Changes for Thanksgiving 2013

[workerbee]

Next year I will be making the pies. My mom got store-bought this year and they were awful. I have a tremendous sweet tooth, usually can't resist pie, and these ones.....well, I barely ate any! It is not that hard to throw together decent apple and pumpkin pies.

I also like someone's idea about planning the entire weekend's menu ahead of time.  We all gather at our family's vacation home for the weekend, and I am so tired of the entire weekend's post-Thanksgiving meals consisting of pulling the leftovers out of the fridge (in the same serving vessels), removing the foil, and letting everyone fend for themselves! That's fine for Thursday evening following the big meal, but by Saturday enough is enough.  I'd rather get creative with the leftover turkey, etc.

[guihong]

I forgot to plan ahead and retrieve my mother's "good" dishes and serving platters from storage (there just isn't a lot of room for them in this tiny place).   Next year, I want a real set table with everyone gathered around, not spinning off into our various electronics and football (I'm guilty as well).  I'll see to it that I get it on Christmas.

[Geekychick1984]

Next year I'm going to host.  My parents can either come in from out of state or do their own thing.

My mom has never been a good cook, but at least the food has been edible. This year, the turkey turned out OK, but everything else was gross.  The mashed potatoes were like Elmer's glue, the sweet potatoes and turnips were grossly undercooked (and I think the sweet potatoes just had pineapples poured on top, no brown sugar glaze), and the stuffing had pieces of bone in it from being in the turkey and was very soggy.  My husband said the cranberry sauce was good at least, but it was canned.

The sad part for me is that I'm not that fond of turkey.  I look forward to the side dishes.

[lilfox]

We had four changes to our normal Thanksgiving dinner this year, three of them I plan to keep.

1) It was just the three of us this year.  That's the one I don't want to keep.  It was nice and quiet, the cooking was leisurely and no need to really prep the house, but I made the entire spread and it's far too much food and work for two adults and one child.  (The reason I went ahead and made a big meal is Thanksgiving is far and away my favorite meal of the year!)

2) Asked DH to mash the potatoes without milk - fantastic!  So fluffy.  I have always used milk to soften them because I just can't mash well enough without, but he can so guess what job he will have next time?

3) Made stuffing from scratch.  I never tried that before and was really happy with how it turned out.  But it involved a long series of steps over several hours (homemade bread done the night before, then cooking giblets and turkey broth, cubing the bread, sauteing the onions, and baking the whole thing), though, so I won't do that again for just 3 people.

4) Forgot to get evaporated milk for the pumpkin pie so had to make do with a forgotten can of sweetened condensed milk (and different recipe).  DH said it was the best pumpkin pie he'd ever had.  Guess that's a winner too!

[jedikaiti]

I tried a new pumpkin pie recipe this year, that called for heavy cream and some milk instead of evaporated milk. Which is fine, since I'd accidentally bought sweetened condensed instead of evaporated (but at least DF can use it to make Vietnamese coffee later, so that's OK). The recipe also called for bourbon  and it was really good.

[ica171]

Unfortunately the change I want to make won't happen next year. I would love nothing more than to stay home with DH and the kids with some sort of non-traditional feast--Chinese or finger foods, something like that--instead of going to my parents's house and listening to my dad complain, my brother and SIL fight constantly and my mom and dad snipe at each other. However, some of my siblings are estranged or don't care to make the one-hour trek to Mom and Dad's, and it's just one day a year that means a lot to my Mom, so I would feel terribly guilty staying home. I won't say that I didn't breathe a huge sigh of relief when we were out of there, though.

[cheyne]

No more turkey on Thanksgiving.  I don't like turkey, DH and DD will only eat leftovers for one day-so the cats are enjoying the rest of the turkey.  I will go with a plump chicken if I feel like making the whole "shebang" dinner-or DH can take us out for Chinese food.

[CharlieBraun]

Permanent change for us from this year:  we bought a table-top roaster which freed up a HUGE amount of oven space and did a fantastic job.  $30 well spent.

Change for next year: if sweet potatoes are on the dinner menu, the pie shall be pecan.  Squash for dinner and squash for dessert is too much squash.

[sparksals]

How did the roaster do with the browning of the skin, Charlie Braun?  I have heard reports that while it cooks the turkey great, the skin is not crispy or browned.   Unless it depends on the roaster?

[Jones]

We had to get a table top roaster this year too, as our oven roaster was too small for the bird I was given (my boss gifted all employees with turkey this year.Yes he is awesome). The turkey cooked surprisingly quickly and deliciously, as shown by the fact that I, the anti-leftover person, have been piecing on it ever since. However, sparksals is correct, the browning and crisping of the skin left something to be desired.

[CharlieBraun]

How did the roaster do with the browning of the skin, Charlie Braun?  I have heard reports that while it cooks the turkey great, the skin is not crispy or browned.   Unless it depends on the roaster?

I got the Bella brand (whereupon my husband wanted the Edward version, but I said he was more of a Jacob) and the browning was fantastic.  I basted with butter.  To test it (so we didn't come up onto T-giving day and have an uncooked turkey,) we did a prime rib roast and that was juicy and very crispy on the outside, much delicious bark.

About 10 years ago, I had another roaster (rented it actually when I was hosting 30 people) and the bird was disappointingly pale.  Last week?  Superb.

[LadyJaneinMD]

I think I'm going out next year.   I usually celebrate alone, and make a turkey breast with stuffing, but this year I managed to slice my finger pretty badly (no stitches, though), and then I burned the stuffing and filled my apartment with smoke.   I've had enough.

[LadyJaneinMD]

Also, we're buying a roasting rack. I'm done trying to elevate the turkey from the pan with tubes of aluminum foil. Now that we consistently make our own turkeys (and want to roast more chickens), it's worth buying.

Where do you live?   I have a really nice roasting rack that I picked up years ago at a garage sale for a song, and now I'm sure I'm never going to roast a whole turkey again, so I don't need it.  It's in excellent shape.
For some reason, I can't even give it away on Freecycle!

[Dindrane]

Also, we're buying a roasting rack. I'm done trying to elevate the turkey from the pan with tubes of aluminum foil. Now that we consistently make our own turkeys (and want to roast more chickens), it's worth buying.

Where do you live?   I have a really nice roasting rack that I picked up years ago at a garage sale for a song, and now I'm sure I'm never going to roast a whole turkey again, so I don't need it.  It's in excellent shape.
For some reason, I can't even give it away on Freecycle!

On the west coast, so if I'm understanding your screen name correctly, nowhere near MD. We might end up wanting to replace our roasting pan, too, and most of those come with racks. The one we have was a freebie from my mom, and is a little warped. It does alright, but it may be time to get a better one.

[LadyJaneinMD]

Also, we're buying a roasting rack. I'm done trying to elevate the turkey from the pan with tubes of aluminum foil. Now that we consistently make our own turkeys (and want to roast more chickens), it's worth buying.

Where do you live?   I have a really nice roasting rack that I picked up years ago at a garage sale for a song, and now I'm sure I'm never going to roast a whole turkey again, so I don't need it.  It's in excellent shape.
For some reason, I can't even give it away on Freecycle!

On the west coast, so if I'm understanding your screen name correctly, nowhere near MD. We might end up wanting to replace our roasting pan, too, and most of those come with racks. The one we have was a freebie from my mom, and is a little warped. It does alright, but it may be time to get a better one.

This is one of those V-shaped racks, suitable for roasting the bird upside down, though.