Happy Turkey Day

[Bob]

 


An American holiday....  Which is basically food, a whole holiday centered around a meal.  And then people say thanks... for the food. 

[birba]

Maybe people here could give their holiday menu.  I'm celebrating thanksgiving here in Italy on December 9, so I'm interested in suggestions.  I already have my 20 pound butterball that a friend got for me at the FAO.  I usually stuff it with a bread and chestnut dressing.  I'm curious about the side dishes.  I try to change them every year.
So let's hear how you all pigged out at Thanksgiving.

[synthifou]

Prepared by my wife and me (7 hours): roasted rosemary turkey, glazed ham, cornbread and croissant stuffing, oyster stuffing, giblet and non-giblet gravy + a 3rd gravy, mashed horseradish potatoes, green bean casserole, a plethora or rolls and cornbread, deviled eggs with curry, 2 pumpkin and 2 pecan pies, and a grand total of 5 cans of beer for 9 guests.

[birba]

Interesting.   First of all, what are horseradish potatoes?  Not that I can get them here, I doubt.  But just curious.   A Ham AND a turkey?!  You're more ambitious then I am.  And do you stuff your turkey.  I always have, but word has gotten around that it's dangerous?  Deviled eggs I lke.  Good idea.  Only 5 cans of beer?!?!  What, were they teetotalers?

[synthifou]

I'm really not sure if horseradish potatoes is a thing.  I had something similar in a steakhouse in Texas, and it was delicious. So, I've been making my mashed potatoes with a dollup of horseradish ever since. 

I hate making both a turkey and a ham, but there's so many people in my family that don't like turkey.  Therefore, we always include a ham. 

I've always wanted to stuff a turkey, but there seems to be so many ways to go wrong doing so, and I've always avoided it.  I'm not worried about germs at all as there shouldn't be a problem as long as the bird is cooked throroughly, however I've seen very dry turkeys due to the bread soaking the juices.  I use the drippings for the casserole to approach the taste of a correctly prepared stuffed turkey when possible (in years past we usually deepfried the turkey, which, btw, makes for a rather exquisite dish that I missed this year, so we'll fry one again next year).  In addition, I'm not sure if oysters belong inside a cooking turkey, but I'll definitely have to try your suggestion of chestnuts some time!

My people drink quite a bit, so I was just juxtaposing the enourmous effort I put into dinner against my huge fail of forgetting to buy alcohol for everyone! 
 

So, how did Thanksgiving in Italy go?