Thanksgiving Menus

[DubaiSis]

I'll be having Thanksgiving dinner aboard the Star Princess outside of Alexandria Egypt. Just sayin. But my family tradition was what most Midwesterners have said above, with the addition of scalloped corn, and a fairly new addition of a Polish cabbage and noodles dish my sister learned when she married a Polish guy from Chicago.

But for you dry turkey haters, seriously, only badly cooked turkey is dry. Turkey only has to not be raw, not cooked to dust to be safe to eat. Turn down the oven and don't put it in at o'dark 30 and your turkey will be great. If you go to www.butterball.com it will give you an exactly correct gauge for cooking your turkey.

I love me some deep fried turkey but my family would never allow one moment of stray off the nearly 50 years of same same. Not on Thanksgiving anyway.

Oh, and I love the cranberries with the ring lines. It's not FOOD, but I still love it.

[BraveMaroon]

My issue with turkey has never been that it's dry. Dad taught me how to cook a bird, and I've been reasonably successful.

The issue is the taste. There's something about turkey that tastes, to me, mildly earthy/metallic- and I can't explain it any more or any better than that.

Now, I have to agree, fried turkey is amaaaaazing. But like Dubai Sis, my family would never, never allow a veer from tradition.

Well, on the turkey front, anyway.

A few years ago, I introduced chipotle mashed sweet potatoes rather than the default Senator Russell casserole (sweet potatoes with a pecan/brown sugar crust). My mother pouted, but the rest of the family thought they were a nice change. And not sooooo sweet.

And since my sister and I and our husbands love mashed potatoes, we did those as well. We grew up in a family where the starch of record was rice, so of course, I did that as well.

Once we came out of our carb-induced coma, it was all good.

I'm curious as to what time of day most of you eat Thanksgiving dinner?

If I'm hosting, we shoot for about 4, and end up sitting down around 4:45.

My parents are more of the 2:30 or 3PM range.

[AlphaFrog]

Funny you brought up time, because I *just* emailed the other couple to find out what time they prefer. My family was usually a mid-afternoon family. I don't have a strong preference, but I think I would like to try having it mid-evening for a change. I'm better at eating light throughout the day and then having a bigger dinner. If I have a big afternoon meal, I'm still going to crave a big evening meal, and I don't need all those extra calories.

[honeychile]

Everytime I see the words "Cranberry Apple Crisp", I am salivating like Pavlov's dogs! Would this be a good recipe to try? If not, does anyone have a better one? I may go out of town, but the very thought of CAC sounds yummy!

Apple cranberry crisp with a topping of oats, brown sugar and butter and flour.

Ingredients:
2 cups cranberries
3 cups sliced peeled tart apples (Granny Smith?)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Preparation:
Combine cranberries, apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and salt; turn into a shallow, buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine brown sugar, oats, and flour. cut in butter. Spoon over cranberry-apple mixture. Bake at 325° for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until topping is crispy and fruit is tender.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

I haven't figured out how to multiple quote. . .

Click on this button in every post you want to respond to, then click on "Quote" in one of the posts or click on "Reply" at the bottom of the page.

Originally Posted by honeychile

Everytime I see the words "Cranberry Apple Crisp", I am salivating like Pavlov's dogs! Would this be a good recipe to try? If not, does anyone have a better one?

That one sound good. I'll see how it compares to our recipe (from Southern Living).

[LucyKKG]

Originally Posted by carnation

I just roll every time you post that, my family says it like that too!

My mom reads too much FailBlog and LolCats or dogs or whatever. She's the one who got me saying it.

Originally Posted by honeychile

Everytime I see the words "Cranberry Apple Crisp", I am salivating like Pavlov's dogs! Would this be a good recipe to try? If not, does anyone have a better one? I may go out of town, but the very thought of CAC sounds yummy!

Apple cranberry crisp with a topping of oats, brown sugar and butter and flour.

Ingredients:
2 cups cranberries
3 cups sliced peeled tart apples (Granny Smith?)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Preparation:
Combine cranberries, apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and salt; turn into a shallow, buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine brown sugar, oats, and flour. cut in butter. Spoon over cranberry-apple mixture. Bake at 325° for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until topping is crispy and fruit is tender.

This is similar to the one I make every year, but mine has more spices in it. Would you like me to find the recipe?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

But for you dry turkey haters, seriously, only badly cooked turkey is dry.

As a general cooking proposition, I'd agree, but to me, pretty much all turkey -- including turkey that has been cooked well -- tastes dry, smoked and deep fried being the exceptions. It is just by nature a drier meat than I like. And I'm going to agree with BraveMaroon, too:

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

There's something about turkey that tastes, to me, mildly earthy/metallic- and I can't explain it any more or any better than that.

I think it's pretty well-established now that different people sometimes taste foods differently. I guess I just didn't get good turkey buds.

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

I'm curious as to what time of day most of you eat Thanksgiving dinner?

If I'm hosting, we shoot for about 4, and end up sitting down around 4:45.

My parents are more of the 2:30 or 3PM range.

We've usually been in the 1:00 to 1:30 range. Supper would be a light, pick-up kind of meal.

[AGDLynn]

I wanna go to y'all's house!!

[AlphaFrog]

I found out my guests are early afternoon meal people. It's fine...I'll just gain 10lbs.

Ok, so now that I have a menu and a time, I've started thinking about plating design. I've got some nice fall-colored China to use, and since I found chargers, I can go ahead and serve the plates already prepared instead of having to go get them off the set table (or having a bare table).

I want to try serving the stuffing topped with the duck from a (baked) mini pumpkin in the center of the plate, and surrounding the pumpkin with the green beans, potatoes, etc. And before the Thanksgiving Killer comments, yes, you CAN eat the pumpkin, but being that it's mainly decorative, you could opt out. However, I did find out that my guests ARE pumpkin people.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

And before the Thanksgiving Killer comments, yes, you CAN eat the pumpkin, but being that it's mainly decorative, you could opt out. However, I did find out that my guests ARE pumpkin people.

All is well!

[thetygerlily]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I want to try serving the stuffing topped with the duck from a (baked) mini pumpkin in the center of the plate, and surrounding the pumpkin with the green beans, potatoes, etc.

If you do this, pictures are a must!

Although we normally host Thanksgiving, this year my brother is instead. They're deep frying a turkey, so I'm interested to try that. I brine mine... I'm not a big turkey person but brining takes out a lot of the dryness and adds some good flavor.

My favorite dessert to do: pumpkin creme brulee. Yum. My husband doesn't like creme brulee and my friend doesn't like pumpkin, but both loved it. Delicious.

I also usually make a colorful salad- watercress & butter lettuce with feta, pomegranate arils, sliced pears, and candied walnuts with a pomegranate vinaigrette. I may try to bring that this year too.

[nittanygirl]

Originally Posted by thetygerlily

They're deep frying a turkey, so I'm interested to try that

Mmmm my uncle deep fried one at a family get together once and it was amazing! I wish someone would do that again