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?

@Lightningrain

It’s funny how so many American things have been embraced in the UK but it’s a struggle to get hold of pumpkin. Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes are obviously popular so you’d think pumpkin would have become more readily available in supermarkets.

It seems an odd concept to me to have a vegetable in a sweet dessert so I’ve never tried it despite having a lot of American friends. Give me pecan pie any day though!

I’ve also never understood how sweet potatoes are served in the US. I always end up having to scrape off brown sugar every time I order a baked sweet potato. I haven’t tried marshmallow topped sweet potato but it doesn’t sound appealing to me at all. I’ll save my share of the marshmallows for S’mores.

I think the sweet potato thing harkens back to the American love of sweet + savoury combinations---something I've found the Brits cannot understand at all. Hence their general confusion about things like pancakes AND eggs being served on the same plate for an American breakfast, or pumpkin pie, etc.

I think the sweet potato thing harkens back to the American love of sweet + savoury combinations---something I've found the Brits cannot understand at all. Hence their general confusion about things like pancakes AND eggs being served on the same plate for an American breakfast, or pumpkin pie, etc.

I think this is exactly correct.

My in-laws always did identical Christmas and Thanksgiving, but we make Thanksgiving more distinct (our Christmas is classic Delia).

Our Thanksgiving is:

Turkey
Giblet gravy
Mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes
Green beans
Carrots
Cranberry sauce (from a jar as it’s hard to get fresh cranberries).
Corn bread
Pumpkin pie.

Just realised there will only be three of us this year. Not sure I can justify the feast.

It will be interesting going around the table asking what everyone is thankful for. To be alive.

I think the sweet potato thing harkens back to the American love of sweet + savoury combinations-

I like to put a drop or two of hot sauce (like Tabasco) on my serving of sweet potato casserole.

Hasn't pulled pork become popular in the UK? What about barbecue sauce? That is sort of the definitive combination of sweet and savory.

Although I can’t stomach pumpkin pie, the idea of using vegetables in sweet things is not all that wierd. Carrot cake and courgette bread are eaten without blinking an eye. Beetroot and chocolate is another combination which has been around for more than recent memory. In East Asia, the sweet filling of choice is a sweetened bean paste, and sweetened chestnut purée is common in Italy and France.

Sweet potatoes and marshmallows? Sorry but that sounds awful.

But I do hate sweet and savoury together!

Speaking of sweet and savory together, apple pie with a slice of extra sharp cheddar is one of my favorite desserts, for Thanksgiving or any other time.

@JustanotherTuesday

I am thinking of making a pumpkin cheesecake. Has anyone made one and does it taste very nice ?

Yes, I have!

Hopefully my photos of the recipe turn up.
Let me know if they don't.

And for those that would like to try a Thanksgiving pie but can't find pumpkin, here's a recipe for "Spiced Butternut Squash Pie".

I've made it and was pretty good.

@Mominatrix

I grew up in a Korean immigrant household and so our Thanksgiving dinner would have the turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans almandine, gratin potatoes, mashed sweet potato, along with grilled whole fish with a spicy sauce, chap chae, kimchi, and some other Korean sides. A pumpkin pie was always purchased, but nobody ate it beyond a couple bites.

My thanksgiving dinner this year is typical of the ones we usually have:
Turkey
Brioche, sausage, chestnut, apricot and sage stuffing
Spiced cranberry sauce
Green beans almandine
Brussels sprouts slaw
Roast butternut squash with pomegranate, feta and candies pecans
Mashed potato
Parker house rolls
Pumpkin panne cotta
Apple pie

Yum!

I live in a suburb of Houston with an ethnically diverse population. My daughter's best friends invited us to partake in a Korean/ Vietnamese-American Thanksgiving one year and the food was amazing! Our neighbors are Columbian on one side, Chinese on the other, Jamaican and Indian at the end of the street, Puerto Rican DIL and my family is Mexican (husband is English) so we all sort of bring each other a plate of our ethnic dishes to share with each other and add to the traditional turkey dinner. I could use some kimchi right now!

@elp30
Thanks, that does look delicious.
I do love cheesecake, so I think as I've never tasted that flavour before I should try it

This sounds amazing!!!

Ugh quote function didn’t work - that was to @elp30

Pumpkin cheesecake is amazing. I like it more than pumpkin pie.

@Strawberrypancakes those look amazing!!!
Ah I want to make mine for tomorrow now 😆 was going to wait until Thursday.

Was the cornbread easy?

@Strawberrypancakes
The chocolate cream pie looks nice. How did you make it ? I've made Grasshopper pie before. That went down very well with everyone.

@Strawberrypancakes

And the pumpkin pie still needs cream.. but I’m shocked, the filling tasted amazing!!

Beautiful pie! I double the cinnamon and use allspice instead of cloves, and if I can't get a pumpkin I use a combination of sweet potato and butternut squash. Also nice with an almond flour crust if you need a gf option. I didn't much like pumpkin pie as a child but I can't get enough now, it's so silky and delicious.

Oh my god I wondered if anyone would mention the sweet potatoes with marshmallow...and there it was on your original post!

I once spent Xmas (not thanksgiving) in the US and a family friend made this delightful dish. Me being British I was a bit taken aback but ate it anyway. FYI she served it on the plate with the main meal. My god the sweetness and the savoury just melted together in my mouth and even ate my sprouts with it, that’s how good it was.

googles recipe and will be making it on Xmas this year

Thanks for the reminder!

@Strawberrypancakes would you mind sharing your cornbread recipe?
I want to make them on Thursday and yours look great!