Here you go Juniper200, you will find an authentic chestnut stuffing recipe right here.
Jekeira, may I suggest eggplant Parmesan for your vegetarian side dish? Post a request over at my recipe thread if you would like some tips on making the finest sort.
I’m a firm believer in the Calvin Trillin School Of Thanksgiving Celebration: turkey basically sucks, and there’re waaay to much of it. The Puritans were earnest folks but rotten cooks.
Who really found this continent (besides those already residing here? Italians! They don’t call us the United States of Cotton Mather. Anyone quibbling about the Viking issue will be condemned to nosh down on lutefisk, btw.
Nope, g’head and perform any unnatural sexual act you prefer on the turkey. (Hint from Martha Stewart: defrost it first.) Celebrate with something luscious: Spaghetti Carbonara.
And on the dressing issue…the pork and apple variation is okay, because it lends some taste to the cardboard…uh, turkey. If you must have a bird, roast a gorgeous, free-range chicken and serve oyster dressing: sublime, just sublime.
But not as good as Spaghetti Carbornara.
Heretical but happy,
Veb
Spaghetti Carbonara instead of Turkey?!?!
I’ve got just one thing to ask–TVeblen, you got a twin sister?
[sub]I can take or leave Turkey, but I LOVE Spaghetti Carbonara.[/sub]
A good, heartly, cheap & easy vegetarian dish.
Cranberry Double Potatoes.
Chop up one pound red-skin potatoes and one pound sweet potatoes. Boil till done. Drain. Combine one 12 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce with 1/2 cup orange juice.
Put on potatoes and heat till hot.
I always go to my bosses for Thanksgiving. They are use to me, and serve macaroni and cheese with everything else.
The in-laws are descending upon us this T-day - it will be the first time I’ve hosted dinner. I make a wonderful turkey - slow roasting at low temp all night long - YUM! My daughter wants to cook some stuff, and I’m going to let my MIL make a few dishes - I expect it to be a low-stress, enjoyable holiday.
I believe in Santa Claus too…
Okay we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving down under but I’m in a happy mood this morning so I thought I’d just leave a message on the Hotline giving thanks for all the wonderful people in the world and especially on this board. Such a diverse and eclectic collection of people and so many of them are truly nice people.
Thanks for everything and to those who I’ve been fortunate to befriend.
Thanks for the suggestions on veggie dishes.
Zenster, I’ll head over to the recipe thread and post the request. (Although since I’ve already posted a request here … oh, never mind, I’m always willing to boost the recipe thread).
Annie-XMas, your potato/orange juice/cranberry dish sounds strange but intriguing. I will give it a try.
dpr, you’re sweet. My litany of things to be thankful for is too long to go into here, but the acquaintance of the people on this board is definitely on the list.
Okay, how about my Cornbread and Wild Mushroom Stuffing to complement your sourdough/sausage stuffing? (BTW, I wasn’t criticizing your butter terminology…I was just fighting ignorance.)
Let’s see, I don’t use recipes so I’ll have to dredge this up from memory…
Cornbread and Wild Mushroom Stuffing
Serves 6-8
8-10 cups crumbled dry cornbread (I like to use a slightly sweet cornbread)
2 sticks (aka cubes) of butter (divided use)
2 medium onions, diced
4-5 ribs celery, diced
6 cups assorted chopped wild mushrooms (I use a mix of criminis, portobellos (with gills removed), and morels when I can afford them - you can use button mushrooms but it won’t be as good)
2 teaspoons dried whole thyme
2 teaspoons powdered sage
1 teaspoon dried sweet basil
Lots of good turkey or chicken stock (use canned chicken broth if you must)
Crumble cornbread and set aside. In a very large skillet, melt 1/2 a stick (4 tablespoons) of butter over medium-high heat. When melted, add onion and celery; sauté just until soft and translucent.
Add another 4 tablespoons of butter, cut into small pieces, and mushrooms to onion mixture. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms cook down and give off liquid. Add herbs and salt and pepper to taste; cook another five minutes to allow flavors to marry. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Sneak bites of the mushroom mixture whenever no one is looking.
In a large mixing bowl, fold mushroom mixture into cornbread until well distributed. Melt remaining butter and use some of it to grease a large baking dish. Pack cornbread mixture LOOSELY into baking dish and pour stock over it until it’s well-saturated. (you can use less stock if you like a drier stuffing.) Drizzle remaining melted butter over the top and bake at 375 until browned and set.
Oh Cheffie when can I move in? I love cornbread dressing, but am forced to make my family’s favorite (which is still very good, but I’m ready for a change).
By the way, here’s my family’s super-easy-but-very-tasty:
Sage Stuffing
(6-8 servings)
1 large loaf of French Bread (like the kind you’d make garlic bread with)
1 small onion, med. dice
2 ribs celery, med. dice
4 T. fresh sage, chopped
6 T. butter
chicken or turkey stock as needed (I make my own, but canned will work in a pinch)
Salt & Pepper as needed
Note: I’m also one of those that never stuffs a bird with stuffing–first of all, you run the risk of salmonella tainting in the stuffing, and a non-stuffed bird cooks faster. I’m with Zenster about putting herb bouquets and shallots in the turkey cavity instead. I usually make a bouquet of sage, marjoram, thyme, and bay leaves.
You people are all a bunch of food nazis! Cripes. I bet you’re the kind of people to sit down at a nice dinner and say, “If only it had such and such, it would be perfect.” Why, when I was young, we ate DIRT for thanksgiving and we were HAPPY and THANKFUL that we had DIRT to eat!
Veb, can I come to your house for Thanksgiving?
I some from an Italian family, so every holiday has something like lasagne, ravioli, spaghetti or whatever.
Mama Mia!
Good luck. Two things I should have mentioned:
Don’t peel the potatoes. The color of the skins make it pretty.
Drain the potatoes before adding the cranberry sauce. And
use whole berry, not that jellied stuff.
Um, I just opened the oven and dropped the turkey while I had a lit Havana in my mouth, and I now have flaming grease running down my shirt and into my pants.
Quick, Straight Dope Thanksgiving Hotline, what should I do?
C’mon, you forgot the drill they taught you in 1st grade?
When you burst into flame… stop, drop, and roll!
… and about those flaming pants? That’s gonna leave a mark.
Thanks for the link, Zenster. That looks great!
I’m going to an “Orphan’s Thanksgiving” (for people who do not have family in the area).
The hostess, knowing my cooking skills, has asked me to bring something special:
The wine.
Any suggestions? (About 15 or so people attending, I know of 4 who do not drink alcohol at all.) I think a white and a red should be fine (typical holiday menu - turkey, green bean casserole with the little Durkee onions on top, cranberry sauce, etc.), but for those of you who know wines better than I, I will be quite grateful for advice.
Just some suggestions…
for the red:
1.) Hacienda Merlot: (runs $8-12 per bottle)
2.) Rosenblum zin: (@12 per bottle)
3.) St. Rita Merlot: ($12-15 per bottle)
All are smooth, nice domestics in a resonable price range.
4.) McGuigan shiraz: ($10-$12 per bottle)
(Really excellent import; a real by for the price)
For the white:
1.) Hacienda chardonnay (@$10-$12 per bottle)
Sorry, don’t really like white wines that much.
For the non-“drinkers”, pick up a few bottles of sparkling grape juice, available in most groceries. They’re festive and pretty.
Hope this helps.
Veb
(Shopping already for pancetta, fresh garlic, parmesan, the perfect “works” for my eccentric Thanksgiving)
PPS: same back at ya, dpr; the folks here are the truest miracles I never expected.
On the wines:
For a red, I may go with the traditional Beaujolais–they’re light and fruity, they go well with turkey dinners, and it sounds like this year’s batch is going to be lovely.
For a white, my personal preference is an Alsacean Riesling–Rieslings from Alsace are not the super-sweet versions from Germany, but are drier and have some very nice honey and green apple aromas that go nicely with all the sides at your average Thanksgiving dinner. I’d be careful with the Chardonnays–stick with an Australian Chardonnay rather than a Californian, as the Californians tend to be way too oaky to go nicely.
I don’t know where you’re at, but I suggest going to your local wine shop (rather than the supermarket) where you can talk to someone in person about their best buys.
Thank you! That will be helpful and I hope I can find those, as there are not too many liquor stores around here (except for the ‘ABC’ super-mega-conglomerate liquor monopoly), and the grocery stores tend to stock a limited number of brands (Paul Masson, anyone?). And Wal-Mart has their own brand now! Hanh?
We do have one winery in central Florida, but it’s a goodly drive from my house and my hostess’ house.
But I digress. Thank you.