Thanksgiving USA (2025)

Is it different from cranberry sauce which is what I make?

Your turkey plate looks delicious 😁
I called it relish because I thought it was called that in the USA. I assumed it was the same as cranberry sauce in the UK. It looks the same.

Possibly US cranberry relish is sweeter than the UK one.
 
We had Thanksgiving (for 14) today to accommodate everyone's schedules. I smoked one turkey and started another in the oil-less fryer, but the wind was insane and kept blowing the flame out on the fryer. Even after I rigged a tarp up to shield it, the wind still stripped the heat from it so that turkey was taking forever to cook. So, once the first turkey was done on the smoker, I threw the other on there, too. Problem solved, and that was finished just in time for when everyone was done eating, but headed back around to start picking on things.
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Appetizers and desserts table. This grew as everyone showed up and brought food and beverages to add.
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The "Adult's table" and "Kid's table" (who are now mostly all in their 20s, lol).
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Turkeys, with my favorite cranberry herb rub.
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I checked with my Silver Palate cookbook, Silver Palate is Manhattan’s celebrated gourmet shop back in the 80s.
It says
2) Wash the turkey well, inspect for feathers and more stuff
3) Squeeze the juice from 2 oranges all over the outside of the bird and rub into the cavity for refreshen. Salt and pepper the cavity to taste, more stuff

Your cookbook is giving bad and dangerous instructions.

From Google:

USDA research has found that washing or rinsing meat or poultry increases the risk for cross-contamination in the kitchen, which can cause foodborne illness. From a food safety perspective, washing raw poultry, beef, pork, lamb or veal before cooking it is not recommended as the safest method.

Washing Food: Does it Promote Food Safety?

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USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (.gov)
http://www.fsis.usda.gov › food-safety › washing-food-...

Google Search
 
Your cookbook is giving bad and dangerous instructions.

From Google:

USDA research has found that washing or rinsing meat or poultry increases the risk for cross-contamination in the kitchen, which can cause foodborne illness. From a food safety perspective, washing raw poultry, beef, pork, lamb or veal before cooking it is not recommended as the safest method.

Washing Food: Does it Promote Food Safety?

View attachment 137348
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (.gov)
http://www.fsis.usda.gov › food-safety › washing-food-...

Google Search
Like i said many times, my cookbook is back in 1980s, back then google was not even invented. USDA probably changed from years ago.
 
I called it relish because I thought it was called that in the USA. I assumed it was the same as cranberry sauce in the UK. It looks the same.

Possibly US cranberry relish is sweeter than the UK one.
I call my uncooked cranberry/orange dish relish. And my cooked whole cranberry and orange dish sauce.
 
I wont be in the shop for a while, but chicken is normally 2.5-3 U$ a kg and turkey about double that.
Zambia does not normally allow import of poultry and turkey is not a big thing, not popular.
To get turkeys in, the shops need to apply for permission
 
A “leftover” Thanksgiving post…we were talking about turkey sizes earlier:

View attachment 137665

30 lbs…and that wasn’t the largest one!
My hub brought home a 30 lb. turkey one time. He had to go find a roasting pan big enough to roast the beast.
 
My hub brought home a 30 lb. turkey one time. He had to go find a roasting pan big enough to roast the beast.
I would need to make new friends to get that thing eaten :)
That's huge.
I have cooked a close to 50 kg pig on a spit braai though, but I don't think you can do that with a bird. Maybe you can?
 
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