DS has asked for a Thanksgiving meal...

[SparrowSally]

DS is really interested in having a traditional Thanksgiving meal. If anyone has made or been to one, what have been the must have dishes please? Turkey is obviously a given, also thinking of a sweet potato dish? Thanks!

Sweet potato mash covered in mini marshmallows and then toasted with a blow torch. Pumpkin pie, Mac & cheese, cranberry sauce. Green bean casserole & creamed corn

Every family will have its own traditions, but our staples are:

roast Turkey; cranberry sauce (I make fresh, even though my in-laws woukd prefer the canned stuff); stuffing - veggie, not sausage meat; potatoes - mash for the Americans, roast for the Brits; green bean casserole (again I use fresh beans and make a sauce, my lot would prefer tinned everything. I do use dried onions); sweetcorn of some kind - fresh, or little corn fritters, occasionally I make cornbread using polenta; other seasonal veg.

For dessert, I make sweet potato pie instead of pumpkin pie, usually with whipped cream, and something apple based because I have a prolific apple tree and it uses the last of the apples up. If I didn’t, I’d probably go with blueberry and cream cheese turnovers instead.

You have to have cornbread as well.

Canadian here. 🇨🇦🍁

Turkey, gravy, dressing, mashed, boiled corn on the cob, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce. Pumpkin pie for dessert.

Don’t forget the devilled eggs

My American friend hosts thanksgiving every year and we all bring a dish.

turkey, mash, creamed corn, green bean casserole, bread stuffing, the atrocity that is sweet potato and marshmallows, fresh cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and smores done outside if not pissing with rain.

What is “dressing” in this contest please?

Dressing is stuffing but baked in a dish rather than inside the turkey

The pies are amazing ,
and I often make them this time of year ,
ones I go back to is pumpkin , old fashioned apple , blackberry pie, chocolate pecan pie.
You need a really good buttery flaky pie crust

How old is DS??

Pumpkin pie! If you can find Libby’s canned pumpkin, you can use that and the recipe on the side, it’s a fail safe (don’t attempt to use real pumpkin!)

Also sweet potato pie with marshmallows on top.

Ours is quite like a christmas dinner; turkey crown, pigs in blankets (technically not american, but we’re a 3 nationality family) cranberry sauce, stuffing (the proper stuff, not paxo) cornbread, corn of some sort, green bean casserole (the mid west version uses a can of condensed mushroom soup on it 🤢)

Pumpkin pie
Pecan pie
Don't make any side dishes for the turkey that have marshmallows on them...

*LittleMy77 *
I use real pumpkins , kabocha and Hubbard varieties are both great.

Sorry, stuffing if cooked in the bird, dressing if baked in a dish. The assumption is bread-based.
Mine is a chopped baguette that I toast in the oven first with evoo, s&p and a bit of poultry seasoning (a common spice here), then mix with melted butter, finely chopped red onion and apple and some fresh cranberries. I loosely press into a buttered baking dish then moisten with a bit of water and bake.

Im in awe! I tried it once and it wasn’t great, i think probably too wet? (or my baking skills 😂)

I'm thinking roast it then puree?

Oh definitely roast , not steam , purée and that’s it!

if you feel it’s still wet , strain it a bit , the flavour is so intense .

Brilliant ideas, thank you! DS is 13 and has seen too many videos online about Thanksgiving 😂

Interested to see what recommendations you get. I’ve never done a thanksgiving dinner before.

Southern cornbread dressing. There are lots of recipes on the web; just be sure NOT to use sweet cornbread.

Yours sounds much more civilised than an American one 🤣 although I'd love to try and proper American thanksgiving dinner

The side dishes differ massively depending on the region and personal taste. DH’s family never made sweet potato dishes, but we now put a couple in the oven to bake, just like ordinary baked potatoes. No marshmallows though.

We like roasted Brussels sprouts, green beans (not a casserole, steamed), mashed potatoes, Mac n’ cheese, stuffing and a simple cranberry sauce (really easy to make the sauce the day before, lots of receipes online). I’ll probably do red cabbage with red wine vinegar too as we just like it.

I don’t find it too complicated tbh, it’s a British Christmas Dinner with some different side dishes.

@SparrowSally

If he's interested in this it's a great opportunity for him to make some of the food.

We have a fair few relatives across the pond, so we join in after a fashion and have my heavily adapted 'British' version over here. Bog-standard turkey roast dinner, with added sweetcorn, followed by either lemon meringue pie Key lime pie or chocolate gateau Mississippi mud pie.

It's the thought that counts. 😂😎

Here it’s: turkey, stuffing balls, sausages, roast potatoes, mashed potato, roast sweet potatoes (a little brown sugar on those), carrots, green beans, peas, cornbread muffins, cranberry sauce, pecan pie, pumpkin pie the last two with whipped cream and/ or ice cream.