Classic Thanksgiving food

[Jono]

This list is likely from the 1621 Pilgrim / Wampanoag feast:

Seethed [boiled] Lobster

Roasted Goose

Boiled Turkey

Fricase of Coney

Pudding of Indian Corn Meal with dried Whortleberries

Seethed Cod

Roasted Duck

Stewed Pumpkin

Roasted Venison with Mustard Sauce

Savory Pudding of Hominy

Fruit and Holland Cheese

Bourbon pairings...really, what else is more appropriate than WT101

Any bourbon will work with the various flavor profiles....especially dessert.

We are pretty traditional - in a modern midwestern sense (no cod, coneys, hominy - occasionally duck, rare venison etc.) but I am sure some of you have more exotic fare..what will be eaten tomorrow?

[BrianBradford]

List is pretty simple

Turkey

Stuffing

Jellied cranberry sauce

Deviled eggs

Scotch

Pumpkin pie

[Jono]

List is pretty simple

Turkey

Stuffing

Jellied cranberry sauce

Deviled eggs

Scotch

Pumpkin pie

Why Scotch? Is it flavor pairing or just tradition?

[smokinjoe]

The cranberry sauce must come out of the can in one piece. It must lay on it's side, in a dish, with the indentations from the ridges in the side of the tin can clearly visible. If this does not happen, dinner is ruined...

Other than getting that right, the rest is a breeze. Turkey (In deep fried due to ease of cooking), beer, dressing, mashed taters, greenbean casserole, beer, sweet tater casserole, squash casserole, beer, deviled eggs, acorn squash soup, beer,pumpkin pie, pecan pie, sweet tea, and beer. Room for bourbon in there, too, no doubt.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Be sure to recognize your Blessings, and Good things in your life.

[BrianBradford]

Why Scotch? Is it flavor pairing or just tradition?

Its actually because the wife and I go over to her granfathers place for thanksgiving and he usually has gin, black velvet, and some type of expensive scotch. I don't dare bring over my stuff. With as many people that are there, it would be gone before my second glass!

[BrianBradford]

The cranberry sauce must come out of the can in one piece. It must lay on it's side, in a dish, with the indentations from the ridges in the side of the tin can clearly visible. If this does not happen, dinner is ruined...

That is exactly right!

[ILLfarmboy]

The cranberry sauce must come out of the can in one piece. It must lay on it's side, in a dish, with the indentations from the ridges in the side of the tin can clearly visible. If this does not happen, dinner is ruined...

I prefer my Brother-in-law's home-made cranberry-orange relish.

In our experience, having roast goose instead of turkey just doesn't work out. Not everyone likes it. It's like having lamb on Easter. not everyone likes lamb either. So... we just stick to the more mainstream menu items.

Oh, and leave the sugar out of my ice tea.

[OscarV]

Ahh, but the Mid-Western Thanksgiving Day dinner without a Jell-O mold would be an utter failure.

[MissinER101]

Looks like

Prime rib

Deep fried turkey

Roast turkey

And all the trimmings, served on the finest plastic plates with plastic utensils and NO booze.

We'll have to see how badly the DEFC can screw it up

[SMOWK]

served on the finest plastic plates with plastic utensils and NO booze.

New Orleans booze. YUM!

[MissinER101]

New Orleans booze. YUM!

WRONG:slappin: That would be NO as in nadda, zilch, nuttin, zero.......

[Jono]

Pre dinner, probably a beer, with dinner wine, and after dinner some whiskey.

Jello mold must make an appearance though ...no orange please...it adds some sweet to the rich flavors....of course hot green been caserole, "guilt" rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, stuffing.

Dessert pumpkin and apple pie with ice cream and topped with some Cool Whip.

One relative hates turkey so he always gets a steak or ham.

No vegetarians to deal with.

[ILLfarmboy]

Pre-dinner I'm thinking it'l be WT RR 101, with dinner it'l be a Syrah.

turkey

ham

sweet potato casserole

mashed potatoes n gravy

deviled eggs

green been casserole

scalloped corn

rolls

assorted crue de te

brother in laws' cranberry relish

my mother's apple salad (one of those cool whip/mayo things with little marshmallows)

assorted pies

No vegetarians to deal with here either. I've, thank God, never had to deal with that. Although, one guest will not eat meat on the bone, things like fried chicken/bone-in steaks. She'll be OK as long as the bird is carved out of sight and the meat is served on a platter away from the carcase. I thought she would outgrow this but she's now in her early 20's. Ah, the joy of the holidays.

[bonneamie]

What?? None of you has tofurkey on the menu? One of my brothers-in-law always brings it and he alone eats it. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving anymore without the tofurkey.

[OscarV]

Here's the last word on Jello, actually a good article.

Who Brought The Jello And Why?

John Kass

Is there anything worse at Thanksgiving dinner than someone plopping a quivering mass of Jell-O upon your plate?

You know the kind, the lime-green stuff with the horrid floating pineapple chunks. Or perhaps it comes laced with cranberry flavoring, whipped cream and marshmallows for that special effect.

It sits on your plate glistening and trembling as it begins to ooze, ruining everything in its path.

And the kindly Jell-O plopper, the gentle in-law who just deposited the goo next to your delicious brined turkey? She looks up, smiling at you with great anticipation.

You're trapped. There is no escape.

I once thought this was the worst thing about Thanksgiving, an otherwise splendid holiday commemorating our noble Indian friends who shared their bounty, until we repaid them by using our guns to take all their land.

But it turns out there is something worse than Jell-O.

"You ever have aspic?" asked a grizzled investigative reporter.

Pardon me?

"It's like Jell-O, but it's meat Jell-O, and there are tomatoes floating around in it," he said. "Heh, heh."

This fellow has investigated just about every crime known to man, from murders to all types of corruption, so he's not surprised one whit by human nature.

But he's terrified of aspic.

Is it worse than lutefisk?

"Lutefisk is OK compared to aspic," he said.

We silently considered lutefisk, the traditional Scandinavian dish of dried cod rehydrated in lye, then boiled until it becomes fish Jell-O.

The Norwegians and Swedes each claim it as their own scrumptious delicacy. Norwegians are cool, and everybody knows I'm crazy about Sweden's Lisbeth Salander, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." Though it is thought to have originated with the Vikings, it doesn't mean we have to love it.

So after a profound lutefisk silence, we turned once again to the terrors of aspic.

"I can't describe it," he said. "I just can't. I won't. It's horrible. It was 23 years ago this Thanksgiving. An in-law put it on my plate. I can't tell you any more."

He disappeared. But a few minutes later, validating his aspicophobia, he presented me with an aspic recipe that he found online. Then he ran out of my office.

This particular aspic calls for tomatoes, water, vinegar, chopped celery, various peppers and spices.

"Combine dissolved unflavored gelatin with the rest of the ingredients. Pour into individual aspic molds and chill until firm. Serve on a lettuce leaf."

Then came the worst part.

"Top with mayonnaise. Serves 8."

Once I stopped gagging, I did a little research.

Aspic was born back in the Dark Ages, when Northern European peasants boiled cow heads and calves feet for their tasty treats. It produced a broth so rich in protein, that it became gelatinous when cooled.

An online culinary Web site offered up Aspic, The Real History: "When completely cooled the molded cold soup was presented cleanly and attractively on a plate, bowl or platter. Voila! The first jellied mold."

Leave it to the French to turn such disgusting fare into an art form, but they did. They perfected the use of meat jelly as a vehicle for various classic presentations. This is quite fascinating, and I'm sure it would be great, except for the fact that it involves chunks of stuff floating in meat jelly.

When I was a kid in my father's butcher shop, we didn't serve aspic. But we did offer jellied tongue: a large nasty beef tongue, boiled, spiced and encased in a two-foot block of hard yellowish gelatin.

"Half-pound jelly tongue, half-pound blood tongue, half-pound head cheese," Mrs. Laukaitis often said. "And slice it thin."

I'd plop it up on the meat slicer and wait for it to stop jiggling. After a few passes, I'd get interesting cross sections of tongue in perfect squares of gelatin.

Yes, I tried it. The tongue was OK, but I couldn't get past the meat jelly, especially when you picked up a slice to slap on some bread, and you could see your own fingers through it.

It wasn't as bad as the Vita Creamed Herring. My father loved the stuff as a snack. He'd stand behind the butcher counter in his white coat and apron, open a jar and eat it with a spoon.

Oh, just picture it, will you? Chunks of pungent silvery pickled fish swimming in heavy sour cream. Mmmm.

Once he tried to get my mom to try some, chasing her with a spoonful until she ran shrieking out the back of the store, into the alley, where she stayed for some time.

How did a Greek immigrant develop an addiction to creamed herring? No one knows.

Happily, he never tried to serve it at our Thanksgiving dinners. It would have clashed with the traditional Thanksgiving lamb.

The combining of turkey and the food of the homeland is a ritual that binds us newcomers to America. Italians offer meatballs and pasta with turkey. Poles serve roast pork and turkey. Iranians have their pilaf and turkey. Spaniards serve turkey but not before various cheeses and their renowned ham, the Jamon Iberico de Bellota.

Just pick a people and put their signature dish right next to a tasty brined and roasted bird. That's true Thanksgiving.

But as we celebrate the diverse ethnic cornucopia of the American holiday table, I've got one simple question.

Which one of you had the bright idea to bring the Jell-O?

jskass@tribune.com

Copyright

[Jono]

What?? None of you has tofurkey on the menu? One of my brothers-in-law always brings it and he alone eats it. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving anymore without the tofurkey.

I heard a comic do a riff on vegetarians. He said why is it he always has to make special food for them when they visit but they never offer him a steak when he visits? He also commented on why would a vegetarian want tofu turkey? If they really don't like to eat meat, poultry etc. why eat food that looks and tastes somewhat like it?

Oh well, as long as everyone is happy. Today it was not a jello mold but one of those strawberry whip things with little marshmallows.

I don't normally like the cranberry but today the cranberry relish was very good...whole berries with orange juice and spice..cinnamon? etc.

Had Sazerac rye with pumpkin pie....very nice.

This evening we watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles as our annual Thanksgiving movie. Classic.....sure miss John Candy.