Thanksgiving Dishes: the good & the bad

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
Staff member
Joined
19 Apr 2015
Local time
6:52 PM
Messages
46,855
Location
Maidstone, Kent, UK
As well as the obvious roast turkey, there are side dishes such as green bean casserole (originally created in 1955 by Campbells to promote their mushroom soup), mashed potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, Brussels sprouts, cranberry, stuffing to name but a few. Some of these dishes are unfamiliar in the UK - others are similar to UK Christmas dinner fare.

Tell us which dishes are the best in your opinion - and which are the worst.
 
Best - bread stuffing/dressing, I like it especially gummy and gooey, with lots of sage, onion, celery, and pepper.

Worst - Candied yams. Nope. Not eating those. Pass. More stuffing, please.
 
The best is the after dinner turkey sandwich or 2. Turkey, dressing, jellied cranberry, mayo, S&P, piled high on good bread. The worst is the generic green bean casserole with canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup and canned fried onions. Now made with fresh ingredients, cooked right, it is a star!
 
The best - the scraps and drippings in the bottom of the pan after the turkey has been carved 😆😆.
The worse - ambrosia type fruit salad but, instead of whip cream folded in with the fruit, the hostess folded in mayonaise!
 
The best is the after dinner turkey sandwich or 2. Turkey, dressing, jellied cranberry, mayo, S&P, piled high on good bread. The worst is the generic green bean casserole with canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup and canned fried onions. Now made with fresh ingredients, cooked right, it is a star!
Or you can forget all that and just go for these:

Pringles unveils turducken-flavored chips for an even crispier Thanksgiving feast
 
Our mother baked the most fantastic shortbread.
Simple really but the recipe she left us after her passing is missing something.
We haven't figured it out yet.

Mom gave it out as gifts and even wrapped in in special tins she ordered. Parchment paper and all.

Brits have character in everything they do and I for one really notice it and appreciate it. Even in their "Biscuits.'
What we call in the west a benchmark or boiler plate appears on many brands product.
My mom did the same with her gifting Shortbread. She had a metal stamp and left her mark.

Little details I love.
Not unusual for a Brit baked product to have the companies name on it:
Rich_tea.jpg
 
Candied yams.

By yams, do you mean sweet potato?

The worst is the generic green bean casserole with canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup and canned fried onions. Now made with fresh ingredients, cooked right, it is a star!

I've only just come across this dish. I find the basic concept of fresh green beans with creamy mushrooms unappealing in the first place, let alone using canned soup. But it intrigues me - I might just try to make this dish and attempt an upmarket version. Any tips?

The worse - ambrosia type fruit salad but, instead of whip cream folded in with the fruit, the hostess folded in mayonaise!

:eek: On purpose?
 
Last edited:
By yams, do you mean sweet potato?
Technically, yes, but sweet potatoes are frequently labeled yams here (especially when canned, and also depending on the dish), so the two terms are used interchangeably.

Note if I had said "candied sweet potatoes," someone else would have asked, "Do you mean candied yams?" :)
 
I make my sweet potatoes similar to the recipe for bananas Foster. I can't stand that casserole version with marshmellos on top and I never use canned sweet potatoes.
 
On purpose?

Oh yes - it was what the "recipe" called for. Ick, as Tasty says, is an understatement 😂😂
Where my sister is concerned, it gets even funnier - she makes ambrosia, from a recipe called "ambrosia," and it has mayo, but she insists on calling it Waldorf salad, which is another salad with fruit in it, tossed in mayo, but it's nothing like ambrosia. 😐

She also refers to a trifle as a "truffle."
 
I don't care WHAT anyone folds into "ambrosia", I am so not eating it. Nor do I have a remote interest in candied yams or candied sweet potatoes. Or them mashed up with marshmallows on top.

Fortunately none of those things are part of my childhood Thanksgiving memories. We'd have sweet potatoes - but the word "sweet" does indicate that you don't need to add more sugars! They should never be canned.

We did have those beans with creamy mushrooms and canned crunchy onions on top. I'd really like to try a "real" version.

Turducken-flavored Pringles???? That's a new one on me. I don't do Pringles to begin with. Some day I'd like to taste test an actual turducken.

Thanksgiving items I like: a good stuffing/dressing. Mom's was made with stale bread, sage, sausage, celery and several other things. She did stuff the bird, and had the extra cooked up in a casserole dish. A good dark homemade gravy - made from the turkey giblets and pan juices and fond from the turkey itself, and just enough flour to give a bit of body, and some seasonings.

I like winter squash (the go-to was acorn squash, sliced in half, baked in the oven with butter and pepper). Mashed or scalloped potatoes. Mashed sweet potatoes (or whole baked ones), no freaking sugar, but maybe some allspice.

Future meals after that day: Turkey leftovers in casserole form, with turkey (white AND especially dark), stuffing, gravy, potatoes, and perhaps topped with cheese and baked. (I was never much of a sandwich person.)
 
My maternal grandmother (Mennonite) made big stuffing patties, about the size of big hamburgers, and baked those off separately in the oven, then poured hot broth over them just before serving.
 
Back
Top Bottom