Thanksgiving dinner

[UndertheCedartree]

Myself and my DD are thinking of making a Thanksgiving dinner for fun so we can try some of the traditional dishes. We want to try dishes we've never had before or dishes prepared differently. What should we make?

Turkey. Possibly deep fried
Possibly also baked ham / gammon
Corn bread
Candied yams (actually sweet potato… google for recipe)
Some form of ‘casserole’ - look up green bean casserole for example

Pumpkin pie

You could have a starter of ham or prawn jello salad, you'll need a lime jelly for that.

Mac n' cheese is a popular side (Americans often use a box kit but you'll have to make it from scratch) also green bean or sprout casserole.

Sweet potato casserole with marshmallow topping is a must.

It's always fun to try new foods. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

@TheGooseDrankWine Deep-fried. As in all those exploding turkey videos?

🤣🤣🤣

Do you want to do a sensible Thanksgiving meal, or one with all the media hyped foods?

If you want a sensible one

Turkey with stuffing and gravy.

American stuffing has big pieces of bread crumbs
Mashed potatoes
Maple glazed carrots
Sweet potato casserole with rosemary breadcrumbs
Greene beans with onions and mushrooms
cranberry sauce
Parker house bread rolls

Pecan pie and apple pie with chantilly cream for dessert

If you want a starter, try a warm butternut squash and cheese dip

I have a cornbread casserole that everyone seems to love. Really easy.

and of course pumpkin pie (I hate it though!).

I did it a few years ago, huge faff but delicious.
I did deep fry a turkey leg, but the rest went in the oven.

Those are fighting words.

Mac and cheese as a side dish on Thanksgiving is highly regional. I don’t think anyone who would have it on their table for Thanksgiving would serve boxed Mac and cheese. Having the best Mac&cheese recipe is a huge point of pride. Those boxes are for other days.

now the green bean casserole, you can make that from soup from a can and a box of fried onions and people will devour it. They may even complain if you make a nicer version.

the rules of from scratch and store-bought on thanksgiving are strange.

@SeaToSki has the only meal I recognise in my growing up years the States. Pecan pie was definitely more popular than pumpkin, never heard of anyone deep frying turkey and Mac n cheese was a plastic mess served at school - things may have changed but I was shocked when I saw it on a menu here as food one might actually willingly order!
Cranberry sauce is a must. Ocean Spray whole cranberry sauce. Corn on the cob wouldn't go amiss either!

Americans often use a box kit

Not for Thanksgiving we don't! Mac and cheese is a traditional side dish for Thanksgiving in the southern US, especially among African-American families. Always from scratch, not a box in sight.

Here's a recipe for traditional Southern style mac and cheese

https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Southern-Style-Macaroni-and-Cheese/

turkey
cornbread dressing(stuffing)
cranberry sauce
pecan pie
sweet potato pie
green bean casserole
mashed potato casserole
mac and cheese
some kind of creamed corn dish

I tried green bean casserole recently, it was delicious. Highly recommend mashed sweet potatoes covered in marshmallow too.

I love Serious Eats https://www.seriouseats.com/search?q=Thanksgiving for answering questions about American cuisines.

@SeaToSki has posted the meal I also recognise from my years of living in America.

Wirh the addition of sprouts and bacon

Don't fry a turkey if you have never done it. You really need special equipment and a big back yard, plus the fire department on speed dial.

The best dressing (it's called dressing, not stuffing, when it's cooked outside the bird, which is better from a food safety standpoint) is southern cornbread dressing. There are lots of recipes on the web; the most important thing is that the cornbread should not be sweet.

@UndertheCedartree

If the dinner is going to be for two people, I'd look for a turkey thigh joint, Sainsbury's sell them for about £4. It would work well braised in a covered casserole dish with some stock & white wine, which you could use to make the gravy.

The BBC News Food section has got some nice recipes if you search for Thanksgiving Dinner. Key Lime Pie, roasted sprouts etc are all there.

Enjoy your meal!

American here, Thanksgiving is my favourite meal of the year! It's very regional what you would include, much like the UK, so my version is from the mid-atlantic/north east - hence no cornbread dressing or mac and cheese, though I agree these are delicious too.

To do it right:
Turkey (cook same as you would for Christmas)
mash (we do roast potatoes because dh cannot get his head around mash for a 'roast' meal, but traditionally it would be mash)
Stuffing (homemade, look for an American recipe, not the sage and onion boxed sort)
Green bean casserole
Candied sweet potatoes - roasted with butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar - you can also do a sweet potato casserole with the marshmallows on top, but I've yet to find marshmallows that work right in the UK)
Cranberry sauce
'Crescent rolls' - ready made croissant dough, baked, don't use proper decent croissants - basically they're just shitty croissants but we often have them as a bread roll with Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner

Pumpkin pie - get the libby's pumpkin pie filling (or make a sweet potato pie, tastes much the same) - with squirty cream

Succotash

I always make a thanksgiving dinner (my son has a special interest in everything American and it’s his favourite meal of the year).
What I make is pretty similar to this. The only differences being; I cook the green beans with bacon and onions rather than mushrooms (more southern style maybe. DS doesn’t like mushrooms)
And I top the sweet potatoes that I mash with nutmeg and cinnamon, with marshmallows.
Our choice is to follow with apple pie!
It’s always fun and I make my Christmas Day lunch gravy ahead using the thanksgiving turkey and then freeze it.

I’m so glad everyone likes my Thanksgiving menu 😁

You have all inspired me to start thinking about getting the bits I prep ahead of time done and in the freezer!

We usually have several desserts, but always pumpkin pie and pecan pie. I sometimes make Kentucky Derby pie (basically a pecan pie with the addition of chocolate and Bourbon). Sweet potato pie is also very good. And we also have apple pie if my son is visiting as that's his favorite. Thanksgiving is very much a pie holiday.

In most of the US, mashed potatoes are always on the Thanksgiving menu, but less so in the South, especially the coastal region where I grew up. The preferred starch (in addition to the cornbread dressing and mac and cheese) is rice.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, too. It's all about family, friends, and food. Another good thing about this holiday is that it keeps Christmas at bay until late November.

My brother in law did deep fry the Turkey last year, he did it outside. It was very moist, but he did it as an experiment/ bit if a novelty. I don’t seriously think anyone should attempt it.

It all sounds so good, but so alien 😂, you say Turkey roast for thanksgiving and I think Christmas dinner.

I think I might try the bean casserole sounds good, I’m not one to have cauliflower cheese on a roast so I really don’t see Mac and cheese (they are both meals on their own imho )

what I don’t understand is the gravy, do Americans not have a gravy I suppose not it’s a British thing ? But that’s why I don’t like a cheese sauce on a roast dinner.

and the sweet potato and marshmallow- is that served with the turkey?

@Mummumgem yes gravy a major part of American TG, but it’s not like Bisto, it’s Turkey gravy. I have no idea if Bisto is even a thing in the Uk any more though!

I haven't yet decided if I'll roast a turkey crown or order smoked turkey from a local barbeque place (less faff but not sure what I'd do for gravy). Will also have homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy (my mum's request), something green (french beans maybe, roasted broccoli or sprouts with bacon), I'll make my own stuffing and pumpkin pie. There will only be a few of us and I don't like an endless meal with dozens of dishes so I'm keeping it simple.
My grandmother used to make little corn muffins from Jiffy mix and Pepperidge Farm stuffing but she made everything from a box, bless her.