Thanksgiving Menu

seem to recall we have a thread for your thanksgiving feast plans each year - yet nothing so far.

I'm looking for inspiration!

I may have my Parents visiting. My dad is easy - as long as there is shrimp/steak/burgers then he's happy. I guess the rest are too as they'll eat pretty much anything I put in front of them.

I'm thinking duck..
and maybe smoking a ham

and making a sausage stuffing (with smoked sausage).


what you all planning (So I can steal ideas!!)?

 

Its a no-brainer here,TURKEY!!

Love it with all the traditional sides and desserts.Wouldnt be Thanksgiving for us with anything else. Left-overs,turkey sandwiches,turkey soup,cant wait!!

 

We're doing Christmas this year not Turkey Day, so we're coat tailing on the latter. We were assigned wine duty so we've been playing with what we'll take down to the desert. Since (most California) chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon get in the way of both the range of Thanksgiving eats and most of its individual components, we're thinking viognier for the white. Out touring the local wine trail this weekend, we ambled by Melville to pick up our quarterly club allotment and came away with a 3L bottle of Syrah that might be perfect--little tannin, round, bit of acid remaining, earthy. And it is hard to beat Gold Country zin, too.)

Now if we were cooking, some of the requisite items would be two birds: I brine and grill (look up the classic Sunset recipe online and go with it) and Terri roasts. And we use heritage birds, not the fat over-processed dumbed-down chickens that pass for "turkeys."

Sides can include the classic Miles Standish dressing with pepperoni and mozzarella (Joy of Cooking), green-chile smashed potatoes with cotija, blue cheese bread pudding, and Bouchon's cauliflower gratin. Green beans with tomato, garlic and onion, and char-roasted Brussels are typical greens. And despite always making fresh cranberries, we still have the can contingency. lol

 

If my mom's stepdaughter doesn't go into labor early, forcing my mom to travel over Thanksgiving, my husband and I are going up to her mountain cabin for Thanksgiving. It'll just be the three of us.

I'm smoking a turkey the prior weekend and will bring up the breast and some dark meat (I like to smoke a whole bird because then I get lots of stock and I LOVE smoked turkey stock!) I'm making a couple other things ahead of time, mom is bringing a couple things, then we'll assemble and do the final cooking together.

Current full menu is:

Pumpkin & roast garlic hummus & carrots & pita chips,
Hot crab dip

smoked turkey, spiral ham, roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon, cornbread & sausage stuffing, cranberry sauce (the REAL stuff ;-), baked sweet potato

Salted caramel brownies, pumpkin pie

Ken - I'm doing Christmas too Just started thinking about what I want to make. There will be a terrine of SOMETHING because I just found an awesome terrine mold for 75c at a thrift store, $45 online

 

Mike - I've been wanting to do duck again recently! I had hoped my BIL would have some leftover from last hunting season when we visited in October, but no dice. I need to get to the farmer's market and see what's available....

 

H2, we'll have to talk turkey, err, Christmas eats at the appropriate time!!

As always, you knock out the food.

 

We're in charge of beer & wine too. Though it'll just be me & my husband, so....There are a couple reislings I've looked at - typically I really dislike reisling but the woman who runs the wine store I usually frequent convinced me to try it WITH FOOD. She said it always wins in the blind tastings. My problem is I want to start drinking when I start cooking, so I need something else to drink without food

As for beer, my European bock might be ready to drink in the next week (the first beer I brewed!!!) so I might bring a growler of that. Hubby has a couple of his brews on tap he could bring in a growler, and we can bring bottles if we figure out what might go well or just throw a variety in the cooler.....

We're actually driving to the mountains on Thanksgiving/Thursday so we're going to have our big meal on Friday - Thursday night we're making pizza.

 

Riesling, gewurt, rioja, sangiovese … we could go on and on. So many great food wines that get overlooked in the headlong rush to the big two or three.

 

PS I don't know if this counts or not, but for our work potluck on Nov 26, I'm bringing shrimp dip

 

Hey Hoya,

I love brussel Sprouts, my wife not so much. I've pan fried/sauteed them with bacon and she will tolerate them.

Post your roasted sprouts recipe. I've never tried them roasted.

Thanks,
Joe

 

I slice the brussels sprouts, sprinkle with olive oil and a little sea salt, then put on a cookie sheet (I like to start with the cut side facing down, but you'll flip so it's not crucial - I just like to make sure that cut side gets nice & crispy) I usually roast at 400 for 30-45 minutes. Flip/stir at 20 minutes. My husband is quick to tell you I like them VERY dark/crispy, so you might want to do a lower temp and/or less time. Add some bacon in the last 15 or so minutes.

I keep editing this post, trying to find an online recipe that looks close to what I do ;-)
http://nomnompaleo.com/post/1670459416/roasted-brussels-sprouts-and-bacon

My other favorite way is to pan fry - cook chopped bacon with garlic, then add the brussels sprouts (again, sliced in half so the cut side gets crispy). That's how I made them the first couple years I started eating them (my husband and his father love them, so I made them for a couple meals back when we started dating, then found out my mom loves them, and now - 15 years later- I'm pretty dang fond of them myself I've done salads with shredded sprouts too (those have nuts, cheese) but I don't like those as much as plain with salt, garlic, bacon....

 

Thanks, the pan fry mode is what I have done in the past and I was looking for something different. We planted them in the garden for the first time this year. They certainly didn't come out as big as what we can buy at the local farmers markets, but OK.

 

'm planning on brussel sprouts - have to decide between roast and sautéed. bacon and garlic obviously.

Cauliflower gratin sounds interesting - may check that out.

was going to do lyonaisse pots but if we are doing duck them I have to roast them in duck fat.

hoya - re the terrine. One of the Pepin early books - I think one with Julia Childs had some great looking pate recipes in the very beginning of the book. I'd love to try that one day.

 

I learn something new here everyday

Some people actually like brussel sprouts. I thought they were just things your mom made you eat when you were a kid. God I hated those things.

 

Damn I'm hungry.

Spending Thanksgiving with the girlfriend's parents. Always the traditional foods which is how I like it.

No help here.

 

Going to my sister's and I've been commanded to make dressing. I'll probably do cornbread dressing since it's traditional for our family. I'll probably do cranberry sauce, too. I know we will have turkey but I have no idea how my future brother in law will make it. Last year he fried it but I am hoping he smokes it this time.

 

whats the opinion folks.

is smoked turkey way better.


I have a smoker and I think I can pull of a great smoked turkey with brining and injecting it.....

but do enough people enjoy it?

I have no idea - not tried it before...

 

My family does enjoy a smoked turkey, but it's a gamble if you're not really sure about your audience. My husband didn't like turkey at ALL when we met - turns out it's just that his mom's not a good cook, and when he was in college, he & his roommate would just boil turkey. Ugh. I tend to alternate between smoked or roasted for Thanksgiving if I'm cooking. Because of the sale prices on turkey and the fact I love the stock, I will always smoke a bird at some point in November or December, and then keep leftovers in the freezer to add to other meals - soups & stews, enchiladas, pasta etc. Smoking does not give you the picture-perfect bird to carve on your table, so if that's important, stick with roasting. I typically cut the bird up - legs separate from the breast. Smokes more evenly that way - can take the legs out when they're done, smoke the breast longer as needed. Then slice meat and serve on a platter with garnishes. No crispy skin either- but since I don't eat skin, that doesn't matter to me. You could smoke a chicken in advance and see if people like it?

As for Brussels sprouts, a certain generation of people who grew up eating them boiled - well, no wonder they find them disgusting. Boiling isn't really good for food Whereas roasting - I have not yet found a vegetable I don't like MORE once I've roasted it

 

smoked chicken - did a couple last weekend. brined them with garlic and onion powder overnight then smoked them with Pecan.

one was demolished and I managed to rescue the other and freeze it for a meal another time.

I may just do a smoked turkey breast - and ham..

roast a duck so I can render the fat for making roast potatoes and cooking the brussel sprouts in duck fat....

 

I think we are going with a ham this year as it's a small group.

Roasted watermelon is not too good