Thanksgiving 2011 Master Thread (pizza, leftover, grocery store, meat)

[yankeegirl313]

Originally Posted by rainroosty

I'll have our turkey in the oven by 8 or 9 a.m. at the latest. Best to cook it early so you can start eating turkey sandwiches early!
I have my favorite turkey sandwich bread ready and waiting - D'Italiano!
It's almost time, everybody! Yayyyy!
Our turkey will be cooked in a cooking bag this year.

Is this your first year for cooking your turkey in the bag? We are thinking about doing this too.

[Amelorn]

I was wondering what's on everyone's menu.

I'm an American in the UK, so Thanksgiving requires quite a bit of footwork to source ingredients. Last year was my first thanksgiving doing the lion's share of cooking. This year, I'm doing the whole thing (if I'm this good at 22....imagine what my wife will think 15 years down the line...hehe)

~10 lb Turkey - $15 for the bird. Not bad, I'd say. Surprisingly, Aldi's turkey's are delicious....better than Tesco's. I'd gladly spend the money for a superb bird...but if said bird is the cheapest and from Aldi, who am I to turn it down.
~2 boxes Stove Top cornbread stuffing. Cost in the UK? £4.75 per box...that's $7.50
~made-from-scratch "jonny cake" cornbread. I <3 cornbread and jonny cakes are so damn easy to make...make the batter, and pour/fry as if they were pancakes.

~Mashed potatoes...no boxed stuff, Markis variety potatoes from the greengrocer mashed fresh.
~carrots glazed in butter and honey

~cranberry sauce
~gravy made from giblet stock (gravy here is sold as dehydrated pellets. I tried it once....NEVER AGAIN!!!!!)

~Apple pie from the bakery (have made pies before with mom....too risky. I want it perfect)
~Vanilla ice cream made at the family owned shop (80 years in Scotland Italian immigrant family)

Of note: One thing I like about Europe is that certain niche ingredients are easy to source. There are more honey varieties than I could get at any shop within a reasonable drive back home on LI, New York. Also, the vegetables used (celery for the stuffing, carrots) come from 1/3 the distance they would back home. Also, the butter is this delicious Norman isigny butter. It's ideal for massaging into poultry.

My grandmother's stuffing trick that will make you a legend: Take a boxed stuffing (she normally uses Arnold's or Bell's). Bell's has the better seasoning, IMO, although you can buy a little tin of Bell's seasoning. Toss in some celery for aroma and flavor. Instead of plain water, dissolve all or part of a bullion cube. For the final touch, toss a whole egg into the stuffing. This imbues the stuffing with a texture and moistness I've never encountered ANYWHERE else.

[jasper12]

Geez, how much money is everyone putting out? One meal, yes, plenty of leftovers...I just blew $125. And I think I got away pretty cheap.
Turkey breast
Stuffing
Squash
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Green beans
Pumpkin cheese cake
Corn bread

[Walter Greenspan]

turkey in the straw (first version 1942) - YouTube

[Amelorn]

Originally Posted by jasper12

Geez, how much money is everyone putting out? One meal, yes, plenty of leftovers...I just blew $125. And I think I got away pretty cheap.
Turkey breast
Stuffing
Squash
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Green beans
Pumpkin cheese cake
Corn bread

Surprisingly, I''ve only put out £45 for ($65) for 6 people. I don't think $11 is too terrible, especially given UK pricing.
Turkey-10
Stuffing-9.50
Cranberry sauce: 2.25
Potatoes: 1.20 (2 lbs)
celery - .6
eggs - 1.30
corn flour 1.15
butter - 1.50
honey- 3
Fresh squeezed OJ (basting) - 2.50
baking soda - .85
pie - 5
ice cream 6
carrots - 1

[SATX56]

Ok! We had our Thanksgiving today. The menu was abbreviated as my boys weren't here this year. We (wife) cooked it at home and we took it to daughter's house.
Turkey 20lb!
Spiral sliced ham.
Dressing and giblet gravy.
Broccoli Casserole.
Drunken sweet potatoes.
Bourbon pecan pie.
Red hot jello.
and
Pumpkin gooey buttercake.

[Sweet*Tea]

^^^^^ SATX, I am drooling! Everything looks AWESOME. I would jump through the computer to get at those yeast rolls! I love yeast rolls.....yes I do.

[kyle19125]

Sending a shout out for my favorite turkey recipe which I'm preparing for 8 hungry people late this afternoon. It comes from Food Network's Giada De Laurentis and never ceases to wow everyone. I simplify the recipe by filling the turkey with halved oranges and lemons as well as bunches of fresh rosemary, sage and oregano. The whole outside is coated lightly with olive oil and rubbed generously with dried herbes-de-provence. I baste just a few times with plain unsalted butter. It smells fantastic while cooking and yields a delicate flavor of citrus in the meat as well as an incredibly moist turkey (due probably to the moisture content of the citrus). Try it, you'll like it!

[gentlearts]

DIL is bringing pumpkin pie, and I have a pecan pie in the oven. In other years, when there were many more people coming, there would also be apple pie and a big layer cake. My rule for Thanksgiving is that if the Pilgrims didn't have it available, then we don't serve it. For example, my friend always has coconut cream pie at Thanksgiving, but to me that is not something I would make.
Of course, the Pilgrims didn't have chocolate cake either, but my house my rules.

[SCGranny]

Our holidays have always been me in the kitchen cooking (sometimes for days before, doing prep)and a HUGE crowd of drop-ins and guests, sometimes upwards of 20, not including our children.

That is, up until three years ago, when DH and I moved 1700 miles to our farm.

No longer am I looking for the biggest, plumpest turkey, baking insane amounts of treats for snackage before and after, getting up at 3 AM to put the turkey on. Last night I baked three - only three! - pie shells to be filled today.

Today's menu consists of - a 3 lb turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, lots and lots of deviled eggs, buttermilk biscuits, and pecan and pumpkin pie. Yup, that's it! I invited a friend over who had to work, and who's family left town yesterday to celebrate with their extended family. She may - or may not - drop by. Most of our neighbors have left town for the weekend. It is silent here...

We'll watch the parade (maybe) a couple of movies, feed up the animals, and then - football! All in our quiet little nest. The kids are all far away, doing their own things and enjoying their own friends, and are happy, too. They'll call - or not. We raised them to follow their dreams and seek out their own lives, and so we don't worry about them. No traveling, no rush and bustle, and no worrying about being somewhere or being with some one. A very peaceful (and minimum work!) Thanksgiving!