MetaChat - Time to feel happy! About food!

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21 November 2005

Time to feel happy! About food! And Thanksgiving! →[More:]Right, so me and the mister are trying to finalise Thanksgiving menu. As quite a few of you will know, I'm not American, so I still don't really have the whole meal idea sorted. And my husband is working zillion hour shifts at the moment so I haven't really seen him in the past, oh, 2 weeks. We have 6 people expected at our house on Thursday. What are good (and traditional) things to eat apart from turkey?

Yes, that is as far as I have got.

we are all meat eaters, and nobody is fussy

post by: gaspode at: 15:25 | 26 comments

Curry Pumpkin soup was so popular at Canadian Thanksgiving we are doing it again for US Thanksgiving.
I personally like root crops like beets, turnip, and parsnips as they seem in keeping with the fall harvest/thanks theme.

posted by arse_hat 21 November | 15:38

Oh and Walnut stuffing.

posted by arse_hat 21 November | 15:39

I am a total Thanksgiving traditionalist, so here are some completely unoriginal suggestions: stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie.

posted by amro 21 November | 15:47

Turkey. Lotsa turkey. And yams. And be sure to have a fight or bring up an uncomfortable topic at the table. It's a tradition.

(my immigrant grandmother had similar problems with the holiday. One year she made us a capon. Another year she cooked the turkey upside down. She also insists on serving minestrone. Pips had a Cuban student in Miami, who says that every year her grandma chops the turkey up and cooks it in a pot with tomatoes and onions. only midwesterners really have grip on the thing, for some reason. god bless america)

posted by jonmc 21 November | 15:50

This looks like a really good menu planning/recipe source for Thanksgiving.

posted by amro 21 November | 15:50

Hey jonmc, I think there is something to cooking a bird breast side down, at least for half the cooking time. Keeps the meat more moist or something. But hey, I'm a vegetarian, I haven't cooked a turkey in maaany years, maybe I remember wrong.

posted by amro 21 November | 15:53

Brandied cranberries. Excellent.

posted by tr33hggr 21 November | 15:56

And be sure to have a fight or bring up an uncomfortable topic at the table. It's a tradition.

Yeah. One day I may tell you about Christmas 2004 with the in-laws and their family friends. 4 Catholics, 3 atheists (2 lapsed catholic, 1 lapsed Jew), 2 religious Jews, one evangelical christian.

Then overlay into the mix (some double ups here) 3 homophobes, 1 gay dude, 3 hardcore republicans, 3 rabid liberals, two women who have had abortions, a pregnant woman, alcohol, me who just wants to pick a fight, and stir.

posted by gaspode 21 November | 15:57

Brussels Sprouts and corn pudding and dressing as well as stuffing and plum pudding and bread pudding and Potatoes Romanoff and giblet gravy and baked beans made with apple cider and brown sugar and candied yams with marshmallows on top... and... and... and... and...

*explodes from eating too much*

posted by warbaby 21 November | 16:01

and Football. American football, not that kicky euro stuff, is required.

posted by jonmc 21 November | 16:04

check out this thread from a week ago. It's got some great ideas. Oh, and rolls are required too.

posted by Edible Energy 21 November | 16:19

We always have chocolate cream pie too. And for some reason canned asparagus.

posted by bunnyfire 21 November | 16:27

oooh hey lookat that. oops.

posted by gaspode 21 November | 16:27

My family always had a traditional American dinner, and then pasta in addition to that. (We're Italian, I'm second generation American so those in charge of the cooking aren't very assimilated.)

This year, since my family lives pretty far away, I'm having an "orphan" diner with some friends.

Our menu, so far:
Dill dip in a bread bowl
Stuffed mushrooms
some kind of cheese tray

Turkey, stuffing, gravy
mashed 'taters
that godawful green bean french onion thing
candied yams
green beans with hot bacon dressing (me and my roommate's answer for those of us who don't want the fried onion covered monster)
I may make this asparagus thing my mom has made every year forever. Ham spread with cream cheese and sour cream, wrapped around an asparagus spear, and topped with hollandaise sause.

pumpkin pie
pumpkin cheesecake
oh, and wine.
lots of wine.
lots and lots.

posted by kellydamnit 21 November | 16:35

I think there is something to cooking a bird breast side down

Oops, breast side up.

posted by amro 21 November | 16:38

Breast side up is considered the traditional position.

For cooking turkey, also.

posted by Specklet 21 November | 16:44

I flip the bird over twice during cooking so that the skin is the same golden color all over.

posted by arse_hat 21 November | 16:44

(I can't believe my poor grasp of bird anatomy. I would like to reiterate that I am a vegetarian.)

Thanks Specklet - I meant the upside down position, like jonmc's grandmother did. I should have quit while I was ahead.

posted by amro 21 November | 16:48

I meant the upside down position, like jonmc's grandmother did.

Comedy gold in this thread.

posted by arse_hat 21 November | 16:57

you may have an elderly Italian gentlemen chasing you with a chisel before long, arse_hat.

posted by jonmc 21 November | 19:58

I also like beets (be they pickled, or warm and buttered), and I make regular mashed potatoes as well as potatoes mashed with carrots, turnips and onions ("pocaturnions"). And a Hungarian zöldbab paprikás as an alternative to the standard green-bean-casserole-glop. Gotta have the yams; alternate years I do either creamed corn, succotash, or corn pudding. Got yer regular dressing and your liver-sausage dressing. Got yer cranberries.

I'd say I personally flip the bird a couple dozen times whilst preparing for Thanksgiving. But I'm kind of expressive that way.

posted by Wolfdog 21 November | 20:24

Damn, Wolfdog and kellydamnit I am in awe.

1. What is succotash and why is it good?
2. would it be socially unacceptable to just eat the turkey and get drunk?

posted by gaspode 21 November | 20:27

Succotash is just a mix of whole-kernel corn and lima beans, seasoned to taste - for me, that's just butter, salt and pepper and a little sugar. Some people cream the corn. It's good because it's corn and lima beans, and they are tasty; it's also a pretty pair of colors.

Eating turkey and getting drunk is the heart & soul of Thanksgiving. Everything else is just, ah, dressing, as it were.

posted by Wolfdog 21 November | 20:35

you may have an elderly Italian gentlemen chasing you with a chisel before long,

jon, you would be surprised how often that has happened to me.

posted by arse_hat 21 November | 20:36

My requirements:
- turkey stuffed with, well, stuffing
- more stuffing
- mashed taters (boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew!)
- sweet potatoes/yams, mushed and with marshamallows on top
- waldorf salad (mum's is delish)
- small whole sweet pickles
- olives (I don't like them, but my younger bro always put them on his fingers and made me laugh)
- rolls: usually croissants, sometimes biscuits or dinner rolls
- pecan pie
- mince pie
- sparkling cider

Additional stuff I don't like but is usually provided:
- corn
- peas with baby onions
- green beans
- pumpkin pie

posted by deborah 21 November | 21:14

Here's a good recipe for cranberry sauce.

posted by danostuporstar 22 November | 09:34

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