For the next two weeks: Thanksgiving Cooking!
During my many years as lurker on FR, the annual Thanksgiving thread was one of my favorite things, and I always wished it started earlier, in time to use some of the ideas/recipes that folks posted. (I probably have several years worth of those threads copied and pasted, somewhere.)
I determined when I signed-up that I would revive the weekly cooking thread; and here we are at the first Thanksgiving of the ‘Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread’.
I think I will run the TG thread for two weeks. Please post your favorite Thanksgiving recipes - but also your related family traditions and memories! Leftover recipes are also greatly appreciated ;-)
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking thread, please send a private message.)
-JT
Good mashed potatoes with some good gravy for Thanksgiving with a few pieces of dark meat and some cranberry sauce to eat the turkey with. I would be happy with just that but I’ll eat just about anything on the traditional Thanksgiving table.
Pumpkin pie does not get me excited. A well done apple pie does
Thank you for the lovely memories and the recipe for the Acorn Squash. I was hungry for squash and bought some at the store last week. I fixed the first one with just butter and pepper. I may try your recipe as it sounds yummy.
I’m going to my BIL’s brother’s home for TG. I’m bringing the standard green bean casserole with the French’s onions. We like it and only make it on holidays. It’s a nice little side dish.
Try butternut squash halves with a dab of butter, and some brown sugar- then bake till done- Can’t beat it if you like sweet stuff
Got to have some oyster dressing along with the bird and all.
We usually do deep fried turkey. (Masterbuilt electric the past few years, before that propane outside.) This year just Mrs p6 and me so I’m thinking prime rib. Maybe even pre made so we just heat it. Expensive yes! At our age...
Problem will be Mrs p6 who thinks anything browned/blackened is burned.
FWIW She is Northern, I am Southern when it comes to food.
Brine your turkey. If you’ve never done it, look it up, it’s easy. Then cook it any way you want. Best. Turkey. Ever.
My favorite way to roast a turkey is the low temp really long (10+ hrs I think) roasting time. It is so juicy and tender.
Our only tradition is a silly one but the kids love it and we all end up laughing. It’s a game called “find the turkey”. It’s like the hot/cold game: everyone but one person knows where an object is hidden. When the person gets close everyone says warm, warmer, hot etc as they move closer and closer to finding it. In our version you say”gobble” instead. Slowly if they are far from the hidden little turkey, getting faster and faster as they get closer and closer. When you have a room full of people gobbling as fast as they can it’s pretty funny.
We love acorn squash and your recipe is one that I will try. I usually cut one in half and microwave in a little water. When it sort of cools off I scoop it out and mix it with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon then nuke it for a few minutes to melt the butter and heat it up. If I serve it that way it seems to serve more people.
I may skip cooking this year.
I've been working on a false Danish using the Kolache dough. I'm making progress with the orange marmalade and cream cheese.
/johnnny
Not a recipe but a Thanksgiving story
When we were faculty at HKU we’d sponsor a Thanksgiving meal with our graduate students and academic friends from China.
I always found it odd that the British at HKU could never really understand the concept of Thanksgiving but the Asian students did and while the foods were new to them most of them did enjoy it. (I must confess that caused a minor food revolution in Wuhan while getting the PhD because taught a man who runs a bakery there how to make a pumpkin pie!)
One of the most interesting comments was from a student who was a middle level cadre in the CCP as well as a professor. He asked why we pray before the meal and what was the origin of the meal?
I told him the story of the pilgrims starving their first winter in Massachusetts and how with the help of the natives they’d had a good harvest the second year and the feast was a time to be thankful that they were not going to starve in the coming winter. He thought about that a moment and said “I grew up in the cultural revolution. I know what it is like to e=worry about starvation. This is a holiday i will practice from now on.”
One question about the squash recipe. For, year , heck for decades, whenever I made acorn squash, I always split them, and cleaned them first, brush the surface with a little olive oil, and when the girls were little I’d put a tsp of brown sugar in the hollow. Splitting means you don’t have to cook it as long to get the center soft. Any reason why your recipe wouldn’t work that way? Thanks
...the house had been cleaned within an inch of its life....
***
That’s how it was at my house, as well, and I carry on my mother’s tradition in my home. I am currently in Week 2 of my Christmas Cleaning Frenzy.
Thank you for posting your holiday memories and thoughts. Nicely put and evocative for me.
Three Bean Salad
1/3 pound Brown Jelly Beans (Root Beer) my favorite
1/3 pound Yellow Jelly Beans (Lemon)
1/3 pound Licorice Jelly Beans ( Don’t eat them all while preparing!
1 giant tub of cool whip.
Put all ingredients in large blow.
Hand mix.
I tried a mixer once it wasn’t a pretty site but seemed to bring joy to others.
Don’t listen what some will say the kids will love it and it will make you young again.
Jelly Beans can be substituted to match your favorite teams and what ever event you have.
But it must have three different types of jelly beans for i would not be a THREE bean salad.
For those who panic over the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, here’s my simple no stress timeline:
The day before, bake the pies and the cornbread for the stuffing.
The day of, get up at 7 am and have the turkey in the oven by 7:15. Put the neck and innards in a small pot for the gravy later. Go back to bed or relax.
One hour from when the bird comes out of the oven, prep the sides and stuffing. When the bird comes out of the oven, the sides go in.
Dinner is served at noon so the game isn’t interrupted. Easy peasy. Done and done!
This is a stuffing recipe but we have always called it “filling”. Everyone loves it and its much heartier than standard stuffing. There are seldom any leftovers. This recipe has been in the family for 75 or more years and originated in Pennsylvania coal country.
We still serve mashed Potatoes and yams along with this side dish, yet it always seems to be the one that gets the most attention. It also makes your house smell like heaven!
BREAD & POTATO FILLING
Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
Add the following to a large bowl:
1 Loaf Bread torn in bite size pieces (Italian or Sour bread or any good bread)
5 cups mashed potatoes - make them like you normally do with milk and some butter, instant work great too.
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp Salt & 1 1/2 tsp Pepper
2 Tbsp. Dried Parsley Leaves or 4 Tbsp. fresh parsley
Saute till lightly browned:
1 Stick of Butter
1 1/2 cups of diced Celery
1 1/2 cups diced Onion
Add the celery and onion mix to the large bowl and mix all ingredients well with a spoon.
Bake in 13 x 9 buttered dish covered with Aluminum foil for 45 minutes.
Remove foil and allow the casserole to brown for about 15 more minutes. You can optionally dribble some turkey broth over the top right after you remove the foil to give it a nice flavor before the top browns.
I turn them cut side down for 1/2 hour, then fill with the butter and sugar and cook cut side up duh. As it was, spilled a little of that yummy syrup. I'm hoarding some maple syrup for something special.
It was the most horrible acorn squash I have ever had. It was nothing but stringy yuck almost all the way through. I need fiber but not that, was gagging the stuff back up.
Must have been GMO or mutation. I'll get future ones from a different store. Produce was disappointing today. No giant russets. Cranberries in red onion-type bags, 12 ounces. I thought we used to get # bags.
At least I got my cranberries (I see there were some name brand frozen in the berries section, good to know, but can't see if all are ripe. I got my raspberries. I'm going to make it whole this time. The skins will be good for fiber but I probably shouldn't eat the seeds.
I’m lobbying for sausage and cornbread stuffing this year.
Yum!
Going to try dry brining this year for the first time. It’s called a Judy Bird named after Judy Rodger’s Zuni Cafe and their wonderful dry brined Zuni Chicken. Sounds easier than the space hog that is a wet brined turkey and the meat is supposed to be firmer and less spongy. Wish me luck!
http://www.tastespotting.com/features/dry-brined-turkey-recipe
We’ve been dry brining our turkeys for about 12 years or so. Won’t have them any other way. And its always a fresh bird from a local turkey farm. Monday of Thanksgiving week they have a line out the door of their small store and always give a free turkey to the 1000th customer. Our pickled beets are a must on the table. Not into pumpkin pie, usually my apple strudel. Next day I must make turkey soup with the bones and turkey pot pie with the leftovers. This year it’s a chemo week for hubby, Tuesday, Wednesday and a immune shot on Thursday. For holidays they have a shot with a timer they will tape onto his arm. His appetite has not suffered much and this year we will have a lot as usual to be thankful for. Including Free Republic!