What's Your Thanksgiving Menu This Year?

[tamidw]

We generally host and it’s normally my parents, my brothers, maybe a girlfriend of one of theirs. My in laws and sometimes my daughter and her boyfriend, maybe some other stragglers that didn’t have anywhere to go.

I will be doing most all the meal this year.

• spatchcocked homegrown turkey on the smoker with a pan for drippings for gravy
• probably a ham that I will throw in smoke box on side of smoker to heat up while turkey is cooking
• lots of gravy!
• mashed potatoes, thinking of trying a SV recipe a friend gave me for those so I don’t have to babysit boiling potatoes.
• stuffing muffins, loosely following recipe on this site, won’t use cranberries and apples. Drying sourdough breadcrumbs now for stuffing.
• sweet potatoes of some sort. If my MIL comes, she will probably want to do the sweet potatoes swimming in a huge pool of butter and whatever else she puts in there.
• veggie of some sort, maybe green beans and bacon
• possibly loaded cauliflower dish (think loaded baked potatoes)
• homemade cranberry sauce that’s jellied like the can stuff but tastes way better that I can. My mom complains it’s not as good as canned, but I don’t care
• rolls of some sort
• Possibly a fruit salad or jello sort of thing that I’m sure someone will bring
• Deviled eggs, these are must have
• Homemade banana pudding with Nilla wafers
• Cherry cheesecake and apple pie if I am feeling ambitious.
• Whatever anyone else is bringing
• assorted munchies leading up to dinner

My in laws will most likely not make an appearance because my MIL has decided she doesn’t like to leave her house. So if that’s the case, we will make up plates and take them food the next day or have FIL come grab it and take it home. They live about 20-25 minutes from us.

[tamidw]

Gotta laugh about the lumps in mashed potatoes. We usually use the beaters to make mashed potatoes and my mom normally does that part of them. One year my MIL did the mixing of them and left lumps and my mom complained there were lumps in the potatoes! Ugh!

[tamidw]

shify How do you make your black walnut old fashioneds? Those sound good.

[Santamarina]

Life’s been crazy…we haven’t even made plans for Thanksgiving! 😳🤦🏽

We typically host, and if we do this year the menu will be…

Made by me:
• Turkey - following Meatheads guide!
• Thin gravy…and thick gravy, because many family members are bound by "tradition."
•Stuffing - personal recipe. We don’t "stuff" so I guess it’s technically dressing, but we still call it stuffing.
• Prime rib - this replaced ham a few years ago!

Made by wife:
• Jalapeño cream cheese corn

Made by FiL:
• Mashed potatoes

Made by MiL:
Green bean casserole.

Made by SiL:
Yam bites - yams with marshmallow topping on individual puff pastries.

Made by Costco:
Pumpkin pie!

[ecowper]

@DavidNorcross

3 parts rye
1 part red vermouth
3-4 dashes orange bitters
1 Maraschino cherry (I like Bada Bing Cherries from Tillen Farms)
1 orange peel

Fill shaker 1/3 full of ice, add the rye, vermouth, bitters. Stir for 15-20 seconds until cold and well mixed. Wipe rim of cocktail glass with the orange peel. Strain manhattan into the cocktail glass, garnish with cherry and orange twist. Enjoy!

[HawkerXP]

As long as you two can be together it'll be a great day.

[DavidNorcross]

Eric what is your recipe for Manhattan? Curious.

[STEbbq]

Another popover fan!👍

[mnavarre]

It's just the two of us again this year, so keeping it fairly simple:

Spathcocked turkey cooked on the kettle with all the gravy makings in a pan underneath.
Stuffing, I'll probably just hit the easy button here and go with the boxed stuff and store bought sausage unless I suffer from a sudden bout of ambition.
Green bean casserole. Definitely made from scratch. With fresh green beans. You canned bean perverts can go sit in the corner and feel shame.
Popovers
Gravy. So. Much. Gravy.
Mashed 'taters? Dunno, game time decision. Not sure we really need more carbs.

I think the wife is going to make cranberry sauce.

Probably a cheese/charcruterie plate to munch on during the day.

Likker, beer, and wine as needed.

[LA Pork Butt]

Only six of us and two of which are grade schoolers.
Dr. T’s cranberry brined Turkey on my BGE
Crawfish Cornbread Dressing
Sweet Potato, Brussel Sprouts, Apple, Bacon and Caramelize Onion, Casserole
Wine
Cranberry-Apple pie and Pumpkin pie

[Mr. Bones]

Yeah, I think I might casually mention them 'Judges' to some my friends in Homeland Security, mebbe git a lil background. Sounds rather Hinky.

[Mr. Bones]

ecowper In Total Agreement:

Lumps is Good.

Lumps is our Friend, Eric.

To go beyond^ that stage,^ why would ya ever even bother buyin real taters, when ya can jus git th box stuff, add some boilin water...???

Don't even git me started on no gravy, a Major Food group, when I was growin up. Featured every meal, every course, includin dessert. : Loves me some Gravy!

Bonafide Part of th Hillbilly Food Pyramid, I garronshee y'all

[ecowper]

The judges didn't like cranberry on a turkey sammich? Something's wrong with those judges.

[ecowper]

there's only one way I ever learned to make mashed taters: potatoes, whipping cream, butter, salt. Smash 'em with a potato smasher, make sure there's some lumps left.

[CandySueQ]

Got a Snake River Farms karabuta ham in the freezer (it arrived 11/11). Got this cryovaced pink blob of a turkey breast to cook for a contest last weekend. I removed the miserable, tiny bit of skin, cut the blob in half and tied it up into two logs. The smaller log was sliced and was the bread part of a "turkey sandwich" with cranberry and dressing in the middle topped with gravy. Judges didn't like cranberry! Anyhow, the larger turkey log is in the freezer next to the ham. I'll reheat it sous vide. My side contributions are broccoli salad (with dried cranberries) and sauteed W'ham sweet potatoes. My brother's girlfriend is doing scalloped potatoes and some green bean tart-type things from Trader Joe's. We haven't decided dessert yet.