But you can have a lot of the same sides with roast beef or duck. And I make a veggie-heavy (leeks, celery, mushrooms) version of my favorite stuffing with a pork chop and red wine cranberry sauce and it is MUCH better than with turkey.
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I really love the smell of a turkey roasting and look forward to sandwiches the next day of thinly sliced white meat. I now just buy Butterballs, less than 15 lbs. I really like Woks of Life recipe:
Like Marcella Hazan’s Roasted Chicken recipe, it’s cooked breast side down first.
I usually roast a turkey just twice a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas. For those who need to feed a crowd, I suggest doing 2 14-lb turkeys, maybe one the day before so you’ll be sure to have enough for leftovers. (I’ve had bad luck with bigger turkeys having stringy meat.)
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same, same
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We just learned that Spawn2 and Son-in-Law will not be coming home for Thanksgiving - we just saw them last weekend, will see them next weekend, and quite possibly the weekend after that, too, so not really a big deal - but we also found out that Spawn1, who’s been in Montana for the last 10+ years, will be coming home for Thanksgiving…and bringing a new (to us) GF, too! It looks like I will be doing a full Thanksgiving this year.
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YEA!!
I enjoy making a large Thanksgiving Meal. (even if there is a lot of leftovers)
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Me too. I honestly think that cooking is how I show my love for family and friends.
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Me, too. I love tardish, but now disassemble the bird, and braie the dark meats. I breast out and use bacon fat and herbs and spices to cover the bird, then sear it on all sides and bake it. I also bake the skin separately. Garlicky mashed potatoes is a must along with stuffing, the stupid CO mushroom/green beans, homemade dinner rolls among a mess of other things.
The leftovers are the gold. Cook for a day to eat for three others. I used to host 15-20. Now just 6-7. Fine with that.
+1 to the showing your love for your peeps.
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I love this Thanksgiving thread.
Looking forward to all your reports.
I am keeping my Thanksgiving spirit going through a cup of pumpkin spice drip coffee with a splash of maple syrup this morning.
For people looking for a Brussels Sprout dish, I really liked this one.
….
for people who don’t love turkey
Thanksgiving Lasagna is really popular with some Italian families in the Greater Toronto Area.
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In traditional Chinese home cooking, the bones are always brought to a boil and simmered quickly for no more than a few minutes to encourage the “gunk” that comes out from the bones. That gets dumped with the water, and the cleaned bones are then back in the pot with water for the actual simmering. It may still require some skimming as you go, but it does reduce the work by half at least. A must if using pork or beef bones in the stock too and you want a clear broth. I don’t always do this with chicken as the broth tends to be much cleaner.
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Thank you. I will try this next time!
Regarding the simmering part: I make stock these days only with a pressure cooker. It’s much faster, less aromatic, and produces a much clearer result than I ever managed to get with a stock pot. (Not perfectly clear like consomme, but not cloudy either.) Definitely recommend giving it a shot if you haven’t. For me at least it was quite a game changer. An important part here is to ladle the stock off of the bones and other stuff at the end, rather than trying to pour everything out. Bit more work but it makes a huge difference with regard to clarity.
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THIS. So much.
Glad you’ll have the further-away kid with you for the holiday after ages!
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Early brainstorming for 2 the separate gatherings, one local, one traveling.
2 apps for each, 1 dessert and 1 food gift for the local and 4 food gifts for travel,
Still looking around for more interesting ideas!
Apps / grazing:
– Mousse (tuna or salmon) or Rillettes (salmon or sardines)
– Something dip-py / cheesy – Kenai dip / Pimento cheese dip, Butter chicken dip, Pav bhaji fondue dip, Roasted green onion / scallion cream cheese dip, baked brie with some unusual topping (cardamom mango marmalade maybe)
– Something bready / pastry-ish – gougeres, apero bread, sheet (eighth) pan quiche, puff pastry spirals (kheema or spicy potato or something new),
– Something meaty – Shumai mini meatballs or merguez bites
– Gravlax (over tiny toasts with lemony spread)
Dessert / gifts:
– Panna cotta tart
– Chocolate ganache and caramel tart
– Hot milk sponge cake sandwiched with berry lemon curd
– Sticky toffee pudding bars / cake / bundt
– Chocolate whisky / bourbon bundt
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I was thinking the same thing.
This year, a family friend dropped off a lemon meringue pie the day before Canadian Thanksgiving, and a neighbour gave me a homemade pumpkin loaf. I had been giving both of them vegetables all summer. it was so touching that they thought of us on Thanksgiving.
On Thanksgiving Monday, I gave another elderly friend a few lbs of cooked turkey.
This year, I sent a chicken pot pie, scalloped potatoes , a pumpkin pie and some cookies to a friend who lives a few hours away, from a local small business that delivered the food to the door. He was staying at his mom’s place for 8 days, including Thanksgiving, and it was just the 2 of them this year. I get the feeling my gift bothered him, like I overstepped or I missed a cue. He said thanks for everything, and that they enjoyed the potatoes, pumpkin pie and saved the chicken pot pie in the freezer. Haven’t really heard from him since and I usually hear from him often. Of course, there could be other reasons why I’m not hearing , but , often the gut feeling is the right one.
I guess live and learn!
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Do most folks think that’s a good thing? My husband doesn’t appreciate the aroma.
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I don’t think you’ll get “most” folks to agree on anything 
For me, any aroma that sticks around for excessively long eventually bothers me.
And I don’t care about clarity, but I do care about energy use and speed, so I make stock in the PC.
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I don’t think you’re going to find many people who want their house to reek of soup for two days straight, but then again I learned yesterday on a different thread that corn-scented candles exist so … 
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It makes me so sad that your extremely kind gesture was perhaps not appreciated. I certainly would have been overjoyed. I can’t understand humans … they can be so disappointing. You’re having to guess why he is behaving this way … wish he’d just be honest. Love from and to dogs and cats (other pets too!) is so sweet and simple.
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Did you tell him it was coming, or was it a surprise? People are weird about surprises sometimes.
Plus there’s whatever it going on in their own heads that has nothing to do with you (for eg, did you think they couldn’t feed themselves that you sent a main and dessert? when in fact it was a caring and generous gesture - here are some things to enjoy while you’re together for the week).
Don’t overthink it.
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I let him know I would be sending something the Thursday before the weekend.
He wanted to know what it was, and I mentioned food . Closer to the date, I told him what it would be, specifically .
He replied with, "“oh you didn’t think I’d get my act together and make a pumpkin pie?” He had told me weeks before he had never made a pumpkin pie. I replied no, I just figured you could use a pumpkin pie. if you wanted to make one yourself, you could eat this one Thu to Sat, or freeze it for later.
He or his mom had to be around for the delivery so that drop-off time was arranged in advance.
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