Turkey Day - what's on the menu?
 

I picked up a frozen turkey breast today for next week.

Will probably just be Mom and I like last year....so we don't need a lot.

Thinking dressing, mashed potatoes & gravy, salad, green beans, cranberry sauce, biscuits, and apple cider.

Pumpkin pie for dessert.

What's on your menu? SmileWavy

We've gotten to the point where our daughter has sponsored Thanksgiving for a few years. It's usually turkey, dressing, and a couple few other items.

My wife makes an amazing cornbread stuffing and cranberry sauce. I suspect she might make one or both. We don't have a dessert tradition. I don't know that any of us are big on pumpkin pie. I didn't like it when I was a kid, but I've had some that I liked in the last 20 years. I don't have a sweet tooth, I've got a bunch of them, so I try to down-play dessert since I don't need it.

Traditionally, yeah, mashed potatos, green bean casserole (comfort food, and what's not to love about those crispy onions?!).

I wouldn't normally eat dessert but you know how traditional Mom's are - and at age 98 she'll get whatever she wants if I am involved! :)

Turkey, oyster dressing (make w/ dark beer and caramelized onions), mashed taters, mashed sweet taters (w/ cinnamon and brown sugar, no marshmallow crap), green beans, asparagus, cranberry sauce, gravy and then we'll fill any corners left with apple and pumpkin pies

Sausage stuffing is once again top of the wish list.

Mix 2x Jimmy Dean with 3x bags dry stuffing then add the liquid. Make slightly moist - add an extra 1/4 cup of stock. Bake for 45 minutes until brown on top.

So. damn. good.

Puut the turkey and 2 chickens in the brine. Wednesday smoke the turkey, 20 lb, and 2 whole chickens. Also on Wednesday make 3 packages of smoked cream cheese, for the Texas Twinkies for Thursday, and a pan of smoked spiced pecans. Thursday get spiral cut ham on the smoker and an hour before I remove it cover it in my Bourbon Cherry glaze. While thats finishing put on the pot of smoked queso. Enough to feed the crew, along with other dishes by the ladies, and hope there is some leftover! Happy Thanksgiving guys!

This will be our first Thanksgiving without our kids since we became parents. They are off doing important stuff but will be home for Christmas holiday.

Small turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, asparagus, home made cranberry sauce, stuffing as usual. Vanilla bean ice cream and strawberry rhubarb pie later. A good wine and a nice bourbon for accompany.

I don't know what I'll have for Thanksgiving. Maybe grill some steaks or something. Mom is in the hospital recovering from pneumonia, so I don't have a lot of time to prep or cook. At least she is out of the ICU!

Only 4 of us so don't need much.

Sous Vide Turkey, sausage dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy is as far as I've gotten in my cooking plan.

For dessert: Sweet Potato Cake- There is this little restaurant in Greenville, SC that makes these cakes. It is a heavily guarded recipe that many have tried to duplicate but I haven't found one even close.

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^^^^Wow, that cake does look amazing !.

My wife makes an awesome turkey that we soak in a herb/citrus fruit brine for 24 hours, and then roasts it for about 3 hours...The brine taste is all throughout the meat, and in one of the moist turkeys I have ever had.

My daughter makes an awesome sweet potato casserole that melts in your mouth. I'm in charge of the mashed potatoes, and my wife makes a drippings gravy. We usually have stuffing, some sort of cranberry side, and a big pumpkin pie with lots of whip cream.

This year may very well be the last for my FIL (who is on the verge of Hospice), so Dinner will be brought in to their house. It will only be 8 of us, with my FIL not eating anything, and my MIL eating like a bird. My wife, and I won't be taking many leftovers, because we are headed south on Friday night.

Thank goodness she's out of ICU and recovering!

How does a sous vide turkey work since the light meat and dark meat require different temps to be "cooked".

16 lb. bird will be deep fried in peanut oil , corn pudding which is a specialty of my wife . Various fixins 😊 will compliment the dinner table .

We host all the old gals here every year...all really good cooks, many of them from families that came over on the Ark and the Dove..

One of the many local menu items we will have is Stuffed Ham:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019226-stuffed-ham-southern-maryland-style

My son loves making it with my wife - nice tradition. He is actually very accomplished in the kitchen.

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I cut it into quarters;


White Meat- 130F/55C 12-24 hrs

Dark Meat- 150F/65C 12-24 hours

Sear before serving to brown skin

Great thing is that I will sear just the breast on Thanksgiving and put the rest in the freezer. Later I can pull it out, defrost, sear and dinner is ready

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Pretty standard menu around here (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, etc). Only difference this year is that we will be cooking the turkey in our Traeger smoker instead of the oven. Based on how things have gone with the Traeger, should be great!

It's just me and the Wife this year. We'll have stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce.

My Wife will make a pumpkin pie and cranberries and Brie cheese baked in Filo dough.

I'll be making my famous turkey stuffed with Prosciutto, garlic and thyme. I've smoked, fried and grilled turkey but the fam loves this style. Credit goes to Jeremiah Tower for the recipe, a good friend was his sous chef and passed the recipe on to me.

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Sous-vide rib-eye steaks and baked potatoes.
The pilgrims would approve.

Depends. If we are with dad's side of the family then there is a ton of variety to go with the turkey and mashed potatoes. Not like it used to be when I was young and we had lots of people bringing stuff. There was usually 3-4 8' banquet tables of only desserts and we rented the fairgrounds to get everyone in. Now we just go to my cousin's restaurant and there might be 1/3 of the deserts we used to have and we are down to 60-70 people.

If we do it at home it is a traditional menu.

Umm. Turkey?

Sorry to hear, Bryan. Please give her my best and hopes that she is home soon!

I did a dry run last month, first turkey on the smoker. Brined over night, rinsed next day and seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Stuffed with carrot, white onion and celery. Put on smoker at 275F, cooked until internal temp about 170F. Basted with butter every 45 minutes. Did not disappoint. Was amazing.

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Thanks guys. Mom is on the mend, but I think a stop at rehab will be first. Now, what for Thanksgiving dinner? I'm 56 and I know some of you are older. Aren't you guys tired of turkey, year in, year out?

"Whole berry" cran log with a little onion, orange zest, cilantro and habanero is actually really awesome and can help cut through the heaviness of the other dishes. De-veined carefully and most of my midwest-USA family can manage the heat. The fruitiness really works well with the other ingredients.

I have to resort to smuggling the peppers to some of the more distant corners of the johnson clan as I guess they're not a thing everywhere. They're hot, so you gotta be careful where you stow them to get through TSA if you know what I mean. ;)

Now smoked oyster stuffing is a new discovery for us - and it's awesome!

My "spent too long as a child in Nebraska" wife loves "Frog-eye-salad". Whatever the heck that is...

Take care of Mom, please.

Regarding Turkey....I don't eat the version that I cook on Thanksgiving on a regular basis so no.

And I make sure I don't eat any turkey regardless of form/version leading up to Thanksgiving. Lately for me it's been Roast Beef, Fish, and Chicken. Tonight Angus Beef hot dogs! ;)

Mostly throughout the year, I eat deli turkey. For sandwiches, subs, or just by itself. I like Sara Lee brand Honey Roasted Turkey Breast......shaved as thin as possible!

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Reservations at Jeremy's on the Hill. Apple cider brined turkey, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, butternut squash w/kale, etc. Wife is having lamb. We enjoy going there & not having to cook and deal with left overs. The food is great.

Mom is well cared for.

As for turkey, I eat a lot of it via deli slices for sandwiches and wraps. The same goes for chicken. I love turkey, but every 8 years or so, I don't feel like eating it for Thanksgiving.

It will be turkey after all! A family friend called and said they are making a turkey for us this Thanksgiving, along with dressing and sweet potatoes. They have been doing this for the past 15 years or so. Last year was different because of Covid.

We just discovered this. Where was this all of my life? It's awesome!

And a little habanero/onion/cilantro into the "whole berry" cran log tops it off.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Mom and I had our dinner yesterday and it was great!

I cooked everything at my house and then brought it over to hers to re-heat and serve. It was all very delicious!

I used takeout containers and put in enough for our dinners plus what I wanted Mom to have for leftovers at her place. It was very convenient - when we finished I just snapped the lids back on and popped everything in her fridge.

Mom at 98 is looking and doing great! And that is what I am most thankful for by a mile this year........

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^ 98? really? wow, could have fooled me! she looks great

I just finished setting up the turkey fryer rig with a fresh propane tank . The plan is to eat around 3:00 . The 16 lb bird takes about 55 minutes to cook with peanut oil at 325 degrees . My mouth is watering as I type this 😁

All the usual stuff is cooking. On the agenda is spend the day in prayer of thankfulness for all the blessings in our lives.

There is one more thing. Gotta spin this one more time for old time sake:
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Bacon Bourbon Turkey placed in the BGE this morning. Have it set to 275 with a flame boss and hope to hit 165 by 2 pm.

Then wrapped and tossed in a cooler to keep hot and finish cooking for the 15 minute drive to my inlaws where the family is gathering.

It is my first time making this. The bacon is my own home made bacon. If the smell in my backyard is any indication, I think I found a new favorite.

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Thanks, Greg! I'll pass this along. Best to you and yours! SmileWavy

I hate Turkey.
I'm having a Duck.
Went to little Saigon and got a couple fresh ones. Me & the clerk told Turkey jokes.
Rub them up with kosher salt & pepper. Stuff the cavity with apples & prunes.
Cook on a raised rack. Clarify the drippings for awesome gravy. Mashed Potatoes & red Cabbage, Scandinavian style.
Eat, drink & remember all the Turkeys in life.

Finished a bit early. Packed in a foil tray, covered in tin foil and packed in a cooler.

Dang it, it thought I had the timing down on it perfect. I was expecting it to hit temp by 2pm. I am 50 minutes early.

Hopefully it works out. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...95feb7679e.jpg

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Well the turkey was a bust , my fryer wouldn't get up to temp . Disassembled and cleared out some bugs/cobwebs but she wouldn't go full blast . So we had a fixins dinner 😁. Tomorrow the bird goes in the oven for Thanksgiving part two 😋

Happy thanksgiving to all you guys.