Thanksgiving 2023

We did some turkey talking but it seems there's no thread yet for 2023?
What's on your menu? Taking any risks?

Without Local Foods we decided to order a turkey from Fresh Marketplace in Bucktown, which has knowledgeable butchers and is selling Slagel birds. We got two: a 12 pound-ish for the Big Green Egg and an 18 pound-ish to be roasted while stuffed, which we always do with James Beard Oyster Stuffing in the crop and James Beard classic stuffing in the cavity.

We'll also have:
brandied cranberries
riced yukon golds enriched with butter, milk, garlic, and sour cream
crunchy salad
green beans almondine
Alison Roman celery stuffing
Christiana Campbells sweet potato muffins
roasted root veg
savory applesauce
corn pudding
relish tray

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Cranberry Curd Tart with Gingersnap crust
Derby Pie

wishing everyone well!

Wow sounds great!
We are meeting my in-law family in AZ
Catering Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes from Emily’s Events
Will make:
Pigs in a blanket
Romaine/apple/onion salad
Mac N Cheese
Apple pie
Brownies

We are hosting this year, something we haven't done in a long time. We've ordered a Jake's Country Meats brined turkey through Sauce & Bread Kitchen. Haven't decided on the dressing prep yet. Honestly, haven't decided on much of anything yet. There will be mashed potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, gravy and the turkey. We also ordered brioche cloverleaf rolls, a maple honey pie and a brown butter pumpkin layer cake from SBK. There will be wine. That's enough for me!

I'm making my customary items to take to my sister's house. Nothing unusual for our group of 12. Turkey, stuffing (with homemade sage sausage), gravy, some sort of baked green veg casserole tbd and a bourbon-based batched cocktail, probably a maple-leaning Old Fashioned.

For those seeking inspiration and fortitude, this lengthy video by Claire Saffitz at NYT's youtube channel is a joy to watch (no loss to view at 1.5x speed) . . .


Claire Saffitz Cooks Her Ideal Thanksgiving Start to Finish | NYT Cooking

I'm considering making the Pecan Slab Pie featured at the 26:08 mark of the video. It seems doable enough and it looks great.

=R=

I’m visiting my daughter and grand kids in London.

She will be chef and I will be sous chef. She has special ordered a turkey ( hard to find whole turkeys there ) and is inviting 15 friends over for Thursday dinner. She does all the usual sides.

Feeling contrarian, we'll be having BBQ St. Louis ribs from Homestead Meats.

nr706 wrote:Feeling contrarian, we'll be having BBQ St. Louis ribs from Homestead Meats.

A friend from the UK did not understand Thanksgiving traditions. Her husband advised he was bringing Army buddies home for dinner. She bought steaks.

Thereafter it was steak for Thanksgiving and turkey for Christmas.

I wish Thanksgiving was not next week, but we will definitely do turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce. After that it will be a surprise to me, because I am just not in that menu mode yet.

Regards,
CAthy2

Roast Turkey with Sage Butter, gravy
Maple Glazed Carrots
Mashed Potato Casserole with French’s Fried Onion Topping
Mixed Greens with Orange Vinaigrette
Cranberry And Walnut Relish
Warm Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

It’s a small group this year so we’re skipping stuffing. I may get some blow-back but the mashed potato casserole is really rich and delicious so I think it will satisfy as the starch.

This year's feast will be at my inlaws, but I am charged with buying the turkey. Since it's too much driving to make a trip Tues or Wed to deliver the uncooked turkey, I think I'll roast it a day ahead as I did last year, using the Jacques Pepin method ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPWEMZwxKjo ) as suggested by Cathy last year. That gravy came out particularly well, too.

The groaning board will also be laden with non-stuffed stuffing, probably with breakfast sausage, plain mashed taters, and hopefully some very standard veg.

I'll make 3 pies: pumpkin, French silk, and pecan. Only one other diner and I out of the dozen attending really enjoy pecan. She is from Europe where apparently pecans are a rare bird - until she moved to the US, she had never seen a pecan in shell. Out of the 3, pecan is the only one, to my tradition-bound way of thinking, where there's much opportunity to gild the lily. Pumpkin made according to the recipe on back of the Libby's can is absolutely fine as long as not too much cinnamon goes in (which means using individual spices, not "pumpkin pie spice".) I normally make French silk with a brownie crumb crust from brownie mix, a nod to Baker's Square etc. But I'll once again venture to make a not too sweet, not too runny, not too sticky nut-forward pecan pie, with a schnort of Maker's for a distinctly American accent.

We're going to my cousin's, only bringing a couple dishes: SueF will do rolls and pecan pie, I'm doing Ottolenghi's roasted butternut squash and red onion with tahini.

We’re doing our typical dinner for 12 but only 3.4 eaters actually attend

My MIL is bringing deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, Mac & cheese, and Apple Cobbler.

I’m doing the rest—dry brined, roasted turkey with my mom’s (super simple) stuffing recipe (sourdough cubes, celery, onion, butter & poultry seasoning); green beans with fried onions; by request of stepson #2, the pickiest eater, twice baked potatoes which I’m going to make with smaller Yukon golds; Parker house rolls; giblet gravy; cranberry, apple & blood orange compote; and a chocolate pecan pie.

boudreaulicious wrote:My MIL is bringing deviled eggs...cranberry, apple & blood orange compote;

Our European family addition asked if it would be weird to bring deviled eggs. I told her Americans typically think of deviled eggs as summer picnic/bbq food, perhaps the wrong story.

And are blood oranges available already? That sounds good, more interesting than the typical navel oranges.

tjr wrote:And are blood oranges available already? That sounds good, more interesting than the typical navel oranges.

Usually not until February. At least the really red fleshed ones.

tjr wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:My MIL is bringing deviled eggs...cranberry, apple & blood orange compote;

Our European family addition asked if it would be weird to bring deviled eggs. I told her Americans typically think of deviled eggs as summer picnic/bbq food, perhaps the wrong story.

And are blood oranges available already? That sounds good, more interesting than the typical navel oranges.

I cut a deep purple one open last night. They’re not big but they’re delicious! I love them in cocktails so always try to keep a couple on hand and have found that in the last few years they’re available year round. Got the last couple at Strack’s (my local supermarket chain here in NWI) but pretty sure I’ve seen them recently at Whole Foods and Tony’s.

As for the Deviled eggs, my mom frequently made them for holidays (we’re Eastern European Jewish descent) and I was amused when I learned that my Mexican MIL always served them as well. I don’t love either of their versions particularly but I’m glad we have the tradition.

tjr wrote:I'll make 3 pies: pumpkin, French silk, and pecan. Only one other diner and I out of the dozen attending really enjoy pecan. She is from Europe where apparently pecans are a rare bird - until she moved to the US, she had never seen a pecan in shell. ... But I'll once again venture to make a not too sweet, not too runny, not too sticky nut-forward pecan pie, with a schnort of Maker's for a distinctly American accent.

You do not need to add Maker's for an American accent, because pecans are American. Whatever pecans your European diner had were imported.

The latin name for pecans is Carya illinoinensis (commonly misspelled illinoensis), which is a type of hickory. It's native reach begins along the Mississippi river and Illinois river tributaries, then following the Mississippi river south, then into Texas and Mexico. It is an introduced crop to Georgia, which will curl the toes for some in that region.

Pecan pie is unique for being so prominently nut forward, instead of ground and used as a thickener. If you go with Karo syrup, they are responsible for popularizing this dessert when they gave back of the jar recipe status in the 1930s. Karo syrup was introduced in 1902 with company headquarters in New York and Chicago.

Pumpkin Pie is the state pie of Illinois, which I wrote a letter of support in 2014. I met members of the Dickinson family this year, whose relative Elijah Dickinson brought seeds from Tennessee that launch our states dominance in the pumpkin used in pumpkin pies. This Dickinson family member advised her great grandmother and aunt developed the recipe seen on the back of the can. This recipe is used at Libby's production in Morton, IL to review batches pumpkin, though the Dickonsin squash is really a squash and not a pumpkin.

Now I have given you something to talk about at the table.

Regards,
Cathy2

Pecans apparently grow into South America, although significantly larger than US pecans: This is from a bag we bought in the market in Lima Peru. They were delicious (and I wish we'd bought more, although they might not have been legal to bring into the US). That's SueF's hand in the picture.


I tried eating wild hickory nuts this fall -- they taste very similar to pecan, but are very very hard to get the nuts out of the shell.

Thanks, Cathy! Wish there was an upvote feature.

JoelF wrote:I tried eating wild hickory nuts this fall -- they taste very similar to pecan, but are very very hard to get the nuts out of the shell.

"Hard" is the key word. Darn near impossible to get complete hickory nut halves consistently. I once knew someone who could crack out a lot of halves but he wouldn't reveal his method. May have been soaking or steaming the shells to soften them.

I once made a small hickory nut pie. Delicious but probably won't be repeated.

in starting the thread initially i had an objective i forgot! WTF are people serving to extended families visiting on the days around turkey day?! i'm trying to think of meals that are the opposite of the thanksgiving feast, but coming up with several nights of those is a little challenge. like, seafood or vegetarian, and bright acidic spicy things, and low carb compared the to carb fest... so far i think i have seared salmon/roast cauliflower/caesar salad one night; tacos and slaw one night; shrimp and grits or shrimp and rice with peanut sauce and herbs/sprouts...but i need another and i want to be enthused.

annak wrote:in starting the thread initially i had an objective i forgot! WTF are people serving to extended families visiting on the days around turkey day?! i'm trying to think of meals that are the opposite of the thanksgiving feast, but coming up with several nights of those is a little challenge. like, seafood or vegetarian, and bright acidic spicy things, and low carb compared the to carb fest... so far i think i have seared salmon/roast cauliflower/caesar salad one night; tacos and slaw one night; shrimp and grits or shrimp and rice with peanut sauce and herbs/sprouts...but i need another and i want to be enthused.

Ha! I’m doing the salmon/cauliflower/Caesar tomorrow.

Tonight we’re doing chili buffet with all the fixings and a big Italian salad.

I usually don’t cook on Wednesday because I’m knee deep in T’giving prep so I make them fend for themselves which usually means they do pizza.

The kid is home from college, so that means his favorite foods and ones he hasn't mastered yet. So far home cooking has been Antioch/Waukegan style pizza and tacos (homemade beans, homemade tortillas.) Dining out has included a Chicago dog at Mustard's Last Stand and a gyros at Big Deal Burgers in Milwaukee. One upcoming dinner will probably be movie theater popcorn and soda.

I also nearly made another spaghetti pie for my nephew and wife until they informed me on the trip here that they were really looking forward to Portillo's.

Wow, that's pretty darn hefty. Soup and salad next week.

tjr wrote:So far home cooking has been Antioch/Waukegan style pizza.

Ok perhaps you could explain and perhaps provide a recipe? Which pizza places are you emulating?

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Ok perhaps you could explain and perhaps provide a recipe? Which pizza places are you emulating?

This grew out of a few discussions on a pizza making forum which suggested that pizza up on the cheddar border is slightly different from south side thin crust (If you ask me, here it's a little thicker and softer, and the square cut thing is less dogmatic):
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index ... ic=64897.0
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index ... c=48952.20

To add to this, local kids seem to think Quonset is the best thin crust around here, or even best pizza overall, with Kaiser's and Fatman's just a little lower. More west, Antioch Pizza (multiple locations) is pretty similar. I, and for that matter most of the locals, haven't been to Wells Bros in suburban Racine to see if that beats them all in a similar style. Perhaps an expedition this winter break.

My recipe for 3 10" pies:
Crust:
320 g Ceresota or Dakota Maid all purpose flour
150 g warm water
6 g salt
24 g corn oil
2 g instant dry yeast
Knead just until uniform, refrigerate 1-2 days, roll/stretch very thin with no or minimal added flour. I roll and stretch flat with a minimal rim.

Sauce:
3 Tbsp tomato paste
6 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
Black & red pepper + oregano to taste

Sauce goes on first followed by cheese and toppings of choice.

I start baking these on flat aluminum pans on a stone at 550F. Once they're set I finish directly on the stone until the crust is just crispy. With better peel skills it should be possible to bake directly on the stone - dough is not very sticky - if there aren't too many toppings.

Got a beautiful top sirloin roast from Zier's for tomorrow - finally convinced my family to forgo turkey for the first time in 36 years. Zier's very generously trimmed off about a pound to both make it the weight I wanted and a very consistent, even shape for doneness. Currently sitting in the fridge seasoned and uncovered until tomorrow, when it'll be reverse seared/roasted a la Serious Eats and served with a bordelaise sauce.

Hi,

I have not yet bought a turkey and I will, but ...

At lunch yesterday, I was talking about my lack of enthusiasm for roasting a turkey. Of course, I made challah bread for the stuffing. My Dad suggested instead of turkey, why not eat all those crab legs collecting in the freezers.

My Dad is a turkey enthusiast, but he loves clearing stuff out of the freezers, too.

I may never get this chance again, so we are doing crab.

Regards,
Cathy2

Easy to be thankful for crab.

And then tomorrow, you can buy a turkey at half price.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I have not yet bought a turkey and I will, but ...

At lunch yesterday, I was talking about my lack of enthusiasm for roasting a turkey. Of course, I made challah bread for the stuffing. My Dad suggested instead of turkey, why not eat all those crab legs collecting in the freezers.

My Dad is a turkey enthusiast, but he loves clearing stuff out of the freezers, too.

I may never get this chance again, so we are doing crab.

Regards,
Cathy2

Any chance you have some turkey-shaped butter molds or cookie cutters? If so, you could make some righteous Thanksgiving crab cakes

As I mentioned upthread, for no reasons other than it looked good and seemed do-able, I decided to give Claire Saffitz's Pecan Slab Pie a try.

My wife and I always joke that if a dessert recipe extends beyond the front and back of one printed page, we n00bs should avoid it. This one was nearly 3 pages but still, broken into individual steps, it seemed reasonable enough. So, we decided to give it a shot. I'm glad we did because it seems to have turned out great . . .


Pecan Slab Pie
It looks great and smells great but as of now, unfortunately, I have no idea how it is. Only made 1 and can't cut into it until our big meal tomorrow but the anticipation is killing me!

=R=

turkey is green egging and stuffed turkey is roasting and pies are done and prep is done and table is scaped and the sun is shining and just a note of thanks to LTHers for sustaining a community of wisdom!

annak wrote:turkey is green egging and stuffed turkey is roasting and pies are done and prep is done and table is scaped and the sun is shining and just a note of thanks to LTHers for sustaining a community of wisdom!

Cheers!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!


17 pounds of Thanksgiving joy

=R=

Looks great, Ron, but people want to know…..how was the tart?