Best dish on the T-day table?

[jo-mel]

Except for the brined turkeys (2 small ones) that I've been doing for a couple of years, I have had the same menu that I've eaten since I was a kid. Traditional one that I am!

However, this year I changed the butternut squash from plain mashed, to Butternut Squash with Apples, that I found on-line. Nothing difficult or exotic or even 4* --- just tasty. It was great! Usually the crowd I have takes one little spoonful of the regular squash. This year they just about finished the dish. That recipe will now be my new tradition!

[bilrus]

After reading all these elaborate dishes I'm embarrased to say that my Mashed Potatoes were my highlight of the day. Nothing special - Potatoes through the ricer, a little cream a lot of butter and some salt.

But damn they were right - fluffy. And the potatoes basically held the butter together.

[Varmint]

Simple mashed potatoes always rock, Bill. I used buttermilk and cream in mine this year -- I like the slight tang the buttermilk offers.

[fifi]

At the end of the day after, I have an observation regarding the post mortem on turkey day as represented on this thread and the thread in Special Occasions here, where various "disasters" are recounted.

There are a lot of stories of successes and "challenges". It appears that by far, most were met with good humor and a real sense of sharing that is the most basic part of communion with friends, family and miscellaneous acquaintenances. I was cheered to see that there was very little of the "worst meal ever" discussions. There was a lot of joy in the sharing of good food and the effort to create it.

It looks like a lot of people had fun cooking, eating, and sharing the experience here. We developed recipes, lamented turkey amputees, worked on frying turkey without damage to body or abode, and continued the unending quest for the perfect bird. I just think that is kinda cool.

As this is my first T-day here, I just want to thank everyone for an enjoyable experience.

Now we get to start all over on Christmas.

[Fat Guy]

I experienced an embarrassment of riches in terms of food-quality this Thanksgiving, but I can say with confidence that the best dish on the table -- and indeed on any Thanksgiving table this century -- was the cake my older sister made this year.

The cake itself -- chocolate cake with chocolate frosting -- was executed with competence. The decoration, however, was definitive: a satirical diorama of the arrival of the Pilgrims on our shores.

The cake depicted, on the right, a blue and white sea with Swedish fish swimming in it. The pilgrims were white marshmallow peeps in chocolate boats with masts made from popsicle sticks. Each mast had the name of a ship (e.g., "Mayflower") written on it.

On the left, little dark chocolate Native Americans stood watching the arrival of the Pilgrims. And towering over them was a gigantic chocolate turkey, watching the scene unfold, and understanding more so than any of the humans that a way of life was about to end and the dawn of a new era was being witnessed.

Edited to add: the Native Americans' headdresses were fashioned from the tips of multicolored frilly sandwich-toothpicks.

[ExtraMSG]

I didn't participate in the food-making this year. But a hit this year was a butternut squash soup garnished with a tasty basil pesto.

[mrsadm]

This year I tried a recipe from Saveur Cooks holiday magazine - a cornbread and sausage stuffing. Everyone at my house found it very delicious. The recipe is here:

http://www.saveur.com/article.jsp?ID=15826&typeID=120

[Susan in FL]

I am really enjoying this thread, too. It may be my favorite since I signed up here. Yum, some great sounding foods!

I agree, mashed potatoes do always rock.

"That is... interesting." LOL... my husband's version of that when he's not crazy over something I cook is "This is quite different."

Seth, did you make your gravlax? My homemade gravlax is one of our favorite starters.

Al_Dente, thanks for telling us how the Pea Soup with Toasted Cumin was made. That sounds good.

Baked Alaska with fresh raspberries! Yes!

K, congratulations on your very first oyster, and cucumber granita on it. You started out in style!

[Cusina]

Holy Giant looming turkey batman!

[johnjohn]

I think I had two winners this year. The mashed potatoes with parsnips that got put through my new ricer and than drenched in cream and butter, as well as, my gravy that I used apple cider to deglaze the roasting pan with both got rave reviews.

johnjohn

[Huevos del Toro]

Sweet Potato Soufflé

I didn't think it would be as light as it turned out because it didn't use whipped egg whites, carefully folded in. It used whole eggs and I didn't have a stand mixer to use so did the whipping by hand with a whisk. I was surprised at the lightness. Oh yes, because of time constraints I used the microwave to cook the sweet potatoes (4 min. per potato). They came out perfect but I did have to cool them on a rack before I could handle the molten lava!

I chose this dish because I'm not a fan of "sweet" sweet potatoes.

[tanabutler]

I was drafted by my friends to make the turkey for thirty people: they said if I'd cook, they would buy everything. I made my favorite recipe, which I've done every year since it appeared on the cover of the November, 1994 Bon Appétit magazine: Roasted Turkey with Herb Crust and Shiitake Mushroom Gravy. This year I did not stuff the bird, as I was afraid Alton Brown would crawl into my bedroom and night and strangle me with rubber gloves. (Seriously. The guy scared me to death with his anti-stuffing rant.)

I made extra gravy, and a full half-gallon was consumed by everyone, even my friend who hates mushrooms. I also made cranberry sauce with raspberry vinegar, and it came out tangily tart.

It was the largest bird I've done, by a pound or so. It came out moist, tender and aromatic—and the herb crust is very beautiful. Mmmmmm. The leftover carcass is right now being turned into soup.

I wish I had taken a picture of the worst dessert I've ever seen. It was a tofu pie (vegan, to add insult to injury—I've had chocolate tofu pies that were great). It looked like wet cement mixed with dirty dish water, topped with snippets of dried fruit. WHAT IS THE POINT?!

[stevea]

For me it was the home made pita bread, from the recipe in Crust and Crumb. It was easy to make, with kneading and rising done the day before. Plus it was an impressive show with me multitasking rolling out the dough, drinking champagne, spritzing the oven tiles, drinking champagne, talking to the guests, throwing some dough on the stones, drinking champagne, pulling out perfectly puffed pitas to oohs and ahhs, drinking champagne, starting over again with the next set.

[docsconz]

I ate a great Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's house. Although I didn't cook a thing (my wife did a few dishes) I did supply some of the wine. There were a number of outstanding dishes. I have never had a better turkey or stuffing. The corn pudding was outstanding and the cranberry relish and chutneys were superb. To me, however, the most outstanding dish was roasted parsnip "sticks" with orange zest. These were simply marvellous.

Desserts were pretty decent too. My wife made superb pumpkin cheesecake and cranberry orange pie and there was a great apple pie as well. I'm happy to say there were no disasters.

[slkinsey]

It seems to be a split decision as to what people liked the best:

Kathleen loved the raw oysters with cucumber granita.

A few liked the pureed cauliflower soup with seared scallop and curry oil the best.

Others liked the turkey two ways with cornbread dressing, foie gras and black truffle carpaccio the best.

Me...? Hard to say. When you're the cook, I think you lose a little perspective. I was just happy to see every course get onto the table, and I felt that each one was equally successful in it own way. The only think I'd change is that the toasted corn/stilton souffles didn't have as much stilton flavor as I might have liked (bigger chunks next time?) and had a texture more like airy, puffy cornbread than eggy souffle. They were good, but not exactly what I was going for.

[SethG]

Seth, did you make your gravlax? My homemade gravlax is one of our favorite starters.

I did make it, from a recipe in Anthony Dias Blue's Thanksgiving Dinner. I also considered a Julia Child version that (naturally) had some booze in it, but ultimately went with the simpler version.

[elyse]

Fat Guy, you have no pictures of this cake? What happened?

[tanabutler]

Kathleen loved the raw oysters with cucumber granita.

Ooooh, does that sound good

[MichaelB]

I have to admit that it was one I did on the fly. My wife and I were at my parents with 20 other family members.

Early in the afternoon, my mother walks up to me with a pound of jumbo lump crab and asks if there is anything that I could make with it "to snack on."

I rooted around in the fridge for a minute and came up with the following canape:

Slice a baguette very thin, sprinkle with salt, pepper and EVOO. Toast in the oven.

Mix together crab, minced shallot, diced apple, lime juice, salt and pepper; bind with a bit of sour cream (I would have preferred creme fraiche).

Mound a bit on toasts and serve.

[Fat Guy]

Fat Guy, you have no pictures of this cake? What happened?

My cousin handled the photography. Eventually the photos will filter back to me and I'll post one.

[Suzanne F]

Kathleen loved the raw oysters with cucumber granita.

Ooooh, does that sound good

I've had that at rm -- topped with a little caviar -- and yes, it IS good.

Fat Guy, because your description is so full of detail -- I've gotta see that cake.

Nothing substantive to add to this thread: we ate out. So for us, the best part was being with friends. ALWAYS the best part of a meal, IMO. Especially when they're eGullet friends.

[woodburner]

By far and away, sweet potatoes with plantains, dashed and dotted with cinnamon and butter.

woodburner

[KateW]

For some reason my mom's friend hadn't planned to make gravy or something because we got down to the last minute and she suddenly exclaimed, "Who knows how to make gravy???" Either that or it was a coy plan to get me to make it, even though I know my mom must know how. She didn't say anything, so I shyly raised my hand. I had never really made gravy before but of course had a good grasp on how to do it, and had lots of juices from the turkey, fresh out of the oven. It came out pretty well.

We had stuffing which was cooked inside the turkey, but I've eaten more dangerous things, so I wasn't too worried. My dip went over well, mom had made liverwurst pate, also very good, someone brought skewered sausage, cheese and home made bread-and-butter pickles (interesting), and there was an interesting fresh cranberry-rosemary drink spiked with vodka and garnished with a rosemary sprig.

The main meal was the turkey, which I think was the best I'd ever had, mashed potatoes, also really good, spiced tiny pears home made by the same person who made the pickles, green beans with almonds, and pillsbury rolls. It was all really good. Oh, and a cranberry relish that just seemed to be made with finely diced cranberries. It was good though. Dessert was a pecan pie my mom made (excellent) and a interesting pumpkin ice cream. I'm not sure if I liked that or not.

A bit off topic, but the next night we went to Il Capriccio in Waltham Mass and had one of the best meals ever. (drool)

[woodburner]

The oyster and andouille stuffing was a big hit,

Sure sounds good. Care to give it up?

I have a local source for andouille here is upstate NY, but it is not authentic by any stretch.

Funny how some sausages can be so regional in this country. Red Hots in Syracuse, Hot Links in Texas, Andouille in LA, etc.

woodburner

[Suzanne F]

there was an interesting fresh cranberry-rosemary drink spiked with vodka and garnished with a rosemary sprig.

Oh?? Sounds good to me. Any details available??