Ethnic Thanksgiving

[Suzanne F]

LynDel, I want to come to YOUR house for T'Day!

[cakewalk]

Oh, come on, you KNOW that's an invitation to ask.    If not here, then on some other board, but do tell us what that's all about, pretty please????? 

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Well, we lived in an apartment building that was across the street from a chicken store ("fresh killed chickens and turkeys"), which was sandwiched between the tailor and the grocer. The chicken lady was the owner (and only person I ever saw) of the store. On nice days she would sit outside the shop (a tiny little place) on a wooden crate, catching some rays in between plucking and chopping up chickens.

Anyway, this is how my mother ordered her chickens: she would open the window in my bedroom (we were on the third floor) that faced the chicken lady's shop, and she would yell, "Sylvia! Sylvia!" And the chicken lady (who was called Sylvia only, and I mean only, when my mother was yelling out the window), whether she was sitting outside or was inside the shop, would look up at my mother in the window. My mother's order rarely varied: "cut me a chicken into eighths!" The chicken lady would nod, and my mother would close the window.

Later in the afternoon I was usually sent down to get the chicken. And it always went like this: I would walk into the store and the chicken lady would say, "oh, I have the chicken for your mother. But I know your little brother likes chicken livers, so wait here, I get you another liver." At which point she would disappear into the back of the store with her hatchet (I kid you not), and I would hear "whack, whack, whack!" and then she would reappear with a fresh liver jiggling on a piece of white butcher paper, which she would wrap up and add to the bag with the chicken cut up into eighths. And I would take it and go home.

And on Thanksgiving, even though my other made a turkey, the chicken lady would still give me a chicken liver. So we still had chopped liver.

And many years later, when my family had moved to the suburbs and my little brother was in middle school, he became friendly with one of the kids in his class. And it turned out (again, I kid you not) that the kid was the chicken lady's grandson.

[sandra]

I love that response! Beautiful...

But you seem to have taken the New World back to the Old ...for there you are, writing from Merrie Olde England.

Will you be spending Thanksgiving there? If so,will it affect the foods you serve in any way at all due to lack of certain ingredients or substitutions of other ingredients in any baked goods you buy that would alter the 'usual' way you would do it at home?

And I am also very curious to know your own specific menu...I am sure it will be seasoned differently from, say, the New England or Southeastern Thanksgiving dinner...

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Well, we have been living here almost 10 years, and every year we have a BIG (20-25 people) Thanksgiving dinner which, again, is "ethnic" here!

We have the roast turkey, stuffing, mash, yams with marshmallows, green bean casserole, but not the one with the soup, another one with sour cream and loads of cheese... cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, etc...

I can find everything here, the only issue is having to order a turkey, as they ususally don't eat them here until x-mas, but, the order is in for a 30 lb bird, and all is well -

So that is our "ethnic" thanksgiving...

[Swisskaese]

When I lived in Lugano, I went to Riva di Garda for an Italian cooking course. It just happened to be the weekend of Thanksgiving. There happened to be a number of Americans from the US Army base in Heidelberg attending this cooking course, so the chef decided to prepare a special thanksgiving meal.

We had:

Turkey cutlets with a berry sauce

Ravioli di Succo (Pumpkin ravioli)

I don't remember the rest of the meal because I was drunk on the most amazing wine.

It was very nice.

Now that I live in Israel and live with a Brit, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Who knows, I might serve Turkey shishlik with pomegranate sauce and pumpkin baklawa.

However, there are a number of Americans that celebrate Thanksgiving here with all of the trimmings.

My favourite dishes from my parent's thanksgiving dinner was Alberta's cornbread dressing, my father's homemade cranberry sauce and North Carolina Yam Custard.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Actually I am a classic, purist admirer of the all American Thanksgiving .. nothing ethnic at all ... not a kugel nor a knish nor schmaltz will cross my palate on this sacred day ...

But, that said, if I was really pumped about doing something more theatrical, I would order this:

kosher turduckens from Rego Park

[NulloModo]

Thanksgiving is usually pretty big around my family.

My father and mother are from the midwest/deep south so we always have lots of traditional American fare:

The turkey (always has to be brought to the table whole for appearance sake)

Candied Yam casserole with marshmellows and nuts on top

Collard Greens

Squash casserole with fried onions atop

Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce

Souther style Green Beans

Corn Bread

Yeast Rolls

Devilled Eggs

Pumpkin Pie

Applie pie served up with cheddar cheese on top

We would always invite our neighbors family as well, the father was from Spokane, but was a geologist and had travelled the world and would always bring something interesting. The mother was born and raised in Brazil, so they would always bring:

Oyster Stuffing

Feijoada

Some roasted meats

Bossanova (a Brazilian ice cream/condensed milk/carmel dish)

Some sort of rice dish with south american flare

Our other neighbor was an elderly lady from the Chesapeake Bay area, so she would in turn bring seafood dishes, often more oyster stuffing, and occasaionally an MD style stuffed ham. If she wasn't bringing her ham my father would cook his own to go along with the turkey.

[babyprof]

Thanksgiving is usually pretty big around my family.

We would always invite our neighbors family as well, the father was from Spokane, but was a geologist and had travelled the world and would always bring something interesting.  The mother was born and raised in Brazil, so they would always bring:

Oyster Stuffing

Feijoada 

Some roasted meats

Bossanova (a Brazilian ice cream/condensed milk/carmel dish)

Some sort of rice dish with south american flare

Speaking of rice dishes, I'm half Puerto-Rican, and we always had the traditional rice with gandules along with our "traditional" american spread.

[Suzanne F]

Cakewalk and GG, thank you both for sharing your stories. And sources.

[Toliver]

I forgot to mention in my previous post that we also have a "Chilehead" Thanksgiving, thanks to my oldest brother. He makes a batch of stuffing with diced jalapeños (that gets hotter and better the next day!) and something that he calls "Cajun Gravy" which is turkey gravy with hot peppers from my other brother's garden.

He is also responsible for injecting the turkey with a garlicky and spicy marinade as well as putting on a rub before deep frying it (my mom also oven roasts a "normal" turkey...and we invite enough people over so it all gets eaten!).

So, not really an "ethnic" Thanksgiving but a Chilehead Thanksgiving.

[srhcb]

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving!

"According to one Canadian resource, the Canadian table usually features venison and waterfowl. Another source says that turkey and ham is the featured food. Conversely, a third source adamantly stated that when he was young "wild duck/goose was always served for Thanksgiving and, if they were fortunate venison as well! This was a common practice in that area at that time."

SB (in honor of the occasion, DOES NOT make a joke about vinegar on French Fries)

[mamster]

Here's the article:

http://wine.msn.com/?article.aspx?tid=12&aid=62

Thanks again to everyone who helped out, and note that neither of the people in the stock photo is me or anyone I know.

[Swisskaese]

Here's the article:

http://wine.msn.com/?article.aspx?tid=12&aid=62

Thanks again to everyone who helped out, and note that neither of the people in the stock photo is me or anyone I know.

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Nice article Matthew.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Giving Thanksgiving a Jewish Flavor

This article seems perfect for this topic, Mamster!

My sister-in-law stuffs Thanksgiving turkeys with a matzah ball mixture,” says Faye Levy, food columnist and author of 14 cookbooks ....her mother used to make noodle pudding on Thanksgiving. “Her Thanksgiving dinners were almost like Shabbat meals,” she says. One of Levy’s all-time favorite dishes is Thanksgiving potato kugel with asparagus. sweet potatoes, form them into patties and fry them. Just before serving, she’d melt a marshmallow on top of each patty. Proud of this recipe, her aunt also bestowed it with a name: “Thanksgiving Latkes.”  ...challah stuffing ....Thanksgiving tzimmes

A marvelous article indeed!

and then just today one more perfect article for this topic:

NYT article

Thanksgiving, which began as a party for immigrants, remains the most accessible American holiday for many newcomers. It requires no specific religious or political allegiance. Even if an immigrant is from a culture where whole roast turkey is never on the menu - and that is nearly everywhere except North America - most are willing to give it a try.......  that translates into a nation of cross-cultural Thanksgivings, where sticky rice stuffing edges out corn bread, and curry fights with gravy for dominance on overloaded plates.

[fifi]

This is a classic thread. If there is any evidence of the melting pot that the US is, this is it. I love it. We have all put our twists on the "traditional" feast, that is a fiction at best. What a wonderful happening. I have done tamale stuffed turkey... marvelous, by the way.