Thanksgiving Dishes: the good & the bad

[ElizabethB]

Does this involve oysters? I'm puzzling...

Yes. A basic rice dressing mix - ground beef, chicken livers, maybe some ground pork and chicken gizzards. The livers and gizzards are also ground. Cooked down in chicken broth with the Holy Trinity (onions, celery and bell pepper) and da Pope (garlic). A small amount of dark roux. It should be a very wet meat mixture. Combine with long grain white rice. For oyster dressing. Die hards will only use fresh shucked oysters. Sorry. I buy local (south Louisiana) shucked oysters. Use the liquid in the container in place of some of the chicken broth. Add the oysters to the meat mixture just before folding into the rice. The oysters are barely cooked. The edges are curled but the body is still plump and juicy. The oysters continue to cook just enough in the hot rice/meat mixture.

I just finished putting groceries away. I plan to re-think and update the old green bean and corn casserole. I am making this for a mob. A large quantity. I hope I get it right the first time.

 

[caseydog]

I'm going to bet yes, as oyster stuffing isn't uncommon (at least in the US) - I also think it was a prevalent dish in colonial America.

I believe (if my grade school history lessons stuck), that oysters and lobsters were so abundant in Colonial America, that they were considered "peasant food."

CD

 

[caseydog]

Yes. A basic rice dressing mix - ground beef, chicken livers, maybe some ground pork and chicken gizzards. The livers and gizzards are also ground. Cooked down in chicken broth with the Holy Trinity (onions, celery and bell pepper) and da Pope (garlic). A small amount of dark roux. It should be a very wet meat mixture. Combine with long grain white rice. For oyster dressing. Die hards will only use fresh shucked oysters. Sorry. I buy local (south Louisiana) shucked oysters. Use the liquid in the container in place of some of the chicken broth. Add the oysters to the meat mixture just before folding into the rice. The oysters are barely cooked. The edges are curled but the body is still plump and juicy. The oysters continue to cook just enough in the hot rice/meat mixture.

I just finished putting groceries away. I plan to re-think and update the old green bean and corn casserole. I am making this for a mob. A large quantity. I hope I get it right the first time.

I love rice dressing, with or without oysters. When I was in Port Arthur this summer for my, ummm, 40 year high school reunion, I had some alongside some pan seared Gulf red snapper at a really good new restaurant down there.

CD

 

[Windigo]

I have no experience with American Thanksgiving food, but plenty with UK sunday roasts as I have lived there.

The best for me always was the roast chicken or turkey with cranberry sauce, roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding.

What I really disliked were the mushy peas my in-laws fancied with it and roasted turnips. I loathe turnips.

As for puddings I really loved the apple crumble with custard my ex- MIL used to make.