Critique Your Thanksgiving Meal.

[Barbara L]

I didn't cook the Thanksgiving meal this year, so even if it wasn't any good (which it was!), I would have to say it was good because it was cooked and served in love. Fortunately, everything was fantastic! Susan did a great job, even though she has bronchitis and didn't feel well. The only thing we haven't tried yet was the pumpkin cheesecake that I made. We are going back to their house tonight for spaghetti and will try it then.

Barbara

 

[bethzaring]

for me, this would be looking a gift horse in the mouth!

Hospice had delivered to our door, this meal
Yoder's Complete Turkey Dinner

plus a Bonert's pumpkin pie and some unnammed popovers. It was surprisingly good. I liked the cranberry relish the best, and didn't try the dressing, gravy or the popovers. The turkey was a Butterball.. All I did was make some whipped cream for the pie. It was so nice to have this meal. I deboned the entire turkey Thursday morning and packaged some up for future creamed turkey meals, one of dh's favorites. Then today I roasted my chicken, turned out great!

 

[bakechef]

Dinner was fantastic, if I do say so myself!

My sister called last week and asked if she could still come, I didn't think she could, so that was great. She insisted on doing the turkey, so they dragged up a turkey fryer and fried one, it was quite good. I have to have the smell of turkey in the house, and real pan gravy, so I cooked a turkey breast that I brined in The Pioneer Woman's turkey brine recipe and that breast was amazing, better than the fried turkey (don't tell my sis) we ate the fried and have the breast for leftovers.

The sides were my old standby recipes, a praline yam type dish, mashed yukon gold potatoes, stuffing made with Bell's seasoning (which I cooked a bit too long, but even though it was crunchy still great) and green bean casserole brought by a friend. All were wonderful.

I made two pies, pecan and pumpkin, both with scratch crusts. The pecan was a new recipe again from The Pioneer Woman, and it was probably the best that I have made so far. Even though it had a cup of corn syrup, a cup of white sugar, and 3 tbs brown sugar, it wasn't overly sweet, I wonder since Karo dumped the high fructose corn syrup from its formula if the product is less sweet, for me the pie was perfect. The pumpkin was the old standby Libby's recipe, it is one of those things that you don't need to mess around with, it just works!

We laughed the whole evening, had so much fun. Working grocery retail, and baking non-stop for other people, after yesterday I was dead tired, but it was worth it! Back to work today for another 7 days straight, until a mini vacation.

 

[bakechef]

for me, this would be looking a gift horse in the mouth!

Hospice had delivered to our door, this meal
Yoder's Complete Turkey Dinner

plus a Bonert's pumpkin pie and some unnammed popovers. It was surprisingly good. I liked the cranberry relish the best, and didn't try the dressing, gravy or the popovers. The turkey was a Butterball.. All I did was make some whipped cream for the pie. It was so nice to have this meal. I deboned the entire turkey Thursday morning and packaged some up for future creamed turkey meals, one of dh's favorites. Then today I roasted my chicken, turned out great!

If I were going to buy a pumpkin pie, it would be a Bonert's if I could get a hold of one, they are really good for store bought.

 

[babetoo]

MY diner turned out great- but the star of the show was the new type of pumpkin pie/cheesecake thing I made. 4 people.. whole pie GONE! Gotta say, i am making this one again, it was super easy, even with w "cheesecake" bottom layer. Here is the description & link:
"This is a very rich and delicious version of the pumpkin pie. It has a cheesecake layer, a pumpkin custard layer, and is topped with caramelized pecans. My aunt gave this recipe to me years ago, and I always get asked for the recipe."

Paradise Pumpkin Pie II Recipe - Allrecipes.com

read and printed, sounds like a good one. one comment said to much stuff for the size crust. maybe a ten inch one. how was yours in nine inch?

 

[mollyanne]

All in all, on a scale of 1-10, our Thanksgiving meal was a 9...and I was very thankful for that! The only 2 negatives were that it could have been hotter (took time to serve a huge spread for 10 guests, plus opening blessing, plus carved turkey at the table so carver couldn't eat right away) and the turkey cooked 10 degrees too much due to faulty old cheap thermometer...it's on my Christmas list...but it was still moist and added gravy was good.

This year all my 20-something kids were home plus 2 boyfriends so I decided THEY were doing all the cooking and cleaning and I would supervise. On Thanksgiving Eve at 6pm they were all lazing around in the living room and nothing had been done. I cracked the whip and said, "Imagine the guests are all arriving at 9pm tonite so let's cook and clean as if it's happening in 3 hours (even though dinner was the next day at 2pm)...with the exception of last minute final cooking stages.

Boyfriend #1 (God love'em) - Immediately responded saying "I'll build the fire in the fireplace and sweep/mop/vacuum floors". He did a dynamite job!
And the rest of the kids were motivated by his enthusiam...

Daughter #1 - Prepared all items for her Cornbread Stuffing and Mashed Potatoes which turned out deelicious!
Oh, and preped for her Roasted ButternutSquash/BrusselSprouts

Daughter #2 - Set a gorgeous table setting...china, crystal, silver, fresh flowers, creative napkin rings, placecards, uncorked wine, etc and took an online tutorial of Ina Garten's Turkey recipe in preparation for the next day (the lemon aromatic was nixed and replaced with apple). She also did some Pre-Gravy by boiling extra turkey legs etc.

Daughter #3 - Dusted, windex'ed, and made Pumpkin Pies...yum!

Son - made Cranberry Relish from organic berries. I laughed when he asked how much pickle-relish to put in the cranberries. (I guess I should have called it Cranberry Sauce). It won rave reviews (without the pickle relish)!

Me - I did my signature Veggie side dish, corn, and I did the dessert table with batten-lace linen cloth, fresh sunflowers, coffee and tea set-up, dessert plates, silver, and 4 pies...Pecan, Apple, Berry, and Pumpkin. Vanilla IceCream and Whipped Cream on the side.

Nana - Mashed yams/orange/brownsugar in orange halves with roasted marshmallow on top

Thanksgiving Day was the most relaxing thanksgiving I've ever experienced because of all the help...and it was so much fun to watch the family working together

 

[Kayelle]

Mollyanne........what a fantastic experience for you and your beautiful family. It's so good to hear you didn't have to do all the work and enjoyed the day so much. Can I send the young women in my family to come learn from yours??

Thanksgiving Day was the most relaxing thanksgiving I've ever experienced because of all the help...and it was so much fun to watch the family working together

 

[Caslon]

I went over to my brother and his wife's house for turkey. My critique of the dinner was that everyone kept opening the oven door. At 325F, opening the oven door a lot caused the turkey to take an additional 2 hours to cook! I started getting a little antsy. It tasted good when served.

 

[Barbara L]

I went over to my brother and his wife's house for turkey. My critique of the dinner was that everyone kept opening the oven door. At 325F, opening the oven door a lot caused the turkey to take an additional 2 hours to cook! I started getting a little antsy. It tasted good when served.

My mom would have definitely been there with you on that one! One of her biggest pet peeves was people (usually it was my sister) coming in the kitchen and stirring something that she had just stirred and fooling with the food she was cooking. It would bug me too! I have to admit I was guilty of one thing that my mom never knew until I left. I asked her after I moved away if she had noticed there were now more mushrooms in the spaghetti--I had a bad habit of picking a few out when I went through the kitchen!

Barbara

 

[Rob Babcock]

The stuffing/dressing was a little disappointing. I deviated from my TNT recipe and tried making my stuffing from a wider assortment of breads. As it turns out I feel I got a bit more black rye and caraway rye than I should have, making the filling less of a neutral canvas and a little too strongly flavored. Also I forgot to mix an egg into it so it didn't set up quite enough. Lastly it was a little moister than I prefer. It was by no means bad but it disappointed me a bit. On a brighter note it reheats very well.

The mashed potatoes weren't quite perfect, either. I cooked dinner at my brother & his GFs place. While they have a nicer kitchen than I have it can still be tricky to cook away from home. Not only do I not know where to find everything, some things I'm just used to having aren't there. For instance, no stand mixer! And they don't keep sour cream or heavy whipping cream in the fridge. I had to whip the spuds with a hand mixer with a bit of stock and skim milk. They had no garlic, not even the jar of chopped stuff that they almost always keep, so I had to use granulated garlic. Everyone liked them but I wasn't happy with them; a bit too thin and not as flavorful as normal.

My turkey this year may have been the best I've ever cooked, however. This was the first time I bothered to brine one at home. I boiled a bit of stock with 1 C sea salt, 1/2 C brown sugar, celery, onion, a splash of Pinot Gris and some herbs, then diluted it to 2 Gal with some water in a clean 5 Gal bucket. Once it was very cold I placed the 20 lb bird in; the brine filled the cavity and the covered the turkey completely. About 14 hours at 37 degrees and it was ready. I poured off the brine and set the bucket in my shower and ran a few changes of water thru it to rinse all the salt out. I stuffed it and roasted it until the breast was 160 and let it rest for 20 minutes. The result was outstanding! My turkey never comes out dry but this one was extraordinarily moist and juicy. No doubt I'll make brining a regular part of my turkey preparations.

The gravy also turned out exceptionally well. Since they have a gas range (color me green with envy- I must suffer with electric!) I dumped the fat out of the roasting pan and positioning it over 2 burners and deglazed it with a touch of white wine and some water. I brought it to a boil and whisked in some roux with a silicon whisk. Honestly, all I did was to add a dash of black pepper, beyond that it was just the fond from the turkey. It was some of the best poultry gravy I've ever made.

 

[Claire]

I'm late chiming in on this, but I've been preparing turkey Thanksgivings for 30+ years. Over the years I stopped doing sides that I found myself with so much leftover that I threw them away. Since it is now friends, and not family, I ditched the dishes my sibs loved, had to have, and then I'd find myself with tons left over. Since it is now friends, I simply tell them what I'm making, and ask them to contribute what is traditional for them .... and take home the leftovers. I hate throwing away food. So this year was a success, my only mistake was sticking to buying a 20-lb turkey, and I just don't need that much any more. The meat can become stringy when frozen. Next year I'll aim at maybe 15? I've never roasted a smaller turkey! I just used to always have a gadzillion people to feed, and a big freezer, and family to feed turkey leftovers. So I need to downsize the bird!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Introduced my SIL to mashed rutabegas with butter and brown sugar mashed in. He loved the dish. And my wonderful grandaughter, well it the rutabegas were her favorite food for the next three days. The smashed spuds were creamy and smooth. The dressing was from a recipe that we got here on DC and it was great. I finally made a successful batch of sugar-free egg nog, thick and creamy, with that perfect egg nog flavor. Desert was flawless as well. But it wasn't a perfect meal for we overcooked the turkey just a little. It wasn't dry, but not up to my usual standards. The others said it was great, but you know, when you've made it just right before, anything less lets you down. And everybody loves my mother's recipe for what she called Sea Breeze Salad, made with lime jello, sour cream, pineapple, and walnuts, all blended together and then chilled to set. Yum!

Lastly, I took the carcass and took it apart to make turkey broth. My SIL said, "My mother always through that away." I said; "I make soup from it." He was skeptical, especially when I put pearl barley in it. He stated that he didn't like barley. When the soup was done, he tried some and exclaimed; "My mother never made a soup as good as this." I told him to keep that to himself. My daughter laughed.

Lastly, we invited some young men from our church to the supper. One of them was boasting about how good he was at the game - hot hands - where you slap your opponents hands until you miss. He found out that boasting is a mistake. I may not be able to run fast anymore, but don't try me at hot-hands or bloody knuckles. My nephew found that out at Christmas as well. He should have known better to challenge me and then say; "Now I have to warn you. I don't hit like a girl." He regretted that statement. Moohuahahahaha.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North