Turkey for Thanksgiving and other meats with it!

[omarick1948]

Most of us have that Thanksgiving feast with a big turkey has honored guest, but do you have any other meat favorites or a little different side dishes?

Let's hear them and how you fix such vittles!

 

[satx78247]

Our family has usually had a large (and usually BBQ) ham for Thanksgiving & sometimes a small turkey with cornbread dressing, too.
(The BIG turkey with all the usual holiday trimmings has been at Christmas.)

Usual Thanksgiving side dishes are tamales, enchiladas, various salads, rice, vegetables, hot breads & numerous desserts.

yours, satx

 

[Tallswife]

Since we are over run with them, we are having ham this year. We put 2.5 pigs in the freezer this year.

Haven't decided on the side dishes yet.

 

[tenngun]

Ohhhh. Sounds like a meal to be thankful for :thumbsup:

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

Turkey with all the dressing, hog maul, sweet potatoes, succotash, mashed potatoes, yeast rolls, sweet cider, pumpkin pie, apple cake and who knows what else. Gotta work on Christmas and Christmas eve so this family will go all out for Thanks giving

 

[satx78247]

SOUNDS GREAT.
What time are we eating??

CHUCKLE, satx

 

[satx78247]

Fwiw, when Thanksgiving was going to my late Mother's home & we had 5-6 tables of eaters, it was a "BIG deal".
Now we have 8 potential family members for dinner & it's not nearly as big of a celebration.
(I can/will plan a Thanksgiving dinner for 8 quickly & almost without thought.)

SADLY, our family's celebration that took a week to plan & 3-4 days to prepare decorations/food for are OVER.
(The "kids" in the family are all now adults & married without kids of their own.)

Fwiw, I truly miss that "hustle & bustle" that accompanied Christmas & Thanksgiving holidays of a decade or two ago.

yours, satx

 

[Loyalist Dave]

We have a flatlander thanksgiving. :haha: No wild game, just turkey and pork, taters and green beans..., plus several pies. :applause:

LD

 

[Loyalist Dave]

We have a flatlander thanksgiving. :haha: No wild game, just turkey and pork, taters and green beans..., plus several pies. :applause:

LD

 

[Kansas Jake]

You guys are making me drool like Pavov's dog.

We usually did ham and turkey, except after a couple of year ago when we went to my daughter's family for Thanksgiving. She had spent hours preparing a stuffed turkey with all the side dishes and I offered to do a ham. I smoked the ham and basted it with a cinnamon and some Michigan maple syrup. Everyone loved the ham. I'm not allowed to bring it to her house if she is cooking other meat any more

We also like cranberry relish made with apple orange and sugar that isn't cooked. Sweet and sour cabbage is also a sometime side dish. Stuffing recipes can start a family argument depending on who is there: prunes, no prunes, raisins, no raisins, liver, no liver, other meat added (one grandma always made a hamburger stuffing) too much sage, not enough sage, etc.

 

[Vaino]

For our gang we have 2 smaller turkeys in lieu of one big one....double the amount of drumsticks, thighs and wings. Of course the stuffing is an important part of the meal. Both smaller turkeys fit in the oven and the cooking time is a lot shorter.

In addition a leg of lamb adds a different taste because of the seasoning....rosemary, oregano and some other spices and herbs. It's cooked on an outside grill and the smoke is an important taste w/ lamb.

This meal wouldn't be a Thanksgiving feast w/o candied sweet potatoes....always was my favorite veggie.

What's really nice about the last few Thanksgiving meals is that they're not at our house....my son Jim has the honors and does a bang up job of it.....his Spanish wife adds her touch to the feast by serving tortilla Espanola and a potato salad w/ anchovy stuffed olives....both are delicious.

We eat a lot of wild game....but never on Thanksgiving....Fred

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Traditional thanksgiving growing up was a small game hunting trrip in the morning for the men and boys. The women and girls did prep work. But when the men returned, the serious cooking started. for us, a huge turkey, (Once got a 32 pounder) savory bead stuffing with dried cranberries & walnuts. Mrs. always must have a bowl of creamed onions, daughter absolutely insists on green bean casserole, I make an apple-blueberry crumb pie, pumpkin pie and fresh hot home made potato bread. We usually have a garnish tray with things like spiced apples, cheeses, vegetable pickles (chow chow)

Tradition at our house is baking large batches of Christmas cookies the next day.

By Saturday it is time for left over turkey to be made into a large pot of turkey corn rice soup.

This year, maybe, I follow a buddy's wife's concoction of putting turkey into Delmarva style crab soup without the crab. Let the old bay season the soup.