Its that time of year again: Thanksgiving, USA

FowlersFreeTime

FowlersFreeTime

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Sorry, I know this is not a very international thread, but it is timely as Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away here in the USA and good chefs are probably gethering their ingredients as I type.
My wife and I won't be traveling far this Thanksgiving, so no big family meals... However we did get invited to a Friends-giving the weekend before and to a neighbor's house for Thanksgiving day. For Friendsgiving I was thrown the curveball assignment of dessert.... uh, I don't usually make dessert, so this is going to be interesting. Might make an apple pie, but open to suggestions. For Thanksgiving, I am going to smoke a spatchcocked turkey... if I can get it to fit in the narrow smoker I have. If not, I'll quarter it before smoking.

So what's on your menu this year?
 
For the most part, I could just copy and paste my post in last year's Thanksgiving thread into this one. Very little will change. My sister and I will be cooking, at my sister's house, but the menu will be what it has been for the last 60-plus years -- with one deviation. We are not doing the same soggy white bread stuffing I've had to choke down all my life.

CD
 
This is what I may order:

3-4lb Boar's Head Boneless Carve and Serve Turkey, Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Traditional Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Turkey Gravy, 12 ct Kings Hawaiian Rolls and a Pumpkin Pie.

Because it's Boar's Head, that meal is $75. Everything is pre-cooked and it's heat-and-eat. There's also the option of a lower-quality boneless turkey for $60. It serves 4-6 people.

They also have bone-in turkey dinners, prime rib, and hams, either boneless or bone-in hams.

I think we ordered one of those about 15 years ago, and it was...acceptable, but that was about it, but I'm seriously considering this again.

The thing is, MrsT always wants a "traditional" meal that day, and it's one of my least favorite meals. I don't like roast turkey, I don't like sweet potatoes, I don't like green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes are ok, but not my first (or even fifth) choice of potato dishes. I do like stuffing quite a bit.

If I'm going to sit down to a meal that I really don't care for, I may as well get out of cooking it. :laugh:
 
TastyReuben said:
This is what I may order:

3-4lb Boar's Head Boneless Carve and Serve Turkey, Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Traditional Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Turkey Gravy, 12 ct Kings Hawaiian Rolls and a Pumpkin Pie.

Because it's Boar's Head, that meal is $75. Everything is pre-cooked and it's heat-and-eat. There's also the option of a lower-quality boneless turkey for $60. It serves 4-6 people.

They also have bone-in turkey dinners, prime rib, and hams, either boneless or bone-in hams.

I think we ordered one of those about 15 years ago, and it was...acceptable, but that was about it, but I'm seriously considering this again.

The thing is, MrsT always wants a "traditional" meal that day, and it's one of my least favorite meals. I don't like roast turkey, I don't like sweet potatoes, I don't like green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes are ok, but not my first (or even fifth) choice of potato dishes. I do like stuffing quite a bit.

If I'm going to sit down to a meal that I really don't care for, I may as well get out of cooking it. :laugh:
Click to expand...

What is Boar's head turkey? What are Hawaiian rolls?

Oh - and I totally agree. Why cook something you aren't going to enjoy.
 
Morning Glory said:
What is Boar's head turkey? What are Hawaiian rolls?

Oh - and I totally agree. Why cook something you aren't going to enjoy.
Click to expand...
Boar's Head is a brand name of lunchmeats and cheeses, generally regarded as a more premium brand.

Hawaiian rolls (King is the brand name) are dinner rolls that are slightly sweet. According to Wikipedia, "it is a bread made with milk, sugar, eggs, yeast, flour and sometimes lemon peel to produce a subtly sweet lightly textured loaf or rolls."

Apparently, it's also synonymous with Portuguese sweet bread. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
TastyReuben said:
Boar's Head is a brand name of lunchmeats and cheeses, generally regarded as a more premium brand.

Hawaiian rolls (King is the brand name) are dinner rolls that are slightly sweet. According to Wikipedia, "it is a bread made with milk, sugar, eggs, yeast, flour and sometimes lemon peel to produce a subtly sweet lightly textured loaf or rolls."

Apparently, it's also synonymous with Portuguese sweet bread. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Click to expand...

I'm with you not the Boar's Head turkey. They are a premium brand for meats. I've never really liked King's Hawaiian rolls.

CD
 
I love the Holidays and I love traditional holiday foods.
Some holiday foods have been tweaked to accommodate more mature palates. Baby Sis, BIL, their two daughters, SILs and 4 Grands will not be with us this year.
I do not know if either of our two out of state brothers will be attending with their wives.

Middle Sis is hostess.

MENU

My contributions:
Drunk pork Roast with gravy
Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
Cranberries
2 Buttermilk Pecan Pies

Middle Sister:
Cornbread Dressing
Dinner Rolls
Green Salad
A desert - maybe a Trifle

Baby Brother
Turkey
Turkey Gravy

If one or both of our out of state Brothers will be here I will make an additional vegetable casserole side. I may make one anyway - either Spinach, Artichoke Heart and Water Chestnut casserole or a Corn Casserole.

I just took a pork roast out of the freezer. I will be cooked Monday or Tuesday. I will get to the store today or tomorrow for ingredients. The sweet potato casserole will be prepped, in the baking dish and frozen Monday.
Pecan pies will be baked Thanksgiving Eve.

I used to stay up all night before a holiday cooking and baking. Exhausted and stressed for the holiday. Not any more. Cooking and freezing ahead of time is the only way i can roll.
 
I'm free to do what I want with holiday meals, Thanksgiving and Christmas eve, in particular. But there is that little jab of tradition in my life that sometimes has me doing a traditional meal with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, etc. But often, I just go for something expensive, like spiny lobster and steak, etc. for the holiday meals, - not very traditional, at all. Holidays are always a time to include a good wine with the meal.
 
Regarding dessert, I'll sometimes roast a pie pumpkin and make fresh pumpkin pie. It's a different flavor from the canned pumpkin, which i don't like. The puree can also be used for cheesecake and flan. Pecan pie, i use the old Betty Crocker recipe that uses dark Karo syrup, butter, eggs, sugar and pecans. That's the way mother and grandmother made it. Since I'm not a pie pastry guru like my mother and grandmother,though they did try to teach me, i just buy a frozen pie shell.

We'll roast a bone-in turkey breast. I'm going to make cornbread dressing for me and craig will make his using the bag of seasoned bread cubes. I think we are going to roast the turkey on top of the pan of dressings, which will essentially make them stuffings due to catching the drippings. I'll use reduced stock for gravy.

We'll make a green bean casserole from scratch. Don't know what other sides yet. Probably a sweet potato mash or casserole using bourbon, brown sugar and pecans.
 
I think I may be lumbered with Thanksgiving here, even though I´m not from the US. I´m happy to cook for anyone. The only thing that concerns me is that traditional Thanksgiving is similar to my traditional Xmas lunch, so I won´t want to repeat any dishes... maybe I´ll just roast the turkey two different ways.
One or two things are certain. I absolutely will NOT be using a can of soup or a can of beans if I make green bean casserole. Nor will I put marshmallows on top of sweet potato:cool::cool:
 
Thanksgiving Day meal ordered. I'll still need to make a couple of additional things, like a cranberry relish, but I'm ok with that.
 
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