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Thanksgiving favorites - traditional and non-traditional

Tricia

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Like many of us, I grew up with the traditional foods on the table, including turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry relish (my mom's recipe is incredible), corn casserole, and pumpkin pie.
We always wore stretchy pants and stuffed ourselves in true Thanksgiving fashion.
These days I wonder if I really like Thanksgiving wtih all the fixings or do I really like the leftovers? I think I really like the leftovers more than the meal itself.

I thought it would be fun to share some of our traditional and not so traditional favorites

@Philpug and I have very non-traditional, including @Brian Likes Pow and @Tyler Pugliese in the past 11 years.
Phil made Duck a l'orange one year
Another year Brian made pumpkin ravioli
484933_10151320265081138_1715286182_n.jpg
248811_10151320265171138_348909638_n.jpg


But our real traditional protien is usually rack of lamb. Such a treat.
23916651_10155669070346138_3790532946044220073_o.jpg



Coincidently those lamb racks are resting on my family heirloom turkey platter.
 
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crgildart

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Grilling 6 brined legs and a breast tenderloin for sandwiches instead stuffing a whole bird in to the oven. Did this last year and made things way easier for the side dishes assembly in and out of the oven indoors... And everybody got a drumstick or two..
 

KingGrump

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We always have turkey and giblet gravy at Thanksgiving. It's tradition for both our families.
Everyone will take a small piece as a symbolic gesture toward tradition before moving onto other stuff.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Grilling 6 brined legs and a breast tenderloin for sandwiches instead stuffing a whole bird in to the oven. Did this last year and made things way easier for the side dishes assembly in and out of the oven indoors... And everybody got a drumstick or two..
What do you put in your brine?
The handful of times I brined poultry I mixed it up a bit adding some random herbs from my garden or spices from the cabinet. One year I added whole cloves and orange rind. That was tasty

My base brine is 1 Qt water 1/4 cup salt.
 

crgildart

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What do you put in your brine?
The handful of times I brined poultry I mixed it up a bit adding some random herbs from my garden or spices from the cabinet. One year I added whole cloves and orange rind. That was tasty

My base brine is 1 Qt water 1/4 cup salt.
I look around and see what we have a lot of and make it up on the fly.. Salt, of course.. some pepper, parsley, cayenne or chili power. I dip my finger in and taste it as I go then go with what I end up liking.. I'd probably go with half that much salt though.. but add some chicken broth..
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I've seen a new trend to Spatchcock the turkey to make more room in the oven and get a quicker, jucier turkey.

What is a Spatchcocked turkey?


A spatchcock turkey (also called "butterflied turkey") is a whole turkey with its backbone removed. The turkey is then opened up like a book and laid flat before roasting. (And it's a whole lot easier to do than it sounds).
 

dovski

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Our family favorite is skiing deep pow in Canada over Thanksgiving. In the past we used to get Whistler Edge cards that gave us free skiing until Dec 15 and would go there for Thanksgiving. One year it dumped about 10-12 feet over two days and we had epic POW skiing, which was pretty awesome. Thanksgiving dinner that year was Mongolian BBQ in Whistler village with friends :)
 

crgildart

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OK so my make it up as I go turkey leg brine ended up being a half cup of salt, bunch of lemon pepper, tablespoon of cayenne pepper, quarter bag of frozen onions, a quart of chicken broth, and a half gallon of water.

I'll go with Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt as the rub before wrapping them in foil and grilling them tomorrow. I'm going for a State Fair little kick to them vibe. The breast tenderloin I'm just going to put in an oven bag with some broth for a plain turkey vibe.

Wife's doing a crock pot brown sugar ham.. always comes out great..
 
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Tricia

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Here's a new tradition that could catch on.
Since we live in the bowling capital one of the sports bar chains, Bullys is hosting Turkey Bowling


Participants will have their chance to roll into big prizes as the chairs and tables are pushed aside to make room for the make-shift alley as they bowl a frozen turkey at real bowling pins.

This begs the question; Is there a best way to roll a turkey? Breast up or breast down? Do you drill holes in the frozen bird?

@Gary Stolt and I could happily share the grand prize:
The top three players will each receive a case of Bud Light and Michelob Ultra and a frozen turkey plus a $100 Bully’s certificate and a bottle of Knob Creek 15 Year Bourbon.
 

Lorenzzo

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Thanksgiving was always a really big deal in my family. A lot of excellent cooks and people in the food industry. It got a little competitive but the results were worth it. As a kid it was fully traditional. In a normal day these people would talk about food all day long. Like where they had the best and worst roast cuts, who was robbing and who was giving it away. So you might imagine what it was like.

When I took over the reins I brined turkey a couple of years but then realized everyone, me included, would rather have something else. So then lobster, steaks and then our new tradition...rotisseried prime rib roast. Although this year I got ahold of some SRF bavettes.

All that said I'd trade every last memory for a Thanksgiving in BC with 10-12 feet of @dovski 's powder. :snow:
 

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then our new tradition...rotisseried prime rib roast.
The Ronco Rotisserie does a great job for Prime Rib... "Set it and forget it" is great until you forget to set it. ;)

Post #8 was made in one.
 

Lorenzzo

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The Ronco Rotisserie does a great job for Prime Rib... "Set it and forget it" is great until you forget to set it. ;)

Post #8 was made in one.
Yes...the French maybe didn't fight wars well but the rotisserie is a real achievement.

That looks so good...
 

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We host usually and menu is very traditional. We have no desire to cook turkey or ham other times of year so we outsource it given the total lack of experience cooking the thing. Sacrilege, I know, but if someone else coming wants to make the main event fine by me, but no one has taken charge of it. Had one taker one year and then they quickly decided never again -- too much work. We found a local guy who loves to smoke turkey/ham and does an outstanding job. He has a huge smoker and makes a bunch of these and delivers (knock on wood) Thanksgiving morning.

My specialty is pecan pie. Make it all from scratch, including the crust. The twist is substituting cane syrup (Steen's Syrup) for karo and 2-3x the pecans.

Every year or so someone is a vegetarian. It's not always the same person... lol. If there was some consistency I would make more accommodations. And when push comes to shove, they would rather be ignorant of some ingredients and eat it even if there are some animal particles in it.
 

Brian Likes Pow

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Like many of us, I grew up with the traditional foods on the table, including turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry relish (my mom's recipe is incredible), corn casserole, and pumpkin pie.
We always wore stretchy pants and stuffed ourselves in true Thanksgiving fashion.
These days I wonder if I really like Thanksgiving wtih all the fixings or do I really like the leftovers? I think I really like the leftovers more than the meal itself.

I thought it would be fun to share some of our traditional and not so traditional favorites

@Philpug and I have very non-traditional, including @Brian Likes Pow and @Tyler Pugliese in the past 11 years.
Phil made Duck a l'orange one year
Another year Brian made pumpkin ravioli
484933_10151320265081138_1715286182_n.jpg
248811_10151320265171138_348909638_n.jpg


But our real traditional protien is usually rack of lamb. Such a treat.
23916651_10155669070346138_3790532946044220073_o.jpg



Coincidently those lamb racks are resting on my family heirloom turkey platter.
Yeah you guys do Thanksgiving correctly. That was one of those super lean Tahoe falls right? I feel like I stayed there like a week and glacially drank cocktails, ate lots and was in a state of complete relaxation.

I'm eating Turkey tomorrow, and while its nice to be with family I'd take lamb in a second. Cheers
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Yeah you guys do Thanksgiving correctly. That was one of those super lean Tahoe falls right? I feel like I stayed there like a week and glacially drank cocktails, ate lots and was in a state of complete relaxation.

I'm eating Turkey tomorrow, and while its nice to be with family I'd take lamb in a second. Cheers
It was pretty chill.
And your pumpkin ravioli was incredible.
IIRC you made bacon wrapped scallops for an appetizer.

Its not quite that warm this year, at least not warm enough to eat on the patio, but its also not snowing yet and we're lean enough that resorts are not opeing yet.
 

Brian Likes Pow

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It was pretty chill.
And your pumpkin ravioli was incredible.
IIRC you made bacon wrapped scallops for an appetizer.

Its not quite that warm this year, at least not warm enough to eat on the patio, but its also not snowing yet and we're lean enough that resorts are not opeing yet.
Its been pretty rough back east. Its getting colder fast. I'm off most of the winter so hopefully it gets decent. When the world calms it down a little I'll travel further, for now im saving money living lean.

And bacon wrapped scallops are the simplest form of perfect easy food IMO. you gotta get the big scallops though. U-12's and good bacon
 
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cantunamunch

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Every year or so someone is a vegetarian. It's not always the same person... lol. If there was some consistency I would make more accommodations. And when push comes to shove, they would rather be ignorant of some ingredients and eat it even if there are some animal particles in it.

Hehe. The true veg are easy to identify - we start retching at the meat smells the moment you open the door.
 

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