Your Thanksgiving Dinner

[Gary Morgan]

Absolutely !


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.

Up here (New England), if it's cooked in the bird, it's stuffing; if it's cooked in a separate pan, it's dressing.

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.

Because I don't drink, I can head home ASAP when things get "unpleasant."

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

I was taught that stuffing goes in the bird and dressing is cooked on the side.

Same here.

But for whatever reasons, none of the ladies on many sides of my family ever put anything into the cavity of a turkey.

Now a stuffed Cajun chicken is a different matter.
Rice and sausage or a crawfish etouffee stuffed chicken is fantastic.

But those "stuffings" are always pre-cooked before going into the poor chicken.

 

[John Winn]

Well, it's just the two of us so it's not going to be elaborate. We're going to have ham, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans (with some sort of dressing the wife is going to make), and probably also a spinach salad. For dessert we're having an apple cobbler. We'll pick one of our better red wines to pair (probably a Pinot Noir but who knows what we'll pick in the moment).

We don't have TV and aren't interested in sports (I know - just another way we're odd balls) so after cleanup it'll just be another night of reading I suppose.

I haven't been to a large Thanksgiving gathering in over twenty years and even then it wasn't family; a bunch of friends. Maybe twice in my childhood did I attend a large, traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Those times were when we visited my mother's relatives in south Georgia. I remember being rather impressed and, once again, wondering about my parents and our practices (or lack thereof).

I hope everybody has a wonderful day.

Edit: and I am strongly of the opinion that vegetables are to be steamed, not boiled.

 

[Cornpone and Molasses]

This guy!

 

[Fairfield]

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.

Ordinarily I'm no fan of the faux meats but I must admit that his tofu turkey (which is a commercial brand) is pretty good. I buy it whenever I see it in stores--even for the 4th of July--but it tends to be available only for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

My usual feeling is that there is no point in trying to approximate meat (nor to pay the cost of the faux meats): serve something wonderful and unashamedly vegetarian.

 

[danny]

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.

Pretty much the same menu as ours; except swap green beans for broccoli.

 

[carptrash]

I'vev just been invited to be the driver for a friend who can't night drive and who wants to go to a big family bash, so there should be everything mentioned above except the vegan stuff. It will be thirty people i don't know and one I do. Still it will be an intersting evening. Unfortunately, I suspect that they don't do football.

 

[KianGaf]

Never heard of thanksgiving dressing is it similar to a stuffing.

 

[Kathy the history sleuth]

The kids are taking it over. They don't have a turkey yet so I don't know what we are having. I'm making pie though. I bought my own turkey to have at a later date. I love turkey. It's really about getting together with family for me. And if they want to do the work, more power to them.

 

[Gary Morgan]

Never heard of thanksgiving dressing is it similar to a stuffing.

Where I live (in Massachusetts), they are the same thing. The only difference is whether it is cooked inside

 

[donna]

Dressing and stuffing are the same, it just is how you cook them. Stuffing is placed in the turkey. Dressing is a side dish like prepared in a casserole.

The Victorian did prefer the term dressing. They didn't like the word stuffed.

In my family different folks referred to it in both terms.

My Aunt always made her Oyster dressing. It was a casserole to be side at Thanksgiving dinner. My Granny made both, she stuffed the turkey and made extra dressing to serve from a bowl. All I can say is they both were great.

Since just my husband and I for Thanksgiving dinner, having roasted turkey breast, dressing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Will have rolls too. We still deciding on dessert. Since no sugar or very little for me, will probably do a sugar free pie.

Best to all for Thanksgiving. Wishes for happiness, good health and peace in the world.

 

[lupaglupa]

My mother always thought stuffing wasn't done in the South because it's more likely to spoil and make you sick. Not sure where she got that idea - though they do say it's harder to properly cook the turkey when it has stuffing in it.

 

[John Taylor]

Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner 1869. Come one, come all, free and equal...

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

My mother always thought stuffing wasn't done in the South because it's more likely to spoil and make you sick. Not sure where she got that idea - though they do say it's harder to properly cook the turkey when it has stuffing in it.

While I never heard an official reason, you may be correct.
Safety did seem to be the unspoken reason.

Putting raw ( dressing/stuffing ) into the cavity of a big turkey did seem to create a few issues in
the Deep South-Texas area.

Such caused the bird to cook longer while the raw "stuffing" never achieved
a proper & safe temp.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

This guy!

View attachment 422426

He is more challenging to harvest than most deer.

 

[Mrs. V]

We will be having Turkey, and dressing made with the giblets..green beans and new this year, steamed squash. That's my husbands thing..I will also have black olives on the table, because that is a tradition..

I will take the turkey bits from the bone and make Minestrone soup from it. Very good and lives in your freezer rather nicely..I freeze in gallon bags, stored horizonally..so, flat..defrosts easily that way./

 

[Mrs. V]

We will be having Turkey, and dressing made with the giblets..green beans and new this year, steamed squash. That's my husbands thing..I will also have black olives on the table, because that is a tradition..

I will take the turkey bits from the bone and make Minestrone soup from it. Very good and lives in your freezer rather nicely..I freeze in gallon bags, stored horizonally..so, flat..defrosts easily that way./

Forgot to add cranberry sauce! I make mine with the sugar sub..it's actually pretty good, just a wee bit juicier than the original recipe..And very diabetic friendly! (Splenda blend..truvia or Swerve gets wierd when you heat it like that)..

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

Our family Thanksgiving dinner will be turkey with gravy and bread stuffing (with an extra pan of dressing, because the turkey just doesn't hold enough), baked sweet potatoes, whipped potatoes, corn, possibly carrots and my sister-in-law's excellent broccoli and garlic dish, and cranberry sauce. Also on the menu is a dish I'm responsible for: green beans as Mom always made them. It wasn't her recipe but came from a sister-in-law of hers whose family owned an Italian restaurant. It's simple to make but takes a long time because it's cooked over very low heat: green beans (either frozen and thawed, then completely drained of water, or fresh, which cook faster) sauteed in olive oil with a lot of minced garlic and a bit of salt. Cook until some of the beans begin to blacken a bit. For dessert, we'll have pie, and lots of it. Growing up, we ate dessert only at holiday meals, which made it special. It's not unusual now for us to have so many desserts at Thanksgiving that there's nearly a pie (or maybe a cheesecake or a fancy torte) for each person.

 

[carptrash]

Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner 1869. Come one, come all, free and equal...View attachment 422509

That's interesting. Do you (yes, you) think that the 'Universal Suffrage" on the center piece refers to women too?

 

[Fairfield]

Tghat's intersting. Do you (yes, you) think that the 'Universal Suffrage" on the center piece refers to women too?

I suspect it does. Note the presence of women at this community table. Also, many of the abolitionists were also supporters of women's rights.