Thanksgiving was actually an English custom, celebrating the harvest. Since only about half of the original 102 settlers survived to see that first harvest, the traditional harvest celebration seemed like a bit of home, I think. The Native Americans brought venison and historical reports say that only 53 settlers lived to see that first Thanksgiving but guests included 90 Wampanoag. It seems that the Pilgrims were actually immigrants and the traditional feast probably didn't even involve turkey.

Even in spite of the current state of the environment, politics, etc., I have very much to be thankful for, and so I will roast the bird. We put everything on the table, the turkey is already carved in the kitchen and the desserts are on the buffet. It's just a table full of people that I love, eating food that I prepared for them because I love them, and being thankful for it, both the food and the family.

A Potawatomie Author and teacher, Robin Wall Kimmerer, says:

"Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift."

And so I draw my joy from the earth and am thankful. Looking around at my family makes all the work worth it.

Annie

Floral, you're right! But Americans love Thanksgiving and make a big deal of it when they live abroad because they feel bereft without it. For a great many, Thanksgiving is the big feast, and Christmas dinner (or Christmas Eve dinner, or both, depending on your traditions) might be simpler. Thanksgiving is a harvest holiday most notable by the abundance on the table. Christmas here, being alternatively a religious holiday, a general solstice and fun time, or a commercial one, is as much about the whole season, whether it be decor, Advent and other lead-up traditions, the many parties and events before the day itself, or a massive exchange of gifts. The dinner is on average the least of it.

Canadian Thanksgiving is a month earlier, and seems more low key. Ours is fraught with the disconnect between the beloved myth of all sharing and feasting together, the real history, and the understandable time of mourning for indigenous peoples who see it as the historical toehold of the coming genocide. Christmas may have the irrelevant controversy over whether Jesus was born in the Spring or at the solstice, but it really doesn't matter, and many of our traditions come from solstice traditions way pre-dating the event anyway. Though it's important to note that Christmas was pointedly not celebrated by the early settlers, and people could be punished for doing celebratory things rather than treating it like any other work day.

Or, for my folks, the lead up starts in the end of Summer in the observances prior to High Holidays, which conclude with a weeklong harvest holiday (many days of celebration and gathering for festive meals over a couple of months, beside the religious observances), which gives about a month until Thanksgiving, and Christmas Dinner has nothing to do with Christmas, but is a time to have a nice dinner party while others are celebrating their holiday. Chanukah, which this year starts Christmas night, is a low key festival, not a serious religious holiday, which borrows some trappings from other solstice celebrations. But we also have feasts for the major holidays and harvests throughout the year, not a big weight from Thanksgiving to Christmas, anchoring the darkness and days of harvest with food.

Am hosting a very small, non-trad Thanksgiving. Mostly non-dairy to accomodate alpha-gal mammalian intolerance. Sea scallops with lemon oil and either dried cherries or pomegranate, parsnip puree with a bit of coconut milk, kale- butternut salad from Kenje, cajun or mexican styled cornbread dressing, best local French bakery’s baguettes, chocolate olive oil cake (chocolate glaze made with semi-sweet, espresso and olive oil is surprisingly delicious. Thibaut sparkling wine and a dry riesling.

I decided to break down the turkey today, to start brining the meat and making the stock for gravy, but mostly to make room in the refrigerator.

It is a rainy Sunday, a perfect day to putter in the kitchen. The stock has been pressure cooked for half an hour, now uncovered and simmering to reduce by half.

I’ve removed all the skin and am going to try roasting it in flat sheets (sandwiched between two sheet pans) to cut up into crispy roast turkey skin chips for garnish. Somehow I don’t think this is going to be as straightforward as it sounds.

I read here all the time but seldom post. Here goes!

Since 1993 we have taken our family to a lovely resort every summer. Family has grown over the years so we now number 24-hub and me, our six kids, their six spouses, and ten grands with the 11th on the way. We now rent five condos for the week!

We have our holidays, etc at the kids’ houses nowadays, but Bonus! Our kids decided to have a 3 1/2 day festival at “our” resort! We will all be there from Wednesday through Saturday with five kitchens in which to work our magic. We will have:

Turkey

Ham

Mashed potatoes

Sweet potatoes

Dressing and vegetarian dressing

Gravies and vegetarian gravy

Green Bean casserole - yes, we love it!

Roasted beets, carrots, and rutabagas

Cranberry orange relish

Biscuits and corn bread

Pumpkin pies w whipped cream

Key Lime pies w meringue

Leftover birthday cakes from the six-year-old‘s birthday party Wednesday night that will be spaghetti and meatballs I’ve already made and frozen.

We each have our assignments and intend to take everything we need. Nineteen-year-old granddaughter is baking the cakes and pies! She’s nervous. Two other 21 yo college cousins will be arriving late Wednesday, but they’ll be there! Yippee!

It will be fabulous!

sheeshie, it sounds fabulous, have a wonderful time!

Annie

It'll just be us and The Kid and her family. I'm pre-salting the turkey on Tuesday but I just got a text that my granddaughter may have chickenpox so turkey may go into the freezer.

Whenever we eat, it will be gluten free, except for a small side of dressing for me and husband. SIL found out he is celiac in addition to Crohn's and is turning into quite the gluten free baker. He'll make pumpkin cake and buns. I found a package of morels sauteed in butter in the back of my freezer, so I'll do some sort of green bean casserole. And the usual potatoes, gravy, corn pudding, yams.

My original plan was to go to a restaurant, but this afternoon I found a turkey break for $10.60 at an outlet grocery store near our house, and so we bought that. We'll have to cook it in the BBQ outdoors because our kitchen is demolished, although we could cook it at the other house, although we are mostly moved out from there, and so it's not that pleasant to be there, although cooking there would be very easy. The only TV in that house is in my bedroom.

I enjoy cooking large meals at Thanksgiving, even if I do not especially like all of the people that I cook for. In the 1990s, I would often cook Thanksgiving dinner for my friends Jimmy and Maartje when Maartje had to work at the restaurant and Jimmy always wanted a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

I don't have much else planned for Thanksgiving this year other than cornbread dressing, which I will make with grits this year, and Napa cabbage cole slaw.

I'll be driving and meeting up with others who are also driving. The host is making turkey and some essentials like mashed potatoes and gravy, I presume. Otherwise there has been a flurry of emails among the travelers deciding who would bring what. I'm going to make cheese cookies as an appetizer, dinner rolls, a side veg ... I'm leaning toward green beans with garlic and olive oil, and I'll make another appetizer. Either a hot artichoke dip or a roasted red pepper and white bean dip. Both sound good at the moment. And BF is planning to make some "special" corn. :)

Well, life is what happens when you're making plans. Our small group is now seven people, all of them stoners! The weather forecast is still calling for rain, so I'm going with the turkey I bought. However, I'll be basting the turkey with cannabis infused butter and adding some of that infused butter to my standard mashed potato stuffing. One of the guests has a massive wine collection, so it's gonna be Brahms and Liszt. (I'll leave it to one of the Brits to translate.)

Oh, and the pumpkin pie? Yeah, it'll be rockin'.

I am very excited for this year. It will be the 6 of us and I do not have to cook a meal to send to the in laws who are in their 90's. I bought some fun cloth placemats that my grandson will love so no tablecloth just the placemats and cloth napkins.

The Original Menu:

Brined Roasted Turkey (Into the brine tomorrow tonight.)

Sausage Vegetable Stuffing (Sausage and veggies have been prepped sauteed and frozen)

Homemade Gravy (Stock has been made from roast turkey parts and veggies and frozen)

Mashed Potatoes

Petite Peas

Homemade Rolls (No more Pecan Rolls, GS has nuts allergies.) Dough is made and in the refrigerator.

DD is in charge of dessert.

I have since added:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Homemade Green Bean Casserole (Mushrooms have been minced, sauteed and frozen)

I'm thoroughly behind your make ahead and freeze.

I got my tomatoes and avocados from the snooty store. The tomatoes are fragrant and large, not the sad little things being sold elsewhere. The avocados are a little hard, though they seem right, but in a paper back, and should be right on Thursday. I forgot to get things for the crudités! I should have enough from what's on hand, but I usually get fresh.

The count for us is 12 at DD’s home. I’m taking cranberry sauce (made today), appetizer, mashed potatoes, apple tart and pecan pie. Appetizer is savory blue cheese shortbread “leaves” (made and in freezer) served with a chutney cream cheese spread. Wednesday will be pie/tart day and cream cheese spread. Mashed potatoes will be made Thursday morning.👍🏻

We are now to be 12. I am going to start making stuff ahead tomorrow.

Hey, @fawnridge69 (Ricky), speaking of cannabis . . . I’ve been having serious trouble sleeping for a couple weeks. I always have some insomnia but it’s a lot worse now. Melatonin helps, last resort is Advil PM. Last night SWMBO gave me a CBD-THC gummy that is supposed to promote sleeping. That totally didn’t work, my mind was racing for hours. I generally avoid THC unless I’m feeling at peace and calm, which isn’t my mood lately. So . . . do you recommend any CBD non-THC product for insomnia?

We order everything from Bristol Farms market ( So Cal only I believe ) , as good or better than home cooked, no shopping & minimal cleanup. I’m tired of doing it all, sorry. Just want to enjoy the day with my family.

@John Liu, if your mind was racing, you probably had a gummy with a sativa strain. CBD is for inflammation and healing. THC is either up or down. Indica strains are for relaxation and sleep. Unless the gummies were made at home or by a friend, there's no telling what other ingredients were used in their production. We bake with either an indica strain or an indica dominant hybrid. If you'd like a couple of free cookies, reach out to me by email.

cookiemonster@fawnridge.com

Our family text is moving fast and furious this morning. My eldest child is making the cranberry orange relish and had the temerity to ask if it was ok to make a minor change to Grandma’s recipe. The adults answered immediately with variations of ”NO! No experiments with thanksgiving!” The older grands said they don’t care because they don’t eat it anyway. Henry, who turns six tomorrow, just asked, ”What’s a relish? Do we eat it? I just want mash potatoes and biskiits.”

Thanksgiving is Saturday. The other side of the divorce is of the Hell freezes over camp and my son is no problem, gives me two extra days to cook. LOL

I posted on the kitchen table thread but this is technically the real food forum. I always hosted up until covid. When we were allowed to gather again I just said no. My MIL has done it a few years now, gets better each year. She is flying home tomorrow and SIL is flying out Friday so this year they will do a restaurant and I am making a prime rib with potatoes and veggies. It will be 4 of us unless DH decides to spend the night with them and go to the restaurant before coming home.

I have zero stress. Thanksgiving used to be a very expensive multi day event that I do not miss executing. I will make a breast and some stuffing on the weekend for nostalgia purposes.

John, I agree with Ricky. You probably consumed Sativa. That is for daytime use and some strains can be energizing. The indica is the one that will help you sleep. Indica=In da couch 😂 that is what I taught my MIL when she was shopping for sleep aides. When she gets back from her trip I will find out what she uses for sleep.

Thanks, Ricky and Joan!

Yes, thanks for that info Ricky! BF wondered if there are edibles for pain and for sleep. He’s a long-time toker, but has very limited knowledge of edibles. eta: he had to give up smoke for medical reasons, and is just venturing into edibles.

I mentioned this in another thread, but this summer I bought a pump bottle of CDB topical ointment and found it effective for back, knee, other muscle/joint pain. I tested it against commercial Lidocaine ointment and patches, and the CBD was more effective. A couple of my friends concluded the same, as did DD. I am a believer. I'll find the brand and add to this post.

So what would you NOT prepare ahead, let's say two days ahead.

I want to make my gravy, stuffing, and turkey bunlets tonight, to reheat on Thursday, so all I have to deal with then is the lamb and my assigned sides.

@party_music50 - I have 15 years experience with cannabis edibles. As with John Liu, if you'd like to know more, reach out to me by email: cookiemonster@fawnridge.com

The guacamole is what I wouldn't do ahead. It needs a few hours to meld, but tastes best day of. It also only takes half an hour to make. ;) Crudités will be cut night before, and FBOW the chocolate pie will be made day before.

Today, I made pumpkin pasta dough, but needed a nap, so want to get the lasagna made today and out of the way, since it's not going to the party. I have a lot of cooked pumpkin, though, and am tempted to make some pumpkin breadsticks to go with the guacamole.

John, Are you sure about reheating the bunlets? Meats reheat best with some kind of juice added, but wouldn't the bunlets then be fighting between too dry and soggy? Same with stuffing casserole. Can't you make both to the oven ready point, wrap well, and raise to pathogen-killing day of?

Gravy, OTOH, can get better with age, especially if there's not too much that could break, sauce-wise.

I think you’re right on the bunlets - stuffing will get soggy if I make ahead, refrigerate overnight, and reheat. It’s just that they will hog Giselle in sous vide mode for four hours, and I’d like to have her as a second oven. Maybe I can make them like three hours ahead, cover, then a quick reheat before service.

I could almost see having two Giselles.

Are they bunlets? Maybe they are bunkeys. But that sounds too much like donkeys.

I dunno…I realize you're in Irongutville, but that sounds like a plan for disaster. Better to do them day before, store at food safe (fridge temperature) and rewarm fully cooked, if the toaster ovens can't pick up the slack and let Giselle have the spotlight to herself. Doesn't she have a steam setting? Steam makes rewarming meats much more successful! But it does take real time, though nowhere near 4 hrs.

Stuffing won't get soggy when you reheat it if you reheat it in an oven instead of a microwave. In fact, I often add a bit of stock to stuffing that I reheat in the oven. I always make cornbread stuffing, but it does have some sourdough bread in it, although twice as much cornbread as sourdough.

I've decided to make stuffing this year although I do not have a regular oven, and the pan I normally use will not fit in the toaster oven. So I will have to bake it in batches or else make a smaller batch - or bake it at the other house.

The cabinets did not get put in today, and they won't be installed until next week. I don't think they even finished with the drywall yet, and they also have to do some work on the floor.

I think the oven contention issue may be resolved. SWMBO plans to make all her pies and the GBC tomorrow. So on Thursday, the range oven will only be doing the lamb leg and the cauliflower au gratin. Giselle can spend all day langorously sous viding the bunlets with full steam and looking smashing doing it.

The soggy comes from adding too much stock or the oven humidity from other dishes being too great.. ;)

Lars, I think if you cover the pan you could do stuffing on the grill…

Making ahead gravy, to Chet Baker. I made a gelatinous turkey stock previously. Medium roux, then the fat cap from the stock plus Irish butter. Seasoned with wasabi, white pepper, onion and garlic powder, and some stout beer.

Stuffing before assembly. Seasoned and buttered bread cubes, baked to nearly-croutons. Brussel sprouts, roasted. Shiitake mushroom, shallot, garlic, spinach. Walnuts, candied with sugar and honey. I’ll combine and let this meld in the fridge until Thursday. I might add an egg white before making the bunlets.

Rattie treat - sprout ends and a bit of candied walnut.

I feel better now. This is about three hours work that I won’t have to do on The Day.

Well, grump grump. SWMBO made zero of her dishes today. So tomorrow is going to be a busy day after all.

Yikes! I made my pie! Are you going to arm wrestle for Giselle?

I got up early and prepared the lamb (studded with garlic, rubbed in/out with garlic, rosemary, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar), tied it, and it is in the fridge. Also got the turkey breast defrosted, ready to slice. And stuffed and roasted some turkey drumsticks, for snacking on while cooking. This is an experimental stuffing sans starch - just spinach, feta, garlic, toasted pine nuts, butter.

SWMBO has the island and right counter to work on, I have the center and left counters. She is using the range oven, I have Giselle. So I am looking into (immersion) sous viding the lamb, to avoid oven squabbles.

Edit: okay, lamb leg will be immersion sous vide 130F for 4 hrs then seared. No fight over the range oven. SWMBO won’t need the burners, so I can use all of them.

Seriously, though, a second APO - call her Cindy? - wouldn’t be a bad thing. The problem is i) where to put her, ii) Anova have moved on to APO v2 and mine is v1.

Edit: oh no, SWMBO is now using half of my center counter, in very camel’s nose/tent fashion. She has covered her allotment with work-in-progress, so is trespassing on mine. Clearly I need to get the 3D counter/sheet pan rack thing built.

Facebook showed me this pic I posted Nov 28, 2019. It’s been a long five years. We haven’t done a large dinner since 2019. Glad we’re getting back into it. Before H5 starts everything all over again.

Oh no! Labor-saving washed and trimmed packaged green beans SWMBO got at Costco are bad (smell foul) and she just discovered this, right as the nearest grocery store is closing! Panic underway.

More info: apparently that package of beans had been sitting in our fridge for a week. Which seems a bit long for washed & trimmed veg to sit around, on top of however long it sat around before being sold. But it is an Inappropriate Time to discuss that, at my house.

With SWMBO off to the not-nearest grocery store, I have reclaimed my counter space.

Check it out - flat-roasted turkey skin. This will be cut up to be a garnish.

Mamas and the Papas right now

Switched to Isaac Hayes. Happy place music.

re: dishes from 2019: if you are in for that quantity of china tonight I hope your quick commercial machine is in place. Hope all is being consumed with happy murmurs.

My scallops with pomegranate and Madeleine Kamman’s clam juice reduction- lemon vinaigrette was tasty, the parsnip puree with coconut milk very good although it received no accolades from my small group, the southwestern-influenced cornbread dressing mostly alpha gal friendly with TJ’s soy chorizo pretty good and enjoyed by all 3 of us.

Turkey Tenderloin, chicken dressing and cranberry sauce, Mac and cheese and green beans cooked in all the good things (butter, bacon fat, onions and chicken stock)

I made my pie when I got home from work this morning, before going to bed.

I eschewed the wine. The wine cousin was drinking it so it might have been fine (i.e. might have brought it) but he goes more tannic than I like and the doesn't know wine from rotgot cousin-in-law was hosting (along with his wife, third generation Thanksgiving cousin at 2ndG Thanksgiving cousin's house). A whole branch weren't well and the youngest of them was there to fly the flag, and while the fruit pies did come by his hand, there were no sweet potatoes, so there were only two kinds of casserole. One was orange. The other was purple and very sweet, but tasty. The maker of that was managing behind 3rdG and spouse and warming up all the food. It was delightfully warm. I don't know who carved but the turkey was beautifully cut and displayed in thick slices in ranks as they came off the bird which was very pretty. I wonder if they bought it? But maybe the spouse knows how to carve, or maybe the wine cousin did it. It was nice to have warm food including well carved turkey.

There were also whipped potatoes, roasted cut potatoes, potato buns and Parker House rolls, carrots, spaghetti squash with some bits of colorful veg in it, green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, gravy, really good stuffing, GF stuffing (know it by the slotted spoon!), cranberry sauce, both whole and jelly, and a version of green bean casserole from the warming up cousin which was in many parts the usual kind, but with a proper sauce not soup--it was actually delightful. She was graduated from culinary school. :)

So there were the bought fruit pies, a maple cake which was good but too sweet for me to eat, Texas sheetcake and my chocolate pie. With all that, half the chocolate pie went. Many compliments. I put a 3D chocolate turkey I got from the Farm in the center so everybody would know it was a Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Thanksgiving pie. People remarked a lot on the turkey. It's only a couple inches tall. It's just like a little hollow chocolate Easter bunny only a turkey. But I think it made the pie, giving it a visual point of interest.

It was a lovely evening. Just the right amount of people to have lots of different conversations, but not so many that there's no room for conversations. It was paper plates, party napkins and plastic cups (though actual stemware for the wine). Nobody minded. We were just glad to be together for Thanksgiving.

Cold food on the sideboard is my main problem with big dinners and buffet service. I don’t know a solution. Even if the dishes are set out covered in their ripping hot baking dishes straight from the oven, by the time you’re done corralling the cats, miaoing thanks, and lapping up the soup course, the waiting food is no longer warm.

Surely there is some convenient alternative to a steam table in the dining room. Heat lamps? Warming pads under the dishes?

We used to use chafing dishes, I think they are still in the basement. Effective but who has enough chafing dishes for Thanksgiving, can find the alcohol tins, or wants a dozen large clattery things and their lids added to the washup pile? More of a cocktail party tool - another thing I‘d like to resume.

There are electric hot trays of which I have a couple handmedowns. They're flat, can hold several dishes, and don't have the smell, or open flames, but only are good on a sideboard with a big AC circuit. I got a buffet service extension, with the vinyl anti-trip covering, to use the table as buffet, and it did work for the few items that really required warmer temps, but it's not ideal and made me nervous, because it's still a bump, even though not a toe-hooker. I also have a bunch of pretty risers of various heights, which seem to help things stay warmer by being crowded together (I don't know if that's a total illusion or scientifically real). I do okay, but the culinary school cousin, who is a grade school teacher IRL and never worked in food, had some kind of magic she applied to hot things up. I'm pretty sure it's benign magic…

Your pics made me smile, John Liu -- that last pic of everyone sitting around a table, smiling, talking, and simply enjoying each other's company is exactly what Thanksgiving should be. Wonderful to see it!

Other posters -- your dinners sounded enjoyable, too (and tasty!)

I think adding power to the sideboard will go into the project queue. Being able to plug in heat lamp, warmer, coffee brewer, etc would be handy,

Okay, as a sounding board, not trying to be a quibbler while quibbling, I don't think your dining room is big enough for a heat lamp on the sideboard (assuming it's actually a sideboard and not just a piece of furniture elsewhere which inherited the name). You'll lightly barbeque whoever's seated there. While you're on that project, maybe find a place a little farther from but accessible to the table where you can make a carving station with heat lamp or some other quasi-commercial hot spot. Electric hot trays, coffee pots, etc., might be for the poor circulation granny to sit by and not the flashing menopausal matron, but in a cozy way. They don't heat up their surroundings very much.

Not for an industrial heat lamp, maybe, but plenty of clearance for a tabletop model, illuminating a prime rib on a carving platter.

Or, just get a couple of these?

21” x 16” warming tray with feet and handles, heats up to 200F (yikes, I’m thinking 140F would be plenty)

https://a.co/d/7cap5oE

I’m thinking of adding a deck-mounted outlet to the horizontal surface, at the middle of the window. It is a bump-out, so should be dead easy.

It looks like there's more space to the chairs than I had thought from other pictures. Maybe an illusion. Looking at the legs, perhaps four feet from not tucked under. Less of an issue. Yes, to the warming trays—note the adjustable temperature. Keep looking around though. There are so many models with varieties of features and appearance.

Remember, heat rises so a light would have to be extra hot to push heat down. Specifically for carving, if it helps you see that's another story. Also for the bulk of a large bird or joint. Hot trays are really for horizontal dishes. Soups and stews on buffets go in crock pots.

The deck mounted power sounds nice to use. While you're at it, put in a gonzo circuit or two (of course if there's room on your draw and panel. I had to up both for my kitchen and it was a big hassel) so you can plug in to your heart's content.

I'm fine with my hodgepodge of handmedowns because if it's buffet, it's casual, and my serving pieces kind of hide the equipment. On your buffet, it's going to show. I would make sense to plan out different devices and how they look together and work toward their maximal use in the space you have. That way you'll know the maximal draw you could want, and will have a plan not to be too ugly. You don't have to buy all the stuff! I'm just saying plan for the max in today's equipment to be ready for whatever. Also check with your local party rentals businesses. If you're only using the heated buffet for 1-2 parties per year, letting someone else do the work and storage could pay for itself. I ended up doing that foor chairs and tables, and it's great.

I spent time with my family and exchanged not expensive gifts.

Plllog, I thought I'd posted an electrical reply but apparently not? Anyway, after looking up the amp draw of different devices, I think two 20 amp circuits (each feeding two outlets) on the sideboard deck should be enough, plus a general purpose 15 amp dual outlet on the "wall" below the sideboard. The sideboard is a bumpout, so the work should be very easy. The main constraint is I am jealously guarding my panel breaker slot capacity in anticipation of a large electrical addition next year, but using tandem breakers this should be okay.