Can Americans (or people who live there) tell me what sides you have at thanksgiving?

[cactusdog]

In particular, is sweet potato casserole a side or a dessert?
The recipe I'm looking at has candied pecans and marshmallows on top!
Looks delicious but I can't find if it's a side.

Do you just serve everything up together? Like I keep seeing pumpkin pie and pecan pie as "sides" for thanksgiving dinner?

Here is a good recipe for sausage gravy with pictures. Must be served with buttermilk biscuits (like a very flaky scone).

Re smoked oyster stuffing - it is not uncommon in the US. Another serious eats link with a visual and recipe. You can get smoked oysters in tins in supermarkets, so not a unicorn ingredient.

White breakfast Gravy is easy to make. This is how my mother always made it: www.tasteofsouthern.com/sausage-gravy-recipe/

Wow I always thought thanksgiving dinner was a bit like a Xmas dinner. Never realised it was so different. I have next week off, as it's my birthday. Might have a go at making one for something to do!

Typically we use wheat dinner rolls that use yeast.

I had some family who did that as well.

I was just reading the comments about difficulties in making biscuits which I had and couldn't figure out why so dug into it - apparently many others had it and it mainly came down to using the right flour for the right results. As I've heard, northern US wheat, and therefore flour, is hardier than southern versions to cope with the different weather which is why the biscuits and rolls in different areas come out entirely different.

My husband is American (though has lived here since he was 6, went to public school and talks like Nigel Havers so you would never guess!) His mum (mom!) was from Alabama.

He cooks the same sort of things she did. There's always carrots and green beans as sides. For a long time we had the sweet potatoes with marshmallow on top but it's really cloying. For the last few years he's done a sweet potato gratin with parmesan which is gorgeous. Also we always have butternut squash roasted with butter and black pepper. The rest is very like Christmas dinner: turkey, stuffing, cranberry, gravy etc.

We usually have pumpkin pie with cream for pudding but our son is now a vegan and daughter doesn't like it. So I'm going to make a vegan pecan pie this year.

I literally dribbling reading this thread, your Thanksgiving food sounds just amazing!!

Interesting discussion about biscuits. We have never had traditional quick bread biscuits with Thanksgiving dinner in my family. Biscuits are seen more as an every day bread, I think, being a quick bread that is easy to make. We always had yeast rolls for Thanksgiving (often from the can, yes, but those are delicious, and children especially love them).

I do sometimes make my grandmother's biscuits for breakfast or for a bread to accompany a "down home" type meal like round steak and gravy. Her recipe is very basic: soft winter wheat self-rising flour (White Lily), buttermilk, and yes, lard.

But for Thanksgiving there must be yeast. I sometimes make a hybrid that is delicious called angel biscuits.

www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/angel_biscuits/

Agree about the biscuits!

Typically a breakfast dish, but lovely when ham is for dinner.

In the USA special soft wheat flower is bought to make cakes and biscuits. It’s from wheat grown in the South which naturally has less gluten making for softer more tender baked goods. The plain flour in the USA is typically high in gluten.

In England the plain flour is low in gluten and special “hard” flour from North America is bought for yeast baking when gluten is needed for structure and chew.

I make biscuits from plain flour here and they are lovely! I’ve never found the right kind of sausage meat for sausage milk gravy here. I wish I could buy Jimmy Dean!

I have fond memories of my mom serving biscuits from the oven with sausage milk gravy from an old cast iron pot. We’d get dressed in front of the open oven on cold mornings before school. Thrifty and cosy!

Sweet potato with marshmallow??? I mean no offence but HOW can anyone eat that?

@TheNewLook

Sweet potato with marshmallow??? I mean no offence but HOW can anyone eat that?

Well, here in the UK we have faggots, black pudding, puddings with suet in them, steak and kidney pie, haggis...

@TheNewLook I think it sounds delicious 🤷‍♀️

But then I'm a big fan of sweet and savoury. I love pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, waffles, fried chicken and syrup, The Elvis grilled sandwich 🤤🤤

I think this is my favourite thread ever. I can't wait to make biscuits and gravy and obvs thanksgiving next week.

I am genuinely tempted to make an American food appreciation thread so I can hear about more delicious recipes!

Maybe put it in Chat for traffic..

@cactusdog

I think this is my favourite thread ever. I can't wait to make biscuits and gravy and obvs thanksgiving next week.

I am genuinely tempted to make an American food appreciation thread so I can hear about more delicious recipes!

Maybe put it in Chat for traffic..

Definitely!

You might enjoy the Hangfire cookbook. I have this. Some of it's a bit serious (smoking meat, making sausages etc) but lots of great soul food recipes in there that anyone can make!

We had it just like Christmas, we added bread sauce which you would not normally in the US.
Turkey with stuffing
Roasties
Sweet potato (just baked - it's gross with marshmallow)
Green or french beans
Parsnips.
Carrots
Brussel sprouts
Whole berry cranberry sauce
Bread sauce
Gravy.
Dessert was an apple pie with cream, but pecan pie would do. I love pumpkin but pumpkin pie makes me gag.

(And if you ever make it over to South Wales you can try the restaurant!)

I’d love to experience a thanksgiving dinner in America, but the sweet potatoes with marshmallows puzzled me greatly. Is it a dessert?

For those appalled but mashed sweet potatoes with gooey melted marshmallows on top, bear in mind it’s often made particularly to please the palates of children. It’s a true family holiday and there are enough sides to please all tastes.

@EmpressoftheMundane

For those appalled but mashed sweet potatoes with gooey melted marshmallows on top, bear in mind it’s often made particularly to please the palates of children. It’s a true family holiday and there are enough sides to please all tastes.

😂 when I was a child, I didn't want to touch it with a 6 foot pole and my family served it every year. My grandma have about 22 grandkids and none of us would touch it. It's the marshmallow that made it look so gross. I finally tried it and nope. I like it if they just had plain tree nut toppings

We never top it with marshmallows in my family. We make a topping of brown sugar, butter and pecans. It's still pretty sweet for a side dish, but it was my mother's favorite.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday and we have always had a large group, with people bringing different dishes. Not this year, course. But even though it will just be the two of us, we are still cooking the core traditional foods.

So I'm doing a Thanksgiving Dinner attempt (actually on Sunday though) to keep the lockdown troops happy, I keep seeing "casserole" listed. What makes something a casserole in the eyes of an American?

Also, have I understood correctly, "dressing" is the same as stuffing but cooked and served on the side?

@tobee

So I'm doing a Thanksgiving Dinner attempt (actually on Sunday though) to keep the lockdown troops happy, I keep seeing "casserole" listed. What makes something a casserole in the eyes of an American?

Also, have I understood correctly, "dressing" is the same as stuffing but cooked and served on the side?

To me, a casserole is anything baked in a large, deep dish with a mixture of ingredients. It's a very broad term.

Dressing and stuffing are the same mixtures of breadcrumbs and seasonings but stuffing cooks in the bird and is more flavorful as a result.

Well done for making the Thanksgiving dinner attempt. Doing it on Sunday is fine.

@tobee

So I'm doing a Thanksgiving Dinner attempt (actually on Sunday though) to keep the lockdown troops happy, I keep seeing "casserole" listed. What makes something a casserole in the eyes of an American?

Also, have I understood correctly, "dressing" is the same as stuffing but cooked and served on the side?

Casserole is usually food dumped in a big baking pan and baked in a oven.

I call it stuffings but yeah I think some people call it dressing

A word of warning: I think most food safety experts recommend cooking the dressing or stuffing, whatever you call it, outside the bird.

Thank you for your replies @MissConductUS and @MissConductUS