Canadian Thanksgiving 2011 – What's on the menu?

[Tri2Cook]

I've been in a culinary funk recently. I'm not sure why. It could be somewhat due to a job that has pretty much completely hobbled any attempts at creativity after coming from a job that allowed for a great deal of being creative. Not that I don't appreciate the job I have, it pays the bills, but a lot of the fun is gone.

Anyway, for thanksgiving this year (did it yesterday instead of today) I decided to do something I never do... cook the dinner myself. I locked the modern ingredient toy box, hid the sous vide tank and went full old-school. Oven roasted turkey. Traditional style stuffing (baked in a seperate pan, my one break from tradition because I prefer it over baked in the bird). Stove-top cooked rutabaga, mashed potatoes and carrots (all fresh from the garden). Baked a loaf of bread. Made the gravy from the bird drippings. Made cranberry sauce with highbush cranberries from a neighbors yard. Dessert was traditional pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

It was refreshing. Almost cleansing in a way. No scales, no super-careful measurements, no micro-monitored temps... just get my hands in the food and cook. I think I feel a bit better now.

[Snadra]

Oh, that sounds wonderful. I miss thanksgiving! I was tempted to make turkey for two yesterday, but the only turkey I can easily get my hands on here until a Christmas special order is adulterated with brining and 'flavouring' agents.

[Darienne]

Here in East Central Ontario, it was a pretty traditional Thanksgiving with dog friends, their dogs and our dogs.

Turkey, stuffing (homemade bread), gravy (from bird drippings), cranberry sauce (from store bought cranberries, at least) mashed potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, carrots, peas. No pumpkins, but homemade Nougat Ice Cream (basically vanilla ice cream with all sorts of nuts and candied goodies in it). Some of the guests added homemade Magic Shell, while others added my ridiculous raspberry sauce, dreamed up one day in Moab two years ago (or was it three?), made with my very first attempt at raspberry liqueur just ready today.

One guest lovingly noted that my raspberry liqueur tasted just like cough medicine to her. Bold and brazen words for an invited guest to say. Well, I liked it. So there.

Wonderful meal...did I mention that my DH cooked the entire thing except for the cranberry sauce and the ice cream? Beautiful day outside. Wonderful friends. The dogs all behaved appropriated and had fun. What more could a woman want? :wub:

Edited October 11, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Sounds awesome Darienne. For whatever reason, I'm really glad I went traditional. As I mentioned, I don't usually cook thanksgiving dinner. I decided to this year and had a somewhat elaborate dinner with all kinds of little modern twists planned out. Literally the morning of, I decided that I really didn't want to spend the day thinking about details. I just wanted to cook. So I scrapped the planned menu and just walked in the kitchen and started doing things. It was the most fun I've had in the kitchen in some time and everybody enjoyed it so I think it was the right decision.

[heidih]

Love the instinctual return to tradition Tri2Cook. For American thanksgiving I often feel torn about exposing the elders to new and innovative things and then I succumb to the tradition of super cheap turkey and the fresh cranberries along with the piles of sweet potatoes. We seem to be inserting new "traditions" such as Korean jap chae (nobody in the family is Korean) because a local Korean market makes an excellent version for take-away and it contrasts nicely with the other flavors. Small tea cups of watercress and potato soup seem to have whiled their ways into our menu as well - a little starter to get the appetite up. We have stopped the chips and dips and stomach filling trivia that bloats you before the heart of the meal.

[Darienne]

Sounds awesome Darienne. For whatever reason, I'm really glad I went traditional. As I mentioned, I don't usually cook thanksgiving dinner. I decided to this year and had a somewhat elaborate dinner with all kinds of little modern twists planned out. Literally the morning of, I decided that I really didn't want to spend the day thinking about details. I just wanted to cook. So I scrapped the planned menu and just walked in the kitchen and started doing things. It was the most fun I've had in the kitchen in some time and everybody enjoyed it so I think it was the right decision.

It was awesome, and as noted, I did so little work! Love it.

You must have had fun, and I, for one, would be glad to eat your food someday. And with luck, my dogs will behave well.

[Ashen]

Pretty traditional here as well although I did brine the turkey.

roast turkey , unstuffed. but with homegrown herbs and onion in cavity.

mashed potatoes

buttercup squash

brussel sprouts

cornbread dressing, (rasins instead of dried cranberries this year)

broccoli, cauliflower casserole. (yep the old school stuff with canned soup . LOL )

gravy from drippings. thinned with potato water and thickened with flour slurry.

homemade cranberry sauce.

dessert

A choice of

maple rum pecan pie

pumpkin pie

apple pie

[andrewk512]

I moved out east for university, and I couldn't exactly go home for thanksgiving, so I made a thanksgiving dinner in my res for a bunch of other people from out of province.

I never made thanksgiving at home because the rest of the family was too picky and it just wasn't worth it, so here I went all out.

Bought a turkey and broke it down. Brined and sous vide the breast, and cooked the legs confit. Used the bones to make stock for the gravy.

Served that with an orange-cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sage-apple stuffing, green beans with roasted garlic and caramelized onions, and a warm squash salad with pomegranate, ricotta, arugula and walnuts. Served that with a local apple cider and made pumpkin pie for dessert.

It was a good thanksgiving! =D

Now I have to catch up on studying for my midterms.

[demiglace]

I really like traditional for the holidays but I am not too into turkey so it was prime rib this year. The beef was so tender and tasty and I made the usual sides (for a roast dinner) including yorkies. Made pumpkin tarts for dessert.

[threestars]

Seems like you all enjoyed the menu for the Canadian thanksgiving. US Thanksgiving is next. Hope to see more of the special menu that you guys have on that day.

[nikkib]

I always tend to crave the traditional when I'm stressed or sick - maybe it's some sort of comfort in regressing back to when our parents would nurture us with these simple dishes... I've never known anyone describe molecular gastronomy as "comfort food" I also find the routine relaxing - maybe that's what you need right now in light of your stressful work situation? Chicken noodle soup anyone?!

Edited October 11, 2011 by nikkib (log)

[Pam R]

No turkey this year, though we usually do go with a turkey. Instead we had a duck and a chicken smoked on the Weber. Served with mashed potatoes, stuffing and veg.

No pies. We should have had pies. But the birds were gooood.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

We did a roasted drunken chicken with all of the traditional trimmings - pumpernickel mushroom stuffing, mashed potatoes, camote (purple sweet potato), asparagus, green salad, gravy made with the bird drippings. No time for pies (oven time is at a premium on feast days in my house) but we had fresh white pineapple with ice cream, which more than made up for it.

[Darienne]

We did a roasted drunken chicken with all of the traditional trimmings - pumpernickel mushroom stuffing, mashed potatoes, camote (purple sweet potato), asparagus, green salad, gravy made with the bird drippings. No time for pies (oven time is at a premium on feast days in my house) but we had fresh white pineapple with ice cream, which more than made up for it.

Curious I am as to where a traditional stuffing with made with pumpernickel. I rather thought that white bread was traditional and in our family we have segued to a light rye bread. Very light.

Last year Ed, DH, made the stuffing with dark rye and I don't know what else from heels from the freezer and it was not a great success. Yesterday's stuffing was again the 'traditional in our house' light rye and it was good.

Pineapples are also white?

Hmmm ...rethink. Most of what is sold today as pumpernickel is what I would call nondescript rye bread. Pumpernickel of my Montreal youth was very, very dark with cornmeal underneath, O so fresh, and good in sour cream and cottage cheese. My mouth waters to recall it.

What exactly is your pumpernickel and if it resembles what I have just described, please O please, send me the recipe.

Edited October 11, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

That tradition in our house comes from Oma Salome, who was a Polish gypsy and who refused to have any other bread in her house. Hence her stuffing was always made with pumpernickel or some similar black rye type bread (she made her own on a cooked cornmeal base with black chocolate and aniseseed in the flavouring along with blackstrap mollasses; I have both her bread recipe and her stuffing one.) I'll PM you with the bread recipe; it's a bit of extra work but oh so very worth it. It makes for a heavier stuffing, but it's absolutely terriffic, and I'm inclined to agree with Oma. No other bread should be used in stuffing.

Come to think of it, camote isn't all that traditional either, it's just that I can't find the flourescent-orange sweet potatoes down here. I'm beginning to think, though, that the purple ones are better. They're certainly sweeter.

And yes, pineapples come in white flesh. They're rarely exported because they're so very tasty that the crop is largely eaten domestically. White pineapples are a hint sweeter than golds, with a better balance between the sugars and the acids. The white variety is called Abacaxi, and it's closer to wild pineapple (which I've also eaten - nothing compares to it.)

[Tri2Cook]

Pretty traditional here as well although I did brine the turkey.

I brined too. I guess it's not traditional in the big picture but it's traditional for me when working with bird.

[Kerry Beal]

Have you tried the popcorn stuffing? Uncooked popcorn along with all the usual suspects in the dressing - when it blows the ass off the turkey - it's done!

[CaliPoutine]

Those traditional Thanksgiving dinners I made for the Seniors were my most popular meals. The first time, I didnt make turnip and I heard about it. If I could have cooked a Thanksgiving meal, each time, I would have probably had 100 diners. Its a lot of work though, cooking for 50. I had to do the turkeys the day before since oven space was always at a premium.

[heidih]

Have you tried the popcorn stuffing? Uncooked popcorn along with all the usual suspects in the dressing - when it blows the ass off the turkey - it's done!

I may be walking into a trap here but if you are serious - details?

[Kerry Beal]

Have you tried the popcorn stuffing? Uncooked popcorn along with all the usual suspects in the dressing - when it blows the ass off the turkey - it's done!

I may be walking into a trap here but if you are serious - details?

Nah - not serious! Just one of the those 'recipes' I like to share with people when I'm trying to make small talk while sewing up their various cut appendages.

[Tri2Cook]

Have you tried the popcorn stuffing? Uncooked popcorn along with all the usual suspects in the dressing - when it blows the ass off the turkey - it's done!

I may be walking into a trap here but if you are serious - details?

Nah - not serious! Just one of the those 'recipes' I like to share with people when I'm trying to make small talk while sewing up their various cut appendages.

I thought maybe the evening cocktail was working it's magic.

[Kerry Beal]

Have you tried the popcorn stuffing? Uncooked popcorn along with all the usual suspects in the dressing - when it blows the ass off the turkey - it's done!

I may be walking into a trap here but if you are serious - details?

Nah - not serious! Just one of the those 'recipes' I like to share with people when I'm trying to make small talk while sewing up their various cut appendages.

I thought maybe the evening cocktail was working it's magic.

You ain't half right! 1 1/2 ounces Havana Club Anejo Reserva, 3/4 ounce Grand Marnier, a bit of lime.

[Dejah]

My daughter's future M-I-L is gluten intolerant, so it was a bit more challenging this Thanksgiving. There were 12 of us for supper.

I cooked two 7kg turkeys, one with regular day-old dinner rolls stuffing(cooked in an oven in another house), the other with gluten-free bread; a smoked picnic shoulder; crab cakes; Brussel sprouts with dijon mustard, blackpeppercorn crusted bacon, and pecans; carrots with cardamon; green bean casserole, (d-i-l's contribution); corn; mashed taters; apple,orange,cranberry chutney; gravy made with Better than Boullion chicken soup base and tapioca starch; pumpkin cheesecake with sour cream icing ( 2nd son's SO's contribution, and a pumpkin pie. Everything was gluten free except for the green bean casserole and the pumpkin cheese cake.

The gluten-free pumpkin pie was more like a cheesecake. The crust was made with gluten-free flour, crushed organic unsweetened coconut flakes and pecans, and butter, all pulsed together and baked like a graham crust. The filling was pumpkin puree, cashew cream, coconut cream, spices. It turned out remarkably good!

The gluten-free stuffing was made with rice flour bread and corn bread. It didn't have the same texture as my usual stuffing, but was acceptable. The extra poultry seasoning and fresh herbs helped. We didn't cut into the other turkey until next day (sent home with kids), but the kids helped themselves to the stuffing after our guests left!

It was interesting cooking with new products and being vigilant about gluten-free counters, etc. I now have a stock pile of flour, bread crumbs, etc. I am thankful that our small city has these supplies.

[Clark D]

Had the big Thanksgiving celebration on the weekend. Not as many finished pictures as I would have liked, way to many people at the house but here's the menu:

- Squash ale and cheddar soup

- Turkey on the WSM, salted and injected

- Perogies with smoked swiss cheese

- Mashed Potatoes

- Roasted Squash with pecans and maple

- Mushroom gravy

- Cranberry Sauce

- Stuffing

- Brisket

- Jerk Burnt Ends

- Brussel Sprouts

- Roasted Carrots

- Yams

- Cornbread

- Pumpkin layer cake

- Bourbon pumpkin tart

- Home made vanilla ice cream

- Carrot cake with walnuts, coconut and raisons

And here's a few pictures!

The Turkey first

The Perogies

Tossed on a couple racks of beef ribs with fried potatoes and leeks while I was cooking for a snack

The brisket, uncooked no clue how I didn't get a finished picture

My cooking campanion

Cornbread

Stuffing with sausage and maple

Gravy

Squash

Pumpkin Tart

Pumpkin Cake

Carrot Cake

Then made some stock

And Soup

And some fresh foccacia for a sandwich, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and gravy

Have a good night!

Clark

[Darienne]

Had the big Thanksgiving celebration on the weekend. Not as many finished pictures as I would have liked, way to many people at the house but here's the menu:

- Squash ale and cheddar soup

- Turkey on the WSM, salted and injected

- Perogies with smoked swiss cheese

- Mashed Potatoes

- Roasted Squash with pecans and maple

- Mushroom gravy

- Cranberry Sauce

- Stuffing

- Brisket

- Jerk Burnt Ends

- Brussel Sprouts

- Roasted Carrots

- Yams

- Cornbread

- Pumpkin layer cake

- Bourbon pumpkin tart

- Home made vanilla ice cream

- Carrot cake with walnuts, coconut and raisons

Clark

Next year, we are all coming to your house, Clark.

And what a loyal dog you have! You'll be glad to know that our dogs and our visitors' dogs were loyal too.