We had our Thanksgiving celebratiion lat weekend, as my Customary Dining Companion will be out of twon starting the 22nd through the 30th. Our menu wasn't very traditional at all this year, and borrowed freely from Julia Child, who was responsible for the soup, the potatoes, and the dessert:

Aps: the delicious artichoke dip from Schaefer's, in memory of George Schaefer (our Red Hen baguette came through Schaefer's, as well)

Soup: Potage Parmentier, made of the last-of-season young leeks from Nichols

Main: Many, many grilled lamb chops, a whole rack cut into lollipops - half marinated in a garam masala/yogurt mixture, half done in a rosemary/garlic/lemon/EVOO marinade

Sides: Gratin Dauphinoise (the hit of the dinner)
Spinach sauteed with garlic

Dessert: Chocolate Mousse - the version in "The Way to Cook," sans the coffee

Also, a nice bottle of Dolcetti d'Alba '03 to go with. The only problem with this dinner was that we attacked it like a pack of wild dogs, leaving not much of anything for leftovers. Also quite romantic, not an adjective usually associated with Thanksgiving!

For many years, my family would get together at my Grandmother's in central IL for the Thanksgiving holiday. She would feed about 20 people in a house that couldn't have been bigger than 1200 sq/ ft. There were no recipes and you could bank on the same dishes year in and year out - for me a comforting thing, plus, I rarely had these dishes any other time of year. We would eat at noon and then everything was reheated for a 4-5pm 2nd meal (it's farming country so dinner at noon and supper at 5). She had a tiny kitchen and in it was the washing machine/dryer a deep freezer and a six person dining room table. Needless to say, there was just too much food for any counter space so the pies were on the freezer, assorted nuts/dips/chips/fudge/popcorn balls were on the washing machine/dryer. It was just great.

She passed a few years ago and I've spent a couple of Thanksgivings with the in-laws, with friends, and once in London. This year, on a whim, my uncle who lives about 20 minutes from where my Grandmother lived, is willing to host and I'm going to try to make some of the same dishes. Here's what we've planned so far:

-Turkey (a given)
-mashed potatoes
-Homemade noodles (viewtopic.php?f=16&t=17130&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30)
-"scalloped corn" - really a corn pudding with creamed/reg corn and saltine crackers
-green beans (no casserole)
-plain bread stuffing (or "dressing" as my grandmother referred to it - bread, sage, egg, onion, and broth)
-biscuits (for our turkey and biscuits for the 2nd meal - shredded dark meat mixed with a little broth/flour - into a cake pan with biscuits on top. Serve by scooping a biscuit with the turkey and inverting it on a plate.)
-Apple and black walnut salad (like a waldorf but simpler - apples, black walnuts, and whipped cream).
-pumpkin pie(s) - plain old pumpkin pie
-maybe another kind as well - apple/cherry?

If I could figure out how she made her popcorn balls, I'd be the most popular guy there.

I know it'll be trial and error this year but if we could get some of these recipes down, we can start a new tradition.

-Apple and black walnut salad (like a waldorf but simpler - apples, black walnuts, and whipped cream).

I'd say better than a Waldorf Salad, plus those black walnuts are a precious commodity. I hope you will take pictures.

I know it'll be trial and error this year but if we could get some of these recipes down, we can start a new tradition.

Your Grandmother lives on in your efforts to replicate her Thanksgiving meal.

I look forward to your report.

Regards,

David Hammond wrote:
Cranberries, for me, painful: just sharp, cold goo. For dessert, in a pie crust, with whipped cream and black coffee, that’s cool; with dinner, and especially with a meat as flat as turkey, well, I don’t get it. It’s not that I hate it; I just don’t get it. It overwhelms the meat. Maybe if I were Nordic I’d like jelly on my meat, but I’m not, so I don’t, much.

I've never met a cooked cranberry sauce I liked. However, I just love raw, minced cranberry relish with rich food, especially meat. It offers the same bright, acidic contrast that a traditional gremolata provides to osso buco. And use a small amount as a garnish. This is not a side dish.

Plus, the raw stuff is so much easier. Just put the berries, sugar, black pepper, grated orange peel, and flat parsley in a food processor and whirl away.

there would be a major uprising at our house if i did not make home-made noodles for thanksgiving. my kids always unroll them after they are cut. i cook mine in chicken broth omitting the beef altogether. they are delicious. my family is also from central illinois and has been making these for generations. and they are always served over mashed potatoes.

Kennyz wrote:

David Hammond wrote:
Cranberries, for me, painful: just sharp, cold goo. For dessert, in a pie crust, with whipped cream and black coffee, that’s cool; with dinner, and especially with a meat as flat as turkey, well, I don’t get it. It’s not that I hate it; I just don’t get it. It overwhelms the meat. Maybe if I were Nordic I’d like jelly on my meat, but I’m not, so I don’t, much.

I've never met a cooked cranberry sauce I liked.

I was talking to a local reporter last weekend, and he told me his family always puts cranberry sauce on the table; no one eats it; then they throw it out...but it has to be there. It's part of the ritual table. You got to have it. Even if it is not eaten.

David Hammond wrote:

Kennyz wrote:

David Hammond wrote:
Cranberries, for me, painful: just sharp, cold goo. For dessert, in a pie crust, with whipped cream and black coffee, that’s cool; with dinner, and especially with a meat as flat as turkey, well, I don’t get it. It’s not that I hate it; I just don’t get it. It overwhelms the meat. Maybe if I were Nordic I’d like jelly on my meat, but I’m not, so I don’t, much.

I've never met a cooked cranberry sauce I liked.

I was talking to a local reporter last weekend, and he told me his family always puts cranberry sauce on the table; no one eats it; then they throw it out...but it has to be there. It's part of the ritual table. You got to have it. Even if it is not eaten.

I don't understand where this dislike of cranberry sauce comes from. I love cranberry sauce! My parents regularly served cranberry sauce (canned, of course) at dinner, and it was a school cafeteria staple. All the kids ate it.

Now, I make my own cranberry sauce with fresh berries (cooked, sorry, Kennyz). I'm somewhat particular about it. It can't be too loose. I like a gelatinized sauce. Whole berries are preferred for texture. Adding orange juice and liqueurs are fine. Spices are to be handled lightly, but they're okay too. Under no circumstances do walnuts or apples belong in there.

I feel the same way about stuffing -- no fruit or nuts in my stuffing!

I too love cranberry sauce, and as a kid all I had was the canned jelly kind. That's still tops with me. Pie Mama made some fresh-cranberry sauce a couple of times and I have to say it was a painful experience. The flavor was sharper than sharp, almost enough to make me cry, and there were pointy little shards of cranberry in it - skin? - that made eating it quite an ordeal. The second year it was made with Splenda, and I was done.

I don't know how to quote...

but when you put sweet potatoes and beef stew together,
and add in some carrots and prunes (or in their new incarnation (dried plums))

you get tsimmes!
Which is a lovely sweet, rich, fatty comforting Jewish dish often served at Rosh Hashanah
(New Years)

Our sweet potatoes this year will served over a crust of graham cracker crumbs spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and crushed toasted pecans,
and brightened by the addition of crushed pineapple,
and ever so slightly sweetened with a hint of brown sugar.
And yes, bowing to tradition,
I will allow the children to decorate the top with mini-marshmallows,
because it makes them happy.

And they always get eaten all up!

I made some cranberry sauce last week, partly as practice for Thanksgiving, and partly to up my intake of healthy brightly colored fruit and veg. I got a little tired of eating it straight, so I mixed up what was left with plain yogurt, and, voila! Dannon-style cranberry yogurt at a fraction of the cost. I've been having it for breakfast.

For many years, my family would get together at my Grandmother's in central IL for the Thanksgiving holiday. She would feed about 20 people in a house that couldn't have been bigger than 1200 sq/ ft. There were no recipes and you could bank on the same dishes year in and year out - for me a comforting thing, plus, I rarely had these dishes any other time of year. We would eat at noon and then everything was reheated for a 4-5pm 2nd meal (it's farming country so dinner at noon and supper at 5).

As I read this, I thought you must be related to me, even though my grandmothers have been gone for years. Our family menus are almost identical. Back in the day, the men would always get to eat first, and then the kids, and finally the women. And now whenever we try to mix in something new, the "oldsters" say, oh nobody will eat that. Let's just have the usual....

tcdup wrote:And now whenever we try to mix in something new, the "oldsters" say, oh nobody will eat that. Let's just have the usual....

You don't have to be an oldster to think like that. My 18- and 20-year-old nieces are of the same 'don't change a thing' camp.

Regards,

This is my 5th year of putting on the Thanksgiving feast. As much as I love to try different dishes for the holidays I have learned that you have to know your audience when you cook. If they want the traditional meal...then give them the traditional meal!

razbry wrote:This is my 5th year of putting on the Thanksgiving feast. As much as I love to try different dishes for the holidays I have learned that you have to know your audience when you cook. If they want the traditional meal...then give them the traditional meal!

It is a rare group of people who want to eat anything other than traditional Thanksgiving food on Thanksgiving. You can vary the theme with, for instance, a souffle-like pumpkin pie (Thanks, Diane; I appreciate the recipe; it sounds very good...for pumpkin ), but you better have the squishy squash, the sour berries, and the damn bird. With those three in place, I find that any further innovations are usually acceptable.

Can someone tell me where I can find a boneless breast?

David Hammond wrote:It is a rare group of people who want to eat anything other than traditional Thanksgiving food on Thanksgiving. You can vary the theme with, for instance, a souffle-like pumpkin pie (Thanks, Diane; I appreciate the recipe; it sounds very good...for pumpkin ), but you better have the squishy squash, the sour berries, and the damn bird. With those three in place, I find that any further innovations are usually acceptable.

Geez, you are missing a few must-haves from your list: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing. For some families add the green bean casserole, which I like but nobody else in the family. I get my fix by visiting friends the day after to eat their green bean casserole. They are kind, though I feel like a refugee eating leftovers gratefully because I cannot get it at home.

Any variations seem to be on the vegetable side dishes, relishes and pickles I bring to the table.

To be a bit self-promoting, Penelope Bingham will speak Saturday at Chicago Foodways Roundtable meeting at Kendall College at 10 AM. She will discuss the origins of Thanksgiving, not a continuously celebrated event since the 1600's, rather a proclamation from President Lincoln. She will also suggest the Thanksgiving table as an educational format for acquainting immigrants on American customs. If you live in the northern suburbs, the same program will be repeated Monday evening at 7 PM at the Highland Park Public Library.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

David Hammond wrote:It is a rare group of people who want to eat anything other than traditional Thanksgiving food on Thanksgiving. You can vary the theme with, for instance, a souffle-like pumpkin pie (Thanks, Diane; I appreciate the recipe; it sounds very good...for pumpkin ), but you better have the squishy squash, the sour berries, and the damn bird. With those three in place, I find that any further innovations are usually acceptable.

Geez, you are missing a few must-haves from your list: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing. For some families add the green bean casserole, which I like but nobody else in the family.

And do you sprinkle the green bean casserole with French's French Fried Onions, just as our forebears did?

PlayItGeorge wrote:Can someone tell me where I can find a boneless breast?

Aldi's always carries a "boneless breast roast" I don't remember if it's frankenturkey or a whole boneless breast. I think Jewel is carrying the Jennie-O bone-in breast. BTW - Cathy, Aldi's has the fully-cooked smoked Butterballs again this year.

Sparky asked for green bean casserole, which isn't ordinarily on our menu but I let him choose. I'm cheating - I'll be using haricots verts and a sherry-mushroom-cream sauce: I bought King Oyster mushrooms (which I've never had before, but they're tasty raw) and criminis at H-Mart) and haricots verts from Trader Joe's. I can't figure out how to get around the French's Fried Onions, though - at least not without Sparky catching on.

PlayItGeorge wrote:Can someone tell me where I can find a boneless breast?

Whole Foods has these all the time. In a little net to keep it together. Spendy, but not "Frankenbreast"

Mhays wrote:I can't figure out how to get around the French's Fried Onions, though - at least not without Sparky catching on.

Crispy shallots: http://www.lhj.com/recipe/vegetables/green-bean-casserole-with-crispy-shallots/

I love this forum! I love, love, love this forum!

Thanks, leek! I was wondering if I could pass those over on Sparky, who's obviously pretty savvy - but the photo looks good to me! I think I'll be looking at that recipe in large part.

Well, we've finally got out menu nailed down. Looks like we'll have a total of 8.

Turkey (local, fresh, purchased from McGonigle's mkt. in KC)
Sage dressing (The New York Deli here makes bread specially for stuffing this time of year – has a little more tooth to it)
Pinyon/Rice stuffing
Green bean casserole
Spiral Cut, Sugar-glazed Ham. Similar to, but better than, Honey Baked from a local (KC) outfit, Holiday Ham.
Mac and cheese (this recipe from the Best of New Mexico Kitchens sets up pretty firm and has a little red chili in it)
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Corn with roasted green chilis (From the Green Chili Bible cookbook)
Cranberry sauce (homemade)
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie (local nuts, fresh harvest)
Whipped heavy cream

The table takes only a slight second to the food at our house. This past summer we took a roadtrip to Grand Canyon with two of my partner Rebecca's adult children, one of their spouses, and Becca's mother. We had a great time together, so I thought that the table should have a southwest theme to kind of celebrate the summer trip.

Here’s a test setting of the table. I promise the table cloth will be ironed before the big day!



Runner is from Ortega’s weaving in Chimayo, NM. Napkin rings are handmade Navajo Storyteller style in sterling, from Perry Null Trading Post in Gallup, NM. Flatware is a relatively inexpensive Wallace pattern called “Taos” I bought on ebay. Plates are from Target. Pottery is from Acoma, Taos, Jemez, and Santa Clara Pueblos, collected over the years. Silver beads are handmade Navajo from Rose’s off the plaza in Santa Fe.

McGonigle's Market
1307 W. 79th Street
Kansas City, MO 64114
816-444-4720

New York Bakery & Delicatessen‎
7016 Troost Ave
Kansas City, MO‎
(816) 523-0432‎

Holiday Ham Co.
11548 W. 95th Street
Quivira 95 Shops
Overland Park, KS 64114
877-877-4267

Ortega's Weaving Shop
P.O. Box 325 CR 98 at NM 76
Chimayo, NM 87522
505-351-4215
1-877-351-4215

Perry Null Trading‎
1710 S 2nd St, Gallup, NM‎
(505) 863-5249‎

Doug,

That looks and sounds great. It'll be a grand old time in Kansas City this Tahnksgiving. Wish I could be there!

Great forum...which leads me to my question.

I'm going to my uncle-in-law's for this year's celebration and I've been given the honor of making the bird. Being that I've never deep-fried a turkey before, that's what I decided to do--can't wait to give-it-a-go.

So, here's my dilemma; how should I make the gravy? There won't be any drippings. I'm hoping I don't have to resort to canned/packaged/premade gravy. Any suggestions?

Gravy for a fried bird is a separate affair - try the suggestions at the top of this thread. You can always buy Turkey wings at Marketplace on Oakton and roast them for drippings.
The good part is you can make ahead & refrigerate as long as you're careful to quick-chill it first.

stevez wrote:Doug,

That looks and sounds great. It'll be a grand old time in Kansas City this Tahnksgiving. Wish I could be there!

Steve,

You and the chow-poodle should make one of our Thanksgivings. You're always welcome!

Mhays wrote:Gravy for a fried bird is a separate affair - try the suggestions at the top of this thread. You can always buy Turkey wings at Marketplace on Oakton and roast them for drippings.
The good part is you can make ahead & refrigerate as long as you're careful to quick-chill it first.

Sorry, i should've mentioned that I read through the thread and did see the roasting-chicken-ahead-of-time-idea (which is a great idea), and using those drippings. I don't know if I'll actually get around to doing that so I guess I was looking for more alternatives.

You could make a veloute - it's not the same as gravy, but it's good. Especially if you add sherry, mushrooms, and giblets.

People can be pretty passionate about what their Thanksgiving feast should be. One year I deep fried a turkey (turned out great), and instead of mashed potatoes and gravy I served deep fried (hand cut) sweet potato fries. My sister-in-law took one look, gathered up her kids and said she was going to Applebee’s to get a decent Thanksgiving dinner! So the next year I went back to making the traditional dishes, however, my sister-in-law never came back. I would have served the non-traditional meal years earlier if I would have known I would have gotten such a great bonus. Anyway, the dishes that I get to play with each year are the vegetables. Since I’m about the only person in my family who eats vegetables no one seems to mind, or notice. This year I’ve been fixated on getting an interesting green bean dish. I think I found my dish in yesterday’s Tribune. It is called Honey mustard-glazed roasted green beans. To tell you all the truth, it is the only part of the meal I’m really forward to!

Mhays wrote:You could make a veloute - it's not the same as gravy, but it's good. Especially if you add sherry, mushrooms, and giblets.

Ding ding ding. Problem solved...

Thanks!