Happy day-before-Thanksgiving to you!
[NOTE: This is a slightly-edited reprint of a previous post.]
I happen to like Thanksgiving. Always have. It’s a holiday for anyone and everyone in this country—except, of course, people who hate turkey. There are quite a few of those curmudgeonly folks, but I’m happy to report I’m not one of them. Even if the turkey ends up dry and overcooked, it’s nothing that a little gravy and cranberry sauce can’t fix. And although the turkey is the centerpiece, it’s the accompaniments that make the meal.
My theory on turkeys is that they’re like children: you coax them along and just do the best you can, but as long as you don’t utterly ruin or abuse them, they have their own innate characteristics that will manifest in the end. A dry and tough bird will be a dry and tough bird despite all that draping in fat-soaked cheesecloth, a tender and tasty one can withstand a certain amount of cooking incompetence.
One year long ago my brother and I were cooking at my parents’ house and somehow we set the oven on “broil,” an error that was only discovered an hour before the turkey was due to be finished cooking. But it was one of the best turkeys ever. Another time the turkey had turned deep bluish-purple on defrosting and was so hideous and dangerous-looking that it had to be abandoned. Another terrible time, one that has lived in infamy ever since, my mother decided turkey was passe and that we’d have steak on Thanksgiving.
Since I like to eat, I am drawn to the fact that Thanksgiving is a food-oriented holiday with a basic obligatory theme (turkey plus seasonal autumnal food) and almost infinite variations on that theme. Sweet potatoes? Absolutely—but oh, the myriad ways to make them, some revolting, some sublime. Pie? Of course, but what kind? And what to put on it, ice cream, whipped cream, or both?
For me, there are three traditional requirements—besides the turkey, of course. There has to be at least one pecan pie, although eating it in all its sickening sweetness can put an already-sated person right over the top. The cranberry sauce has to be made from fresh cranberries (it’s easy: cranberries, water, and sugar to taste, simmered on top of the stove till mushy and a bright deep red), and lots of it (it’s good on turkey sandwiches the next day, too). The traditional stuffing in my family is non-traditional: a large quantity of cut-up Granny Smith apples cooked in fair amount of sherry as well as a ton of butter till a bit soft; and then mixed with prunes, almonds, and one Sara Lee poundcake reduced to small pieces by crushing with the hands. It’s very rich and I think it may have originally been a stuffing for duck or goose.
Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays that has a theme that is vaguely religious—giving thanks—but has no specific religious affiliation. So it’s a holiday that unites – although good luck this year on that. It’s one of the least commercial holidays as well, because it involves no presents. It’s a home-based holiday, which is good, too, except for those who don’t have relatives or friends to be with. One drawback is the terribly compressed travel time; I solve that by not usually traveling very far if I can possibly help it – although this year I happen to be far from home.
The main advantage to hosting the day is having leftovers left over. The main disadvantage to hosting the day is having leftovers left over.
I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, filled with friends and/or family of your choice, and just the right amount of leftovers!
I like turkey, even when it’s not as moist as it could be. But my sister-in-law (who always does the family turkey) brines it, which makes the bird very juicy and tender.
I’m not ashamed to confess that I gorge myself on pecan pie every single Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to neo and all the neophiles!
Just hauled the turkey out of the fridge, drained it, salted it inside and out, and put it back in the fridge uncovered until noon tomorrow, when I will smear it with ghee, put a cut onion inside, and roast.
Pandemonium here, with a small granddaughter and a new puppy along with several extra adults. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
Oh, and the real reason for going through all the fuss with the turkey is making soup!
I have always used the Breast Side Down method of Jackie Olden who used to have a food show on the radio. The turkey is always moist and sweet.
Now that we escaped California we usually have just the two of us and a turkey breast. Lots of college football.
Was at an upscale kitchen shop. Saw an ad for free range, organic, probably Yale grad turkeys for $125. Complete with a sign so your guests would know you weren’t serving Butterball.
Other than that sort of thing, Thanksgiving is also for lower-end foods. No prime rib, blackened salmon or Alaskan crab. Not sure everybody makes the connection, but the point is to have food on the table and be thankful.
Leftover mashed potatoes to make potato “pancakes” with the next day!
Just mix together some mashed potatoes (made from scratch, the pouch mashed potatoes don’t work as well), a touch of flour to help bind together (not too much or it has a raw flour taste), egg (about one egg per one or two “pancakes”), chopped scallions, and shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
Form into patties (sort of like small hamburgers) and pan fry in butter until each side is brown.
You could serve leftover gravy on top; but, I never have as they are good on their own.
I always make extra mashed potatoes just so I will have left overs to make these. Yum!
Happy Thanksgiving Neo and everyone!
Neo have a Happy Thanksgiving. Hot roast turkey sammies are fantastic for leftovers.
Here’s wishing everyone a beautiful, delicious, blessed Thanksgiving Day. I like a savory dressing, but for the first time I find myself curious about Neo’s sweet dressing to the point where I want to try it. Has anyone else made it in all these years? I’ve never seen this recipe anywhere else. Maybe I’ll try it after the holidays with a Cornish Game Hen.
My maternal grandmother, Helen, was a great Hungarian cook (taking after her mother who worked in the kitchens for the Esterhazy family). My paternal grandmother, Esther, was neither, being a not very good Pennsylvania Dutch cook. We enjoyed Easter and Christmas suppers with my mother’s family, and suffered through Thanksgiving with my dad’s.
Thanksgiving supper started with the horror that is a Jello-mold salad (http://yesterfood.blogspot.com/2013/05/classic-jello-salad.html). Then, the main course of dried-turkey (think National Lampoon Christmas vacation dry), lumpy mashed potatoes, dry stuffing, gravy that basically was salt mixed with flour and burnt drippings, canned green beans, sweet potatoes with a marshmallow topping (to this day I gag to think of it), carrot and raisin salad (be afraid of orange foods – be very afraid), and succotash. After supper my cousins, my sister, and I would go down to the basement to play some made-up game while the men (my socialist and atheist grandfather and my born-again Christian father and uncles) would argue politics and religion while the ladies cleaned the dishes. We soon were summoned back upstairs to have Pumpkin Pie (more orangey food) and pass the dish of assorted nuts (still in their shell) around the table (I believe these nuts were the same nuts set-out every year for 15 years or more; perhaps a few were taken – not necessarily eaten – for the use by my cousin or myself to try our hand with the nutcracker, the v-shaped metal type). Then coffee, or for my Grandmother just hot water, and it was time to go home.
But this was almost 60 years ago. My sister and some of my cousins are still alive, only one aunt and uncle remain. Great meal? Hardly. But a wonderful memory that I am thankful for having. And I look forward to a future date in heaven where will can all sit together again. Hey, who knows, maybe the nut dish will make an appearance.
We will have 7 neighbors over, making it a table of 9. Brined turkey, of course, and various traditional dishes, but we also had a big eggplant harvest this week, so there will be an eggplant soup, baba ganooj, and caponata.
For me the primary point of turkey is to make turkey tetrazzini possible, though turkey soup and turkey sandwiches also are good.
Daughter and her fiance got in last night. Will have them and a friend’s family (she’s originally from Germany) over for the feast. They are bringing their new English Cream puppy.
Been cooking all day. Husband has already attacked one of the pies. Tried a new recipe as the creamed corn I got at Costco last year didn’t come in this year. Hope the home made will be as good!
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
For everyone’s amusement and fortification:
https://ruthlesspodcast.com/episodes/2nd-annual-ruthless-thanksgiving-spectacular-99EWjOq_
I don’t know how these guys keep laughing in the face of it all, but they do, thank heaven, and they never fail to make me laugh, too.
Happy Thanksgiving, all.
My best wishes to you all for a wonderful and meaningful Thanksgiving!!
. . . and since no one has yet to link to it, here is the classic WKRP turkey drop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBp2dqUOodo
Well, we always do Ina Garten’s roast turkey involving truffle butter slid between breast skin and meat and many herbs and onions in the cavity. We just don’t bother with the brining.
In terms of side dishes we are vigorously low brow – mashed potatoes peeled, boiled, mashed then put on low heat in crockpot for hours with cream, butter, and S&P. Trust me it drives your guests out of their minds.
Cranberries? Of course! Ocean Spray gelled in the can and sliced elegantly onto a pretty serving plate. I know. The fresh versions are lovely but none compare.
Pumpkin pie – homemade crust, filling following the Libby’s canned pumpkin recipe. Real deal whip cream.
Works for us. Some stuff I put on the table in honor of my mom … sweet gherkins, olives, sweet potato with marshmallows. Somehow it all gets eaten.
Happy Thanksgiving to Neo and the wonderful commentators here.