Thanksgiving!

Doing some research....

Name your favorite Turkey-day side dish. Bonus for favorite thanksgiving beer.

And, Go!

PIE!

And beer.

Ok, I also like green bean casserole with the cream of mushroom soup. Unfortunately my kid really loves that stuff too, so she makes it all the time. The holidays are just a little less special because of it.

And I'm looking for some Celebration again this year. I didn't get any last year. It always seems to go good with family meals.

I like stuffing and home made cranberry relish.

Whole home made cranberry sauce & this mandarin orange salad my wife makes with pineapple,sour cream & mini marshmallows with mandarin orange slices mixed in. And of course candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

Marshmallows are like bacon... everything is better with them!

unionrdr said:

Whole home made cranberry sauce & this mandarin orange salad my wife makes with pineapple,sour cream & mini marshmallows with mandarin orange slices mixed in. And of course candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

Click to expand...

+1 to this! Except I like a brown sugar topping on my sweet potato casserole!

We do butter & brown sugar to cook them with a lil water then top with marshmallows & bake.

Oyster dressing, and bourbon.

Southern style dressing (You might call it stuffing) the kind with fine bread crumbs. With giblet gravy. My wife's family is from Maryland and I've leaned to love the Northern stuffing too, with bigger chunks of bread and raisins and such. But it just doesn't take me back like the Southern stuff.

That and squash casserole

Celebration is a good one, but Scotch is preferable, I'm too full for a bunch of beer

We do the southern style stuffing like mom & her grandma used to make. Giblet gravy of course. And dinner rolls. got two IPA's for this year.

I don't do the cranberry stuff.

But this year I might save some New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon for after dinner. It's their Bourbon that has been kept in the barrels they used to make their Dragon's Milk Stout.

I actually can't taste any beer flavors, but the bourbon is still pretty good. This coming from a guy who is still just starting out with spirits.

For me, broccoli casserole beat out green bean casserole every time

Green Bean Cassarole. I think those onions are dredged in cocaine before they are fried. Very addicting.

And beer: saison/farmhouse ale. Pairs wounderfully with the classic TDay spread.

I love just about everything about the Thanksgiving Day feast. As far as my fav sides go, I like the cranberry relish made from fresh, whole berries, a little sugar, walnuts & mandarin oranges to go on my turkey. OK, it's more of a condiment than a side dish, but it's damned tasty! If a little gets into my stuffing or taters, I'm OK with that. It may seem trivial, but it just ain't turkey day without it.

I do love stuffing, especially the apple/walnut/mushroom kind, and I do love the mashed taters (leave those tater skins on!), I like to mix a little Marie's blue cheese dressing into them, along with a few secret herbs. Now IMHO, the very BEST part of the turkey is the heart. It's only a bite or 2, but to me, it's the very best part of the bird. I could dice it up & put it in the giblet gravy, but then I'd miss it...
Besides, that's what all the rest of those giblets are for.

You can usually find packages of turkey hearts & gizzards in the stores, these are good for my heart fix AND added giblets in the gravy. I'll often make gravy using added chicken liver. So rich & tasty, but doesn't overpower with that liver flavour if you do it right. I'll ladle the awesome giblet gravy over everything on my plate.

I like the classic sweet potatoes and/or yams, but I think I'd rather have them wrapped in tinfoil with a big glop of butter & baked. Then garnish them just like you would a big russet, more butter, sour cream, chives, bacon, etc...
Regards, GF.

As boring as it is, I am all about the mashed potatoes and gravy, really a good dense thanksgiving gravy is what I'm all about. No cranberry.

I'm imagining a wheat beer with pumpkin, cinnamon, and cloves to spice it up. This talk of bourbon is certainly valid too.

Some years,I like adding a bag of English walnuts ground coursely to the stuffing. The oils in the nuts permiate the bird as well. gives a slightly darker richer flavor.

Slice some sweet potatoes. Bake until cooked, but not so tender that they fall apart. Sautee them in butter until golden brown. De-glaze with a good bourbon, then top with brown sugar and caramelize in broiler for a minute or two. Remove and top with ground walnuts and serve.

My beers of choice this year will be a Warlock and my homebrewed imperial pumpkin ale..

Stauffbier said:

Slice some sweet potatoes. Bake until cooked, but not so tender that they fall apart. Sautee them in butter until golden brown. De-glaze with a good bourbon, then top with brown sugar and caramelize in broiler for a minute or two. Remove and top with ground walnuts and serve.

My beers of choice this year will be a Warlock and my homebrewed imperial pumpkin ale..

Click to expand...

On my list now.

My FAVORITE thing is the dressing (only a......."not informed person" stuffs their bird). I select a wide range of sourdough, rye, wheat, and french breads. I cut them roughly and dehydrate them in my dehydrator.

I start with a huge hot baking dish and lotsa butter. In that I simmer:

A lot of diced sage
diced onions
minced garlic
diced celery

Simmer that (I do it in the oven on 350F) for 10 minutes or so, then mix in all of the bread, stirring up the good stuff as much as possible.

Add however much fresh stock gets all of the bread wetted through, but not sitting in soup.

Bake at 350F until the top gets a little dark.

Serve topped with LOTS of fresh gravy and maybe some turkey, and other stuff, but it really isn't necessary

cheezydemon3 said:

My FAVORITE thing is the dressing (only a......."not informed person" stuffs their bird). I select a wide range of sourdough, rye, wheat, and french breads. I cut them roughly and dehydrate them in my dehydrator.

I start with a huge hot baking dish and lotsa butter. In that I simmer:

A lot of diced sage
diced onions
minced garlic
diced celery

Simmer that (I do it in the oven on 350F) for 10 minutes or so, then mix in all of the bread, stirring up the good stuff as much as possible.

Add however much fresh stock gets all of the bread wetted through, but not sitting in soup.

Bake at 350F until the top gets a little dark.

Serve topped with LOTS of fresh gravy and maybe some turkey, and other stuff, but it really isn't necessary

Click to expand...

Try toasting the bread... It develops the flavor more. Then dry.

cheezydemon3 said:

only a......."not informed person" stuffs their bird)

Click to expand...

We never stuffed our birds in my family, but I recently learned (and yes, I believe everything Alton Brown says) that stuffing just makes a place for bacteria to hold on to, and if you cook it through you'll only dry out your bird. So stuff with herbs and spices only, folks! Just FYI for the sake of health.

roastquake said:

We never stuffed our birds in my family, but I recently learned (and yes, I believe everything Alton Brown says) that stuffing just makes a place for bacteria to hold on to, and if you cook it through you'll only dry out your bird. So stuff with herbs and spices only, folks! Just FYI for the sake of health.

Click to expand...

Yes!

So, you boil your grains?




Just kidding!!! I love Alton, but the one episode where he screws the proverbial pooch?? BREWING!

Oh man I haven't seen that one, I figured he would be on point!

edit: that's funny, I work as a coffee roaster and I remember his episode on coffee being a little bit questionable as well.

roastquake said:

Oh man I haven't seen that one, I figured he would be on point!

Click to expand...

Not everything he does is.... Most things yes...

Alton's points on brining and DIGITAL PROBE THERMOMETER


.....were right on.

Anyone cooking a bird without a digital probe thermometer is a fool.


There.....*phew*....I said it.

Homercidal said:

Ok, I also like green bean casserole with the cream of mushroom soup. Unfortunately my kid really loves that stuff too, so she makes it all the time. The holidays are just a little less special because of it.

And I'm looking for some Celebration again this year. I didn't get any last year. It always seems to go good with family meals.

Click to expand...

My favorite too. I especially like a lot of those toasted onions things on the top of mine.

I've never stuffed a turkey, but I've recently started stuffing chickens, using a trick I saw Jacques Pepin do - make a pile of (hot) stuffing in the middle of your roasting pan, chop off the chicken's backbone, and just lay the chicken on top of the pile of stuffing.

I've never had any trouble with the stuffing staying above danger zone temps, and the chicken never gets dry. The only thing that dries out is exposed parts of the stuffing pile, but you can cover those bits up with foil to keep them from drying out.

You can do this with a turkey (that's how Jacques Pepin did it) but chopping through those turkey ribs has to be a challenge. (I'm not above using the reciprocating saw.)

cheezydemon3 said:

Alton's points on brining and DIGITAL PROBE THERMOMETER


.....were right on.

Anyone cooking a bird without a digital probe thermometer is a fool.


There.....*phew*....I said it.

Click to expand...

You should check out his Pecan Pie recipe, the one that uses the Lyle's Golden syrup. I haven't made it, but it makes mine look quite bourgeois.

JonM said:

I've never stuffed a turkey, but I've recently started stuffing chickens, using a trick I saw Jacques Pepin do - make a pile of (hot) stuffing in the middle of your roasting pan, chop off the chicken's backbone, and just lay the chicken on top of the pile of stuffing.

I've never had any trouble with the stuffing staying above danger zone temps, and the chicken never gets dry. The only thing that dries out is exposed parts of the stuffing pile, but you can cover those bits up with foil to keep them from drying out.

You can do this with a turkey (that's how Jacques Pepin did it) but chopping through those turkey ribs has to be a challenge. (I'm not above using the reciprocating saw.)

Click to expand...

With all due respect, that is no longer stuffing!! It sounds great though, all of the juices would flow nicely into it, and the bottom would be quite safe to eat.

cheezydemon3 said:

With all due respect, that is no longer stuffing!! It sounds great though, all of the juices would flow nicely into it, and the bottom would be quite safe to eat.

Click to expand...

Why not? Are you a closet stuffing snob?

Stuffing and CC Good Gourd!!

unionrdr said:

Some years,I like adding a bag of English walnuts ground coursely to the stuffing. The oils in the nuts permiate the bird as well. gives a slightly darker richer flavor.

Click to expand...

Try rubbing your bird with hazelnut oil or dark sesame oil before you put it in the oven; works for chicken & pheasant too. Regards, GF.

GF that's almost pornographic.

Melana said:

GF that's almost pornographic.

Click to expand...

Well, everybody needs a hobby.
Regards, GF.

Agreed.

It was brought to my attention that there was an article somewhere about using leftover stuffing in a wafflemaker... crispy stuffing waffles... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Leftover mashed potatoes make good potato pancakes the next morning, too. That is, if you're not having pumpkin pie for breakfast (and who doesn't?)

And another one - I read about taking stuffing and putting it in muffin tins and baking them just long enough to get a little crispy on the top. They're called stuffins, of course.

Ala Rachel Ray?

Melana said:

Why not? Are you a closet stuffing snob?

Click to expand...

I guess as long as no one is "stuffing" it in a bird, it doesn't matter, but in years gone by, "STUFFING" was stuffed up a bird's um...cavity, while "DRESSING" is the same thing NOT stuffed in a bird.

So around a bird, on a pan, under a bird, on your mom's head, DRESSING.

Up a bird? STUFFING.

In normal conversation it doesn't matter, when conversing with foodies, if they say "stuffing", I assume that they are, in fact, stuffing.