Thanksgiving Menus

[tortoise]

It's that time of year again! I've prepared this menu for the past 2 years for our large (20+ people) Thanksgiving gatherings, and it has been a huge hit:

• Roast Turkey (I use Alton Brown's Good Eats recipe, with a few variations, and it always makes for a delicious bird)
• Stuffing/dressing (I always make a fairly basic one, with bread/pork sausage/onions/celery/lemon juice/chicken broth, but this year I think I'll make something more adventurous as well)
• mashed potatoes
• homemade dripping gravy
• fresh roasted yams, with butter, salt & pepper ONLY
• grilled asparagus (I usually grill these up the day before and serve them cold, dressed in a little meyer lemon olive oil)
• fresh cranberry sauces (one with orange zest, one without)
• assorted breads, including the traditional Pilsbury Crescent Rolls

That's the main menu. I usually cave into the pressure to "let someone else bring something" by allowing someone to prepare the requisite "White Trash Green Bean Casserole" (you know the one, with the French's onion topping).

What are you making for Thanksgiving?

 

[Ginny]

what am i making for Thanksgiving?

umm....well....ummm...i better start thinkinga 'bout that, huh?.....

mmmmmm your menu, my baby...sounds scrumdeeleeishus....

 

[Ginny]

guess i better go snag a turkey.....<nodding>....and a pumpkin....for pie or whatever you can cook with those gross stringy innards.....

 

[celiaKitten]

I Alton Brown & Good Eats.

 

[Ginny]

maybe the lil miracle can help me stuff stuff up the turkey's butt......

turkey butt stuffing.....a family tradition.....

 

[Ginny]

uh oh....we may have to go another route.....i can't fucking sew.....hmmmm....i can staple though....

 

[Guest]

 

[tortoise]

Alton kicks ass. Definitely one of the more informative cooking shows around, as he's all about techniques, not just recipes. Always fun, too, in a dorky kinda way (hint: dorky is a GOOD thing).

 

[celiaKitten]

It's good to know the chemistry behind a good gravy, really.

 

[tortoise]

maybe the lil miracle can help me stuff stuff up the turkey's butt......

turkey butt stuffing.....a family tradition.....

LOL

I love the gleeful expressions... just priceless!

 

[Rambling Rose]

Try adding some toasted pecans to your stuffing, and Jimmy Dean's makes a yummy sage flavored sausage!

 

[tortoise]

It's good to know the chemistry behind a good gravy, really.

Yes! Nary a Good Eats show goes by without a diagram showing how food proteins trap water molecules, or some such. It's like Bill Nye for the home ec set!

 

[Rubyfruit]

This year, I'm going to be an out-of-town guest at Thanksgiving.

Thankfully, my mother is a really good cook though.

I love fresh cranberry sauce.

Those who have only had canned have no idea what you're missing. It's easy too! Just grab a bad of cranberries (in your produce section this time of year) and cook them down with a cup of sugar.

Homemade pumpkin pie with freshly whipped cream. Yum.

 

[tortoise]

Try adding some toasted pecans to your stuffing, and Jimmy Dean's makes a yummy sage flavored sausage!

Jimmy Dean's is a must! I love the sagey smell as I brown it off, wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it. I will try the pecan addition, sounds yummy.

 

[celiaKitten]

Yes! Nary a Good Eats show goes by without a diagram showing how food proteins trap water molecules, or some such. It's like Bill Nye for the home ec set!

I loved the geletin episode .. ooo .. the pancake one was good, too!!

Food Network .. *sighs*

 

[Rambling Rose]

They add a really nice toasty crunch. If pecans aren't your thing we sometimes add some chopped water chestnuts to our sausage stuffing. Both are tasty but not so much together.

 

[tortoise]

I love fresh cranberry sauce.

Those who have only had canned have no idea what you're missing. It's easy too! Just grab a bad of cranberries (in your produce section this time of year) and cook them down with a cup of sugar.

Exactly! Absolutely delicious stuff. I love to spoon a bit of it on vanilla ice cream, too.

If you don't want to make your own, though, and you live near a Trader Joe's, they make an excellent fresh cranberry sauce. The ingredients label says: cranberries, water, sugar. Gotta love that.

 

[Ginny]

Cajun Fried Turkey

mais cher....lots of folks around here fry their turkeys:

Using a Cajun-Injector chef's syringe, the turkeys are injected with a spicy marinade 36 hours before frying. Jim uses Mojo Creole, a Cuban marinade that he gets at a Hispanic grocery store. He then rubs the birds inside and out with a Cajun seasoning made by King Kooker. The 28 quart frying pot and the 160,000 BTU propane burner are also made by King Kooker, a company out of Jefferson, Louisiana. The pot is designed with extra high sides and comes with a stand that holds the turkey upright and a handle that is used to place and remove the turkey from the hot oil.

This is definitely an outdoor activity. Apparently several houses have burnt to the ground in New Orleans when this recipe was tried inside. lol....definite outdoor activity.....<nodding>

We cooked outside on concrete, using asbestos gloves. We found it helpful to use water to measure the capacity of the stock pot (with the turkey immersed) so as to insure that the oil did not bubble over the sides possibly causing a grease fire. In the picture above, Tim and Fred are partially dipping and pulling out the turkey a few times to vaporize excess moisture. This is supposed to minimize splashing when the turkey is completely immersed.

We fried each turkey at 365 degrees for 3 1/2 minutes per pound. (That's only 35 minutes for a 10 pound bird!!). The verdict? It was delicious and well worth the trouble.

Ta daaaaaaaa!

<mouth watering>

http://www.tznet.com/lwittman/turkey.html

 

[hotlittlegirlwv]

They add a really nice toasty crunch. If pecans aren't your thing we sometimes add some chopped water chestnuts to our sausage stuffing. Both are tasty but not so much together.

Never tried the sausage stuffing thing (but I will), but oyster dressing is killer. In my experience, a lot of people have never heard of it, I guess because it's a deep south thing, or maybe just a Louisiana thing, who knows? But it is good if you want something a little different.

 

[tortoise]

Oh baby, I've been dying to try that! They even have the turkey fryer sets at our local Costco. One of these years I'll have to give it a try!

 

[Ginny]

recipe for Cajun Fried Turkey from Cajun Injector:

Cajun Whole Fried Turkey
(Use 26 Qt. and 30 Qt. Turkey Fry Kits)

Ingredients:
3-4 gallons of peanut oil
1 (10-12 pound) turkey
1 jar (16 ounce) Cajun Injector® Creole Butter RecipeTM marinade
Cajun ShakeTM seasoning

Directions:
Heat 8-10 inches of oil to 350°. Remove giblets from turkey and discard or reserve for use in another recipe. Rinse turkey thoroughly and pat dry. Inject marinade throughout breast, thighs, and legs. Sprinkle turkey generously with Cajun ShakeTM and rub in with hands. Place in fry basket and lower into hot oil. Fry 3 1/2 minutes per pound (35-42 minutes), until drumsticks move easily and juices run clear when thigh is pierced with a fork. Drain on paper towels. Serves 10.


you can buy their injectors and marinades online:

www.cajuninjector.com

 

[Nora]

My mother's planning to ruin thanksgiving this year. Gee, it's only my favorite holiday (other than Halloween, of course) so I'm a bit traumatized. I think I'll go home and cry about it.

 

[Rambling Rose]

Okay, here's our standard Thanksgiving Feast:

Crown roast of pork

Sage sausage stuffing with toasted pecans and dried cranberries

Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and/or carmelized onions

Gravy

Creamed peas with pearl onions

Steamed brussel sprouts with hollandaise

Yeast rolls w/spiced pumpkin butter

Cranberry sauce (we add a pinch of allspice to ours at the end of cooking)

Pumpkin pie w/whipped cream

Pecan pie

Baked cinnamon apples with struesel topping and cinnamon ice-cream

 

[penguindance]

 

[Calamity Jane]

That's the main menu. I usually cave into the pressure to "let someone else bring something" by allowing someone to prepare the requisite "White Trash Green Bean Casserole" (you know the one, with the French's onion topping).

What are you making for Thanksgiving?

All I'm actually making this Thanksgiving is the pies. This will be the first time I've gone home for TG in years, so I'm taking it easy and letting mom do the cooking.

I'll make a mincemeat, a lemon meringue, a blueberry, a sugar free apple raisin walnut, a deepdish apple, pumpkin and a rhubarb.

Regular old Sunday dinners at mom's house usually have at least 20 people, I think the last TG we were all together, there were 46 of us. I think some babies have been born since.

We'll also have:

Turkey
Ham
Roast beef
Cranberry Sauce
Mashed potatoes
Giblet gravy
Cornbread stuffing
oyster stuffing
3 bean salad
"white trash green beans" (my personal fave, btw)
fresh veggies
fresh bread and rolls
harvest stuffing (rice and sausage and veggies baked in a pumpkin shell)
yams with marshmallows
baked sweet potatoes
some nasty jello concoction provided by gramma