Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the USA, and for all of you folks outside the US who may not have experienced a traditional American Thanksgiving, it is quite the calorie-fest.
We gather together to ingest copious amounts of turkey, gravy, stuffing, honey baked ham, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, baked potatoes, basically lots of potatoes, our aunts’ amazing casseroles, something green that we pretend is healthy, rolls, cornbread, butter, and honey. Oh, and that’s before we get to dessert, where there’s pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, apple pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie, whipped cream, ice cream, and a nap from pancreatic shock.
And if that’s not enough, some enterprising folks have recently decided that the Thanksgiving feast wasn’t insane enough, and came up with inventions such as deep fried turkeys and a turducken, which is a turkey stuffed with a chicken stuffed with a duck. And yes, there are even deep fried turduckens.
And on top of all that, there are Thanksgiving-specific regional and ethnic traditions that means everyone has their own unique Thanksgiving meal.
It is America, and it is awesome.
So. For those of you who have been fortunate enough to participate in this feast, what is your favorite dish? Which one keeps you salivating all morning long at the mere thought of eating it?
For me personally, I have been, and always will be, a pumpkin pie man. Can’t get enough of the pumpkin pie.
What about you?
Butterscotch pie. It's amazing and my great-aunt makes the best. Thanksgiving is always the best time for them. 🙂
The leftovers. Let's face it, there's something about seconds. I have never liked the standard custard-type pumpkin pie (scarred in my youth by a bad cook in the family), but I have a fantastic recipe for pumpkin praline chiffon pie — candied pecans on the crust topped with fluffy pumpkin mixed with whipped egg whites, topped with meringue. It just takes the whole pie experience up a notch. That's also very good as a leftover….
Wow. All these posts and not one unkind word! Coolio. 😉
Me, I think mashed potatoes and gravy are the best part of the meal. Although it's all good, especially the desserts. Too bad we're not having a traditional meal this year. Wife is working the holiday and we're going to my in-laws on Friday for pizza. Yay.
A plate full of everything, a table full of everybody.
Remembering the ones departed…oh…and my mother's chocolate cream pie. She made a whole pie just for me. She's gone now but I made two…one just for me.
Wow I've never heard of turducken! Sounds really cool though!! I must say I absolutely love pumpkin pie and my mom's mashed potatoes. 😀
Happy Thanksgiving, Nathan!
~TRA
https://xtheredangelx.blogspot.com
Turkey and gravy, and lots of my MIL's cornbread dressing. And, my Mom's stuffing. Yes, we get to eat turkey on two separate days each Thanksgiving. Yum!
My Amish ancestors did a corn and oysters casserole that has been passed down for probably over a hundred years. It's still a family favorite.
Anyone else have ancestors from Soudersburg PA with this family recipe? Just curious. Our people live out west now, but the recipe comes from Soudersburg, I'm told.
My mother used to make the best cornbread dressing (not stuffing — she's Southern) on the planet. Unfortunately, by the time I realized that if I didn't get the recipe from her soon it was going to be too late, it already was, since she didn't measure anything and she didn't make it anymore.
So I posted on a cooking list I belong to, got some good starting points and monkeyed with them until I got a good reasonable facsimile.
And now I can make cornbread dressing almost as good as my mother's was.
The Thanksgiving meal is my most favorite of the year! Seriously – I look forward to it ALL YEAR LONG! Sure – I suppose I could cook me up some turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes on April 25th, but it's just not quite the same. So – my answer (possibly a cop-out) is the entire meal! (for me) 14 hours and counting!!! Woo hoo!! *looks for my stretchy pants*
Get your dogs and puppies a can of Merrick's Turducken dog food…they love it!
I am feeling so sad for vnrieker up near the top of these comments right now. I am sorry you are Everything-Intolerant and can only eat broccoli and dried turkey for Thanksgiving. That is truly a tragedy. Please turn away from your computer whilst I list my favorite Thanksgiving foods. I don't wish to add to your pain.
1. Turkey stuffed with sausage/cranberry/chestnut dressing
2. Gravy. Graaaaveeeeee. Gravy.
3. Mashed potatoes.
4. Sweet potatoes-baked. Butter. Salt. Pepper. No marshmallows.
5. One black olive for each finger
6. Orange-cranberry sauce. Homemade.
7. Every iteration of pumpkin dessert in existence. This year I am making pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust.
8. Absolutely NO pie called Mincemeat. It is weird. And it contains no meat, minced or otherwise.
Thanks for sticking with this blog, Nathan. And Happy Thanksgiving!
Warm Butterball Turkey dipped in Ocean Spray Whole Cranberries. Couldn't get better! 🙂
Our family has a prized recipe for creamed corn. No one who has ever been a guest has not later asked about that corn. It's excellent, and a good thing it's a holiday dish because it is far too rich and caloric to be an every day food! Best of all, it's wonderful leftover, too. Yeah, for breakfast.
Leftovers!
Turkey omelets
Turkey sandwiches
Turkey salad
On Thanksgiving Day…Turkey is the best, the star of the show.
Sweet Potato Carrot Crisp – hello, garlic!
Leftovers. Leftovers. Leftovers.
That is all.
It's all about the stuffing!!!! Little bits of leftover bread…crazy, huh?
My favorite is the leftovers. We make turkey sandwiches and pour gravy on top. But my other favorite would have to be mashed potatoes and gravy. 🙂
Turducken always makes me think of that Simpsons episode where Moe is on a date and asks the waiter to bring them their finest dish stuffed with the second finest dish, which turns out to be lobster stuffed with tacos.
For me, it's the stuffing. I could eat a turkey-sized bowl of the…stuff(ing).
I decided it was time to grow up and host Thanksgiving. Sorry to say ~ considering your feelings on the subject ~ but I killed the pumpkin pie. It was like a negligence thing. But other than that, the day was a rousing success! And my favorite, pecan pie.
turkey! and sweet potatoes! and mac & cheese! ans pie: apple, peach, berry, pumpkin, it's all good w/ me as long as it's not cherry or mincemeat. basically i just love thanksgiving. all of it. yum! a holiday about eating as much yummy food as possible? YES PLEASE!
You mean other than seconds?
Sweet potatoes–in any form–baked, stuffed into an orange, mashed, fried, sliced and layered under pineapples and marshmallows or plain with butter, salt even garlic.
Candied Yams, with or without marshmallows. A perfectly good vegetable drowned in brown sugar and butter until all its nutritional value is obliterated. That and the crispy golden brown and delicious skin off the top of the turkey. My favorite pie is a frozen yogurt pie. A tub of whipped topping mixed with a yogurt or two in the fruit flavor of your choice and spooned into a graham cracker crust. Freeze and serve. With more whipped topping if you're lucky.
Never had any of those foods mentioned before. Somehow, I feel like I'm missing out.
My husband's best friend should have his own cookbook and cooking show. Along with a perfectly brined turkey with sausage stuffing, we had broccoli cheese casserole, mashed taters, sweet taters (marshmallows baked into the sauce), homemade cranberry/orange sauce and the king of cakes. First layer of chocolate cake that was dense and fluffy at the same time. Second layer of dark chocolate mousse. Third layer was a white chocolate whipped froth. And then he did the dishes. It was an epic win!