What's For Dinner - Thanksgiving

[Ford850]

It's been a little quiet on this Country Cookin' forum. What are your plans for Thanksgiving dinner? How are you cooking your bird, ham, or whatever will be on the main platter?

 

[Otto Syracuse]

Not exactly “Country Cooking”, but our family stuffs its bird with pasta stuffing. My Italian Grandfather dreamed it up and my Mother perfected it over the years. The pasta is tiny, called tubettini, but the smallest ditalini would work too. Pasta, bread crumbs, sautéed giblets, Italian cheese, sugar, salt, pepper, cinnamon. We have converted many people over the years from bread stuffing to our pasta stuffing. All the other dishes are traditional style. CAN’T WAIT FOR IT!

 

[Molalla1]

Not exactly “Country Cooking”, but our family stuffs its bird with pasta stuffing. My Italian Grandfather dreamed it up and my Mother perfected it over the years. The pasta is tiny, called tubettini, but the smallest ditalini would work too. Pasta, bread crumbs, sautéed giblets, Italian cheese, sugar, salt, pepper, cinnamon. We have converted many people over the years from bread stuffing to our pasta stuffing. All the other dishes are traditional style. CAN’T WAIT FOR IT!

That sounds great Otto . . . we, wife and myself are having the standard bird with the trimmings.

 

[Ford850]

My turkey's in the brine and will be getting golden about this time tomorrow. It's going on the Weber charcoal grill, like I've done the past several years. That's hard to beat and frees up kitchen space for other food prep.

 

[ruffdog]

Smoked pheasant, sweet taters, green beans, cranberries, pumpkin pie.

 

[gsganzer]

I started my turkey in a bourbon/maple salt brine this morning. I haven't decided how I'm going to cook it yet. I'm split between smoke roasting it on my ceramic grill, or doing it spatchcock on the grill. Spatchcock would be the easiest, fastest and probably tastiest, but you can't beat the presentation of a bronzed smoked bird. We're all planning to social distance on our outside patio with just one or two of us doing the serving to keep hands on serving spoons to a minimum, so presentation isn't all that important, making me lean toward the spatchcock method.

I'm also making chestnut dressing to go along with the bird. I found some great chestnuts at the store this morning. The last couple years, all the chestnuts I found were already going moldy inside. These are large and fresh. The typical problem is that after I roast them to open them up, it seems the chef (me) always munches on some, dwindling the available supply for making the dressing. :licking:

I wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving!!

 

[DJ54]

Got my Turkey Sausage Fatty stuffed, and rolled last night ready for the smoker here in an hour or so. It's stuffed with chopped Broccoli, shredded cheese, onion & chive cream cheese. Hit it with a good dash of Famous Dave's Chicken rub, course black pepper, and a very light sprinkle of Creole seasoning.

The bacon weave wasn't as pretty as I'd liked it to have been. Experienced smokers say to use thick sliced bacon. Looking at the pkgs. of center cut bacon, this appeared to be thick on the ends, which it is, but thin enough to read a newspaper through in the center. Live & learn...

I'm using Hickory chips, and smoking at 215ｺ to 225ｺ, for a low & slow smoke. I'll check internal temp after 90 minutes or so, and see where it's at, and adjust heat to hit an internal temp. of 165ｺ in 3 - 3-1/2 hrs...

Sides will be cheesy broccoli casserole, and cheesy/bacon greenbean casserole, and some creamy deviled eggs. Dessert will be sliced strawberries w/whipped cream.

I've put my self on a semi-keto diet, since Doc says I needed to lose weight, to prevent becoming diabetic. He didn't give me a diet to go by, so started reading about Keto diets. I've cut my daily carb. intake by 80% for the last year, and have lost 50+ lbs. in doing so, so it IS working..!! I was more concerned with my cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, but blood tests for my Nov. check-up say they are excellent. So bring on the meat & cheese..!!

Already planning on my New Years Day meal. Sage pork sausage fatty stuffed with hot kraut. Chopped Sauerkraut, with some hot peppers rings mixed in, done up in a bacon weave.

Also cold smoked several types of cheese to go along with the fatty, and munching on for a while. Cut some smaller pieces off the big chunks, to do a test taste. The others were put in plasic wrap, then in a zip lock bag to rest for a week in the fridge, to let the smokey flavor be absorbed. The test pieces lastnight were pretty tasty, not overly smokey, just a nice smokey flavor. I chose milder/lighter cheese's,Gouda, Farmer's Cheese, and Pepperjack. The Pepperjack seemed to absorb the smoke better than the other's, and has a really good taste.

 

[RalphVa]

Carrot casserole being cooked. Jello salad is done. That's it.

 

[om21braz]

Sounds like y'all have some very tasty meals in the works. Here we are having typical fair - but for the first time, we made only the pumpkin pie. Everything else is via a restaurant. Small crowd, so small meal this year. Quite different, but thankful nevertheless.

 

[Ford850]

Our meal is a traditional one I guess, and scaled back this year. Turkey on the grill, which is almost done now. Stuffing. Sweet potatoes from the garden. Sweet corn from the garden. Cranberry sauce. Pumpkin pie.
I’m thankful to be able to prepare and enjoy good home grown and prepared food with my family.