Thanksgiving (American) 2024

[BeeZee]

What is everyone making, “tried and true” or anything new?

I am probably only having 6 people this year, possibly 8 (sister is a last minute call, and BIL doesn’t eat turkey if he comes) so I decided to make the roast turkey breast with fig-olive tapenade that was a big hit last year. Nobody cares if we don’t have a bird to carve. I use a recipe for make-ahead turkey gravy that doesn’t rely on drippings.

Starting with curried coconut and carrot soup. Veg will probably be simple roasted green beans with toasted almonds. Mom is bringing stuffing and twice baked potatoes. Stepson bringing dessert, and I will have ice cream on hand.

[gfweb]

For the first time in 30 or more years I'm not cooking. Family is all elsewhere.

 

So we are going to he Hotel duPont in Wilmington. A grand old joint with a fine restaurant that's doing a TG dinner. Should be nice.

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/gRaXmLPRSQHPFqwZ7

[gulfporter]

I like the old fashioned turkey dinner.  Mi esposo detests it.   

 

We have made non-traditional meals at home when we don't have guests or go to someone else's place.  

 

I said this year I might make a traditional  🦃Day dinner since I have a hankering for it. 

 

Mi esposo offered to make a non-traditional meal and I happily agreed to stay out of the kitchen.

 

I have no idea what his meal will be.  When I nagged asked him yesterday he said he didn't either 🤨

 

I put the Domino's app on my phone.  

[Katie Meadow]

Today we had my favorite  pre-TG meal: turkey necks in brodo. We make a turkey every year for the holiday. It used to be a major project my husband and I would make together. Elaborate and time consuming. He makes it now, but pretty simple, no drama like in the old days. His gravy is fantastic. We used to just make stock for the gravy with the neck, the day of. I really don't care for turkey meat but broth made from a roast turkey carcass is my Kryptonite; it brings me to my knees. Now, a week or so before the holiday I buy some wings and necks and roast them, them put them in a stockpot to make enough broth to freeze for the gravy plus a couple of extra quarts. We splurged for dinner and were happily up to our necks in broth. I make a bigger batch with the carcass after TG. Sometimes my neighbor gives me his carcass, so I have a double batch! I've given him a quart of stock afterwards, but I'm always worried he's going to like it so much he'll start making his own, but thank god he hasn't caught my addiction. He just wants the meat. Good for him! 

[gulfporter]

On 11/17/2024 at 9:19 AM, gulfporter said:

I like the old fashioned turkey dinner.  Mi esposo detests it.   

 

We have made non-traditional meals at home when we don't have guests or go to someone else's place.  

 

I said this year I might make a traditional  🦃Day dinner since I have a hankering for it. 

 

Mi esposo offered to make a non-traditional meal and I happily agreed to stay out of the kitchen.

 

I have no idea what his meal will be.  When I nagged asked him yesterday he said he didn't either 🤨

 

I put the Domino's app on my phone.  

 

Mi esposo has decided on this recipe which is a Jerk Chicken by Ottolenghi.  I will make a side of smashed sweet potatoes with sauteed onions and apples.  I normally add chipotle to this side, but will instead add some of the warm Jamaican spices from the chicken recipe. 

https://ottolenghi.co.uk/pages/recipes/chicken-stephs-spice

[C. sapidus]

Only 7 this year so we will go traditional. Mrs. C makes the proteins - probably a small turkey / capon / big chicken, plus nephew's favorite salmon with a soy-maple glaze. House guest used to own a bakery shop, so she will be doing mashed potatoes and desserts. I'll make my usual vegetables: bourbon sweet potatoes with orange sauce, creamy braised Brussels sprouts, and green bean salad. Maybe something else, we shall see if inspiration strikes.

 

Our main family get-together will be between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that will have more people and fewer tradition-based constraints. The only sure thing will be palak paneer for vegetarian sis. Probably make my own paneer again.

[Shelby]

Just the two of us --it'll be fun to maybe have a few leftovers!  Smaller grocery store has turkeys on sale for 69 cents a lb limit 2 if you spend $30.  So, we splurged on a beef brisket and got one turkey.  It's already cut up.  Bones are roasted with some veggies and are in the IP making stock.  I'm going to SV half a breast for us on TDay.

[JeanneCake]

I ordered a turkey from the local farm, so we'll have that and the usual sides.  My personal favorite is the brussels sprouts with chestnuts recipe from Epicurious (and I came late to the brussels sprouts fan club) but I don't bother with the chestnuts if I don't have them.  I like this recipe with baby brussels if I can find them.  It's only going to be the 3 of us and I am looking forward to a day off from work

[Dr. Teeth]

A smoked turkey, having switched from a roasted turkey to ham and then a smoked turkey following a badly timed stove death a few years back, I’m never going back to roast or fried turkey.

 

Wife’s niece requested mashed potato and then asked to make a stuffing as well (I have complicated feelings it’s best not give too much oxygen to about guests requesting two starches)

 

Making Mac and cheese with oldest son, sweet potato with the youngest son and two cranberry sauces.

 

Probably going to do Copes creamed corn with the leftovers.   We do a brunch for 25 on one of the mornings following the Thanksgiving before everyone goes home

[Alex]

1 hour ago, Dr. Teeth said:

I have complicated feelings it’s best not give too much oxygen to about guests requesting two starches

 

Ms Alex *requires* two starches for Tg. This year it'll be cornbread and chestnut dressing and mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup and bourbon. There'll also be a spatchcocked local turkey (no, not the one that's been visiting our back yard), browned Brussels sprouts with dill, and cranberry-apple chutney. The next day will be leftover turkey with a pipian rojo, buttered carrots, rice pilaf or leftover dressing, and a green veg tbd.

 

Edited November 24 by Alex
to add info (log)

[Dr. Teeth]

15 minutes ago, Alex said:

 

Ms Alex *requires* two starches for Tg. This year it'll be cornbread and chestnut dressing and mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup and bourbon. There'll also be a spatchcocked local turkey (no, not the one that's been visiting our back yard), browned Brussels sprouts with dill, and cranberry-apple chutney. The next day will be leftover turkey with a pipian rojo, buttered carrots, rice pilaf or leftover dressing, and a green veg tbd.

 

It’s not about there being two starches, it’s about guests choosing two starches on the menu, and frankly not from a list of choices.   But as I said, it’s best for me not to give my annoyance any oxygen.   Both your starches sound great.

[YvetteMT]

45 minutes ago, Dr. Teeth said:

It’s not about there being two starches, it’s about guests choosing two starches on the menu, and frankly not from a list of choices.   But as I said, it’s best for me not to give my annoyance any oxygen.   Both your starches sound great.

I feel quite the same about holiday meals, be grateful to have a seat at the table. I ask guests what they are allergic to, hate, love. aside from that, they can make their own meal in their own house if they want to dictate whats on the table.

[TdeV]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

Ms Alex *requires* two starches for Tg. This year it'll be cornbread and chestnut dressing and mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup and bourbon. There'll also be a spatchcocked local turkey (no, not the one that's been visiting our back yard), browned Brussels sprouts with dill, and cranberry-apple chutney. The next day will be leftover turkey with a pipian rojo, buttered carrots, rice pilaf or leftover dressing, and a green veg tbd.

 

Sounds lovely. Could you give a recipe for that chestnut dressing?

[Katie Meadow]

I always thought starch was the point. At least for my in-laws, TG has been a communal affair:  During peak years, when there were three teenage boys at the table, it seemed like there was nothing BUT starch. Mashed potatoes, (which resembled warm cement or simply pavement, depending upon which teenage boy made them), baked yams, chestnut bread stuffing, a wild rice casserole, sliced bread and five pies. And, since at least half the table were vegetarians, always a veg entree that typically relied on pasta and cheese. Yes, there might be stringbeans and salad put together haphazardly. When my FIL was alive he was responsible for a weird cranberry jello salad that he made dutifully from the same 1950's Sunset Magazine recipe year after year. It was a godawful logroll of canned and powdered products, so I always made a fresh cranberry relish. Sometime during the late 20th century my MIL ceded the job of turkey and stuffing  to my husband and me. Clockwork now.

 

During the past decade the testosterone has dropped due to some timely and untimely demises and the fact that the boys are scattered about the country, my daughter and her family stay in Atlanta, and my niece has often been the only young person. This year she and her partner have invited two friends, so there will be four energized twenty-somethings. I'm told the friends like to cook, so fingers crossed for some good surprises. I've now ceded the turkey entirely to my husband (I can't overstate the benefits of marrying a younger man!) and now my only job (praise be) is my mother's raw cranberry and orange relish which I can't even eat anymore. And yes, the recipe came straight off the the old Ocean Spray package. 

 

 

 

[TdeV]

@Katie Meadow, sounds like a blast. Could you please tell me about the chestnut bread stuffing?

 

(Can you tell I have a gift of chestnuts to use? 🙃)

 

[Alex]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

 

Sounds lovely. Could you give a recipe for that chestnut dressing?

 

I usually use some sort of gluten-free bread and often add chestnuts. (I buy 1# packages of peeled, frozen, and vac-packed Michigan chestnuts.) I intended to deal with some gluten this year and make Melissa Clark's Brioche Chestnut Stuffing,  more or less, using challah. However, I forgot to go out yesterday and buy a loaf, so I'm going to sub in cornbread (Bob's Red Mill g-f mix) that I'll make today, then forego the oven-browning step on Thursday.

[Alex]

4 hours ago, TdeV said:

Can you tell I have a gift of chestnuts to use?

 

Over Tg weekend, to accompany warmed leftover turkey, I love making risotto with turkey stock, adding chestnuts, sautéed (reconstituted dried) morels, and parm-reg. Some filtered mushroom soaking liquid is good to add to the stock, too.  

 

Edited November 24 by Alex
to add info (log)

[Katie Meadow]

15 hours ago, TdeV said:

@Katie Meadow, sounds like a blast. Could you please tell me about the chestnut bread stuffing?

 

(Can you tell I have a gift of chestnuts to use? 🙃)

 

I can't tell you much, I'm not sure a recipe ever existed. The chestnuts are a major pain and we prepped them a day ahead. Make crosses on the flat side (use a very sharp pointy knife and take care not to cut off your fingers), throw in boiling water for 15 minutes. Grab with a towel before each is cool and peel off the husk. The rest is basic: sauté onion and celery in a stick or two of butter. Add a forklift of dry croutons. At some point add lot of salt and pepper, and a blizzard of fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, then a couple or three cubed tart apples. Oh, my quantities are for stuffing a large turkey plus roasting a panful of dressing separately for the vegetarians. The fresh herbs were like the song says;. It was the only way I could remember which ones to put in.  Memory tells me needed to add just a bit of moisture to it. My husband and I abandoned stuffing and dressing years ago when we realized we were the most enthusiastic about it anyway. Always be simplifying. It was pretty good, though, with gravy.

[chromedome]

On 11/24/2024 at 8:28 AM, Dr. Teeth said:

A smoked turkey, having switched from a roasted turkey to ham and then a smoked turkey following a badly timed stove death a few years back, I’m never going back to roast or fried turkey.

 

Wife’s niece requested mashed potato and then asked to make a stuffing as well (I have complicated feelings it’s best not give too much oxygen to about guests requesting two starches)

 

Making Mac and cheese with oldest son, sweet potato with the youngest son and two cranberry sauces.

 

Probably going to do Copes creamed corn with the leftovers.   We do a brunch for 25 on one of the mornings following the Thanksgiving before everyone goes home

Mac & cheese and sweet potato are also starches, no?

[Dr. Teeth]

11 hours ago, chromedome said:

Mac & cheese and sweet potato are also starches, no?

I don’t consider my children to be guests.

[chromedome]

9 minutes ago, Dr. Teeth said:

I don’t consider my children to be guests.

Ah, now I get it. I thought it was the cumulative carb count you'd objected to, not the "special requests" aspect. Disregard previous communication...

[haresfur]

On 11/23/2024 at 5:50 AM, C. sapidus said:

Only 7 this year so we will go traditional. Mrs. C makes the proteins - probably a small turkey / capon / big chicken, plus nephew's favorite salmon with a soy-maple glaze. House guest used to own a bakery shop, so she will be doing mashed potatoes and desserts. I'll make my usual vegetables: bourbon sweet potatoes with orange sauce, creamy braised Brussels sprouts, and green bean salad. Maybe something else, we shall see if inspiration strikes.

 

Our main family get-together will be between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that will have more people and fewer tradition-based constraints. The only sure thing will be palak paneer for vegetarian sis. Probably make my own paneer again.

 

My vegetarian sister's tradition is to cook Indian for Christmas. I can get on board with that. Is making paneer difficult?

[C. sapidus]

8 hours ago, haresfur said:

 

My vegetarian sister's tradition is to cook Indian for Christmas. I can get on board with that. Is making paneer difficult?

 

Time consuming but not difficult, and best to start a day ahead. I use Julie Sahni's recipe from 'Classic Indian Cooking'. Bring milk to a boil and add acid (lemon juice, yogurt, vinegar) until the curds barely start to separate. Line a colander with cheesecloth, drain the curds, and rinse gently with cold water to remove the souring agent. Tie up the cheesecloth, twist the knot to extract as much water as possible, and then hang the cheesecloth to drain for an hour or two.

 

To press the crumbly curds together, put the curds (still in the cheesecloth) on a flat surface and weight down with a large pot of water for 30 minutes or so. Do not skimp on this step - my first batch fell apart. When the paneer is a solid mass, remove the cheesecloth and then cut into neat rectangles with a sharp knife. Should keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

 

Apparently the traditional way to separate curds is to use the whey from a previous batch of paneer. I have not tried this because a batch of paneer usually lasts several meals.

 

But if you can find good paneer at an international market . . .

[gulfporter]

Just the 2 of us.  Mi esposo made Jamaican chicken; my side was sweet potato mash with sauteed apple/onions/ and chipotle.  He made a weird 2 ingredient pumpkin creme brulee (it worked, mostly) and I did an Apple Cardamom Walnut Crumble Pie that is 90% crumble.

 

 

[gfweb]

So we went out for TG dinner since nobody was in town to cook for.  At the Hotel duPont resto, Le Caviliere, a swank joint that was doing a special TG dinner.

 

I asked the waiter if the turkey would be overcooked.  "Oh no sir, Chef sous vides it"

 

Perhaps he did, but then it must've gone in a warming oven at 170 F or so because it was sawdust.

 

The onion soup and foie were good though.  🙄