One of the biggest food holidays is just around the corner. Let’s chat about it!
What does your spread include? Any cool family favorite dishes? Any interesting spins on an old favorite you want to share? Trying anything new this time? I especially love hearing about the quirks of each families traditional spread.
For me, something interesting I am going to include on the table this year is Charleston Red Rice. I was looking for an interesting and unexpected side that didn’t stray too far from the flavor profile of a traditional meal. Also, wanted to include a grain based dish as my family never does lol. And it’s a dish I know for certain a few people attending will love. Also, a funny thing about my thanksgiving history…I didn’t have green bean casserole until I was in my mid-20s. No one in my family liked it, so it was never included lol.
So what’s going on with you and your Thanksgiving feast this year?
The last few years I have done sous vide turkey breast instead of a traditional roast bird. So much easier, so much tastier, and takes way less prep. Put the turkey in the bag, add some olive oil (or butter, but I get better results with olive oil), some salt, pepper, and herbs (I use sage, rosemary, and thyme), vacuum seal and put in a 140°F bath for at least 2.5 hours. I usually prep the day before and sous vide overnight, though. Never noticed any weird textures. Once you are ready to serve, get a cast iron skillet hot, and sear both sides of the breast in some butter. This is just for some good skin and nice maillard action. I also make a grave from the juice left in the bag, but that is entirely optional.
Haven’t had a turkey sous vide yet, would love to try it. Your method sounds delicious! Thankfully, I’m not in charge of the bird this year. The person who is will be smoking ours, so that will be tasty and different. Happy cooking!
Ooh, smoking is also delicious. I am usually in charge of the protein because nobody else wants to deal with it, and everyone has loved the sous vide. Makes me the defacto turkey person.
Good on you! We have a defacto meat person too. My sister-in-law’s dad (so I guess married in father-in-law?) likes to take on the meat, though in our case he insists lol.
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I have been, up until very recently, a “Thanksgiving Traditionalist”, in that I loudly proclaimed that one should muck around with the traditional basics.
But last year, I changed my tune. We had a dinner based around Stanley Tucci’s timpano instead of turkey (yes, the famous timpano from the movie BIG NIGHT). That was a big success.
This year, because I have some very dear friends who are vegetarians and who kind of slink away when anyone discusses Thanksgiving traditional dishes, I wanted to make dinner with their needs/desires squarely in mind, so I am doing a completely vegetarian menu. I generally despise “meat analogues”, so no, we’re not having tofurkey. So, here’s the menu:
- velouté de châitagnes (chestnut soup)
- Spanish tortilla (the potato dish, not the Mexican flatbread)
- my grandmother’s green bean casserole (very unique, not-what-you-expect, nod to tradition)
- roasted root vegetables (catch-all, probably rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, etc…)
- Jacque Pepin’s “easy” corn soufflé
- a massive onion-mushroom tarte tatin as the centerpiece (onions, mushrooms, gorgonzola, walnuts, butter, pastry crust)
- fresh homemade pickles (various)
- fresh homemade bread (baguettes, sourdough boules, etc)
- risalamande (Scandinavian rice pudding)
I am probably forgetting something. Guests are bring desserts and wine (one is a L3 sommelier, never disappoints).
Wow what incredibly lucky friends you have! This is going to be a delicious meal, let us know how it turns out!
Sounds amazing!
Funny Americans and your November thanksgiving.
Why don’t you have it in October like the smart people.
I mean, I’d even be interested in two thanksgivings…
My spouse works for an USA company (we live in Canada) and gets both holidays, it’s awesome
Oh, Canada. 🙃
In our country we respect halloween. And then steamroll over thanksgiving because theres already christmas stuff up
For the past few years I’ve been perfecting a sort of weird pumpkin pie.
I take a pie pumpkin, core out the inside, then rub it with pumpkin pie species and sugar, then roast the whole thing till tender but not falling apart. Then I make a simple Vanilla egg custard on the stove and poor it in to the pumpkin and put it all to the side to set.
The first year i broke the custard, the second the custard came out perfectly, but I found the flesh to of the pumpkin to be a bit bland, so I’m working on ways to flavor the roasted pumpkin a bit more.
Finding a tasty pumpkin is usually the hardest part. The few I’ve tried from this list (with pictures!) were better than the average pie pumpkin I’ve had, but note that the list includes lots that are better for roasting than for pies. Here’s the ones I notice they like most for pies: Blue Hubbard, Butternut Squash (I’ve heard canned pumpkin are actually butternut because the flavor is better), Jarrahdale, Kabocha, Long Island Cheese, and Neck (these are the ones I usually get – we call them Crooknecks in my family).
This sounds so interesting! Almost like a clafoutis, but more custardy. Once you’ve got it down I’d love if you shared a recipe :)
A few years ago Cook’s Illustrated published a recipe for turkey thigh confit. We figured, what the hell, let’s try it, if we aren’t going to do a ridiculous project like this at Thanksgiving, when will we?
It was incredible. Absolutely worth the work - the turkey comes out almost ham-like. We have done it every year since. It doesn’t scale to larger parties very well, but if you eat meat and have a small group (with 6 you won’t have leftovers), give it a try.
Sorry for the huge offtopic but as an expat living in north america I always wanted to ask: Isn’t Thanksgiving kind of problematic due to first nations genocide and such? I’d love some insights from my fellow beeples
Its origin story is problematic, but in reality most people only think of it as a food holiday… and maybe people go around the table and say what they’re thankful for. It’s pretty divorced from its roots, and the name itself isn’t an issue (unlike Columbus Day, for example). But I’m curious to hear other perspectives!
I like to have fun with it.
Stuffing waffles. Cranberry foam. Pumpkin creme brulee. Roasted zucchini and potato pave. Beer braised roast cause I get free beer from work.
Turkey is overrated. Realistically there’s too much richness in the meal, it needs more acid.
These sound wonderful! Acid is always welcome for me. I like to squirt some lemon on the veggies that show up on the table. Lots of wine in the gravy helps too.
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