(I know there are already a couple of threads about Thanksgiving menus, but I figured a general topic wouldn’t hurt.)
I initially planned to replace the traditional roasted turkey with a couple of roasted chickens or even game hens, since we have a small guest list this year, but @ 59¢ per pound, I may just go with turkey. That’s a lots of good eats for the price! I’ll probably brine it, a la Alton Brown.
The rest of the menu will be cornbread dressing (Grandmother’s “recipe” which is really more a set of guidelines and recommendations than “2 cups of this and a teaspoon of that.”) Mom’s broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry relish, croissants, pecan pie, and banana pudding. The croissants are this year’s “innovation,” since I’m planning to make them from scratch for the first time. I’m planning to use Martha Stewart’s recipe from “Baking,” since her instructions seem so thorough. (Unless someone has a better resource to share. Hint hint.)
So what are you serving? Or if you’re not the cook, whatcha eating? What makes it truly Thanksgiving dinner in your household? (My dinner will seem less Thanksgiving-y to me because I’m not making Grandmother’s pumpkin pie. But the guys reeaally want pecan pie, and my daughter reeaally wants homemade banana pudding, and a third dessert seems like overkill for only six or eight people.)
This year we are actually spending the entire week at Moms, so it will be nice to be able to relax and cook stuff ahead without having to worry about transporting then 400 miles the night before!
We will have cinnamon rolls hanging around for breakfast for my Mom, mrAru and I will probably make omelets as usual. Bread will hit the oven fairly early to go along with a semitraditional crockpot of french onion soup, a selection of cut up fruits and veggies with assorted types of dip - I am thinking artichoke hummus and something creamcheese/sour cream based.
Dinner itself will be the turkey cooked unstuffed.
Dressing [which is stuffing made outside the bird] a fairly traditional bread cubes, chestnuts, celery, onion, chicken liver, cranberries, herbs moistened with turkey stock
mashed potatoes with turkey gravy
homemade and jellied cranberry sauce
orange glazed carrots
green beans and bacon
pumpkin pie
apple pie
maybe pecan pie, not sure yet
Pretty traditional, nobody likes the horrid green bean shit nor sugar ruined yams so we do not have to deal with them.
As usual (27 years in a row and counting!) we will be camping over Thanksgiving. Full dinner, with all the fixings will be served. The turkey is P’s department, and every year he tries something different. Last year we buried the bird and it came out perfect. Everybody will bring sides, which means dressing, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, pea and bacon salad, cranberry sauce, rolls, copious amounts of wine, pies for dessert and cognac for afters. All prepared on Coleman stoves or over an open fire. I’ll try to remember to take pictures this year.
Figure out the total amount of cooking time your turkey will require. Divide by 4; turn turkey pan 1/4 turn every quarter of the cooking time. The bird will cook evenly.
Loosen the turkey skin with your hand and put thin slices of apple and sprigs of sage underneath. If you care to take the time, make it decorative…they will show through the browned skin.
Don’t baste with liquid after the first hour or so; that causes the bird to steam and makes the skin kinda flabby.
I’m not so much cooking as I am teaching. My DIL invited us out to the midwest for the holiday and she wants me to teach her how to put together a Thanksgiving dinner. I’m looking forward to it.
So, Chefguy, what do you think will be the hardest thing to teach? My guess is time management, since the typical home has only one smallish oven, maybe a double wall oven if you’re lucky, and the cook needs to bake the turkey, several side dishes, a dessert or two, and some bread, and get everything to the table hot, and simultaneously. That took some years of practice for me, and I still sit down and write out a timeline for what goes into the oven when and so forth.
We’ll be at the Disneyland Hotel buffet this year, so we’ll be cooking nothing but eating a little bit of everything.
But the ‘standard’ Holiday meal around here *must *include Brussels sprouts.
Stuffing at our house always goes in the bird, but we always make more than will fit, so there’s plenty to fill a casserole as well. And I like to have a sweet potato pie instead of pumpkin, because it tastes just that much better.
This year I’m getting smoked turkey and corn pudding from the local BBQ joint, so those are two things I don’t have to worry about. I’m not all that fond of turkey, but the husband is a turkesaurus and this is the only time of year he gets any that isn’t packaged as lunchmeat so it’s required.
Thinking about doing a seafood lasagna as the other entree, but haven’t made up my mind yet. It’s rich, decadent and expensive to make, but hey, it’s a holiday, so why not … on the other hand, some pastitsio would be pretty good too, and lots cheaper. We’ll see.
Other stuff:
sweet potato souffle
green beans amandine
nine-grain bread
cranberry sauce (cuz the husband just has to have this too - me not so much)
fruit salad
some sort of pie - pumpkin or apple or maybe both. And some ice cream that goes well with either/both
champagne
My MIL always hosts Thanksgiving dinner for the whole extended family. We eat in the 150 year old church down the road from their house. I’m so grateful that I don’t have to manage a Thanksgiving dinner any time in the foreseeable future…
She always sees to it that there is turkey, stuffing (usually from a boxed mix, and it’s almost as good as from scratch), and another carb. The rest is potluck.
This year I’m bringing Martha Stewart’s macaroni and cheese, which is my go-to potluck dish, and filling MIL’s mother’s old pie carrier with pies. I need to see if she knows what kinds other people are bringing. If it was completely up to me I’d probably bring a pumpkin-coconut, a lemon chess, a sour cherry and an apple.
I hosted all of our family events for years and years. If I could offer one piece of advice to new hosts, it would be to accept help if it’s offered. I always wanted to be the perfect hostess and do it all, but I would just wear myself out. And then not be able to enjoy the day as much. Although, the food was always great, if I do say so myself.
Those of you with turkasaurus (thanks, romansperson, that is a great word!) spouses of your own will get a chuckle out of this.
My sister informed me today at lunch that hubby is bummed that we’re having Thanksgiving at Aunt G’s instead of at their house this year.
‘Why the heck is he bummed about that?’ I asked, mystified by this.
After an eye roll so loud you could’ve heard it in Times Square, she replied, ‘he’s whining because there won’t be any leftovers, poor baby. He wants to do a Thanksgiving at our house the day ***after ***Thanksgiving so he can have his leftovers.’
So, we’re doing two thanksgivings this year. Just so he can have his leftovers.
BIL spoiled? Whatever would make you think that???
Time management is always an issue, but for a turkey dinner it’s really only an issue right at the end, when one is trying to get potatoes and gravy done. Even then, no real deal. We’ll make the stuffing the day before, along with any desserts. The bird can sit on the counter for a half hour while other things are being completed. Turkey dinner is actually pretty simple, but the methods of making gravy and stock will be what benefits her most. Once you know the proper methods for those two items (along with sauces), the world of cooking really opens up.
Oh, and the following day I’ll teach her and my son how to make sausage/bacon gravy for the biscuits.
Plus, my family really likes my meal.
Herb roasted turkey with maple glaze
Leek and herb dressing
Root vegetable purée
Corn pudding
Roasted sweet potatoes
Herbed gravy
Relish tray
Homemade cranberry sauce
Canned jelled cranberry sauce
Rolls
Apple cinnamon pie
Pumpkin pie
The menu changes some when my Kosher keeping parents come (no dairy, including butter, except in dessert). I think they’d rather lose the turkey and keep the butter!
I’m preggo and not traveling this year (nor hosting any family). Just husband and I… So we will probably smoke a turkey breast, do some normal sides, and my favorite pumpkin cheesecake. The fixin’s for the sammies the next day are much more crucial. Thick slab bacon, heirloom tomatoes, mayo, fresh provolone, good fresh baked bread… Left over gravy for dipping! Can’t wait!!!
We are hosting again this year, but we have a hockey game the night before, so I’m only making the turkey and dressing. And maybe a carrot souffle. Everything else will be brought by our guests. I have no idea yet what anyone is bringing. I usually go way overboard and have way too much food left over and work myself silly in the process. Hubby does the turkey on the rotisserie outside on the grill, so I won’t have much to do except watch football.
