Also, urgent question:

[conuly]

What should I make for Thanksgiving?

What are you all making for Thanksgiving (or, if you don't do Thanksgiving, for your next big winter event that everybody comes to)?

I want to outdo myself. I probably won't, but I want to try.

Comments

Simple stuff

[polydad]

The core of showing off is the coordination of putting on a Big Feast, with lots of dishes planned to complement each other and getting the timing right so they all come out as hot or cold as desired at the right times.

No longer having a house to entertain in, I don't do that; I just bring my own dish to the Orphan's Potluck. Which is usually barley with onions and mushrooms. Directions too simple to be called a 'recipe'; chop and brown the onion and mushrooms, and dump 'em in with the barley and liquid (I use soup stock; since I currently have a lot of vegan friends it's generally a vegetable stock), spice to taste,and simmer 'til the liquid's absorbed.

[larryhammer]

Our usual Big T dinner is something like:

veggie matzo-ball soup (only if large gathering)
kosher turkey, with Joy of Cooking's basic stuffing
mashed potatoes (either white or sweet)
a steamed veggie dish (broccoli or similar, garlic often involved)
a quinoa or rice or pasta dish (as needed to appease small palates)
Ma Stamberg's cranberry relish

(Aside from the relish, this is very similar to the usual Seder menu.)

We're not sure if we're hosting a dinner this year -- need to decide soon, don't we ...

---L.

[kshandra]

My 81-year-old mother-in-law declared that she was DONE cooking for holidays, so my sister-in-law made reservations for all of us at the Mountain Winery. Here's the menu - I'm eager to try their take on green bean casserole.

[zesty_pinto]

I'm going to visit Michelle's parents, but I have a couple of things:

-Some Korean beef barbecue, mostly because I promised to make more for Michelle's mom, who never got to eat any when I brought some to their last barbecue
-Acorn squash soup
-Scalloped potatoes
-Probably a pecan pie for my folks and the first pumpkin pie I've ever done out of an actual pumpkin instead of canned squash.

You could always consult one of those "popular Thanksgiving recipes by state" sort of things. There was one that listed some really fancy dishes if you want to give it a shot (and one for lasagna, which is a very NJ thing for some reason).

[zesty_pinto]

Last year for the potato dish I did colcannon instead, which works fine, but I didn't realize they'd make mashed potatoes that year so this is an alternative that I don't think they're doing (although I prefer the former more since I'm a sucker for textures).

[angelofthenorth]

Game terrine
Duck with cherries
Salmon en croûte
Strudel
Watercress soup

[akamarykate]

My family always has a huge potluck, with my parents providing turkey, mashed potatoes, and wine, and all of us (I'm the oldest of 7 kids so when the "immediate family" gets together it's like 26 people) bringing side dishes and desserts.

I usually bring these oatmeal knot rolls (the niecephews call them "Aunt Mary Rolls" and ask for them at every big family dinner), along with fresh cranberry sauce (the recipe is an amalgamation of several, but it includes cranberries, apples, orange juice, and cinnamon), and a fruit pie.

This year I'm trying out this Stuffed Apple and Bacon Sweet Potato Casserole this week to see if it's worth doing full-scale. Someone usually brings the sweet potato-marshmallow thing but this one sounds soooo much better.

[malkingrey]

Thanksgiving dinner around here is fixed in canon; most of the possible changes have to do with scaling down the number of people being fed from a high of 7 to the current low of 3.

That said, here's the usual:

• turkey (probably a turkey breast, this year)


• dressing (cornbread and white bread mix, cooked outside the bird)


• creamed onions (an absolute requirement; the original reason I learned how to make scratch white sauce)


• cranberry sauce (scratch made from the world's simplest recipe*)


• green beans (either slow-cooked with bacon and salt, southern-style, or quickly steamed until just-past-raw, depending upon which half of the family I feel like pleasing; some years I've given up and done both)


• potatoes (either mashed or baked)


• dinner rolls (usually brown-and-serve, because I can't be bothered with anything fancier, but Some People insist on them)


• pie (at least two kinds, probably pumpkin and either apple or cherry. Roughly speaking, for N diners, where N is greater than 1, you need at least N-1 varieties of pie.)

---

*Really. One bag fresh cranberries, one cup sugar, one cup water. Put them all in a small saucepan, turn the heat up high, and boil like mad until the berries pop open.

[sgatazmy]

No one in my family except me likes the traditional meal. We often make salmon.

[hamimi_fk]

My mom corrals me and my sister (well my sister in recent years) into helping her cook every year, lol. The usual fair is spanish yellow rice with green pigeon peas in it, pernil (puerto rican style pork shoulder), turkey - a small one tho, delicious delicious stuffing, lasagna, green beans with ham, dinner rolls, sometimes sweet yams (not often though), and of course, pies (pumpkin and apple)! Last year, she tried a new dish - cauliflower mash! It was diced cauliflower with milk and butter and I think cream. My son LOVED it so much he's been asking for it for this Thanksgiving since July, lol.

[gatheringrivers]

We're taking the lazy approach this year, on account of the War On Fleas.

I booked a 6-seat table for us, a pair of local friends, and 1-2 friends from out of town at a restaurant that is LIKELY going to close for good over the winter. The current owners are getting on in years, and I guess don't have kids taking over the place.

I'll still get the turkey I preordered (because I'm NOT missing out on turkey skin I can actually EAT), but that'll get popped in the freezer for eating MUCH later. Like maybe spring, when a couple different friends visit from the other side of the country.

[conuly]

Love. The. Icon.

[conuly]

I've had cauli mash before - very diabetic friendly, so we had it when visiting a friend with a diabetic daughter. Have you made cauli rice? Bet your son might like that too.

[conuly]

Salmon, mmm!

[conuly]

Try the cranberries with orange or apple juice instead of water next time - I love 'em that way.

Can you give me the creamed onions recipe?

[conuly]

Oooh, that casserole sounds delish. But the girls don't like sweet potato. But I do! Oh, tell me if it's good, I'll try it myself if it is.

[conuly]

Mmm.

[conuly]

You know what you might try? Mash the potatoes with turnips, otherwise do the same colcannon. It'll be different from "mashed potatoes", but more textures for you. (But mashing turnips is not for the faint of heart - you have to drain 'em after.)

[conuly]

and one for lasagna, which is a very NJ thing for some reason)

Sounds like you've got a lot of Italian-Americans, probably moved there straight out of Bensonhurst. It's normal for them to do the traditional meal and also lasagna or baked ziti or whatever.

[conuly]

Well, I'm not a fan of persimmons, but I'd like to try those mashed potatoes! Have extra for me, if you like them.

[conuly]

I dunno, cranberry relish sounds kinda harosety. (And google agrees!)

*clicks link*

Wait. You put garlic and horseradish in it?

[chaos_by_design]

I'll definitely be making myself a box of Stovetop stuffing, since it's such a comfort food for me.

[conuly]

Would you believe that I am the only one in my family who likes stuffing?

My dad liked stuffing too, but he only ever made this god-awful wild rice with raisins stuffing and the raisins were squishy and the rice was hard.

[malkingrey]

The creamed onions . . . well, I start by using frozen pearl onions, which I thaw in the microwave before proceeding.  I tried it once from first principles, boiling and then peeling fresh onions, which was enough to convince me that I wasn't enough of a purist to do that bit twice.  (Also, that I didn't care for burned fingers.)

So, you get yourself a batch of cooked pearl onions, one way or another, and you have it ready.  Then, in a large saucepan or deep skillet, you make the cream sauce:

4 T butter

4 T flour

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup light cream or half-and-half

dash of white pepper

dash of nutmeg

Melt the butter over medium heat.  Don't let it burn.

Stir in the flour, so that it and the butter make a thick paste. Let it cook, still stirring, for a minute or so.  Don't let it burn.

Stir in the chicken stock and the cream a bit at a time, stirring to incorporate after each addition.  Do it gradually so it doesn't make lumps.  (I have a particular wooden spoon I like to do this with.  Some people use a wisk.)

Add the dash of white pepper and the dash of nutmeg.  Most prepared stock is already salty enough.

Once all the liquid is added, cook for a while longer until it thickens.  The spoon should leave a track in the roux for a moment after you stir.  Don't let it burn.  (If you're having thickening issues, a pinch of cornstarch sometimes helps, but that's cheating.  Everybody cheats sometimes.  Also--you can do all chicken stock, or all dairy, or even vegetable broth for the liquid, so long as the combination adds up to 2 cups.)

Add the cooked onions.  When the onions are heated through (if they were cold), put the onions&sauce into a serving dish and put it on the table.

[larryhammer]

What? No! Just the first recipe, so only horseradish.