Thanksgiving Menus 2002–2011: The Topic

[NewYorkTexan]

The menu is still evolving, but here is the initial draft:

Start with a plated arugula and orange salad with parmesan pecans and black fig vinaigrette. I will top the salad with the incredible micro greens I found at the farmers market. (if you live in Austin, you gotta visit those guys from Bella Verdi Farms at the Westlake market)

served with cranberry royales (kinda like kir royales but you know...)

on the buffet....

A Smoked Turkey from the Greenbergs (this family run farm in Tyler makes the best smoked turkey, period)

A deep fried turkey

earl grey tea & lemon gravy

roasted and spiced baby carrots

fresh cranberry salsa

mashed yams with bourbon and marshmallows (boring I know, but need to include to maintain a healthy marriage)

roasted broccoli with Ancho butter

serving with 2000 Kunin Santa Maria Syrah

apple pie

biscotti (I will make 2 kinds, raisan hazelnut and cinamon black pepper)

another dessert that I have not figured out yet

served with a 1997 Tobin James Charisma, a dessert zinfandel from paso robles

friends will be bringing stuffing, sweet cranberry sauce and other sides.

[Curlz]

There is a VERY funny article about T-Day in yesterday's Washington Post...by Dave Barry. Here's the link. ENJOY!

[Basilgirl]

Our first Thanksgiving after losing my father in September, so Mom wants to start a new tradition and she will eat with her friends at the retirement home.

That said, I plan on a very simple T'giving for my boyfriend and me, and maybe his 11-year-old son - just roasted turkey (too big to fit in my Set It and Forget It ), corn pudding, stuffing made with Martin's potato bread cubes, with tons of butter and sage sausage, roasted green beans, chocolate pecan pie.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

[foolcontrol]

I have already purchased everything. I am using fresh pumpkins for all of the pumpkin dishes.

Starter (to hold them over until the food is finished):

Pumpkin Soup with Curried Pumpkin Seeds served with large baguette croutons with roquefort or chivre as the side.

Main Meal:

Pumpkin Gratin

Roasted Garlic and Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

Homemade Mushroom Demiglace for Gravy

Asparagus Gratin - butter braised asparagus put into a gratin and topped with pancetta and then hollandaise and then broiled.

Mushroom and Pecan Tart Tatin

Honey and Lavender Roasted Shallots

Haricot Vert

Liver Rich Dressing

Cornbread Dressing

Greenberg Smoked Turkey - I was going to cook a turkey I bought yesterday and then saw an earlier post and ordered one this morning. I have heard they are good. I also need the oven availability.

Homemade Sour Dough Rolls.

Dessert:

Homemade Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Homemade Pecan Pie

Homemade Sweet Potato, Maple, Pecan Pie

Homemade Blueberry, Cranberry and Orange Pie

For the last dessert either: Pumpkin Creme Brulee, Pumpkin Pie or Bittersweet Chocolate Souffles. I am leaning toward the pumpkin creme brulee.

[suzilightning]

the portugese sweet bread is set for it's rise. will do the oatmeal later this afternoon and bake it off tomorrow morning.

the turkey breasts are defrosting in the fridge.

tomorrow night i will bake off a strusel cake and a cranberry nut loaf.

thursday am - green bean casserole and turkey breasts. pack all this up and ship it off with johnnybird to poughkeepsie.

i'm thinking of lasagna for myself with a winter green salad and a chianti classico.

[bilrus]

I've already posted this elsewhere, but I am just cooking for my wife and myself this year, so its going to be be fairly limited:

Some sort of Mushroom soup as a starter (I just decided on this about 10 minutes ago)

Turkey breast with bread salad based on the Zuni Cafe chicken recipe

Cranberry salsa (Don't know where this recipe came from)

Pumpkin Ice cream from the Inn at Little Washington cookbook

This all looks so easy after making all the traditional side dishes for us and another (half vegetarian) couple last year. I'm excited.

[Cook456]

Snack'ums: NY Bar Nuts, cheeses (borenkaas, a blue, real port salut, cotswold), homemade anise-seed flatbreads,  dried figs, etc.

Oysters and champagne.

Tomato aspic with homemade mayonnaise.

Cauliflower soup with curry oil.

Roasted Garlicky Asparagus.

Puree of sweet potatoes with cumin and maple syrup.

Pan roasted baby brussel sprouts and shallots.

3 Onion tart.

Cornbread Dressing.

Brined Roasted Turkey.

Cranberry sauce with orange and port.

Cloverleaf dinner rolls.

Pecan pie (from Texas)

Tarte Tatin

Chocolate petit fours.

wines as yet undetermined, though a gewurztraminer, riesling, and pinot noir are sitting idly by...

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Your 3 onion tart reminded me of last year's leek, prosciutto and gryuere tart made with puff pastry. It was yummy. Is this the first time for the cranberry sauce with Port? I've made that too, and it was enjoyable.

[Cook456]

I have already purchased everything.  I am using fresh pumpkins for all of the pumpkin dishes.

Starter (to hold them over until the food is finished):

Pumpkin Soup with Curried Pumpkin Seeds served with large baguette croutons with roquefort or chivre as the side. 

Main Meal:

Pumpkin Gratin

Roasted Garlic and Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

Homemade Mushroom Demiglace for Gravy

Asparagus Gratin - butter braised asparagus put into a gratin and topped with pancetta and then hollandaise and then broiled.

Mushroom and Pecan Tart Tatin

Honey and Lavender Roasted Shallots

Haricot Vert

Liver Rich Dressing

Cornbread Dressing

Greenberg Smoked Turkey - I was going to cook a turkey I bought yesterday and then saw an earlier post and ordered one this morning.  I have heard they are good.  I also need the oven availability.

Homemade Sour Dough Rolls.

Dessert:

Homemade Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Homemade Pecan Pie

Homemade Sweet Potato, Maple, Pecan Pie

Homemade Blueberry, Cranberry and Orange Pie

For the last dessert either:  Pumpkin Creme Brulee, Pumpkin Pie or Bittersweet Chocolate Souffles.  I am leaning toward the pumpkin creme brulee.

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The honey and Lavender roasted shallots sound devine. Would you e-mail me the recipe?

[Stone]

I'm smoking two turkey breasts and a corned beef.

[Cook456]

Oh....I've added another dessert:

Roasted Pears with Hazelnut Syrup with Candied Hazelnuts.

[sparrowgrass]

Can I come over for leftovers?

Twas the night of Thanksgiving,

But I just couldn't sleep,

I tried counting backwards,

I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned--

The dark meat and light,

But I fought the temptaion

With all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation,

The thought of a snack became infatuation.

So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door

And gazed at the fridge,

Full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,

Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,

Till, all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed thru the ceiling, floating into the sky,

With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.

But, I managed to yell, as I soared past the trees

HAPPY EATING TO ALL--Pass the cranberries, please.

May your stuffing be tasty,

may your turkey be plump.

May your taters and gravy have nary a lump.

May your yams be delcious, may your pies take the prize,

And may your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs!

Have a good holiday.

[Pan]

I went uptown to my parents' apartment for a 3-person Thanksgiving (we spoke with my brother in SF over the phone). My father cooked. He made pheasant, using a James Beard recipe from the Fowl and Game Cookbook. The sauce included Muscatel, lemon zest, and almonds, and was very nice. We had some over rice. (No stuffing.) The side dish was an Indian cauliflower recipe, which included garlic and ginger. It went with the Beard recipe and the combination of the two dishes at the same meal represented a kind of fusion meal which somehow seemed very American to me. For dessert, I brought some nut and apple strudels from my local kosher bakery, Moishe's, which was open on Thanksgiving, and I also had some fresh but already-sliced pineapple. The beverage with the meal was fizzy Apollinaris water with pure unsweetened pineapple juice. It was a pleasant dinner and it was nice to share it, except for the fact that all three of us are in more or less iffy health, essentially in different stages of colds. I compensated for not cooking or washing anything by installing new DVD-R drives in both my parents' computers and installing DVD-making software.

[NewYorkTexan]

Thought I would follow up with pictures from T-Day. Foodie52 and her husband joined us along with my parents in from Queens

The menu (it would help if I zoomed in so you could read the menu)

The table setting

one of the birds coming out of the fryer

Plated salad of arugula and oranges with Parmesan pecans topped with micro greens from the farmers market. It was served with a black fig vinaigrette.

The buffet spread

The fried turkey carved. I brined and injected it with a spicy compound butter

The smoked turkey from Greenberg

spiced and roasted baby carrots.

roasted broccoli with Ancho butter

fresh cranberry orange salsa

Foodie52 broght this wonderful tamale stuffing in a pumpkin

Foodie52 also brought a traditional cranberry sauce

smashed yams with bourbon and marshmallows….Yes I know, I left them under the broiler too long and they became slightly “over-caramelized”

Apple pie with raisins, soaking the raisins in Cointreau really helped. I served it with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream.

2 kinds of biscotti , raisin hazelnut and cinnamon black pepper. The small dark things are roasted cacao beans covered in fine chocolate and cocoa powder.

our dog marshamollow relaxing after a big day.....

[KatieLoeb]

Wow. Everyone's feasts look and sound absolutely delicious. Here's what I had at the home of good friends:

Before dinner:

Cranberry Bellinis (I made these)

Assorted Cheeses and Pates

Cucumber cups stuffed with Smoked Salmon, Sour Cream and Salmon Caviar

For dinner:

Composed mixed green salad with Frisee, Watercress and assorted baby Greens, Bosc Pears and Shaved Parmesan with Mustard Vinaigrette.

Roast Turkey

Oyster Stuffing topped with fried oysters

Sausage Stuffing

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Grand Marnier Cranberry-Orange Sauce (i made this)

Garlic Green Beans

For Dessert:

Asian Pear-Cranberry Cobbler (I "commissioned" this and brought it. It was delicious!)

I'm still full! Everything was very good. Especially my seven year old nephew insisting we stand up before dinner and talk about what we were thankful for. It was very sweet and reminded me what a truly remarkable child he is. I'm thankful for that.

[M. Lucia]

Cook 456: It is the 2nd year for the cranberries with port and orange and it came out even better this year. I just like a subtle flavoring.

My friend makes the onion tart and it is more like a pie with shallots, leeks, and vidalias with gruyere and another cheese and barely any crust.

The menu had some last minute alterations, including real country ham with Marshall's biscuits and a chess pie (hooray for the south).

[Allura]

Thanksgiving was at my mom's, for 11 people. Somewhat boring but still good, although I try to bring something "unusual" each year (mushrooms & the sweet potato cake this year). Mom might finally be ready to try real cranberry sauce next year - up till now, it's been can-shaped . So, we had:

Flounder bisque

Roasted turkey

sausage dressing

raisin dressing

mashed potatoes

mashed sweet potatoes w/ marshmellows

broccolli w/ cheese sauce

green bean casserole, but with fresh green beans, which makes it pretty good

asparagus

the afore-mentioned can-shaped cranberry sauce

rolls

wild mushrooms w/ chestnuts & thyme - rich, but a hit

fruit - apples, oranges, pears, bananas, tangerines

nuts - chestnuts, almonds, peanuts, walnuts - the walnuts prompted a show of machoism from the guys

eggnog

pumpkin pie

pecan pie

mincemeat pie

apple crisp - which was forgotten in the oven (thankfully, just on "low) but that just meant more leftovers

plain cheesecake

pumpkin cheesecake

rice pudding

Spiced sweet potato cake w/ brown sugar icing

Naps

[Rehovot]

This was the first Thanksgiving I've attempted to do the production myself; since we're not living in the U.S., and I'm not married to an American, I enjoyed a lot of poetic license with the menu.....

We had.......

Turkey cutlets w/ orange sauce (had to nix the first sauce, cranberry reduction, when I screwed up the measurements and it was puckery sweet-tart)

Mushroom strudel for the vegetarian

Cornbread stuffing w/ sage, toasted pecans, golden raisins, celery, onion, etc. (Why are we having stuffing if we're not actually *stuffing* anything?, asked my husband.)

Fresh green beans w/ rosemary, garlic, and lemon gremolata

Sweet-potato and apple scallop

Orange and cranberry cake

No pumpkin pie! Couldn't find pumpkin, tho' I looked high and low. No mashed potatoes, either.......that would have been too much. We're still "urp"ing, as it is..........

Guests brought great Israeli wine and a bouquet of flowers the size of a Buick.

Good stories, good food. Hope y'all had a great day, too.

[spaghetttti]

Cornbread stuffing w/ sage, toasted pecans, golden raisins, celery, onion, etc. (Why are we having stuffing if we're not actually *stuffing* anything?, asked my husband.)

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Congratulations on your first solo flight into Thanksgivingdom, Rehovot! Your menu sounds absolutely delicious! We went through a similar discussion since we weren't stuffing our turkey either, and settled on calling it dressing.

Edited November 28, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[spaghetttti]

David, what a spectacular feast! Thank you for sharing your photos.

All the food looks great, but somehow I love this photo so much, such an elegant touch!

The menu (it would help if I zoomed in so you could read the menu)

And this one of marshamollow is just too adorable!

our dog marshamollow relaxing after a big day.....

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Thanks again, you've inspired me!

[chow guy]

Thought I would follow up with pictures from T-Day. Foodie52 and her husband joined us along with my parents in from Queens

Thanks for the great shots of your feast, It all looks great. I'm curious about the deep frying of the turkey. Most folks I know that have tried it are sold and won't go back to roasting. Can you tell us how is was for you? Any other comments pro or con about deep frying would greatly be appreciated as well.

[Rehovot]

Congratulations on your first solo flight into Thanksgivingdom, Rehovot! Your menu sounds absolutely delicious! We went through a similar discussion since we weren't stuffing our turkey either, and settled on calling it dressing.

Thanks, Spaghetttti. I should've thought of that.

All the photos, descriptions on this thread are fantastic.

Let's do Thanksgiving again.......next week! Then I'll get to try all the stuff I couldn't, last week.

[Dr. Funk]

Rehovot - if you're looking for pumpkin, use any large dry-fleshed squash. Most commercial canned pumpkin is actually Blue Hubbard, but Banana or any of the Japanese varieties such as Kuri or Kabocha substitute equally well. Just cut it up and steam it and then mash.

[NewYorkTexan]

Thanks for the great shots of your feast, It all looks great. I'm curious about the deep frying of the turkey. Most folks I know that have tried it are sold and won't go back to roasting. Can you tell us how is was for you? Any other comments pro or con about deep frying would greatly be appreciated as well.

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I am a big fan of deep frying turkeys. The bird came out incredibly moist and flavorful. Comparing it to perhaps the finest smoked turkey you can buy, it was no contest, frying wins. The 11.75 pound bird took 33 minutes to cook and came out a perfect dark mahogany color.

Pro: flavor, moist meat (both white and dark meat were very moist) crispy skin and short cooking time.

Con: you need the outdoor space to set up the fryer and disposing of 5 gallons of oil afterwords.

In my case, I recycled the oil for the eGullet event and we deep fried oreos, pickles and peeps

[Chris Amirault]

Ka-BUMP.

I'm starting to stress out about Thanksgiving. I've scuttled my plans to replicate Sam Kinsey's mind-bending, awe-inspiring feast documented astonishingly in his foodblog. (Truth be told, I've scuttled those plans permanently, but it's nice to dream, isn't it?)

This year, I'm not just limited by the usual limitations (kitchen, mediocre skill and imagination, money... the list goes on). Because of a family matter, we're not going to be able to have Thanksgiving on, well, Thanksgiving. Instead, we're going to have it on Sat, 11/19. We've already ordered a free-range turkey from Ekonk Farms in Exeter RI (click and scroll down the alphabetical list), which I'll get the Th before to brine prior to the roast, and family insistence requires me to prepare the bird using this recipe from Gourmet a few years back. Finally, I'm working the entire week before, including a Fri early evening conference call (damned Californians!).

Basically, this means that I'll have to prepare most of the meal on Saturday. I think that my partner Andrea will be handling baking, but I'd like to try to think about some possibilities for interesting sides to go along with the more typical bird. Everything has to be prepped, cooked, and served on Saturday. Ideas? Commisseration?

[Kris]

My husband and I will probably be headed to my parent's house for Thanksgiving. But I always like to have my own meal at home for us to nosh on over the next day or two.

Rotisserie turkey breast

Bread dressing

Candied sweet potatoes

Mac & cheese

Collard greens

Cranberry sauce

Cornbread

I keep things rather simple since it's just me and hubby.

I'll probably bring a baked glazed ham and pumpkin soup for my parent's dinner though.