Why does it have to be this way?

[kansasdad]

Traditional with twists and extras at our table.

Turkey two ways….roasted commercial bird, with wild turkey, presented in a casserole style dish.

Several Mexican side dishes prepared by our DIL.

Wild game and some commercial prepared meats on the charcuterie/appetizer meal around noon as we serve the big meal later afternoon.

 

[406dn]

Put me into the camp of enjoying all of the traditional dishes. Now every week, all year around, that's far too much.

We have evolved to turkey for Thanksgiving and Prime Rib for Christmas. For a number of years we ate black eyed peas on New Years in honor of my father. That has given way to other choices, sorry dad.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

the tradition should be getting together with family and friends on a special holiday to enjoy a delicious, great meal.

but we're so stuck on doing all that but serving up mediocre slop and watching crappy football teams. america can and should do better.

If the best you can produce with Turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie, etc is mediocre slop then that's on you and the cooks in your family. You can and should do better.

How many of us get together with our hunting buddies and hunt ground we hunted in the past that has maybe lost its luster over the years. But we still go back. Why? Because of the memories and tradition.

 

[JT88]

@TOGIE are you or a loved one suffering from dry, s@!#*& turkey every thanksgiving? If so, you may be entitled to financial compensation

 

[huntin24/7]

I was never a huge turkey fan for the holidays until I started brining them and grilling on my pellet grill. Total Game changer. So good.

 

[QuazyQuinton]

but we're so stuck on...watching crappy football teams. america can and should do better.

You can watch the World Cup this year.

QQ

 

[Gellar]

From what we know of the first thanksgiving the pilgrims probably ate deer, ducks, and seafood like cod and lobster.

I put my turkey in the brine and made cranberry sauce this morning. Wife is making pies now. I only eat store bought turkey one time a year.

 

[longbow51]

Usually roast a few mallards. Oyster dressing, potato rolls, pumpkin/pecan pies, garlic mashed/gravy, cranberry sauce. All homemade.

Maybe you can't cook?

 

[Gellar]

I also look forward more to the leftovers. Turkey tetrazzini, Turkey pot pie, turkey and noodle soup.

And let’s be honest, I’m gonna get drunk tomorrow. Start early with coffee and Irish cream, beer while the turkey cooks, maybe an after dinner cocktail.

 

[Hem]

How about raising National awareness to your concerns? Cook up a prime rib, wrap yourself in the flag, tuck a Buffalo horn hat on, and scale the wall at the White house . Tell em you are headed to the dinner table.
...

 

[Deleted member 18333]

watching crappy football teams. america can and should do better.

I'm beginning to think you know less about football than you do cooking.

Crappy football.
Lions: Any team coached by Campbell is worth watching. I would give both my left and right to play for that dude. He is a beast!
Bills: High likelihood of playing in at a minimum the AFC Championship. Allen, a UW grad. Enough said.
Cowboys: It pains me greatly to say this but aside from a piss poor QB, that is one of the best teams in football. All Cowboys QB's after Aikman are trash. Fact!
Giants: Daboll is turning that team around. Barkley is a beast.
Vikings: Depends on which Cousins decides to show up for the game.
Pats: You got me on this one.

 

[JohnCushman]

My first wife was hardcore south Philly Italian. Her family did lasagna or some sort of pasta for Thanksgiving. My dad does prime rib. I usually do some sort of wild game.

 

[TheTone]

You can watch the World Cup this year.

QQ

. Where is that dan rather communist meme?

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

let's start a lively debate. though i feel confident i'm in the minority already.

why, just why, does thanksgiving food have to be what it is? why is everyone set on it?

for what is incontrovertibly the biggest most important get together meal of the entire year in the huge and powerful country of America, where we come together to enjoy the company of our family and friends to be joyous and thankful do we dine on what is IMO some of the most mediocre food available?

there is almost nothing on the thanksgiving table that i have any desire to go out of my way to eat at any other point in the year. there are countless items that are better than all of it.

let me list off everything better than turkey:

• beef prime rib
• beef tenderloin
• nearly any beef steak really
• pulled pork
• roasted whole chicken
• elk steaks
• deer steaks
• antelope steaks
• pork tenderloin
• pork chops
• hamburgers, i'd rather eat delicious homemade hamburgers all day every day instead of turkey

mashed potatoes, never been a big fan. what's better?

• mac and cheese
• french fries
• scalloped potatoes (i'm sure some people do this over mashed on turkey day, props to them)
• potatos au gratin
• well seasoned, buttered, wild rice with veggies

sweet potato casserole, yeah that's pretty good. green bean casserole, yeah that's also pretty good. but really they're the best of a bad situation IMO. don't really care what salad is on the table, salad is never that special unless it's oozing with blue cheese and red onion.

best thing that makes an appearance at thanksgiving is apple pie, without a doubt in my mind. i'm looking to eat apple pie a lot more than just thanksgiving. that's kinda my metric, think about most items on a thanksgiving table and ask yourself, do i ever want to eat this at any other time of the year? would you ever order any of it at a quality restaurant? if the answer is no, than you're doing thanksgiving wrong.

who the hell goes to quality restaurant with all the things in the world on the menu and orders turkey? it's asinine. turkey is so low on the totem pole of of delicious meats.

thanksgiving should be the best of the best food. sticking to a tradition of mediocre dishes because of tradition is dumb.

 

[Wild Bill]

I stand firmly in the opposite corner of this argument. I love thanksgiving food and wish it was more widely utilized. However, I will concede the fact that often, the turkey tastes like hell, because the person that cooked it didn't know what the hell they were doing.

I think the art of a great roasted turkey is being lost. Back when when grandmas and moms stayed home and didn't work, they were excellent cooks because they had to be. It was a real task feeding an entire family every single day. Nobody fattens you up like a grandma with decades of experience. Nowadays you have a bunch of over worked busy folks trying to prepare a meal that takes actual kitchen knowledge and skill. The work on the bird starts days before, not hours. You get out of it what you put into it.

 

[Wrong Burgundy]

I want to have a sushi boat the size of a bathtub in the center of my table with wine, sake and beer of every kind this Thanksgiving, and invite my friends, not really any need for most of my family. They are a buzzkill. That sounds more fun. Also, I have never felt bad/sleepy/sluggish after eating my weight in sushi. I feel strong like bull.

Sure, I will also have pumpkin pie for dessert, because I am not a f**king heathen. I would also re-watch Goodfellas afterwards. God I love the holidays....

 

[Ben Lamb]

 

[KB_]

As a kid, we would have a family thanksgiving lunch at one of my dads 9 siblings homes and watch the Detroit lions lose again. But the food..... my god.

Then dad, grandpa and I would skip my moms family's thanksgiving dinner (along with all the other boys), and go hunting on the farm.


Christmas has always been far more entertaining between the two family's

 

[Treeshark]

Turkey is ass. Chinese takeout here.

 

[Dan O]

i've been ruined on pumpkin pie ever since it was the last thing i ate before massively throwing up in the bathroom at the Akal in Buford after one thanksgiving in Laramie when I was like 7 or 8 years old.

Have you thought of therapy?