5 Dishes I Wouldn't Feed a Dog … But I Do Eat to Be Polite on Thanksgiving
by Honeybeast5. Pumpkin Pie.
It's not that I find pumpkin pie particularly vile. Especially if it's homemade pie. I just feel like I have already eaten enough of it in this lifetime. I move we ax it from the lineup immediately and replace with a new tradition: Thanksgiving shortbread.
4. Cranberry Sauce.
I've been more than halfway through more than one Thanksgiving feast when the host said, "Crap!" and popped out of her chair, to return with a dish of cranberry sauce. Nobody had noticed. I rest my case.
Flavorwise, I just don't think cranberry sauce does the job of cutting through all that rich food. I can see it making a fantastic ersatz chutney with Indian food, or taking the place of lemon curd alongside gingerbread. But I'd rather let the tartness of the cranberry shine -- if you served me these sweet potato chips with cranberry salsa, I'd be eternally thankful.
3. Candied sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes are quite nice. I could eat them baked up twice. I could eat them in a box. I could drink them on the rocks. But I DO NOT LIKE those candied yams. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.
2. Most Rolls.
I've long dreamed of opening up my own quick-serve restaurant called Just Toast -- which pretty much sums up my warm feelings toward gluten. But we've got stuffing, potatoes, and pie crusts to devour. We've probably made a dent in a bready appetizer or two before the Big Show. Unless they're freshly baked yeast rolls, I'm saving them for leftover sandwiches.
1. Turkey.
I've deep-fried it. I've brined it. I've tried heritage and local birds, but I'd still gobble a Peking duck over turkey any day. Or goose. Or capon, guinea hen, partridge, or chicken. Or at least turducken. Or salt-baked fish or standing rib roast or a salmon-leek pie or a nice stuffed squash. Turkey's stressful to cook and it hogs oven space (not to mention energy). The white meat is often dry, the dark meat greasy -- and when it's cooked perfectly? Still turkey.
Lest you think I'm a thankless cad, tomorrow I'll count down the Thanksgiving foods I adore with such a passion that they wind up mysteriously missing from the leftover stash.
But now it's your turn: Which Thanksgiving dishes would you ban before next Thursday if you could?
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Comments
Marshmallow Yams -- Yuck!
I'm with you on the candied yams -- I love them baked all by themselves, with nothing on top...mmmm....and, I recently learned that yams have more nutrients per square inch than any other veggie in the produce section.
I'm also not big on mashed potatos....yawn....they fill me up too fast, and they're easy to make all year round. Not like delicious stuffing or dressing, yum!!
Laurie
See Jane Soar
Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals
Up with stuffing
OR dressing. I second that yum!
And I love sweet potatoes a bunch -- why do we have to kill them every year with the marshmallows?
ICK!
There are few things I hate as much as marshmallows on yams but I DO load mine with cinnemon, BUTTER and brown sugar and bake.
My family? A WEEK of pumpkin pies. Since I was little. My mom makes about 25 pies (all pumkin) for the whole week and a fresh batch on thanksgiving eve (we have a big family).
Breakfast Thanksgiving morning? Pumpkin pie.
You could say we're fans. :)
Yep I'm breaking up with you
It's a shame really.
~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
Sorry to hear it, but
I refuse to relax my stance on cranberry sauce for a second. There's principle involved.
More for me
It's fine really. This just means more cranberry sauce for me if you sourpusses don't want to eat it!
With whole cranberries, orange peel, and cloves it's the best thing ever!
-----------------
Liz Henry
Composite: Tech & Poetics
lizzard@bookmaniac.net
Cranberry!
I'm going to disagree with the cranberry sauce. I honestly think it's the most delicious part of thanksgiving. Tart and delicious and makes everything fantastic! I definitely never forget the cranberry sauce :)
I know a family who hates cranberry sauce
But they do love the tradition, so every year they whip out the same can and place it on the table unopened. I've advised them to try making it from real berries before they decide whether or not it's truly not for them -- but you have to respect their ingenuity!
Make the cranberry sauce and you might bring
it back.
I grew up on the old Ocean Spray can and when times were lean, the store brand sauce. A few years ago, a friend hipped me to how easy it is to make cranberry relish and I've done it ever since. It tastes much better and I love it on turkey sandwiches the day after dinner.
http://blog.candelarisilva.com
Good and plenty!
I have, and it is definitely better than the
can!
I like homemade cranberry sauce, especially with some citrus zest, maybe even with a little zazzle of Grand Marnier. And you're so right, Candelaria, it's one of the easier things to make on Thanksgiving. So it's too bad for me that I just don't like it with Thanksgiving food. I love it with dessert, though and would eat it anywhere I usually use lemon curd. Mmmmm.
I'd break up with turkey
But without the turkey the gravy, stuffing and yes (homemade) cranberry sauce would not be nearly so good. I'm really all about the sides.
Though I can't remember the last time I actually made a Thanksgiving turkey. I didn't this year (my Thanksgiving was last month) because my mother was in town and requested lasagna. And last year we had just gotten back from BlogHer Boston and there was no way in heck I was making a turkey.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
What did you have instead?
I have friends who don't go in for the big feast but do nod at tradition with turkey chili or a turkey club.
It varies depending on if I'm alone
I know I've cooked (and stuffed because there must be stuffing) a chicken a few times when other people were around. I can't even remember what I made last Thanksgiving. Since we just got back at midnight the night before and the fake husband was doing his usual night at the soup kitchen I suspect it was something easy to throw together.
I've spent a few holiday dinners alone and my favourite thing to make was homemade carbonara. Ingredients are easy and cheap (pasta, Parmesan, pancetta and eggs) and it's super easy to make for one person. It's so rich it feel celebratory. It doesn't hurt that it goes excellently with champagne, which you can afford since the ingredients are cheap. ;-)
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Carbonara is magic, isn't it?
It's basically breakfast on pasta but it feels superdeluxe. Yum.
Mostly agree!
Don't like pumpkin pie. Barely lukewarm on cranberry sauce. HATE, HATE, HATE candied sweet potatoes (can't even bring myself to use the Y-word), love homemade rolls when they're done well, but they rarely are, and I'm with Sassymonkey on the turkey, you have to have it to get the gravy. You need gravy to go on the stuffing, which is probably my #1 Thanksgiving food!
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
I'm all for gravy!
But I'm not above making it from something other than turkey, like chicken or ham or roast beef -- they are all good with stuffing in my opinion. I have a bit of a gravy addiction, though.
I've got my favorites
I've cooked Thanksgiving dinner for a number of years now, and I've got my favorites down pat.
Pumpkin pie was about the first thing to get cut. It's hard to make well (either dried out or mushy), and even when you DO get it right, it's underwhelming.
I do like the cranberries, but absolutely NOT from the can.
I also adore a good (GOOD) roll, but yes, on a day with SO much other food, they can go. Same with stuffing. There's just so much other stuff, I don't need another bread product.
And I never, EVER liked candied yams. Blech.
I love your Thanksgiving triage
So smart. If you're cooking, why make things that are fussy and you don't like anyway? Though I would probably faint with disappointment if I went to a Thanksgiving dinner where the host triaged the stuffing :)
Stuffing? Old bread soaked in who knows what?
No thanks.
Preach it Sister. Most of the traditional Thanksgiving can go. I thought I hated stuffing until i moved to the South and had cornbread stuffing, but it still worries me a lot, because ANYTHING could be in there and often is. My kids love pumpkin pie with rows of squirtcan whipped topping, for breakfast after Thankgiving, but I'd rather have pecan. Cranberry sauce has got to be some corrupt conspiracy involving Maine, aliens visiting directly from the Mayan Empire and under-the-table campaign contributions. My favorite Thanksgiving was when I was 20. and a friend and I hopped to three movies all day long where we had only corn-syrup Coca-Cola and popcorn, the real American agricultural harvest treasure.
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www.3smartgirlz.com consulting
HFCS and popcorn
Maize-o-riffic. I once had an enjoyable Thanksgiving involving shots of Wild Turkey and a box of Stove Top, but that was a VERY, VERY long time ago.
And finally, a reason for cranberry sauce that makes sense to me.
Finally someone said it
I agree with you on them all. Ok so being vegetarian automatically takes off the turkey, and not having a sweet tooth takes off most of the rest, but seriously I always wish that french fries were a main staple of a Thanksgiving feast!
French fries! With gravy!
Like I said, I have a gravy thing.
Candied (braaaack) sweet potatoes
They are already sweet! Why sweeten sweetness? It is so disgusting.
Also, green beans with any kind of vile cream sauce on them. I make mine either plain, or with a lovely light lemon sauce.
And for the love of all things good and sacred, please, please peel your potatoes before you mash them!
You know, I think I disapprove of "candying"
any vegetable
Though candied ginger is quite nice. But not as a side dish.
Thanksgiving Faves/Least Faves
So, I have to disagree with you on a few things listed, but only because I'm a foodie and make the foods you listed from scratch. I love homemade cranberry sauce with whole berries. When I make my cranberries, I cut the sugar and add some extra lime and orange zest. Mmm! You should try it that way just once before you decide the flavor doesn't lend itself well to the feast. Also, on the turkey front, I found an INCREDIBLE recipe for Rosemary (or frankly any fresh herb you prefer) Butter Turkey. You take an herb of choice, in my case Rosemary, chop about 1/2 cup up and mix it with a stick of butter, salt, and pepper. You then massage it into the turkey beneath the skin. Tie up Rosemary and add it to the carcass (stuffing cooked in a turkey is so foul in my opinion) with lemon halves and garlic cloves. PHENOMENAL! Pumpkin pie is made more delicious with the advent of chocolate in between the crust and the (amended) pumpkin cheesecake custard. 86 the store bought rolls or pathetic attempts at white bread, and substitute Moosewood Inn's Squash Rolls made with sweet potato or squash, whole wheat flour, and brown sugar. I've inspired myself to post an amended Thanksgiving menu on my blog! I'm eager to see what your favorites are now!
Those all sound fabulous!
I'm a foodie too and taking the care you describe definitely makes for a much more delicious Thanksgiving. Post a link to your menu please!
What? No gwavy?
I don't like gravy anyway, but for some reason, I really don't like turkey gravy. Don't want it on my meat, my potatoes, or my stuffing. I also skip the rolls -- I will always pick potatoes over bread anyday.
Luckily, that means more for my family. And they're perfectly happy with that.
-- Jeanne - The Periodic Elements of Style: http://periodicstyle.blogspot.com
Give me stuffing, mashed
Give me stuffing, mashed potatoes, my mom's broccoli and cauliflower casserole, frozen corn and I'm happy as a dumpling. For dessert, I'd like a fat slice of French Silk Pie.
JD at I Do Things So You Don't Have To
Thanksgiving soulmate
OK not the corn. Though at first I read "corn dumplings" and was ready to get behind that. But broccoli and cauliflower, yum.
We never had pumpkin pie only sweet potato
pie
A few years back, I decided to get creative with Thanksgiving and didn't do a lot of dishes my kids had grown up with. My son told me that I could add any new dish I wanted but since he only has turkey and many of the sides on Thanksgiving and Xmas, he wanted what he'd come to expect. So, that's what I do. I try all sorts of new recipes all year long but my traditional Thanksgiving has to have greens (I usually do collards, mustards and turnip greens sometimes with cabbage mixed with olive oil and garlic instead of ham hocksor smoked turkey.) Usually make fresh green beans with carrots and onions. Have to roasted sweet potatoes lightly sweetened with real maple syrup or brown sugar and a dusting of cinnamon; have to have another protein (sometimes salmon, sometimes ham), cornbread stuffing, potato salad, macaroni and cheese. Recently, a butternut squash casserole has been added. Anyhow, a feast is in order and we only eat this way twice a year now. I grew up eating mac and cheese at least once a week! Times change but Thanksgiving cannot.
http://blog.candelarisilva.com
Good and plenty!