Your Thanksgiving Dinner

[KianGaf]

I was wondering what will members will have for their thanksgiving dinner. Are there regional variations or personal family traditions ?

 

[DaveBrt]

My wife and I grew up in Texas. We (with adult daughter) are planning:

Roast turkey
Dressing
Sweet potato casserole
Broccoli
Cranberry relish
Rolls
Zinfandel
Pumpkin pie

everything is home made except the rolls.

 

[KianGaf]

The Sweet potato casserole sounds interesting. It's something I like but don't cook enough with.

 

[carptrash]

Either I do the whole thing (for 2) or it is not going to happen. I am still undecided but need to decide pretty soon. Last year (solo) it was a turkey TV dinner - which counts.

 

[Gary Morgan]

I'll be celebrating with my elderly mother, brother and nephew, aunt and uncle, daughter and husband, and we'll be the next town over from Plymouth (yes, THAT Plymouth). We will eat dinner between halves of whatever football game is on TV - a tradition demanded by my late father. The menu includes:

Turkey (live ones usually parade across the yard at some point during the day)
Gravy
Stuffing (made with the gizzards and breakfast sausage)
Mashed potatoes if I have my way; boiled potatoes if mother has hers
Corn
Rolls (probably from a can)
Turnip - rutabaga to you - if I convince mother that it's worth making even though my dad is no longer around to eat it (she insist no one but him ever ate it, but I've eaten it pretty much every year as long as I can remember; admittedly, it's a acquired taste)
Rolls
Celery slices stuffed with an inexplicable mix of cheeze whiz and cream cheese
An assortment of pickles and olives
Some sort of vegetable that mom saw them make on TV this week and decided that we would like it (we probably won't - there's nothing sexy about boiled onions)
An assortment of pies - I'm making apple, walnut, cranberry; what the rest of them bring is up to them.
Pizzelle (if we're lucky, either Mom or her sister will make them - I don't have a pizzelle iron)
And, apparently, spanakopita, a specialty of my mother's, although we are Italian and not Greek. She's called me 3 times this week to ask if I know where the recipe is, but I'm pretty sure it's never been written down, and I just hope she remembers all of the ingredients, since my brother tells me there were a few key ones missing from the birthday cake she made him last August.

And we'll probably end the day with Mom putting out left over turkey for the "feral cat" that she's hoping to tame, apparently oblivious to the fact that, according to my brother, it's actually an oppossum.

Happy Thanksgiving, All!

'

 

[lupaglupa]

At our house it's:

Turkey
Dressing (never stuffing) made with cornbread
mashed potatoes
gravy
cranberry sauce
green beans and corn
roasted carrots
pecan pie

I may break down and make rolls too - I love them but my husband always says not to do them since they are so much work. But it seems wrong not to have them!

 

[carptrash]

Some sort of vegetable that mom saw them make on TV this week and decided that we would like it (we probably won't - there's nothing sexy about boiled onions)

One should not count on Mom for sexy veggies.

 

[KianGaf]

One should not count on Mom for sexy veggies.

Mine always cooks them to mush.

 

[JerseyBart]

Lima beans are a must.

 

[Fairfield]

A group of us vegetarians and vegans always get together for Thanksgivings. Each person brings something so I can't predict with accuracy the entire meal--however, I do suspect that there will be tofu turkey because the man in charge of the main course always brings that. I'm in charge of the dessert: I'm making a blueberry-rhubarb pie (with vegan butter, not "real") and Norwegian apple pie (substituting applesauce for the egg for the vegans among us).

 

[Gary Morgan]

One should not count on Mom for sexy veggies.

Amen!

 

[Gary Morgan]

Mine always cooks them to mush.

At the risk of inciting a stereotype, that may be said of a lot of Irish cooking. (She's Irish-Italian, but never learned how to cook Italian). As George Bernard Shaw once said, "Now that I am an adult, I miss my old Irish mother's cooking ... as often as I possibly can!)

 

[KianGaf]

At the risk of inciting a stereotype, that may be said of a lot of Irish cooking. (She's Irish-Italian, but never learned how to cook Italian). As George Bernard Shaw once said, "Now that I am an adult, I miss my old Irish mother's cooking ... as often as I possibly can!)

Certainly of the old school country cooking when I was growing up. The restaurant scene was awful and a carvery dinner with it's over cooked meat and veg was a staple or to be exotic a Chinese takeout. Things have moved on a lot more these days. The food scene has a lot more influences from the US & Europe and is better for it. There is a great variety in Dublin these days and of high quality. I had dinner in a local pub tonight owned by Conor mcgregor and the meal was great I've been here a few times. Im not a huge fan of his but the place and food is fantastic.

 

[Fairfield]

At the risk of inciting a stereotype, that may be said of a lot of Irish cooking. (She's Irish-Italian, but never learned how to cook Italian). As George Bernard Shaw once said, "Now that I am an adult, I miss my old Irish mother's cooking ... as often as I possibly can!)

The English are notorious for over-cooking vegetables--as is said, putting them on to boil during the War of the Roses. The term "English cuisine" has been called an oxymoron. Unfair, of course. There's nothing as good as an English trifle (in fact, the recipe that I have for trifle from Shrewsbury is the single recipe that I will not share).

 

[lupaglupa]

A group of us vegetarians and vegans always get together for Thanksgivings. Each person brings something so I can't predict with accuracy the entire meal--however, I do suspect that there will be tofu turkey because the man in charge of the main course always brings that. I'm in charge of the dessert: I'm making a blueberry-rhubarb pie (with vegan butter, not "real") and Norwegian apple pie (substituting applesauce for the egg for the vegans among us).

I'm a vegetarian so I've embraced the term "sidesgiving." But the guys insist on turkey too <sigh>

 

[KianGaf]

I'm a vegetarian so I've embraced the term "sidesgiving." But the guys insist on turkey too <sigh>

I was a vegetarian for ten years and Christmas in particular was a nightmare. I tried nuts roasts , I tried mycoprotein roasts & meals from vegetarian restaurants. It was a mine field that eventually wore me down.

 

[Gary Morgan]

Certainly of the old school country cooking when I was growing up. The restaurant scene was awful and a carvery dinner with it's over cooked meat and veg was a staple or to be exotic a Chinese takeout. Things have moved on a lot more these days. The food scene has a lot more influences from the US & Europe and is better for it. There is a great variety in Dublin these days and of high quality. I had dinner in a local pub tonight owned by Conor mcgregor and the meal was great I been here a few times. In not a huge fan of his but the place and food is fantastic.

Add to the situation the fact that most Irish were dirt poor in the 1800s and had to use the cheapest ingredients and the toughest cuts of meat, and things get even worse. My old Irish Auntie (born in Mayo in 1872) used to boil all the meat, then take the fat and add lye to it to make soap. It smelled as awful as it sounds, but you had to make due with what you knew, and what you could afford.

Connor McGregor the fighter? I don't have a television, so I'm only peripherally aware of sports. He's never struck me as the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree (and I grew up in the same town as Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler), but at least he had the sense to hire a staff who could create a decent menu and then cook it!

I think I forgot to list cranberry orange relish with walnuts in my menu, which is ironic, because I had it going on the stove at the time. The Pilgrims likely would have access to the cranberries, but not the orange. Pie is next!

 

[Gary Morgan]

The English are notorious for over-cooking vegetables--as is said, putting them on to boil during the War of the Roses. The term "English cuisine" has been called an oxymoron. Unfair, of course. There's nothing as good as an English trifle (in fact, the recipe that I have for trifle from Shrewsbury is the single recipe that I will not share).

Well, if you won't share the recipe, you're just going to have to cook it for us some time....

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Dressing (never stuffing) made with cornbread

Absolutely !

Cornbread Dressing indeed !

Although I'm not positive, I think Queen Victoria thought the term "stuffing" was vulgar, thus changing the menu name to
to the more genteel " A dressing".

Down here the Ladies jumped on anything Queen Victoria suggested.



I'm sure @donna can refute or verify that anecdote.

Are there regional variations or personal family traditions ?

Lord yes !

Quite a few regional & traditional variations.

For a few families ... (one day per year on "Thanksgiving") ... fights have been known to break-out between relatives over cooking methods and rival football games. Usually with the men drinking and deep frying a whole turkey in the backyard.

Excessive alcohol is often the main catalyst .... but not always.

 

[lupaglupa]

Absolutely !

Cornbread Dressing indeed !

Although I'm not positive, I think Queen Victoria thought the term "stuffing" was vulgar, thus changing the menu name to
to the more genteel " A dressing".

Down here the Ladies jumped on anything Queen Victoria suggested.



I'm sure @donna can refute or verify that anecdote.



Lord yes !

Quite a few regional & traditional variations.

For a few families ... (one day per year) ... fights may break out between relatives over cooking methods and rival football games.
Excessive alcohol is usually one of the main catalysts .... but not always.

I was taught that stuffing goes in the bird and dressing is cooked on the side. How her Majesty felt about all that I don't know. @donna ?