Are You the Thanksgiving Cook?
Of course I am! You know why? Because I don't trust anyone else to cook the meal. The stuffing is the most important part of the meal and it must be made precisely.
Turkeys are easy but gravy can be hard. Even if you use a dry gravy mix (sometimes I get too much fat because I like to use the leavings from the bird).
Mashed potatoes must be done correctly, too. They must be boiled to a consistency where one can easily beat them with a mixer. Butter (real butter!) and cream must be used....ok I use half and half.
Pies should be made with love or enough money spent so that you can go to a bakery where someone else makes them with love.
Anybody can open a can of cranberry sauce.
We're doing Thanksgiving on Wednesday because my daughter has to work Thursday night. So I was informed last month on our last fishing trip that I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner at my daughter's house. My daughter's FIL was the one to inform me of this. He doesn't trust anyone else to cook it, either.
Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. Use this article to talk about anything. Nothing is off topic except for politics, trmp, and Biden.
I usually cook the turkey. When we all got together I made a second turkey. My cousin deep fried one where I always slow baked one. My Grandmother always like the way I roasted it better than the fried.
I use the turkey drippings for gravy.
This year not doing anything, everyone is kinda spread apart. My sister wants me to go over to her house but I don't know. Both of her kids had covid...was trying to avoid it. Plus my niece wants us to get tattoos.
Understand about the covid. Are they over it yet? Now getting tattoos is no reason to avoid your neice
They are over it but I am leery. The tat I want.
You should be VERY careful about exposing yourself to Covid. Do us all a favor and take care of yourself.
Oh! I thought you were trying to avoid the tat.
I'm with Gsquared. If you're still concerned, stay at home.
My Nephew drunk dialed me the other night (He is 22). Telling me he missed me and loved me. I haven't really seen them in a while.
Then he told me if I wanted it he could get me weed. Haha
I want a nephew like yours
Maybe Zoom would be better this year. My wife is so scared about Covid we aren't even going to her sister's house for Thanksgiving because her niece had Covid months ago. We are both vaccinated and had our boosters, too. And we didn't have surgery recently. My heart procedure was in January.
I am the Thanksgiving cook. The way I like it. I make a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, yams, squash, cranberries, stuffing and homemade rolls.
On Wednesday I make all the sweets. I make a pumpkin roll, a cheesecake and a chocolate pudding pie. I also make cookies to be eaten on the morning spread to be eaten as we watch the Macy's parade.
It is a day my family become gluttons and are very thankful for all the blessings in our home.
In the evening we watch our first Christmas movie of the season. This year it is my daughter's choice. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because we celebrate it as a day of thanks that we are all still here and almost healthy.
I'm looking forward to spending one on one time with my daughter while we cook
That will be nice. I don't mind people sitting at the breakfast bar talking to me as I cook, but I prefer to do the cooking and baking myself. For one thing there is not enough room in my kitchen for more than me when I am cooking. My son's girlfriend offered to help, but hubby hates her cooking and since he is the provider of the meal it should be done for him...
I'm going over early on Wednesday before everyone gets there to get everything started so we should be alone...except for my SIL.
Send her to the store.
SIL = son in law
I'll send him on a beer run
Oh, I was thinking sister in law for some reason. My bad.
no biggie
I do hope everybody has a Great Thanksgiving and enjoys their time with friends, family or however they chose to spend their time. I'm very thankful that everybody is still here and we have a new granddaughter to enjoy and plot how we will spoil her rotten just before handing back to mom.
Cooking for my Thanksgiving is a shared responsibility as we eat at the grandkids house (strange setup as mom & dad are not biological but they still include us biological grandparents in everything, it's great). As I have a good sized smoker, I usually bring some smoked meats. This year I have a nice brisket that goes into the brine on Wednesday and very very early will get tossed into the smoker. I also wanted to smoke a leg of lamb (did that a few years back, it was amazing if I can brag, hehe) but my butcher cannot get any lamb right now. So when the family complained about no lamb, I threatened to make a leg of pimento loaf and smoke that. That quieted them up.. hehe.
I will be picking up a half a pork loin boned & tied that will go into the smoker also. The others will make all the sides, daughter is also doing a turkey breast and something else.. basically we will have enough food to feed half a battalion with leftovers in there too. woo hoo!!!! As the total extended family that will be attending is around 18 or so, I'm hoping we have enough food....
Congrats on the Granddaughter !
Congrats on the new granddaughter!
You should have gone thru with that pimento loaf threat.....
I'm the Thanksgiving cook, too. It kind of sounds like Veronica's meal. Of course apple and pumpkin pie. I have to make enough for leftovers since Matt lives for those.
Happy TG to everyone! Have a wonderful time and be safe!
Since Indians don't celebrate Thanksgiving we intend to roast a right-winger or buffalo wings for entertainment.
What kind of sauce do you like?
Generally Canadian/Cuban sauce, I think in the grocery stores it's sold under the name, ''Cancun Ted''.
Sounds kinda bland. I thought you liked spicy
It is spicy, the theme song for it is Buster Poindexter's, ''Hot, Hot, Hot''
I'll bring the gasoline.
I have cooked quite often. My day is normally Christmas/Christmas Eve when I bake a double smoked ham. We did Thanksgiving dinner this year this last Saturday and everybody brought something over to B's mom's house. I made some green beans sauteed in garlic and butter. Next weekend B and I will have some turkey noodle hotdish with some left over turkey.
Last year at this time both B and I had COVID and Thanksgiving was a miserable affair...
I have been the Thanksgiving cook many times over the years but my mom is the go to. I've tried to 'take over' from her but she sees it as part of staying 'independent' so she does the bulk of the cooking most of the time. I play the part of sous-chef and I always make the gravy. I brown the flour first and then make a rue before adding the drippin's. We've had up to 12 for dinner but since last year we make enough to make plates for our close friends. Some come by and pick up and some we deliver. We lost both of my wife's parents this year so we have a total of 4 fewer at our 'table'.
I'm very sorry for your loss.
Thanks Trout. We just lost her mom at the beginning of this month, that's why I was gone for a while. We lost her dad to covid in July and two of our close friends to the same this year.
Sorry about your loss, Dulay.
Thanks Kavika. There will be some toasts at dinner on Thursday and some funny stories too. After all, that is how we honor them and keep them alive, with our memories.
Of course I'm not. You know why? Because my Mom won't trust anyone else to cook the meal.
The thing is, I'm really not a terrible cook. Neither is my sister, nor my sister-in-law. My brother is ok in the kitchen. Dad is best in the living room, out of everybody's way. The man can burn water, and has actually scorched some foods to the point that the cookware had to be thrown away.
But Mom thinks nobody will like dinner unless it's cooked the way she cooks it.
One year, she had surgery right before either Thanksgiving or Christmas (can't remember which), so cooking dinner was up to me and my sis. And we put on a good spread. But Mom fretted over the preparation of every dish because we used our own recipes - ones we had tried with success. "But what if somebody doesn't like them?" Well, Mom, then there are plenty of other sides to choose from, as well as two meats, because we always have ham, too. If anybody leaves hungry, it's their own fault. But nobody left hungry.
I think your mom and I are related. I actually cooked dinner one year even tho I just had back surgery
Oh I just had one of those moments with 'the momma'.
I'm making green bean casserole the way I thought my wife likes it, which is with canned french cut green beans. But NO, 'the momma' was like, 'Peasant! You MUST make it with FRESH green beans."
This is a woman who worked full time and feed us a regular diet of canned vegies. It wasn't until the 70's when she [and I] went 'fresh' as much as possible.
I asked my wife and she said "Make it the way 'the momma' wants it, so I schlepped to the store and got fresh green beans.
That year, we were having quite a few people over. I wanted to make a few things ahead of time, because Mom's kitchen doesn't have much counter space, and she doesn't have an extra oven - just the one for the cooking range. So I made the mashed potatoes ahead, with a recipe that reheats really well. It has sour cream and cream cheese in it, which blew Mom's mind. For her, it's butter, cream, and potatoes, and that's it. My potatoes were too fancy and she was worried everybody would hate them with the extras. It's a good thing she didn't have any chives for me to play with.
My sis made a four-cheese baked mac and cheese. That was three cheeses too many for Mom.
I am the default cook in our family. My younger sister could burn water in the microwave and my older sister can only make reservations. My oldest sister can be a good cook when she wants to be. My BF rules the grill and is excellent at making last-minute runs to the grocery for me.
I am starting tonight with pie crust, cranberry sauce, and the veggies for the stuffing. The turkey will be brined tomorrow night.