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What to Cook for Thanksgiving


Luckylies

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So this year I'm doing my thanksgiving bbq style. It will be a bit more rugged and not so primpy as it will be at my dads house. I'll be cooking:

BBQ Beef Brisket

BBQ pork shoulder

Deep fried Turkey

Bourbon glazed ham

Mashed potatoes

Seared brussel sprouts

Roasted beets w/ goat cheese

American style baked beans w/ lardo

coleslaw

Gravy

my bbq sauce

Stuffing; NOT APPLE, NOT CHESTNUT.

Sweet potato pie

Challah as sweet onion rolls.

Cannned cranberry jelly.

easy peasy pie.

What will you be making this year, as I'm prone to idea stealing.

does this come in pork?

My name's Emma Feigenbaum.

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So this year I'm doing my thanksgiving bbq style. It will be a bit more rugged and not so primpy as it will be at my dads house. I'll be cooking:

BBQ Beef Brisket

BBQ pork shoulder

Deep fried Turkey

Bourbon glazed ham

Mashed potatoes

Seared brussel sprouts

Roasted beets w/ goat cheese

American style baked beans w/ lardo

coleslaw

Gravy

my bbq sauce

Stuffing; NOT APPLE, NOT CHESTNUT.

Sweet potato pie

Challah as sweet onion rolls.

Cannned cranberry jelly.

easy peasy pie.

What will you be making this year, as I'm prone to idea stealing.

Hell, with that menu I might be prone to stealing, period! :biggrin:

"Fat is money." (Per a cracklings maker shown on Dirty Jobs.)
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A previous discussion:

"Thanksgiving Menus - The Topic, (merged topic)"

And, a little too late for Canadians:

"Canadian Thanksgiving, What's everyone cooking?"

edited to add:

For newer members, I can't recommend highly enough to go back and read the last three eGullet Thanksgiving blogs:

"Food Blog: GG Mora, Thanksgiving Week Follies in Vermont" - A New England Turkey Day

"Foodblog: slkinsey's Thanksgiving Week Diary" Spectacular - prepare to be blown away

"Foodblog: bleudauvergne" - Thanksgiving in France - wonderful photos from Lucy :wub:

Edited by Toliver (log)

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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Part of me wants to do a hypermodern Thanksgiving. But then part of me says I want to do what I usually do and go over the top with well-prepared classic dishes.

We shall see what pans out.

Needless to say Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

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i'm sending up to poughkeepsie this year:

turkey breast in gravy

green beans with garlic

the inevitable portugese sweet bread and oatmeal bread

black forest mousse pie

my mil will provide

country crock potatoes

bruces yams with brown sugar and butter

country crock macaroni and cheese

sara lee raspberry cheese cake

edward's key lime pie

i will eat whatever i feel like after i finish my hawk count

probably a nice burger with some salad

i have found since i am so busy at this time of year doing other things the food really isn't that important to me. it's in late december/ early january when the nesting - food thing is most important to me. when i have time to even think of anything other than a cheese sandwich for lunch -if that- and more importantly the time to spend on thinking about and creating the food for someone i love and want to share with

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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This will be my first Thanksgiving doing the cooking and I am still playing around with recipes and menus. Needless to say, I am VERY excited and a little nervous about cooking a turkey.

The newest Bon appetit has a stuffing with goat cheese, dried cranberries etc that I am making (i am a sucker for anything with goat cheese)

Peas with mint

That is about as far as I have gotten, still playing around with other ideas.

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I go to good friends in Philadelphia every Thanksgiving, so I don't cook dinner but I always make some things and bring them with me. Last year I (finally) made the recipe for Cranberry Ketchup I found somewhere quite a while ago (I think on Epicurious.) It surprised us all, it was so good. I also usually make a dessert. I'm not quite sure yet what to make, but I'm pretty sure I will be making lemon bars in addition to a "real" dessert.

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Chris will smoke a turkey, completely carve it (breast lobes removed intact, then sliced ACROSS the grain), garnishing the platter with the removed, polished wishbone.

Cornbread dressing, two kinds of gravy---with and without giblets, but both with chopped softboiled eggs, for extra richness, and because every cook in our family has, for about five generations.

A big black skillet of oven-baked corn, tail-gate cut at our back door a couple of months ago, and waiting in the freezer. Sweet potatoes in some form.

Green bean salad with roasted peppers, Vidalias and water chestnuts. Bread shaped like a turkey---shiny and beautiful.

Lots of desserts, mostly Southen in origin---chess pie, blackberry pie, chocolate pie by my Mom's recipe, lemon pie filling served in a pretty dish with whipped cream and leaf-shaped shortbreads.

Much more, I'm sure. Don't know yet how many will be here. Having mashed potatoes depends on if we have company that's actually FROM here. We never had them for Thanksgiving down South. But Northern folks expect them.

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Chris will smoke a turkey, completely carve it (breast lobes removed intact, then sliced ACROSS the grain), garnishing the platter with the removed, polished wishbone.

Cornbread dressing, two kinds of gravy---with and without giblets, but both with chopped softboiled eggs, for extra richness, and because every cook in our family has, for about five generations.

A big black skillet of oven-baked corn, tail-gate cut at our back door a couple of months ago, and waiting in the freezer.  Sweet potatoes in some form. 

Green bean salad with roasted peppers, Vidalias and water chestnuts.  Bread shaped like a turkey---shiny and beautiful.

Lots of desserts, mostly Southen in origin---chess pie, blackberry pie, chocolate pie by my Mom's recipe, lemon pie filling served in a pretty dish with whipped cream and leaf-shaped shortbreads.

Much more, I'm sure.  Don't know yet how many will be here.  Having mashed potatoes depends on if we have company that's actually FROM here.  We never had them for Thanksgiving down South.  But Northern folks expect them.

I am smoking a turkey as well. My mother called a couple of weeks ago and strongly hinted that since we would not be at any other relative's house and the only ones in town would be the Rev, Mrs. Rev, Fuss & Me then we should invite them to our house. Some how it has grown fr/ us four to about twelve.

So far the menu looks like this:

Before Dinner:

Sea food Salad w/ toast points

Antipasto on a stick

Prosecco

Dinner:

Smoked Turkey

Traditional Southern Dressing--the kind w/ corn bread and crushed saltine crackers

I use Paula Dean's receipt as Fuss says it is the closest to her grand mother's

Green Bean and Shiitake Mushroom Casserole

Mashed Potatoes laced w/ Butternut Squash

Giblet Gravy--w/ hard-boiled eggs of course

"Golden Coin" Carrots

Succotash

Baked Apples w/ Walnuts

Assorted Breads

still playing w/ wine but I keep returning to a Chateauneuf du Pape or may be a

Syrah

Desserts:

Aunt Dell's Caramel Cake

Fuss' Pecan Pie

Coffee & Cigars and some of that Black Maple Hill Bourbon I have been saving.

HDHD

in loving memory of Mr. Squirt (1998-2004)--

the best cat ever.

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On Thanksgiving Day itself, I will be participating in a free community dinner at my church. While this is an incredibly cool event in terms of all that good warm-fuzzy community stuff, I can't say that I find it satisfying from a food-geekery standpoint--the cooking is all done by a caterer who is donating his services, and while it's pretty nice for what it is, he does tend to take shortcuts (*cough* commercial pre-packaged turkey breast *cough*). So I'm contemplating doing a smaller dinner for friends a little later in the Thanksgiving weekend, so I can at least get my full-fledged roast bird skin fix.

Depending on the size of the gathering I wind up with, I might either roast a turkey or else some other smaller bird. Other sentimental must-haves on my list:

--stuffing--and the stuffing's going ***inside*** the turkey, dagnabbit! The fact that it'll get drenched in fatty turkey juices is IMO not a defect but the whole point of the exercise! :laugh: My family recipe is a basic sausage/mushroom combo, based on an assortment of wholegrain breads.

--giblet gravy, made from the pan drippings.

--brussels sprouts--I have a recipe for sprouts in a maple/mustard vinaigrette--so simple and sooooooo good!

--winter squash, in a decidedly ***not*** sweet preparation; I might even try to re-create the incredibly yummy stuffed kabocha served by my favorite Szechuan restaurant.

--cranberry/orange relish, ground through one of those hand-cranked meat grinders (I found the box where I stashed my grinder! Hurrah!)

Other dishes will probably show up too, depending on whim--mine and that of my guests. For instance, I'm really not much of a fan of the standard pumpkin pie, but if one of my guests brought one I wouldn't mind a bit. For my own dessert offering, I'm thinking of maybe doing some kind of poached pears dish--I've been really getting into pears recently. And I think I need one more vegetable--thinking about some roasted fennel or cauliflower or something along those lines. Plus I know somebody's going to want mashed potatoes. Oy--this dinner is already growing like topsy and I haven't even started inviting people yet! :laugh:

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Turkey, I'm either going to brine and roast in the oven. Or deep fry it.

Mashed sweet potatoes.

Greens

green beans

homemade biscuits

cornbread.

I'm not sure what else. To be honest the only two things that are for sure is the Turkey, and sweet potatoes.

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Thanksgiving will be quite different for us this year. We will be at sea, somewhere between Haiti and Aruba on our way to the Panama Canal. This is one of our favorite family holidays and they will all be sorely missed, but we do what we have to do.

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Giblet Gravy--w/ hard-boiled eggs of course

Inclination of head, with gentle lowering of Jessica Rabbit eyelashes :cool:

I know you are not bad.....you are just drawn that way. ":^)

If memory serves you & I were taken to task at some point a while back for actually putting hard-boiled eggs in our giblet gravy.

in loving memory of Mr. Squirt (1998-2004)--

the best cat ever.

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I know you are not bad.....you are just drawn that way.          ":^)

. . . one of the greatest movie lines, ever.

Two years ago we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Mom had hosted for the past 40 years, so we were uncertain how she would respond to the idea of changing family tradition. When we gently broached the subject, Mom threw her arms in the air and shouted, “Yay!” Pretty demonstrative for a reserved daughter of Britain.

I can’t remember everything we served, but roast capon, Bourbon sweet potatoes with Bourbon-spiked orange sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, curried butternut squash soup, pistachio shortbread, and mulled wine linger in memory. Last Thanksgiving our kitchen was gutted for renovation, so my brother and his wife gracefully hosted. This year we will take a road trip to honor my mother-in-law’s last Thanksgiving in Wisconsin before she comes to live with us.

In Wisconsin, I usually make two batches of the Bourbon sweet potatoes: one with walnuts and one without for a nut-allergic nephew. The Wisconsin relatives have their traditional holiday spread, so I am happy to fill in with side dishes or desserts. In various years I have made quiche, baklava, flan, or grilled salmon with basil cream sauce.

I usually cook an after-Thanksgiving meal in Wisconsin. One year I made dum aloo and sookha keema for a visiting Indian physician. In other years I have made Mexican bricklayer’s eggs or Thai red curry. Fortunately, the relations are quite tolerant of my culinary whims. This year we will drive to Wisconsin in a rented van packed with the boys, our two old dogs, a granite mortar and pestle, and a cooler full of Thai chilies, fish sauce, shrimp paste, lemongrass, and palm sugar. I haven’t decided whether to make a Vietnamese or Thai meal.

Next year, we will host Thanksgiving again. The house addition should be finished so out-of-town guests will have room to sleep off a big meal. We hope to begin establishing family traditions that the boys will treasure, or perhaps complain about on eGullet in 2026.

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Unh-Hunh, that was us. I'm gonna take pictures on Thanksgiving and post them on the Dinner thread. The two gravy boats have definite gold flecks in them, but one is a little darker cause it has the giblets.

And I got PM's back then from several people telling WHY they thought it was a joke/travesty/blasphemy, or they just didn't like eggs anyway. They turned out to be some of my best correspondents, and I made new friends.

And now---the great homemade or "snock" it out of the can Cranberry Debate. I make one bowl, with orange juice and sugar, and supremed orange segments folded in after the cooking and cooling. Chris prefers the Ocean Spray, and will do the open-both-ends thing, slicing it neatly and putting out the fancy silver tomato slice thingie. I like to at least glop spoonsful of it into a nice glass compote, just for appearances.

Every Thanksgiving, I am reminded of the infamous video taken in one of the first years of our marriage. We were at his parents' house, and I was bustling around the kitchen amongst about twenty other people who WEREN'T. I asked his Dad to find the can opener and open the two cans of cranberry sauce. When I looked for them later to put them into the bowl, they were nowhere to be found.

But I did, later, when I went into the already-set dining room to light the candles. Neatly spaced on either side of the centerpiece sat a perfectly-opened can of Ocean Spray; they were both even FACING the same way. I can be heard on the soundtrack, in my most SUTHUN drawl, exaggerated greatly by the film, "What were ya gonna dooo, Sweeeetpeeea, just put a spoooooon innum?" :rolleyes:

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So this year I'm doing my thanksgiving bbq style. It will be a bit more rugged and not so primpy as it will be at my dads house. I'll be cooking:

What will you be making this year, as I'm prone to idea stealing.

Turkey Roulade

Debone a fresh turkey. Double butterfly the breasts and pound them flat under waxed paper. (The rest of the carcass, legs, wings, etc. go into a roaster and I brown them good. The wife takes all the meat off, and then I use the carcass and remaining bones and stuff, and make turkey stock and can that for later use).

The stuffing is mushroom (portabella and crimini), bacon, shallots, and prosciutto) Panko bread crumbs and last years canned turkey stock.

Layer the stuffing on the pounded out breasts and roll them up and tie with strings or use fowl clips (or even a sharp stick for kabobs).

Roasted Garlic Rosemary Mashed Baked potatoes

Corn on the cob

Cauliflower Soup

Cranberry Sauce

Fresh baked Dinner rolls

and thats about it!~

doc

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Thanksgiving Eve:

Baked Ham

Collards

Sweet Potatoes

Cornbread

Thanksgiving Day:

Breakfast - Pigs in a Blanket

Munchies - Cheese and Relish Plate of some sort (Refrigerator Dill and Sweet Pickles already started this week)

Thanksgiving Dinner:

Smoked Turkey

Roast Turkey

Leftover Ham

Cornbread Dressing (leftover cornbread and biscuits accumulating in the freezer, turkey stock prepared Tuesday before)

Giblet Gravey w/boiled egg - of course

Leftover Collards

Rhutabagas

Brocolli w/Butter-Pecan Sauce

Smothered Squash

Deviled Eggs

Creamed Corn?

Sliced Can of Cranberry

Homemade whole cranberry congealed salad

Sweet Tea

Desserts:

Pumpkin Pie

Pecan Pie

Mincemeat Pie with a fresh Granny Smith sliced in

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I cook for 75 people- a family dinner on Thanksgiving, and then friends for a left overs open house on Friday. Everone gets a dessert goody bag of their choice when they leave. Been doing this for 35 years. Here's my list, many recipes thanks to E-Gullet!!

Thanksgiving 2006

Dill Dip in a Pumpernickel Bowl

Assorted baked pita crisps

Walnut baked goat cheese with mango salsa

Texas Pecans

Sweet Wasabi Cashews

Curry Fired Cashews

Stuffed Baked Wontons

Jumbo Bollitas

Fleur de Sel Caramels

Chocolate Covered Caramel Squares

Fresh seasonal vegetables

Cocoa Dusted Chocolate Almonds

Sugar Dusted Chocolate Almonds

Halvah with Pistachio Nuts

White Chocolate Bark with Caramelized Cocoa Nibs

Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Cream Drizzle

Flaky cream biscuits

Salad of Mixed Greens

Orange Vinaigrette

Roast Turkey with Sherry Gravy

Slow braised brisket

Roasted onion gravy

Fresh cranberry relish

Cranberry sauce

Corn pudding

Vegetarian Kofte rolls

Roasted asparagus

Sauteed Button Mushrooms

Spinach Balls

Roasted Cauliflower with Garlic

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce

Boursin Smashed Potatoes with Scallions

Slow Cooked String Beans, Greek Style

Apple Cake

Strawberry Marshmallows

Mocha Marshmallows

Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake

Mexican Brownies

Alfajores

Chocolate Raspberry Rugelach

Korova Cookies

Key Lime Coconut Cheesecake Points

Nutella Pie

Chestnut Chocolate Pave

Cherry Cheese Strudel

Banana Chocolate Strudel, Russian Style

Dutch Almond Paste Cookies

Chocolate Malted Tartlets

Lemon Cream Tartlets

Mini High Hat Cupcakes

Italian Sesame Cookies

Macadamia Praline Truffles

Strawberry Marshmallows

Mocha Marshmallows

Pumpkin Spice Coffee

Kona Coffee

Tea

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The only thing set in stone is that the turkey will be smoked. I've become addicted to smoked giblet gravy. It looks like it will be just me, the SO and the critters so I doubt I'll do much more than mashed sweet potatos with chipotle, something green and something sweet. Oh yeah, and "stuffing" which I guess will really be dressing. Cornbread and biscuit, of course. I will prolly make chocolate mousse pie or maybe a pumpkin mousse. Christmas is when I'll go all out this year.

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My tentative menu:

Simple Turkey (brined using a recipe from Alice Waters)

Mashed Potatoes (either using a recipe from Sunday Suppers at Lucques or Creamy Mashed potatoes with goat cheese Sage

Sage Cornbread Stuffing

Green Beans/Squash with a sherry soy butter

Maple Pumpkin Pots de Creme

possibly Pear and Hazelnut Crumb Pie

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Dinner for 12. Deep fried turkey. Sister-in-law is bringing the stuffing because "she knows what they like." Her husband, who I adore, has to be the fussiest eater ever. He doesn't eat turkey and he sniffs at food like a dog before deciding if he will eat it or not. (We no longer to to restaurants with them.) I wouldn't be surprised if she shows up with more food for him, just in case. :wacko:

I'm still working on the rest of the menu and love this thread for ideas!

KathyM

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Tired of turkey so I anit cookin one, here's what we eatin

shrimp, corn and bacon chowder

chicken n dumplins

stuffed roasted pork lion wit pan gravy

(cranberry, apple, garlic, onion & mushroom)

white rice for above gravy

Steens syrup glazed ham

smothered cabbage with tasso

crowder peas with salt pork

Cajun style sweet peas

fried carrots

mac & cheese

sweet potatoe crunch

cracklin cornbread

yall been talkin about brussel sprouts so I'll pan roast em

REAL lemon pie (condensed milk lemons ect...)

Edited by 007bond-jb (log)
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I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year for a crowd of 8 adults and 2 children (niece & nephew).

This year I'm adding a few new twists to the classic Thanksgiving dinner (twists as far as my family and I are concerned):

Starters:

Spiced nuts

Deviled eggs

Pumpkin cranberry bread (I'll add dried cranberries to my usual pumpkin bread recipe for a nice contrast of sweet and tart tastes).

Soup:

Butternut squash soup. I tried this out for the first time today since I don't like to spring an untested recipe on guests. It is absolutely scrumptious. My family likes the pumpkin soup recipe I usually make, but I think they're going to like this one even better.

Main course & sides:

-Fried turkey! - I've been dying to make a fried turkey and now that I have a 28 quart electric fryer in my possession, I'm going to give it a shot. Next weekend I'm planning to do a test run.

-Roast turkey breast baked with the stuffing underneath (since you can't stuff a fried turkey). This one is for those who love the breast meat and who may want something a little more traditional. It's also for those (meaning ME!) who like the stuffing baked in (or under) the bird. This will be a regular bread stuffing without superfluous additions like sausage, apples, chestnuts or oysters. I'll make gravy to go with it.

-Baked, glazed ham - This one is for hubby and his mom, since they're big pork fans. I keep the glaze simple with pineapple juice, brown sugar & honey and I decorate the ham with pineapple slices, cloves and cherries.

-Baked macaroni & cheese

-Candied sweet potatoes (I'm still thinking of a way I can add a twist to this one)

-Collard greens - two versions, one simmered with hamhocks, one simmered with smoked turkey parts

-Creamed spinach and Horseradish mashed potatoes

- Some type of corn dish. I haven't decided on this one yet. But I believe you HAVE to have corn represented on Thanksigivng. Maybe I'll just make mini corn muffins or something...

-Cranberry sauce - In the past I've tried making homemade cranberry sauces and relishes but the group consistently prefers the jellied Ocean Spray stuff in the can. So I must comply.

-Baked beans - this one is for hubby. I've NEVER, EVER heard of any family having baked beans for Thanksgiving, with the exception of hubby's family. So I'll incorporate it just for him.

Desserts:

-Apple pie

-Bourbon pecan pie

-Sweet potato cheesecake (for my almost brother-in-law)

-Coconut custard pie

All of the desserts will be made with scratch crusts & homemade fillings.

Beverages:

Wine

Sparkling apple cider

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Where you from, Hon? Our DEEP-South family always had a pan of macaroni and cheese (Heavy almost-orange Hoop cheese, grated over hot macaroni, with a stick of butter and some Pet milk poured in, top replaced, then stirred into a creamy, cheese-stringing mass sprinkled with several grinds from the peppermill). Even better baked a while as the turkey rests.

And Baked Beans!!! My Mother had two of the little steam-table pans, and they were the only utilitarian items allowed on her sumptuous buffet---one held the above cheese and macaroni, and the other, a pan of Showboat beans, begun by sauteing a couple of big chopped onions and a chopped bell pepper or two, then some barbecue sauce and a big handful of brown sugar stirred in. Two tall cans of Showboats drained, the pesky little tallowy bit of keep-it-legal "pork" fished out, and the whole pan stirred for a moment, poured into the baking pan, and topped with enough bacon to completely cloak the top. As it baked, the slices shrank and crisped, with little sags becoming sauce-saturated and redly transparent.

There were enough carbs on that table to fuel an NFL franchise. Plenty of salads, green vegetables for nibbling, and ambrosia with forty RDA's of Vitamin C, but the carbs carried the day.

Edited by racheld (log)
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