Tell Us Now: What's Your Family's Unique Thanksgiving Dish?

cracked ^ | 11/20/2020 | Shea

[mylife]

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, you probably do it through consuming food. We asked Cracked readers on Facebook, "What Thanksgiving dish is a tradition in your family but might be considered weird to others?" Some responses sounded delicious, others ... not so much. But regardless, we were amazed at how many things Americans can make with some Cool Whip and Jello.

[mylife]

I was pleased that I was taught from 4 or 5 years old by great grandma how to cook.

I was making the stuffing at age 5, the butter and bread too.

[BikerJoe]

Please share your corn pudding recipe. Here ya go!!!!!

CORN PUDDING
3 eggs
3 tablespoons salad oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/3 cups scalded milk
1/4 inch slice of small onion
1 1/2 cups whole kernel corn
1 slice bread broken into pieces

Method: Break eggs into blender container. Cover, and run at Hi Speed until beaten. Add bread, sugar, salt and onion. Process at Lo Speed. Remove the feeder cap in cover and slowly add the milk and oil while blending. Add the corn and run at Hi until it is coarsely chopped. Pour into a 2 quart greased casserole. Put casserole in a pan of water. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

[mylife]

Pasta is not hard to make and it keeps kids occupied.
it’s flour, eggs, a pinch of salt. elbow grease.

[hoagy62]

I got a Weber kettle this summer. I have never thought of doing a turkey on a BBQ. How do you do it?

[married21]

raw cranberry relish with apples and oranges . Amazing the day after thanksgiving on toast, for breakfast. From my mother’s 1942 Good Housekeeping cookbook.

[sheana]

Deviled eggs is always on every one of my families Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. They go with the potato salad. ;)

[Mom MD]

forget pumpkin pie. Home made cheesecake with amaretto drizzle for dessert!

[newfreep]

Condolences, my FRiend.

I lost Susan Jan,79...and sometimes it feels like yesterday.

On Jan 1st, we flew to Mexico for a last chance treatment and I had to carry her in my arms. It was a challenge to get her on a flight as pilots in San Diego & Chicago did not want to allow someone so ill to board their airplane.

But, thru God’s mercy, we made it back to Ohio where she went into a coma in the ambulance on the way to a hospital and passed a few days later. Sadly, we never had a chance to say our good-byes - something that haunts me to this day.

Anyway, my apology to all for my despondent posts on this thread...

[maddog55]

Agree.. just the wife and me this year but we’re having 12 turkeys.

[Poser]

I think this method of cooking the oysters was native to the area where we lived. We were in the lower tier of New York state, specifically Unadilla/Oneonta area. We always had a gallon of the biggest (Counts) shucked oysters available.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

My mom would combine potato wedges, green peppers, and italian sausages in a pyrex baking dish. A generous sprinkling of olive oil, some salt and pepper then baked/broiled in the oven.

Makes a great side dish.

[harpolemond]

1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar [I use one quarter brown and white each]
2 Tbsp Red star yeast [Other yeasts have less flavor]
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 cups flour
1 egg
quick yeast can be used but you do loose some flavor
---------------------
Add water, milk, sugar and 1 TBSP yeast with salt in a small sauce pan. Heat until boiling and remove from heat let it stand for a while.

In the meantime add the other TBSP yeast to 1/4 cup warm water with just a pinch of sugar. Watch out ..it will grow fast.

Now put three cups flour in a mixer. and
check temp on the contents of your pan. must be less than 110 degrees. If you can hold your finger in it and it feels fairly warm it is ready to add to the flour. If you cannot hold your finger in it it is too hot. But I now use a Thermometer. [my fingers are important to me at my age]
so when ready add the pan contents to the flour with the mixer running and
Now add egg to flour mixture mix it well, add the yeast that you were proofing[ I usually add it all at once, egg, pan contents, and proofing yeast] continue to mix.
[note if you use quick rise yeast there is no need to proof, just add it to your flour anytime]

Now When the flour mixture feels right [heh heh] you want a very soft sticky mixture. One that you can pick up with your hands without it running all over. Add flour until you get there.

I use a kneading hook on my Kitchen aid mixer now, but it is better to work it out on a board. Adding flour until it forms a soft ball:
Cover: Set aside and let it rise until double.
Now you can separate the dough mixture, and bake at 350 for appx 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Some ovens less time, some more. That is the part you have to learn since your oven is not the same as mine.
Make buns or loaf in a pan. buns take less time and a loaf more time. Letting it bake until Golden brown on top is the best rule
And finally the day after thanksgiving this bread makes the most wonderful toast in the world.
Don't let my many words make this appear difficult: It is not
Got a bread machine? Well my great grandma didn't and my wife and I both still make this bread:

The purpose for adding the first tbsp of yeast to the milk/water in the pan is to "kill" it by boiling it. This is done for more flavor, and is not necessary but it is very good

Noodles anyone?
Add 7 to 9 whole eggs to begin with two cups flour: knead it in a bowl until it is a hard ball[add flour as needed].. the harder the better:
Nothing else just egg and flour and a hard ball. then roll the ball out flat as you can
now roll up your flattened out dough and cut as thin or thick as you like so that when you lift them up they are simply....a noodle. Drop in boiling broth and they will be done in less than 5 minutes.

Many of todays youth have no idea what good flavor is. Green bean casserole? Well use fresh grean beans, or some you canned yourself...which is what we do. some of us old folks know some real tasty things. I just decided to put this up here so at some point, it won't just go into oblivion when I am gone.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Weber has good directions at ROASTING A WHOLE TURKEY ON THE GRILL and HOW MANY MINUTES PER POUND WILL MY TURKEY TAKE?

Here are my tips:

Buy the "Indirect" charcoal baskets. These keep the charcoal corralled on the sides of the kettle, not under the bird. This prevents the bird from getting the too-strong direct radiant heat and makes the kettle act more like an oven. (we did a big 2 inch marinated Tri-Tip steak this way last week and it was wonderful!)

You fill the baskets and light them as you would a regular pile of charcoal. The coals will burn down about 50% in an hour, so there isn't enough charcoal to cook the bird (about three hours). You have to be able to re-load more charcoal every hour. To do that, you MUST get a Weber grill with the flip-up doors (next pic) and be SURE to position them over the charcoal baskets (maybe your grill came with the flip-up doors - check it). That way, every hour, you simply flip up the doors and drop in charcoal to re-fill the baskets to the top. Be careful you don't overfill and have charcoal land in your pan collecting the juices (see below).

I always collect the juices by putting a Weber aluminum pan below the bird (surprisingly not shown in the photos above). I do a dry-fit of the pan before I light the charcoal, take the pan out, light the charcoal and let it get going for 30 minutes. Then put the pan in between the two indirect charcoal bins. The first couple of times I tried this, the juices dried out and charred in the pan. I found a simple solution -- just add a cup of water to the pan after you put the pan in.

Once you have the grate with the flip-up doors and the aluminum pans, it is really easy.

1. Clean out all the old ashes to make sure you have a clean kettle to start. This makes sure you get the air flow you need. Open top and bottom air shutters wide.
2. Put indirect baskets in. Check the fit of aluminum pan between baskets. Remove pan.
3. Fill baskets with charcoal, lighter fluid, light and wait 30 min for charcoal to get glowing red.
4. Put aluminum pan between charcoal baskets and add one cup water to pan.
5. Put the grill on. Clean and lightly oil the grill. Put the bird on the grill. We just put it right on the grill.
6. Put the lid on the grill. This is very important as it creates an oven. We never use the Weber with the lid off (beginners often make the mistake of trying to use the Weber as a regular open BBQ without a lid - the key is to always use the lid)
7. Every hour, remove the lid and add charcoal through the doors (they are HOT. Use a mitt or stick to flip them open and closed). Weber says add five to eight briquets each side, but I don't count. I just top off the baskets to the top. I also poke the remaining charcoal to settle it down and knock off the surface ash before adding new charcoal. Be sure to put the lid back on the kettle every time you take it off to add charcoal!
8. Cook the required time and take the bird off. Get a big spatula and jiggle it under the bird to release it from the grill, otherwise a big chunk of skin will stick to the grill when you take it off.
9. With BBQ mitts or a long wood stick, take off the grill and CAREFULLY remove the pan with the turkey juices. It is easy to snag the pan and spill the juices. We use the juices to make the most wonderful giblet gravy (recipe in our 1950s Better Homes and Gardens cookbook!).

It is fast and easy. Plus it frees up the oven in the house for other dishes. And it's fun to go out on the patio with other folks (if you have the good weather!), have a beer, and enjoy the cooking bird on the grill.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Good choice. We serve jumbo shells stuffed with bolognese, spinach, and ricotta then baked with a layer of provolone.

[V K Lee]

Jelled cranberry sauce from a can is
intolerable. This recipe for Cranberry
Orange relish is much more palatable.

CANBERRY ORANGE RELISH
https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cranberry-orange-relish

And rather than marshmallow topped sweet potato
casserole, try this.
PECAN PRALINE TOPPED SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
from Southern Living.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jheCkmrX_SI

Happy Thanksgiving!

[MomwithHope]

We use weber kettles but for whole birds we used the rotisserie collar and motor - its a kit for Weber. Amazing for a whole chicken, duck, small turkey, pork roast, lamb, whatever. Everything is crisp and juicy.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

A Crown ‘n Cran sounds good any time of the year. Or if we need to keep it ststeside I imagine Makers would work well.

[hoagy62]

Thank you for the info!

[Albion Wilde]

Pineapple stuffing. So delicious!

Also, one of our family members cooks an actual pumpkin instead of opening a can to make the pumpkin pie filling. Mmmm!

[harpolemond]

Hi: Posted it just a little further down in the thread