin.
thus the cats (in picture by my name) and i will dine on fancy feast and boston market.
I have been hosting a large new years Eve party, and serving goose. But that’s not going to happen this year. I’m thinking i might order a duck and do the same stuffing in a duck.
Welcome, friends! (Fancy Feast is on the menu here, too. For the cats… I haven’t stooped quite that far yet. )
So do they get their pick and then you eat whichever is left?
lager will not share food. i may share a bit of the boston market with them.
thanks for the welcome thelmalou, gonna be a very different thanksgiving for many people.
If we go with turkey, it’ll probably be from Aldi. They make a cracked pepper and a rotisserie variety. We get it all the time. If not turkey, maybe we’ll air fry some shake and bake chicken.
https://images.app.goo.gl/h4AcM9ABkny6hw3o6
Maybe we’ll air fry some sweet potato fries.
I often make a recipe my mom got in school back in the day. Make strawberry jello. Chop up and add: granny smith apple, cranberries, pecans, add. I use sugar free jello and she added sugar to remove the sourness from the cranberries, but I don’t.
Probably some froyo for dessert…with bananas, syrup, you know: fancy.
I once had to make Thanksgiving dinner for two when everybody else in my family had their own plans and my mother and I were left alone.
My menu of choice:
turkey breast (which I mangled as I precooked it, then tried to reheat it in an oven rather than microwave it)
instant potatoes (Idahoan Applewood Smoked Bacon, as I recall)
green beans (an Emeril Lagasse recipe - toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper; bake at 425F for 12 minutes, turning once)
triple-layer pumpkin cheesecake (think two cheesecakes with pumpkin layers on top, but only one has a crust; turn the crustless one over and put it on top of the other one, so you have layers of cheesecake, pumpkin, cheesecake, and crust)
Since we’re going to be driving 2+ hours to our rental on the island, I’m going to try to prep a bunch of the meal in advance. I’ve never cooked game hens, not much to prepare in advance, I’d guess. But the sides I’ll prepare beforehand and pack in a big cooler for the drive/ferry.
I want to make pie while I’m out there, either apple or pumpkin. And I luv stuffing so I’ll miss cooking it in the bird, but I can make it a casserole dish. I want to try to avoid taking leftovers home. What I’ll probably do is buy a leftover turkey on Sunday and cook it the next week. Delayed gratification at its finest.