FR Thanksgiving Thread (Share Traditions, Recipes, etc)

20-nov-2003 | stb

[stainlessbanner]

Time to start preparing and planning!
Post your best recipes, blessings, and traditions to share with other FReepers.
Let's make this Thanksgiving the best ever.

Here's a start:

Pumpkin Custard Pie

1 ¾ c. pumpkin purée
¾ c. sugar
¾ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten, at room temperature
1 c. heavy whipping cream
½ c. whole milk
1 (9 inch) unbaked deep-dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. In a saucepan, stir the pumpkin over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until slightly dry and caramelized. Remove from heat; add the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Mix well. Add the eggs, cream and milk. Mix until smooth; pour into pie shell.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Allow to completely cool on rack before cutting. Don't forget to top this with as much sweetened whipped cream as you can spoon!

Island Flair Pumpkin Pie

From Bahama Breeze

A delicious and exotic pie, scented with the aromas and flavors of the Caribbean – ginger, cinnamon, orange, nutmeg and rum. The gingersnap crust is an added treat.

For Crust
14 2-inch gingersnaps (about 4 ounces)
1 c. pecans (about 4 ounces)
¼ c. granulated sugar
½ stick (¼ cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For Pie
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
1 c. (packed) dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature
1 ¼ c. heavy whipping cream (see note)
2 tbsp. dark rum
2 tbsp. finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. grated orange peel
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.

To make crust, combine gingersnaps, pecans and sugar in a food processor, grind. Add butter, blending until combined well.

Press mixture onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (1 quart) glass pie plate. Bake crust in middle of oven 13 to 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden around edge, and cool on rack.

Meanwhile, whisk pumpkin and brown sugar in medium bowl to blend. Add all remaining ingredients and whisk until blended. Pour filling into baked crust.

Bake pie until filling is set in center, about one hour. Transfer pie to rack; cool 30 minutes. Can be made one day ahead. Cover and keep chilled. If desired when serving, top each slice with additional whipped cream and sprinkle with additional crystallized ginger.

Note: Evaporated skim milk may be used in place of heavy cream, in the same amount. Makes one 9-inch pie. Serves eight.

Pound Cake

My Aunt Ruth used to make the best pound cake in the whole world. It was so rich and creamy. She explained to me that it was called a pound cake because it used a pound of butter and a pound of sugar. This was what made it so rich. Here's my recipe -- hers was very similar.

Ingredients

3 c. cake flour
6 large eggs
1 pound butter
1 pound sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt
½ c. buttermilk

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar. I use a large spoon for this. Next I add the butter. My grandmother would melt the butter in a pan over slow heat to make it blend easier. You can do this or just let the butter soften at room temperature.

Add the eggs, whole. At this point I break out my mixer and begin mixing on slow. I slowly add my buttermilk, and then the vanilla extract.

After it is thoroughly stirred, I turn the mixer up to medium for a few minutes, and then finally on high. If the mixture is a little thick I add just a touch more buttermilk. If you don't mix things thoroughly you will have lumps that will form air bubbles in your mixture and leave holes in your finished cake.

It was always a matter of pride not to have these air pocket holes in our cakes so we always made sure we got all of the lumps. In the pre-electric-mixer day that involved a lot of whipping the cake by hand. We usually didn't have a hand-cranked mixer that worked well, so this involved a large mixing spoon to whip it.

Some old timers even counted the number of times they whipped the mixture -- sort of made it fun and you didn't notice your arm tiring.

Preheat the oven to 325° Fahrenheit.

Take your standard tube cake pan and oil it with butter. Then lightly flour the oiled pan. Shake the excess flour from the pan.

Pour the mix in, bake the cake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Keep looking at how your cake is doing through the oven door but avoid opening the door too much while it is cooking as I have seen this, or jarring the cake before done, cause it to collapse.

When you think it is done, do the toothpick test. Stick a wooden toothpick into one of the thickest parts of the cake. If it's dry when you pull it out, the cake is done.

Allow the cake to cool 15 or 20 minutes in the pan. Then gently remove it and stick it on your favorite decorative cake plate.

Ginger Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, small dice
1 tablespoon molasses

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter with an electric mixer, add sugar and continue beating until combined. Add egg, both gingers and molasses and beat to combine. Gradually mix in flour, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Be careful not to overmix.

Roll into two 2-inch round logs, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice logs into 1/4-inch slices and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

— Recipe: Alton Brown

Sweet Potato Bisquits

1 cup flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large sweet potato - cooked and mashed
2 Tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 375 F.
With a good electric mixer, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt till combined. Cream in butter with fingers or a fork until it resembles small crumbs. Add in sweet potato, honey and buttermilk untill mixed through. Don't over mix.
Press the mixture into a 1 inch deep cookie sheet that has been lined with wax paper and refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut out circles with a floured cookie cutter or glass. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper again and bake for 10-12 mins until lightly golden brown.

More Great Recipes here: http://www.thanksgivingrecipe.com/

A Thanksgiving Prayer

O, heavenly Father:
We thank thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank thee for freedom and remember those who protect us.
We thank thee for family and remember the love.
May these remembrances stir us to service,
That thy gifts to us may be used for others and to further your Kingdom, Lord.
With all of our thanks and good blessings, Amen.

A Cowboy's Thanksgiving Prayer
By Steve Lucas

Dear Lord,

This last year was rough on us cowboys
With calf prices bein' low.
And the drought, and the snow last winter
Didn't leave a lot to show

For a lot of really hard workin'.
There were times, I confess,
That I lay awake nights and wondered:
Lord, how do I get out of this mess.

But I turned it all over to you, Lord.
Put my trust in your capable hands.
And I thank you that you let us keep on
Makin' a living off of your lands.

I thank you for every morning
when the sun rose over the trees,
and spread light over the meadows.
And thanks for that cool summer breeze

That cooled sweatin' backs in the hay fields.
And thanks for new friends I made,
for the joy of seein' baby calves
curled up, asleep in the shade.

Thanks for these good friends and neighbors
and the love and the help that they give.
And I thank you Lord for these old cows
and the cowboy life they let me live.

And thank you Lord for my family,
my little girl and my wife.
And for the chance we have to raise a child
to live the kind of life

That most folks only dream of,
spending days outside,
Feedin', checkin', and sortin', and looking
where old cows hide.

So, Lord, on Thanksgiving,
as we take a break from our chores,
We thank you for this year's blessings,
and for what you have in store.

God, the Giver of Victory and Peace. A Thanksgiving Sermon, Delivered in the Presbyterian Church, September 18, 1862, Raleigh, N.C.

[pro libertate]

I have the same problem. I ate them all the time as a kid, but can't stand them now.

[Vigilantcitizen]

As far as tradition goes; As a kid, the county pop warner football playoffs were always on Thanksgiving weekend,along with the dawgs-jackets game.

Most deer hunters around here go hunting on Thanksgiving day.

Many around here, including me, will serving smoked venison tenderloins and roasts along with the turkey.

I've got two tenderloins that will marinate in my "Butter, Herb, and onion" meat marinade for 2 days prior to being cooked Wednesday night. This marinade can be used for several kinds of meat cooked on a smoker, but is best on chicken, pork, and deer meat.

Ingredients:

3 sticks real butter(Margarine if you have to, I don't.)

3 glugs out of whatever beer you choose. I use Sweetwater brewery Honey brown. A burgandy wine also works well, but I'm not a wine type of guy. A good bourbon also would work.

1 medium sized onion - finely diced- Vidalia's best if you can get them. I can, being I live here.

Around a 1/2" cup of finely shredded parsley and garlic.

Couple shots of honey mustard.

For chicken, I add old bay seasoning. For pork, deer I add tenderizer(mixture of salt and sugar, dr. pepper also will work.)

Slowly melt butter under low heat, then add ingredients. Mix, and the longer it simmers, the better it is.

Allow to cool completely before pouring marinade in large ziploc bag with meat. Put in fridge at least 24 hours, 48 is preferable, if you trust where you buy the meat.

I'm working on a copy of a walnut/plum sauce that a local fancy restaurant serves on lamb chops, which I figure will also be tasty on deer tenderloins. But my attempts have come up short so far.

[Lady Jag]

Thanks for the cartoon, I printed it out and it is going to be my central decoration for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Are you a vegetarian or a cannibal?

[EagleMamaMT]

Thank you for that sweet story! :)

[EagleMamaMT]

Since medical transcription is a 24/7 job, I'm going to be working Thanksgiving day, but since my home office is only 10 feet from my kitchen, I won't get out of cooking! :)

We're having a cajun smoked turkey, purchased from my oldest son's choir teacher as a fundraiser. We bought one last year and it was unanimously voted the best turkey we'd ever ate. It comes from Southern Heritage out of Madison, Mississippi.

I'll also be doing cornbread dressing, roasted brussel sprouts and a pecan pie, a couple of pumpkin pies and an apple pie, along with whatever else pops into my head to cook!

I usually cook a lot in case someone needs a place to go on Thanksgiving. I love to cook and I think the more the merrier when it comes to dinner guests. This year, my oldest son's girlfriend and her father are supposed to be flying in from California to stay with us for a couple of days. This should be interesting...we've never met!

Here's my cornbread dressing recipe. It's an oldie but a goodie!

Cornbread Dressing:

Make a pan of cornbread the night before - from scratch or from a mix, whatever's easiest. Let cool and then crumble and allow to set out overnight to dry out. I make mine in a #10 iron skillet.

4-6 cups of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix, plain or seasoned - your choice.
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 cup diced celery
1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 cup cold diced butter
1 pint of turkey broth or 1 can of chicken broth
2 eggs slightly beaten
4 boiled eggs.
Green onions (optional)
Oysters (optional)
Shrimp (optional)

Cook onion and celery in 2 tsp. butter until soft. Mix together the cornbread and stuffing mix in a LARGE bowl. Add slightly cooked celery and onions, seasonings and cold diced butter. Mix lightly. Add broth and slightly beaten eggs. Add chopped up boiled eggs and a few chopped green onions, if you like, for color. Mix well and pour into a greased pan and bake until firm. I bake mine at 350 degrees. Can be stuffed in the bird, too. I cook it separately because there's less chance of bacterial contamination if it's not stuffed in the turkey.

NOTE: You can add more broth to this recipe if you want. I usually do, because I don't like dry stuffing. Can also add a pint of oysters, too, and some shrimp, if desired.

As far as the pies go, I don't follow a recipe but just add spices, etc., until it feels "right".

This is a good pie that I do follow a recipe for:

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

3 eggs, slightly beaten
1-1/4 c. corn syrup (light or dark)
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. pecans
6 oz. chocolate chips
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Combine eggs, corn syrup, salt, vanilla and sugar. Mix well. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 375 degrees for 55 minutes.

Happy eating, folks!

[EagleMamaMT]

Here's one more recipe that just makes Thanksgiving complete for us:

Old-fashioned Sweet Taters

Peel and slice sweet potatoes.

In a big iron skillet, melt a generous amount of butter. Put the sliced sweet potatoes in the skillet and fry lightly on each side. You can add a little oil to the butter to keep the butter from burning - just a touch!

Once both sides of the sweet potatoes are lightly browned, dot with butter and sprinkle white sugar heavily over the sweet potatoes. This is not exact. You want to be able to see sweet potatoe through the sugar. That's the only way I know how to tell you to do this. Put the skillet in a 300 degree oven and cook until the sugar and butter melts together and gets a little crunch and the sweet potatoes are tender.

This recipe was handed down from my grandmother's grandmother so it's very old - over 100 years old.

[riri]

Do you have a good recipe for Pecan Pie sans the chocolate chips?

[knak]

thanks, can I cut up the cranberries really small? I like jellied cranberry sauce but I can't stand whole cranberries. I sound you with the bananas!

[Rushmore Rocks]

I'm orginally from Texas. They will not let a woman out of the state until they can smoke a brisket, fry a chicken, or make a really great pecan pie. This is one of the best I've tried....gets lots of compliments every year!!!

THE BEST PECAN PIE

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
4 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or dark rum)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted *
Pastry for 9-inch pie

Combine first three ingredients, cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Cool slightly.
Add eggs, vanilla and salt to mixture. Mix well. Stir in toasted pecans.

Pour into unbaked pastry shell (I use a 9-inch quiche pan)
Bake at 325 degrees for about an hour or until set.

Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or ice cream.

* to toast pecans....place chopped pecans on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees, stirring frequently, until they begin to brown and smell wonderful.
Don't burn them! Takes about 20 minutes.

[knak]

oh man I might have to have that tonight! I love pie!

[knak]

I'm from Texas too and love a good brisket. What's your recipe?

[tubebender]

2 gallons was enough when using the tall skinny fryer pot that came w/the burner. To make sure you won't have overflow when the frying starts, you can put the bird in the pot, fill it w/oil just covering the bird, then take the bird out and fire up the burner.

You should post this in large fonts as deep frying a turkey is a potential fire hazard if you heat too much oil and then it over flows on the burner when you put the bird in. Also put the Bird in "Real Slow" and wear long gloves. Every year emerengency rooms see many deep fry burn victums.

[riri]

Thanks! I never thought to even try one until two years ago when buying a new house my realtor brought one by. I thought to myself "Ugh, pecan pie" Then I broke down and gave it a try. It was the most marvelous thing I had ever tasted.

[N. Theknow]

[spectre]

CARLO...HELP!

Yesterday I bought an 18 pound partially thawed out frozen Turkey and refridgerated it.

Today, this monster feels like it is thawed on at least the outside.

My question. If this bird thaws out completely in the next day or so, and I KEEP it sealed up...not clean it...will it still be good to cook on Thanksgiving or spoiled?

I spoke with a meat-market worker at Krogers the other day, and he said that they are putting their thawed out "fresh" Turkeys out for sale, and THEY would be fine to keep till Thanksgiving.

Anyway, Carlo...I hope you understand my question. HELP!

sw

[fml]

-- Thanks for the cartoon, I printed it out and it is going to be my central decoration for Thanksgiving Dinner.--

LOL...reminds me of a neat and easy centerpiece. Cut off the top third of a gallon plastic milk carton and place a soda bottle in the center, soda bottle needs to be weighted with water or soda. Place leaves, fruit or any sort of decoration you wish in the gallon container, fill with water and freeze. When you take it out of the freezer and remove the soda bottle you have a neat ice sculpture-wine bucket that can sit on the table and keep your drinks chilled.

[StarFan]

How long do you keep it in the brine Ken? Do you then cook it covered with a cheesecloth soaked in the brine (which I believe Martha Stewart did but am not sure if it was brine)?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Lettuce?.....LETTUCE????....we don't need no stinkin' lettuce...takes up way toooo much space on the sandwich...

ROFL! My thoughts, exactly ;^D

[CyberCowboy777]

Turkey Recipe - How to Smoke a Turkey



What you will need: 1 – 10 lb. to 12 lb. (No Larger) fresh or frozen turkey ( If the turkey is frozen place it under refrigeration in a pan until completely thawed. Do not force thaw your turkey. Much of your flavor and moisture will be separated from the turkey if you do so.



1 Smoker - large enough to house your turkey. A smoker with a tempeture regulator will be the best way to safely smoke your turkey.

Hickory or Oak Wood Chips – They simply work the best.



Brine Ingredients - The brine is important so that the turkey will maintain its flavor and moisture. A good recipe for brine is: 1 cup of salt – 2 cups of diced onions, 3 diced celery stalks, 10 sage leaves, 10 sprigs of fresh thyme, 1 bay leaf, 4.25 cups of distilled water, 1 orange or lemon quartered, 3 tablespoons of dark corn syrup, 4 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine, and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch.



Brine Cooking Instructions – Make a solution by carefully mixing the above ingredience. Place the turkey in the brine solution in a large pan under refrigeration and thoroughly baste periodically. Leave the turkey in the brine solution for at least 24 hours.

When you are ready to smoke your turkey, pull the turkey from refrigeration, and rub the entire turkey with butter. With the smoker tempeture set at 240 degrees Fahrenheit, allow about 30 minute per pound of turkey to cook. For best results, only use hickory or oak wood chips.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I'm going to try your Peacan Pie recipe....wish me luck!