Discuss Your Thanksgiving Meal

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

My family's thanksgiving dinner has evolved through the years. My childhood meals with them were like most folks, with standards like the turkey, sweet potatoes, all that shit.

 

This year, there were still a couple of those, but we also had a badass roast pork loin. Not sure why pork (outside of ham) isn't featured more often on thanksgiving plates.

[the max 0]

We had three of them, since there are three families to visit.

 

We went to my mom's house first around 1130a, where we ate probably the most. Turkey breast, pear sausage and cornbread stuffing, squash, gratined potatoes, rolls, etc. Plus a pumpkin cheesecake my mom made and an apple cobbler I made.

 

Then on to the girlfriend's mom's side of the family. A whole turkey, stuffing, etc. They essentially browbeat me into "trying" rutabegas, which I'd eaten at every thanksgiving when I was a kid because my grandmother would make me. I hate them. But these people swore up and down that I'd LOVE them, etc.etc. I didn't. They're bland and taste like wood. Always have, always will. I made them an apple pie, but we left shortly after eating, as they were getting a little too into the Cowboys game.

 

Her father's side of the family was next. We ate a bit more, her dad makes a wonderful apple and sausage stuffing. Plus there's ham and more turkey and what they call "green stuff" and "pink stuff". "Green stuff" is cool whip, jello, marashino cherries and pineapple chunks. "Pink stuff" is cool whip, jello and mandarin oranges. We sat around bullshitting for a few hours and watched some dvd's. I made an apple and berry cobbler that was well received. We got a fucking ton of leftovers from them and were home at around 1115 last night.

 

I was up until around 4 this morning with indigestion.

[CanadianChris 0]

Green stuff is awesome. Except my family makes it with cottage cheese instead of cool whip. Well, maybe there's some cool whip in there, I'm not sure.

[treble 0]

You know what's good? Frying up some breakfast sausages and then putting them in the pan with the turkey while it cooks. Sucks up all the juices and tastes awesome.

[treble 0]

Well, not all the juices, I guess. I just meant that they absorbed all the flavours.

[Matt Young 0]

I went to the home owned by my mom's hot boss who wears no underwear and boyfriend who looks like Bobby Lashley and is a huge Saints fan. It was traditional Thanksgiving fare- turkey, ham, stuffing, yams, deviled eggs, pie, and other stuff I forgot. No cranberry sauce, though.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

We had some deep fried turkey.

[Darthtiki 0]

I went over to the girl who's picture I posted in the other thread's house, moreso to meet and impress her family (which is besides the point). The spread was phenomenal: turkey, steak, potatoes, green beans, yams w/ whole cranberries and a boatload of deserts.

[jimmy no nose 0]

We always have the standard stuff, but always begin with some kind of pasta dish. You know the Italians and their pasta. This year they decided to step it up and rather than just noodles and sauce went with stuffed shells. Good stuff, but completely unnecessary really.

[Guest Smues]

Turducken, potatos, rolls, pumpkin pie. I think there was some other stuff, but that's all I needed. Some eggnog to wash it down and it was yum yum.

[MFer 0]

Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, green beans, layered salad, brussel sprouts (yuck), stuffing, and rolls. Buncha desserts too.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Roasted cornish game hen with sliced bacon and pearl onion, mashed sweet potatoes (made with some raw milk, cinnamon, and brown sugar), green bean casserole, and a dutch apple pie to finish it off. Got all or most of the ingredients from the farmer's market/local farms, and what I couldn't get, I got at the local Winco (real cheap megamart). I made everything myself. From scratch. All fucking day.

 

It was worth the effort, but yikes it was a lot of work for just a couple people. Lots of leftovers, though, and I like having ripped out the necks, gizzards and backbones from the chickens since I can make stock from it all.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

If you're ever in Toronto I'd pay you to cook me dinner.

 

No homo.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

See, the thing is, those aren't hard things to cook. Most labor intensive actions there were cleaning the birds, peeling produce, and making pie crust, amirite?

 

Everyone should cook things. Burning shit is part of the learning curve. Most anything you want to eat isn't that hard to make. Simplicity and tasting awesome often go hand in hand.

 

[Guest Vitamin X]

Yup, but actually the hardest part was more trying to keep an eye on everything since I was doing all of them at the same time in order for all the food to come out warm. That was actually the hardest part. The way I did that was by making the apple pie first, way in advance, and keeping it in the fridge until it was baking time. Then I made the casserole at the same time I was boiling the sweet potatoes (to soften them up and remove the skins) and when that went in the oven, I started cleaning the birds and then I mashed the potatoes and kept it on the stove on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. Then I busted out the casserole out of the oven, threw in a brick and cranked it to 500 degrees, then started cooking bacon on the cast iron skillet, rendering the fat and then I threw down the birds skin side down, put the brick on top and put on the pearl onions until it was seared and then threw it in the oven until thoroughly cooked. Everything got served nice and warm, but the casserole had to go back in the oven for a short period of time to warm up and I started baking the apple pie as soon as I served everything else. Timing on that was perfect, too.

 

I'll be honest, the hardest part wasn't even the prep work; I'm fairly confident that if I worked in a restaurant, I'd be an insanely good prep guy, since I got everything ready between the apple pie making and the casserole pretty quickly. I think the hardest part was finding all the ingredients at a reasonable price but of high quality.

 

Cooking really isn't very hard (really all it is just adding heat and some seasoning to raw food), but it takes practice. I started out making a lot of pasta and even then wasn't doing it that well, and then I moved on to making burritos and rice dishes, things of that nature. The thing that got me going well was cooking breakfast and getting a formidable spice army in the pantry, and learning how and which vegetables to freeze well also. I try to learn something new every week, too.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I sharpened most of my skills, which are modest, on the noble hamburger. Different burgers are great ways to experiment. Ground beef is cheap, and so is bread.

 

Ended up doing absurd shit like grinding up sirloin and adding caramelized onions and cave-aged gruyere. Made my own mustard sauce. That was a tasty burger.

[tekcop 0]

My house: Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, macaroni salad, potato salad, wild rice dressing, white and pinto beans, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and apple pie. We didn't really go all out for Thanksgiving this year because of the whole divorce thing.

 

Girlfriend's: Turkey, fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, ham, and... I really don't remember. I was really tired that night. I remember really liking the ham and dumplings, though.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I sharpened most of my skills, which are modest, on the noble hamburger. Different burgers are great ways to experiment. Ground beef is cheap, and so is bread.

 

Ended up doing absurd shit like grinding up sirloin and adding caramelized onions and cave-aged gruyere. Made my own mustard sauce. That was a tasty burger.

 

Sounds strikingly similar to what's called the best burger here in Portland, the Slow Bar's "Slowburger"

 

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

See, those mile high sandwiches annoy me. Who can eat that with their hands, without mashing the whole thing down?

[Guest Vitamin X]

I know what you mean, but the point with this one is to mash the whole thing down. It's just the presentation. But that's a big fat fried onion ring on top of a slice of melted gruyere and a 1/2 pound of grass fed beef. Quite delicious.

 

One thing that's annoying about that burger is that the bottom bum almost always disintegrates within a few bites (because of the juiciness of the meat and the weight/grease of everything else) so you have to flip it upside down.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Yup, but actually the hardest part was more trying to keep an eye on everything since I was doing all of them at the same time in order for all the food to come out warm. That was actually the hardest part. The way I did that was by making the apple pie first, way in advance, and keeping it in the fridge until it was baking time. Then I made the casserole at the same time I was boiling the sweet potatoes (to soften them up and remove the skins) and when that went in the oven, I started cleaning the birds and then I mashed the potatoes and kept it on the stove on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. Then I busted out the casserole out of the oven, threw in a brick and cranked it to 500 degrees, then started cooking bacon on the cast iron skillet, rendering the fat and then I threw down the birds skin side down, put the brick on top and put on the pearl onions until it was seared and then threw it in the oven until thoroughly cooked. Everything got served nice and warm, but the casserole had to go back in the oven for a short period of time to warm up and I started baking the apple pie as soon as I served everything else. Timing on that was perfect, too.

 

I'll be honest, the hardest part wasn't even the prep work; I'm fairly confident that if I worked in a restaurant, I'd be an insanely good prep guy, since I got everything ready between the apple pie making and the casserole pretty quickly. I think the hardest part was finding all the ingredients at a reasonable price but of high quality.

 

Cooking really isn't very hard (really all it is just adding heat and some seasoning to raw food), but it takes practice. I started out making a lot of pasta and even then wasn't doing it that well, and then I moved on to making burritos and rice dishes, things of that nature. The thing that got me going well was cooking breakfast and getting a formidable spice army in the pantry, and learning how and which vegetables to freeze well also. I try to learn something new every week, too.

 

VX:

 

 

[The Niggardly King 0]

My father wanted to put his new outdoor kitchen to use as he smoked the turkey and made a kick ass rack of lamb to go with it instead of the old boring choice of ham. Mom made the pies (fuck boysenberry) and other deserts, and I took care of the rest... which included making the mac & cheese, the dressing, hash browns, green beans, and I stir fried up some collared greens. Only thing missing was a nice honey baked duck or fuck any kind of duck really.

 

First Thanksgiving where everyone had fun and pitched in, instead of leaving it up to one person.

[starvenger 0]

The wife hates turkey, so I've worked on perfecting the rib roast. Gotten good at it using the low and slow method.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Hates.......turkey?

 

*Does not compute*

[Red Baron 0]

My Thanksgiving dinner consisted me pigging out at the Treasue Island buffet in Las Vegas.

[starvenger 0]

Hates.......turkey?

 

*Does not compute*

When it comes to poultry, Asians aren't fond of white meat.

 

As you live in the GTA, you know that it's not necessarily the case for non-avians.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Hates.......turkey?

 

*Does not compute*

My GF is allergic to turkey.

 

Last year, out of..desperation to cook something for Thanksgiving I did a meatloaf.

 

This year I didnt even bother because I was by myself.