What Are The Best Thanksgiving Day Staples?
PJ Media,
by
Matt Margolis
Original Article
Posted By: ladydawgfan,
11/24/2022 8:04:45 PM
On Thanksgiving Day, families come together around the dinner table to give thanks and repeat the yearly tradition of debating which sides and staples are the best. When families blend together, there is often a clash of traditions and menus that may not reach the level of controversy of politics, but can still be the cause of heated disagreements.
So, what are the best staples of Thanksgiving? I’ll compare a few and offer my thoughts.
Cranberry sauce vs. cranberry relish
Frankly, it was a long time before I even knew there was a question about this. But, eventually I learned that a lot people have an affinity for cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving—
Reply 1 - Posted by:
downnout 11/24/2022 8:18:34 PM (No. 1341667)
My mother was an excellent cook and we always had what I considered the traditional Thanksgiving dinner - roast turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, green peas with pearl onions, and giblet gravy. Then I married a southerner.
Stuffing??! Horrors! No, it had to be corn bread dressing. And sweet potato casserole. And pickled peaches…and green bean casserole. It took me years but I finally mastered the corn bread dressing and I have to admit it’s head and shoulders better than stuffing. And a brined turkey is the way to go. Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! Let’s hope for a better year in 2023.
15 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
wilarrbie 11/24/2022 8:56:45 PM (No. 1341699)
Siiiiigh....I remember them long ago early days here at Lucianne. We had a recipe thread full of stories around our favorite foods and the most wonderful recipe exchange around Thanksgiving. Then we had a virtual Christmas party. Seems that through whatever ever-present tough time we were going through in those (relatively) short years ago, we've since lost even that 'let's find joy somewhere anyway' attitude. Biden. You are a Thief Of Joy. (hat tip: Michael Scott.)
24 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 11/24/2022 9:18:10 PM (No. 1341723)
We just finished out Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing in the turkey, and some extra on the side. My wife has always made her own cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries. Chunky, sort of like preserves. Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole. I make the Italian bread and the deviled eggs. And a pickle tray with several different kinds of olives, pickles, etc.
And cherry pie. Sometimes my wife makes pumpkin, especially when with family, so pumpkin and cherry, or pumpkin and pecan pie. Cherry this year, for just my wife and I and a bachelor friend that I invited to eat with us.
Sameness and consistency of the food between our parent's Thanksgivings and our 'blended' Thanksgivings for well over forty years is also a part of this special day.
My wife and my sister put together a book with photos of all the food and all our family recipes, and we published a copy for each of the nieces and the nephew's wife so they can use what they want from the
"old days" for their own Thanksgiving dinners, and not say "darn, I wonder how grandma or mom used to make that, I wish I could make it the same way". Or they can do it differently, if they choose.
16 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Shells 11/24/2022 9:28:10 PM (No. 1341733)
The best Thanksgiving food is whatever you grew up having.
My Mom has been gone 21 years and I would give anything to experience the smell of my childhood home on the holidays one more time.
Thanksgiving is a love explosion of all the senses.
30 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Flyball Dogs 11/24/2022 9:38:49 PM (No. 1341737)
Cornbread dressing.
My new favorite cranberry relish I found on this thread about 8 yrs ago. (Brown sugar, olive oil, jalapeños, green onion +. Ymmmmm)
Mrs Green’s pumpkin pie recipe with NO spices. But….butter and cream. The best pumpkin pie recipe because you taste pumpkin and not cinnamon.
True story: when I moved back here after many yrs in DC, just before Thanksgiving I went to buy whipping cream. Shelves were full. But no Cool Whip within miles. Different cultures.
7 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
chance_232 11/24/2022 10:01:26 PM (No. 1341741)
I will admit that I won't lose any sleep if I never eat turkey again. I'll also admit that I have done Cornish Game hens for the two of us at Thanksgiving.
That said....nothing is better than good Turkey gravy. Oh.....and that crispy turkey skin.
Now that I've been forced into a low sodium diet,..... I can't gorge on stuffing and gravy.
5 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
smcchk 11/24/2022 10:12:09 PM (No. 1341747)
Stuffing INSIDE! That is what is what made for. Cranberry relish made with food processed cranberries, frozen raspberries (1 bag to bag ratio), lots of sugar and some orange zest. Simmer it until nice and thick. Keeps all year in the frig and goes nicely with chicken, etc.
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
janjan 11/24/2022 10:13:48 PM (No. 1341749)
Didn’t have any Thanksgiving dinner this year. Couldn’t justify the expense for just me and my daughter. But I had her and my beloved 3 year old granddaughter and that was better than any turkey I could have eaten.
20 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Rather Read 11/25/2022 3:06:31 AM (No. 1341790)
We have fried turkey and baked ham. Mashed potatoes and hashbrown casserole. Sweet corn and green beans. Dressing outside the bird and cranberry sauce. Homemade dinner rolls. No one in the family is a big sweets lover but we had pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling and chocolate chip cookies.
6 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
BirdsNest 11/25/2022 5:51:43 AM (No. 1341819)
This year I took Fresh Cranberry Apple Relish, Spiced Cranberry Apple Chutney(cooked), and dinner rolls. There was a huge center kitchen island with all the choices. I ate too much!
7 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
broken01 11/25/2022 8:14:27 AM (No. 1341874)
I remember my first Thanksgiving when I graduated from the children to the main table. My mom along with my aunts prepared a great feast of turkey, ham. stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, cornbread, cranberry sauce, gravy, green bean casserole, Plus wine for the adults, water, grape or cherry Kool-Aid, milk, soda, or sweet tea for everyone else. Plus, all manner of desserts like pumpkin, sweet potato, pecan, apple and cherry pie, chocolate, red velvet or coconut cream cake. If you weren't watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, you were outside trying to be like Magic Johnson or Joe Montana playing ball. Afterwhich the NFL was being played back when the game was great to watch on Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful day and I'm blessed by God to have a family of my own to have the fun I had as a kid. That was my best Thanksgiving Day staple.
6 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
marbles 11/25/2022 9:58:21 AM (No. 1341969)
More important than the food are the people and being thankful for being here.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
red1066 11/25/2022 10:21:58 AM (No. 1341991)
There are just a few absolute must haves for Thanksgiving as far as I'm concerned. Moist turkey, flavorful mashed potato's, great gravy, warm rolls that melt butter, pumpkin pie with plenty of whipped cream, and family gathered around the table talking about growing up together. There are other food favorites, but if the main ingredients aren't there, it's just not Thanksgiving.
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Lizzyboo 11/25/2022 10:40:43 AM (No. 1342005)
#2. I remember fondly the recipe threads on Lucianne. I will remember the recipe for whore squirrels forever! Never underestimate the wit and wisdom of Ldotters.
7 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
doublesharp 11/25/2022 12:03:40 PM (No. 1342051)
#2 wasn't there some kinda shtick in the early days about a crazy squirrel or am I misremembering.
Cornbread dressing and cranberry sauce straight from the can. I will not refuse c-berry relish is that is only choice.
2 people like this.
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Cranberry sauce (home-made), pumpkin pie (my recipe is 5 generations old), in-bird stuffing with lots of sage, both mashed and sweet potatoes and TURKEY, hopefully dressed with homemade giblet gravy. Those are the mains. The accoutrements vary from family to family.