Thanksgiving, 2022

[blue_dolphin]

58 minutes ago, hotsaucerman said:

jeff morganthaler's site (or punch drink) is A+ for good recipes; related for the holidays, i would 10000000% recommend making his anejo tequila based eggnog (link here).

Ditto that!  I tipped a couple of bottles of that eggnog to my local BBQ peeps last year and they couldn't stop raving about it.  Good reminder to make more for this year. 

 

[Katie Meadow]

Let's get this out of the way and I will never speak of it again. I would rather jump off a bridge than drink eggnog. See, I'm already getting into that xmas spirit!.

[blue_dolphin]

33 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

Let's get this out of the way and I will never speak of it again. I would rather jump off a bridge than drink eggnog. See, I'm already getting into that xmas spirit!.

Clearly you hang with a tough crowd - I’ve heard of no dessert unless you finish your vegetables but drink your eggnog or jump off a bridge sounds a bit harsh! 

[MaryIsobel]

Regarding mashed potatoes, last year at Christmas I was not feeling great and didn't want the last minute kerfuffle of mashing potatoes and making gravy so I (clutch your pearls) used packaged gravy and made mashed potatoes in the Instapot. The gravy was really good, I used the lower sodium Club House mix. Used less water than called for and made up the difference with drippings. The instapot mashed potatoes were also good and the bonus was that I held them in the Instapot on the Warm setting for nearly 4 hours. For the first time since I have been hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas (about 30 years) I received multiple compliments on the mashed potatoes! I didn't note the source but I do have the recipe if anyone wants to try.

[aliénor]

would love to see your recipe for instapot mashed pdotatos.  i was assigned that as my contribution to t-day dinner

[MaryIsobel]

9 minutes ago, aliénor said:

would love to see your recipe for instapot mashed pdotatos.  i was assigned that as my contribution to t-day dinner

Okay, I'll post in in the recipe section. Hopefully that is the correct protocal.

[Anna N]

58 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

I (clutch your pearls) used packaged gravy and made mashed potatoes in the Instapot.

In the past, I have done both even slopping just a little cognac into the packaged gravy with a little heavy cream and the Insta pot recipe I used for the potatoes had everything in it right from the start.  

[MaryIsobel]

8 minutes ago, Anna N said:

In the past, I have done both even slopping just a little cognac into the packaged gravy with a little heavy cream and the Insta pot recipe I used for the potatoes had everything in it right from the start.  

It really wasn't bad at all. I made it about 2 hours ahead and just kept it on the lowest setting on my cooktop stirring occaisionally. My sister always offered to make the gravy. She is a lovely person in a lot of ways but cooking is not her forte and we have had some pretty gloppy, gluey gravy in the past, so this saved me having to tell her thanks, but no thanks. I can instead find a kitchen task for her where no knowledge, experience or intuition is required!

[Anna N]

6 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

It really wasn't bad at all.

I know I got compliments on my doctored packaged gravy. 
 
This was the way I did the potatoes. 
https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/pressure-cooker-champ-irish-mashed-potatoes-with-green-onions/

If you scroll down, it shows just plain mashed potatoes. 

[JeanneCake]

I love mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot; ever since I learned this was possible, I've done them this way all the time.  It frees up space on the stovetop, keeps them warm as you've noted and is just so much easier!  We have the bigger version so there's plenty of mashed for all - my husband and son have been known to get through the better part of a 5# bag just between the two of them....

[Kim Shook]

I like @heidih's idea of soup in a Crock Pot.  You could serve it as an appetizer in cups with handles before people sit and it doesn’t need to be on the stove or in the oven.

 

@blue_dolphin – re: cranberry sauce – I will sometimes add a cup of mixed dried fruit to the pan when I’m cooking my cranberries for sauce.  It makes a nice change from just orange. 

 

@liamsaunt – I cannot get my head around blueberries and blueberry cheese in dressing.  It reminds me of Rachel’s meat trifle on Friends 🙂.

 

@scubadoo97 – thanks for sharing that picture and your amazing story.  I love that your large family maintains their relationships as well as that! 

 

@Katie Meadow – I feel the same way about egg nog.  Mr. Kim haunts the stores starting in late September looking for it.  The only kind I’ve ever liked was a local brand that we stocked at The Fresh Market when I worked there.  It was like you melted the best vanilla ice cream ever made.  It could have easily substituted for crème anglaise. 

 

I’m pretty much of a traditionalist when it comes to most holiday meals – especially Thanksgiving.  One of my old FB posts came up in my memories today and, while somewhat tongue in cheek, it pretty much describes my attitude: “It’s time for the annual foodie lament about Thanksgiving. While they can have their crunchy obscure vegetables and dabs of near-raw meat with foam that looks like cat yak on top 364 days a year, they have to whine about eating boring turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. ONE day. Watch out for them. They’ll try to steal your joy. But, on the plus side, they’ll leave plenty of gravy and marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes for the rest of us!” 😝

 

My MIL is hosting Thanksgiving this year and Jessica and I have been almost completely edged out of contributing over the years.  I used to make a really good pumpkin cheesecake that seemed to go over well, but she finally asked me not to bring it anymore because she felt like the pies that she and my nieces made were sufficient.  Then Jessica and I started bringing appetizers that everyone loved, but we were asked to not do that anymore.  She said, “My family” doesn’t really care for appetizers.  They fill you up and then you don’t want dinner.  She’s a great cook, so it’s definitely not jealousy.  And she has her daughter make a few side dishes, so it’s not that she just wants to control everything.  Anyway, this year when he asked, she told Mr. Kim that I could bring an appetizer, but it should be very low calorie and not at all filling.  I’m going to go to Kroger and get a vegetable tray from the produce department and flip that out onto a platter.  Et voila!  I admit my feelings are hurt and I’m tempted to be childish. 

[Katie Meadow]

@Kim Shook,  you have my sympathy. I don't think this holiday is about food. I think it's about tradition and who is sitting at the table--and who may not be sitting there. Control freaks are gonna do their thing, only more so. There are some people you just can't get around, you just have to either make what you want or not care. My husband's father, known to all the little kids as Grandpa John, had one job, and that was to make the cranberries. Grandma Nancy had many jobs, but her most important job was making sure Grandpa John made his Cranberries, which never varied for the thirty plus years I knew him. It was straight out of a fifties Sunset Magazine and was a horror show from one end to the other: canned jelly repurposed into a giant ring studded with a zillion weird things, topped with a zillion more weird things and then covered with a thick drool of sour cream. Talk about cat yak! Not MY mother's idea of cranberries, I'll tell you that.

 

:So every year I made my mother's cranberries which I think came off the back of a package of Ocean Spray and was nothing more than fresh cranberries, sugar and a fresh orange, blended up into a tart, toothy relish. So every year there was Grandpa John's flying saucer and my mother's cranberries, made by yours truly. The trick my husband's big family learned early on: bring whatever you brought last year, eat whatever suits you and tell everyone at the table how good it all is. Then watch your sister- in- law drink way too much wine and tell the same story twice. The two most remembered Thanksgivings were the time the vegetarian gravy hit the picture window, which half the table thought was the best place for it, and the time the transformer outside blew in a hail of fireworks and the kids took slices of pie to the workers who restored the power at about 11 pm after five dark hours. The moral of the story is be thrilled if you don't have too much to do and get as many laughs as you can out of the day. Cheers!

Edited November 17, 2022 by Katie Meadow (log)

[weinoo]

12 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

I like @heidih's idea of soup in a Crock Pot.  You could serve it as an appetizer in cups with handles before people sit and it doesn’t need to be on the stove or in the oven.

 

@blue_dolphin – re: cranberry sauce – I will sometimes add a cup of mixed dried fruit to the pan when I’m cooking my cranberries for sauce.  It makes a nice change from just orange. 

 

@liamsaunt – I cannot get my head around blueberries and blueberry cheese in dressing.  It reminds me of Rachel’s meat trifle on Friends 🙂.

 

@scubadoo97 – thanks for sharing that picture and your amazing story.  I love that your large family maintains their relationships as well as that! 

 

@Katie Meadow – I feel the same way about egg nog.  Mr. Kim haunts the stores starting in late September looking for it.  The only kind I’ve ever liked was a local brand that we stocked at The Fresh Market when I worked there.  It was like you melted the best vanilla ice cream ever made.  It could have easily substituted for crème anglaise. 

 

I’m pretty much of a traditionalist when it comes to most holiday meals – especially Thanksgiving.  One of my old FB posts came up in my memories today and, while somewhat tongue in cheek, it pretty much describes my attitude: “It’s time for the annual foodie lament about Thanksgiving. While they can have their crunchy obscure vegetables and dabs of near-raw meat with foam that looks like cat yak on top 364 days a year, they have to whine about eating boring turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. ONE day. Watch out for them. They’ll try to steal your joy. But, on the plus side, they’ll leave plenty of gravy and marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes for the rest of us!” 😝

 

My MIL is hosting Thanksgiving this year and Jessica and I have been almost completely edged out of contributing over the years.  I used to make a really good pumpkin cheesecake that seemed to go over well, but she finally asked me not to bring it anymore because she felt like the pies that she and my nieces made were sufficient.  Then Jessica and I started bringing appetizers that everyone loved, but we were asked to not do that anymore.  She said, “My family” doesn’t really care for appetizers.  They fill you up and then you don’t want dinner.  She’s a great cook, so it’s definitely not jealousy.  And she has her daughter make a few side dishes, so it’s not that she just wants to control everything.  Anyway, this year when he asked, she told Mr. Kim that I could bring an appetizer, but it should be very low calorie and not at all filling.  I’m going to go to Kroger and get a vegetable tray from the produce department and flip that out onto a platter.  Et voila!  I admit my feelings are hurt and I’m tempted to be childish. 

Bring gummies and make everyone happy.

[Jaymes]

On 11/5/2022 at 11:38 AM, Darienne said:

OK.  What I don't understand is when and how mac and cheese became a Thanksgiving tradition.  

Me, either. A tradition of which I am really not fond. At all. 

[gfweb]

1 minute ago, Jaymes said:

Me, either. A tradition of which I am really not fond. At all. 

 Agreed.

 

[hotsaucerman]

Mac and cheese has invaded my thanksgiving because a lot of people in my family prefer it to stuffing (I do not understand this whatsoever) 

[Kim Shook]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

Bring gummies and make everyone happy.

I had a friend who threatened to put Xanax in the cornbread one year that it was his turn to have the family gathering.  😁

[heidih]

@Katie Meadow On that cranberry relish - so uncooked? I used 1/2 bag of fresh ones and made cooked simple sauce yesterday. I like it alongside curries etc. I also have small; but flavorful oranges coming out of my ears so thinking of a fresh relish with rest of bag. I froze the crans but I don't think they weep or soft when thawed.

[gulfporter]

On 11/13/2022 at 3:31 PM, blue_dolphin said:

I’ll be getting together with my local cousins. There will be 30 for dinner. 
I volunteered to bring a green salad and homemade cranberry sauce. 
The salad will be the Brussels Sprouts, Apples and Pomegranate with Blue Cheese Honey Vinaigrette from Deep Run Roots. 
Not sure what I’ll put in the cranberries. Most likely orange and a dash of Grand Marnier but maybe something different. 
 

If I was with 30 of my relatives I'd need more than a dash of Grand Marnier 😎

[Katie Meadow]

28 minutes ago, heidih said:

@Katie Meadow On that cranberry relish - so uncooked? I used 1/2 bag of fresh ones and made cooked simple sauce yesterday. I like it alongside curries etc. I also have small; but flavorful oranges coming out of my ears so thinking of a fresh relish with rest of bag. I froze the crans but I don't think they weep or soft when thawed.

Yep, uncooked. About 1 12oz bag of berries to one orange. I can't remember what the sugar measure is, maybe  1/2 cup granulated white? I find that it is more useful to test it for the right amount of sugar after it sits around or is refrigerated. It tends to get tarter as it gets cold, making it easier to gauge sweetness level. You can alway add sugar, but you can't take it away. So simple and fresh. I often make it ahead and add chopped walnuts shortly before serving. No fail.

[NadyaDuke]

We're hosting and will have 9 people total, the same crowd as last year, a mix of family and friends.  My husband continues to not want turkey, so we're making the honor guard pork roast with apricot dressing from Molly Stevens's All About Roasting, except I'm swapping the pistachios for hazelnuts because Oregon. I'll make gravy from the drippings if luck is on my side (modern pork doesn't always have a lot!), and I'm making the Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoes because they hold beautifully, probably because of the cream cheese.  I have no problem making mashed potatoes at the last minute but I'm not up for making that AND gravy at the last minute so always want to do one well ahead of time. My husband is making three pies (chocolate, pumpkin/pecan and cranberry curd) and dinner rolls, my SIL is bringing a light appetizer, one friend is bringing her traditional green beans with shallots and bacon, and another her famous cheesecake. And our friends who have a winery are bringing wine.  Oh! And I'm making Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish, which has horseradish in it. I made it last year to go with our beef roast and I think it's a fun way to bring in some traditional Thanksgiving flavor in a way that works well with meat.  My husband wanted to try the cranberry curd tart from America's Test Kitchen and was worried it might be too much cranberry in one meal but I told him at the holidays I think it's fine! The other two pies are tried and two favorites. 

 

I hadn't heard of an honor guard pork roast before I started cruising for this year's main course. We've done crown roasts many years, and Stevens prefers this presentation because she says it cooks more evenly. You take two frenched rib roasts and stand them up to interlace the bones, like swords crossing in an honor guard. Should be fun. 

[heidih]

@NadyaDuke I am with you on multiple cranberry dishes. I made some sauce from fresh the other day just because, and the color of the last bit in saucepan put a smile on my face for hours. 

 

I usually do a Friendsgiving but one of the ladies will only eat at outdoor venues - just got non Hodgkins lymphoma diagnosis. So we are going to a Mexican place with lots of outdoor seating near ocean facing Catalina Island and another lady manages the plaza so they will be good to us. Doing that Tuesday. I am trying to get out of 24th with dad and wife - may have to feign illness   My usual for years on the day after was local spiny lobster (to share with dog). A big once a year splurge but not this year as elders still in town (grrr). I did call the big fish market and they are $35/lb with divers bringing in daily but not in quantity.  Son busy cooking for needy

[MaryIsobel]

2 hours ago, NadyaDuke said:

We're hosting and will have 9 people total, the same crowd as last year, a mix of family and friends.  My husband continues to not want turkey, so we're making the honor guard pork roast with apricot dressing from Molly Stevens's All About Roasting, except I'm swapping the pistachios for hazelnuts because Oregon. I'll make gravy from the drippings if luck is on my side (modern pork doesn't always have a lot!), and I'm making the Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoes because they hold beautifully, probably because of the cream cheese.  I have no problem making mashed potatoes at the last minute but I'm not up for making that AND gravy at the last minute so always want to do one well ahead of time. My husband is making three pies (chocolate, pumpkin/pecan and cranberry curd) and dinner rolls, my SIL is bringing a light appetizer, one friend is bringing her traditional green beans with shallots and bacon, and another her famous cheesecake. And our friends who have a winery are bringing wine.  Oh! And I'm making Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish, which has horseradish in it. I made it last year to go with our beef roast and I think it's a fun way to bring in some traditional Thanksgiving flavor in a way that works well with meat.  My husband wanted to try the cranberry curd tart from America's Test Kitchen and was worried it might be too much cranberry in one meal but I told him at the holidays I think it's fine! The other two pies are tried and two favorites. 

 

I hadn't heard of an honor guard pork roast before I started cruising for this year's main course. We've done crown roasts many years, and Stevens prefers this presentation because she says it cooks more evenly. You take two frenched rib roasts and stand them up to interlace the bones, like swords crossing in an honor guard. Should be fun. 

I've recently seen the recipe for cranberry curd pie and think it would be a nice finale to a heavy, rich dinner, so I'm looking forward to heating your comments/reviews on it.

 

[Tropicalsenior]

49 minutes ago, heidih said:

may have to feign illness

One year I was completely burned out on cooking Thanksgiving. So we told my husband's family that we were going to be at my daughter's in-laws and told my family that we were going to his daughter's in-laws and we went to a great French restaurant all by ourselves. Didn't get caught and it was one of the best Thanksgiving we ever had.

[Shelby]

21 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

One year I was completely burned out on cooking Thanksgiving. So we told my husband's family that we were going to be at my daughter's in-laws and told my family that we were going to his daughter's in-laws and we went to a great French restaurant all by ourselves. Didn't get caught and it was one of the best Thanksgiving we ever had.

I love this!