# What one food item makes or breaks Thanksgiving for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291 "2013-11-19T20:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/21 "2013-11-20T01:02:50Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > Ham sandwiches. > > All of Thanksgiving to me is just the preliminary to get to the leftovers. Then I want a ham (good ham, not that crap grocery store ham pumped up with salt water and sugar) sandwich, made with two thick slices of home made bread, ham, thin cut onions, and Cherchie’s Champagne Mustard. And for a side some kind of scalloped potato, but I’ll settle for Utz’s Gourmet Mix. I’m a woman of simple tastes and since ham is so salty, even good ham, I only eat it at Thanksgiving and Christmas. > > Besides the women in my family can’t cook worth a darn. Are you talking about country ham? If so, we love that for breakfast and for sandwiches in our house over the holidays. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/22 "2013-11-20T01:19:00Z")
Besides most of the stuff already listed, I like green beans and almonds (not a casserole). ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/23 "2013-11-20T01:21:42Z")
It’s not Thanksgiving without the canned cranberry sauce. I will occasionally roast a turkey part during the year. It could be a breast, or a drumstick, or whatever. And I’ll make gravy with it, and either mashed potatoes or stuffing, and another side dish that doesn’t have carbs in it. And this meal will be good. But it’s not Thanksgiving without the canned cranberry sauce, and I don’t really want the homemade version, either. I’ll take half a spoonful to be polite, if someone urges me to, but I’ll usually only take one bite of it and leave the rest on my plate. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t like instant mashed potatoes. I still keep some around, in case I put more milk into my scratch potatoes than I should have, but either the flavor profile has changed or I’ve gotten pickier. I do still make stuffing from a mix sometimes, but I’ll usually dice up some onion and celery and gently cook that in some butter. My mother used to make a broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole, but I’ve never been able to duplicate it successfully. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/24 "2013-11-20T01:28:35Z")
When y’all say sausage dressing, I hope you really mean sausage _pecan_ dressing. Because ya’ haven’t lived until you’ve had sausage _pecan_ dressing. My contribution to the feast is always REAL mac and cheese with smoked cheddar and bacon. Also, green bean casserole, gotta have green bean casserole! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/25 "2013-11-20T01:32:37Z")
I’d go with stuffing, home made gravy (best if from the broth made the day before from the carcass of a preliminary, sacrificial turkey) . . . ``` . . . the olives. It's a childhood thing. We never had olives unless it was a big extended family meal served as a buffet. My sisters and cousins and I always had to be warned not to take too many, when we were little. ``` The thing that none of us have taken forward into holidays future: carrot salad. Running the carrots through the hand-cranked grinder was cool. We liked that. But eating it was a duty. (Carrots, mayo, and raisins) ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/26 "2013-11-20T01:38:56Z")
A turkey thigh meat sandwich with Miracle Whip (none of that vile mayo, heathen!) and sugar cream pie (the Indiana state pie). It’s getting really hard to stuff myself on turkey day any more, since I’m on a low-sodium diet. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/27 "2013-11-20T01:41:18Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > Ham sandwiches. > > All of Thanksgiving to me is just the preliminary to get to the leftovers. Then I want a ham (good ham, not that crap grocery store ham pumped up with salt water and sugar) sandwich, made with two thick slices of home made bread, ham, thin cut onions, and Cherchie’s Champagne Mustard. And for a side some kind of scalloped potato, but I’ll settle for Utz’s Gourmet Mix. I’m a woman of simple tastes and since ham is so salty, even good ham, I only eat it at Thanksgiving and Christmas. > > Besides the women in my family can’t cook worth a darn. The sandwich is great! But you must spread that bread with some butter, along with the mustard. Same goes for a meatloaf sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/28 "2013-11-20T01:44:33Z")
Probably cornbread stuffing, but black beans and rice is a pretty close second. And turkey is only good for sandwiches the next day. Otherwise you could keep it. I’ll take the Cuban pork instead. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/29 "2013-11-20T02:47:21Z")
If it’s a Thanksgiving with my mom, aunts, uncles, sister, etc., it’s sausage and hazelnut stuffing with cranberry sauce on it. If it’s just me, my husband and the kids, I make homemade orange chicken and fried rice. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/30 "2013-11-20T03:01:36Z")
Do not put that nasty assed green bean cassorole thing anywhere near me, or the gawd awful canned sweet potatoes with the marshmallows and for god’s sake, no one really wants that damn jello mold. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/31 "2013-11-20T03:01:38Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > what we eat now has a picture of Boiled Onions. It was a tray, filled with fist sized onions. Upon further research apparently some people boil onions in water and then put margarine on them and eat them. WTF? That sounds like dinner in a communist country where people wait for toilet paper on line. Hm, sounds almost like aquapatys variant, or a strange version of sops made with onion. [Aquapatys is peeled cloves of garlic boiled in water and served sprinkled with poudre forte, and sops was onions boiled in water or broth almost like a very plain onion soup and served over broken bites of bread.] personally like baked onions - split a large softball sized onion sort of like making a blooming onion, place on a large sheet of aluminum foil and blop in a couple tablespoons of butter or a glug of olive oil, a pinch of ground pepper, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of thyme, wrap all teh way up and pop in the oven to bake at about 350F for a couple hours to get nice and carmely and soft. You can also make them in the little [miniature bean pots](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4114fgS3E3L._SX300_.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gullible_s_Travels)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/32 "2013-11-20T03:27:03Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > It’s very, very common in the US as an everyday side. It’s just mandatory at Thanksgiving, where it’s usually slathered in delicious gravy - a slight departure from the ordinary. > > ETA: Some people also make them much richer during the holidays, like the mash potato casserole that both August West and I make every year (I add chives and leave the cheese off the top, August). Aha okay, thanks! Here it’d be pretty unusual to serve mashed potato (not that we do Thanksgiving but you know what I mean), it’d almost always be roast potato. Mashed potato done like that sounds fantastic - I think cheese AND chives 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/33 "2013-11-20T03:31:17Z")
Stuffing during. Turkey on rye after. Nothing else matters. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/34 "2013-11-20T04:01:21Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I’d go with stuffing, home made gravy (best if from the broth made the day before from the carcass of a preliminary, sacrificial turkey) . . . I usually roast up some thighs and drumsticks the day before, make extra gravy from the drippings and use the bones for stock. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/35 "2013-11-20T04:12:28Z")
Don’t forget those little brown and serve squishy little rolls with a dab of mashed potato’s and butter and gravy on it just when you don’t think you have room left for anything else … ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/36 "2013-11-20T04:48:34Z")
Nothing, really. We have unconventional Thanksgiving. My maternal great-great-grandparents were the first ones in the family in America (from what is now Guangzhou), and they just treated it like a day off and had a big meal. So our tradition involves things like roast duck, char siu, fried fish, fried oysters, Chinese broccoli, egg foo yung, and, for reasons no one remembers anymore, Knox Blox. For dessert, moon cakes and jian dui (fried sesame balls). This is always very traumatic when outsiders are brought in to the family, but they eventually get used to it (or never come back). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/37 "2013-11-20T06:36:09Z")
Stuffing. Not ‘dressing’…‘stuffing’. That’s been cooked inside the turkey. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/38 "2013-11-20T07:16:58Z")
Hot, crisp, roasted turkey skin! Carve me a slice of turkey breast with skin and I am in heaven! ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/39 "2013-11-20T09:02:14Z")
Turkey. Try spending a Thanksgiving hunched over a hot dog. Turkey. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291/40 "2013-11-20T09:33:56Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Turkey. Try spending a Thanksgiving hunched over a hot dog. > > Turkey. That’s just wrong. ☹ Dark meat turkey, and lots of it. All the rest is good, but pass me another thigh, please. _urp_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-food-item-makes-or-breaks-thanksgiving-for-you/674291.md?page=3)