Mashed potatoes. That is all.
I prefer chicken gravy, but turkey gravy is acceptable. Get out, beef gravy!
Turkey soup the weekend after. This is 100% sincere. There is no other point to roasting a turkey.
For the first time in many years, I will be spending Thanksgiving in a house that appreciates oyster dressing. I am truly thankful.
We have also taken to always smoking our turkey. it tastes wonderful and makes amazing sandwiches
I always make sure my wife doesn’t forget the Cranberry sauce for the turkey dinner. She forgot once about 30 years ago and I don’t want to relive that experience. It almost destroyed my marriage. :eek:
Right now I’m looking for some smithfield ham. It’s not the company brand, it’s a kind of ham made in Smithfield, VA and by Virginia law can only be called Smithfield Ham if it’s made in a certain area. I may have to break down and buy a whole one and take it into work to share.
We’re talking a hundred bucks a ham. I think I’ve found a source for some ham slices though.
Giblet gravy, stuffing and candied yams. I make my stuffing half cornbread and half white bread. My wife was from the south and my mom was from the north so I put them together and it tastes great.
Macaroni and cheese. And collard greens.
Everything else is optional.
No, it’s not usually that much for an uncooked ham. Edwards hams are better than anything labeled Smithfield, and it’s what most old-school Virginians actually eat. But Gwaltney sells theirs under the Smithfield name, and it’s good. They just jack the price for anything with Smithfield stamped on it, and you’re getting seriously ripped off.
Tennessee hams are fabulous, starting with Benton’s. Clifty Farms hams in Tennessee are also excellent, and extremely inexpensive.
Some people consider Kentucky country hams as the best of the lot.
They’re all a cinch to find online, and Fresh Market sells cooked deboned Edwards Hams in the butcher’s case.
Thanks for the tips!
PS, I just wanted to clear up that I wasn’t looking for Smithfield hams the brand that just got sold to china, but some of the (lowercase) smithfield hams that are made by several small companies. I’ll look up the Edwards ones this weekend!
Turkey and stuffing. Pretty much the only day of the year I have it so I look forward to it.
Any ham sold with Smithfield on it will likely be a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, the company now owned by a Chinese company. Gwaltney is an example. They’re still quality hams, just way over marketed.
Honestly, there aren’t many, bad country hams on the market.
What part of the word are you in, if you don’t mind me asking.
I also need good cranberry sauce. It has to have whole berries–there better not be any of that canned jello shit on the table. And it has to be made with only three ingredients (cranberries, sugar, and water). The relish with the orange zest is unacceptable (although not quite as bad as the jelly).
That sounds really, really good. I like the idea of adding chives, too.
Cranberry sauce: Ocean Spray; one tin each of jellied and whole-berry sauce.
Gravy: Doesn’t belong anywhere on my plate. Or even near my plate.
I like my mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar and cinnamon and raisins and MARSHMALLOWS. Yes, MARSHMALLOWS! I will never forget the year my aunt made her sweet potato casserole with some sort of streusel topping. Everybody tasted it out of kindness, but it was never spoken of or brought again.
I also like the canned cranberry sauce, natch.
Next day turkey sandwiches on rye are the whole reason for having Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving night is a bowl of dressing, shredded turkey, and gravy. With plenty of pepper. Nuke it into nirvana. Best served by the light of the open refrigerator door while being stared at by a cat.
That’s funny … mayo or mustard?
Spanish rice cooked the way my grandmother did (which means this is absolutely necessary)
Ambrosia (the marshmallow/whipped cream stuff)
Hot rolls
Homemade pumpkin pie
In descending order -
Sage cornbread dressing (not stuffing) - grandma’s recipe
Waldorf Salad
Mashed potatoes (actual potatoes) with lots of butter
Pea salad
Turkey (white or dark, but mostly the skin - nom nom nom)
Everything else is optional.
We really need a Thanksgiving recipe thread.
Back when I was new to the SDMB(I’m a 99er) we had recipe threads all the time.
Fashions and fads have changedk but what do you all think?I have some great recipes.
Chocolate pecan pie anyone?