1st ever thanksgiving

i am gonna cook my first thanksgiving meal this month

sp far my menu is:

roast turkey and gravy
roast potatos
mashed sweet potatos
succotash (i have ordered from cybercandy)
some canned white corn also ordered
steamed broccoli
macaroni cheese (gonna go to american shop to get some kraft ones)
cranberry sauce
syrup
amborisia
mashed potatos
corn bread rolls

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i also have to do a vegan option. i am in the uk and cooking this food for the first time. we live in a tiny flat and there are gonna be 9 ppl including me and my boyfriend. one of them grew up in america. it's him who has given me the ambrosia receipe (fruit, mayo, sour cream and marshmallows). i have never eaten anything like this before.

i have spend hours on the internet looking up thanksgiving stuff, and still dont know what stuffing to do. If i'm doing a sunday roast i usually mage sage and onion, because i love sage and onion stuffing. do you have this in america? would also like to try an american st uffing. what is pork and corn bread like?? does it go with turkey? can you really stuff a turkey with cheeseburgers? i would LOVE to do this but can't find any info anywhere. do you make up the cheeseburgers first with cooked beef and cheese and rolls and then stuff the turkey? or raw patties with rolls and cheese and kethcup or with bunless cooked burgers? or is it just stuffing a turkey with burger meat? help!!!!!!!!

what drinks do you have before and during meals?

also i'm gonna do a potato salad. was going to do it how i usually do, cold boilded potatos, mayonised, spring onion and chives......but i see you put different things in it in america. for dessert i'm making cupcakes with american frosting and a coke cake. i'm very excited......anyone able toohelp[ me i will love you!!!

Courgette - best wishes for your endeavor!

As for the hamburger, I believe you call "minced beef", or ground beef what we call hamburger, not to be confused with an actual hamburger sandwhich.

The onion and sage dressing sounds good as those are two of the key ingredients to most stuffing/dressing recipies. Here is a recipe for traditional southern cornbread dressing which is always the best!

Cornbread Stuffing

several stalks of celery
1 good size onion
1 bunch of green onions
1 pan biscuits (not cookies!)
1 pan cornbread (are there mixes available there/)
6 eggs, well beaten
About 3-4 c. broth (make sure it is not dry)
2 tbsp. poultry seasoning
2-3 tbsp. sage (to taste)
4 boiled and chopped eggs

Mix all together and make sure it is not dry, if it is, pour a little more broth over dressing and bake. Always taste dressing before putting it in the baking pan to make sure about the taste. Bake at 425 degrees until lightly brown.

You can double the recipe and stuff some in the bird, and bake the rest in a pan.

Let us know how it all turns out!

As for the drinks, ice tea is the number one beverage in my neck of the woods but I always serve a Chardonnay as well.

After dinner, beer for football!

thanks for the replies

we do not have corn bread mixes here. i actually tried corn bread for the first time today. i had a packet of corn bread mix, and i knew it wasn't enough for the ppl at the thanksgiving so i decided tto try it to see what it's like before i make my own. i'm going to make rolls. the cornbread was gorgeous. i nearly burnt it though because i didn't know it was not meant to go brown so i would of just left it in the oven go brown if i didn't realise in time. it's all gone now.

the stuff like corn i meant was called hominy. can this be heated up in a suacepan just like tinned corn can? i hope so. my oven and kitchen are so small!!@

are there any thanksgiving recipes that use courgettes?? esp. ones that can be made the night before. i have made courgette bread before, i got the recipe off the net. it was gorgeous. one of my mates coming to thanksgiving loves courgettes and i am obsesed with them. much like my obsession with american food. i cannot wait to have a thanksgiving meal.

i did not think about hamburger meat being m inced beef. i thought it was just like in buns. doh. i have no idea what pan biscuits are!!! or broth!!! I thought broth was soup!!! and is ice tea the alcohoic one? we do plan to get as drunk as possible. and no football.......yuck!!!!!

Courgettefan: I think you need to add some starch to your menu- it is unbalanced...

i'm having roast potatos
i love roast potatos and i make the best ones with a sunday roast
i always do way too many tatties, so dont worry about the starch
also, the macaroni and mashed potatos and mashed sweet potatos have starch. and corn muffins. and the stuffing.
or are you being sarky??

sorry about my typing i feel off a desk today and my heads all funny
i might take a co-drydmol, i love them pills
also i'm on the rubbishy keyboard

i can't find anywhere here sellling ANYTHING to do with thanksgiving. i rung a party shop to ask and the woman on the end of the line was like 'FAKE SKIN?'

Here was the menu for the first Thanksgiving dinner I cooked in 2000, for my future husband and future in-laws. It's pretty typical American, and the recipes are mostly my father's--he's a great cook.
To drink, I served glasses of ice water at each place and Pinot Grigio or sparkling apple cider. Before dinner, it was beer or soda.

Appetizers:

Artichoke dip and water crackers
Cheese and salami and crackers
Pumpkin Bread

Dinner:

Turkey (16lb)
Stuffing
Cranberry sauce
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Turkey gravy
Buttercrust rolls

Dessert:

My famous cherry pie
Cheesecake with raspberry coulis
Karen’s pumpkin cheese pie (yuck)

My stuffing recipe comes from my Dad--white bread cubes, celery and onion sauteed in lots of butter and spiced with poultry seasoning (thyme, sage, etc.) sea salt and ground pepper. Good luck and enjoy!

ok.....corey PLEASE give me the recipe for artichoke dip. i take it this can be made the day before and kept in the fridge?? my boyfriend is obssed with artichokes like i am with courgettes, so this is a must to make for my boy. i would be ever so grateful for that thanks artichoke dip is a fantastic idea <3<3<3 what are water crackers? are they water biscuits?water biscuits here are a bit minging. they are always in the 'biscuits for cheese' selection boxes at xmas, and always the last to go. they make your mouth so dry. i suspect american ones are much more flavoursome. my experience of american v. english pre packaged food is that american has more flavour.

also, what are buttercrust rolls? is this like corn bread? corn bread tasted so marvelous i dont know why we dont have it here. how do you eat it? me and my boyfriend just ate it on it's own today, but do you usually eat it on the plate with potatos and gravy like you would a yorkshe pudding on a roast?

The one absolutely necessary beverage for Thanksgiving for me and my family has been fresh apple cider.

OK, I'm trying to catch up...

You can add chopped cooked courgettes (zucchini) to the succotash or corn if you want. Otherwise you can roast them in the oven on a high temperature after cutting them up and coating with a little olive oil and butter.

What is the syrup for? Do you mean Lyle's or something different?

The "hamburger" in the stuffing is probably sausage, like a breakfast sausage or Italian sausage, crumbled and fried. DO NOT use bangers. Add some sage to your stuffing if you don't use sausage.

Instead of a pan of "biscuits" (buns made with baking powder or soda instead of yeast), you can use chunks of leftover French bread, or more cornbread for the stuffing. We never stuff the bird anymore because of food poisoning possibilities. Search (in the upper right corner of screen) for our other threads on stuffing/dressing and thanksgiving sides.

We always have champagne with Thanksgiving dinner.

With that lovely cheddar cheese you have, you should make mac and cheese fresh...search for the recipe here.

I think those OXO vegetable gravy granules (in the jar with the green label) are vegan. I make a nice potato-vegetable pie using that...try it for the vegans.

Good luck!

actually.....if anyone here is after anything from the uk.....i dunno what.....anything like baked bean / prawn cocktail / cheese and pickle / marmite flavour crisps....marmite, yorkshire tea, raspberry and milk drumstick flavour lollies.....or anything i can pick up at tescos or sainsburys supermarkets and wants to trade with me....this is short notice i know but i need this by thanksgiving (obviously) i would LOVE to be able to get my hands on a happy thanksgiving banner, novelty badges or plastic rings, anything like that.....obviously i mean the cheap stuff like they sell here in Birthdays and Cliton Cards.....except they dont for thanksgiving!!!

if you wish i can do this via ebay as i got an account on there....if we swap phone numbers etc. we can discuss this before sending stuff i promise i wont rip you off and i know some ppl think i'm probably a bit trusting coming on here but welll, the woman at the party shop did think i was after some 'fake skin'

Ok, as I wipe away a few tears I can only think of one thing. We all fly over there and help or we fly them over here and show them the best Thanksgiving ever. Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it. In bunches. How about a "neutral" address like work or a post office box etc etc...... we can send you a few Thanksgiving Nik knacks? Good Luck!

A quick and easy holiday centerpiece can be made from a brown paper sack (or 2) and some newspaper stuffing, glue and colored markers, or paint. You fill the sack so it makes a big round body with newspaper, tie a string around the ends, fluff the ends out like a tail. Then attach wings on either side that have been colored from another bag, and tail feathers from the other bag that have also been colored. We always twisted up some brown paper into a neck (sort of crook shaped) and attached a beak, comb, and wattles. It can be fairly festive and easy to make.

By the way, we call courgette bread, zuchinni bread and it is a very good thing to serve at a Thanksgiving table (we do most years). Also, keep in mind, it is the pleasure of being toghether and sharing rather than the menu that makes a party!

Oooh, or how about the childhood classic of tracing your hand onto a paper plate and making it look like a turkey? Or making cute little Indian headbands and pilgrim hats out of construction paper? Get some oak leaves and little pumpkins and other gourds for a centerpiece. Check out www.marthastewart.com for other homemade ideas. If you click on my name, you can email your address and I'll send something if I run into it. I don't need anything at the moment, but there may be some quid pro quo in the way of Cadbury's and OXO in the future...

Zucchini: I've never been sarky, but frequently snarky. Nevertheless I wish you well with the Thanksgiving feast and would be happy to forward any American recipe you might feel would help you to make a real Thanksgiving meal - complete with translation from the American into the Queen's English.Good luck!

Another Suggestion for drinks with dinner, would be Hard Cider
Should be easy to find and very appropriate for Thanksgiving.

Think of a typical Thanksgiving Feast as a Harvest Meal, serve anything left over
or "put up" from the years' Garden ... so anything that home canned or pickled is good

Enjoy your Party

I was going to ask for a translation earlier but didn't want to appear too snarky. When I lived in France noone could understand this crazy tradition.....wait a minute, you have a holiday on a THURSDAY? And you stuff yourselves crazy with turkey with WHAT inside??? Cornbread? Sausage? Oysters? Marshmallows mixed with fruit and other stuff is Ambrosia....what's a marshmallow? (Again, no translation) Dang! And THEN you all sit around and watch this crazy game you call "football" when we sophisticated gens on the other side of the Pond all snicker, knowing that REAL "foot" is soccer. Hell, they almost NEVER KICK that ball! Crazy Americans!

We're a pretty congenial bunch....you need any specific recipes I'm sure you'll get it here. Good luck with your meal and bon appetit.

courgette,

One thing you might want to remember about an American Thanksgiving. America is a melting pot of nations. You can walk into 10 different homes on Thanksgiving & find 10 different meals. I have friends that are 1st generation Italian Americans & they have lasagne on their Thanksgiving table. I live in Baltimore, Maryland. Germans made up a large part of our early settlers here & saurkraut is a must have for the Thankgiving tables in Baltimore. I'm sure many a home in the Southwestern states will have tamales on the table. What I'm saying is what makes Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, is sharing it with friends & family & thanking God for all your blessings. Enjoy & God Bless (Of course a little turkey don't hurt!!), then there's the turkey sandwiches, turkey tetrazini, turkay salad, turkey soup.... Oh, if I see turkey one more day I'll just scream!! But seriously, turkey sandwiches made the next day with a little cranberry sauce on them & maybe a little dressing are the real reason we have Thanksgiving!

quote:

Originally posted by ocdreamr

courgette,

One thing you might want to remember about an American Thanksgiving. America is a melting pot of nations. You can walk into 10 different homes on Thanksgiving & find 10 different meals. I have friends that are 1st generation Italian Americans & they have lasagne on their Thanksgiving table. I live in Baltimore, Maryland. Germans made up a large part of our early settlers here & saurkraut is a must have for the Thankgiving tables in Baltimore. I'm sure many a home in the Southwestern states will have tamales on the table. What I'm saying is what makes Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, is sharing it with friends & family & thanking God for all your blessings. Enjoy & God Bless (Of course a little turkey don't hurt!!), then there's the turkey sandwiches, turkey tetrazini, turkay salad, turkey soup.... Oh, if I see turkey one more day I'll just scream!! But seriously, turkey sandwiches made the next day with a little cranberry sauce on them & maybe a little dressing are the real reason we have Thanksgiving!

Well said!....And--I'll second that!

This is such a lovely thread. This is what makes RoadFood such a great place to be.

Check these out: http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/index.asp and http://www.foodtv.com/food/et_hd_thanksgiving/0,1972,FOOD_9845,00.html. All sorts of useful information.

And ocdreamr and tiki are dead right. I'm a cleric, and every year about this time I tell my folks that it's not important how you celebrate the holiday. What's important is that we give thanks for our blessings and the people we love and share them with.

So do your best, have a great time, and when it's over put your feet up, turn off the TV and get blasted with your friends.

And tell me how it turns out!

quote:

Originally posted by Rick F.

This is such a lovely thread. This is what makes RoadFood such a great place to be.

AMEN! I second that emotion.

quote:

we do plan to get as drunk as possible. and no football.......yuck!!!!!

My Dearly departed Mother -in-Law always did this at Thanksgiving. She drank beer and smoked Pall Malls. By 7 or 8 o'clock, everybody was toasted and the turkey literally 'bounced' on the kitchen floor when she dropped it while trying to get it out of the roaster. She didn't like football either!

Good luck and have a great meal!

We have a dear friend--an anthropoligist,like my wife, who once wrote a paper in which she presented Thanksgiving as a magical and spiritual ceremony that americans performed for the specific purpose of bonding together family and friends! It was wonderful--i still have it--and the jargon free commetaries-thankfully!!!---It is a holiday that has no specific religous context--like easter or Christmas---but it is oh so New World---indeed not for Native people and foods it would not be the same. I also know that the simple act of breaking bread with someone makes it very difficult to shoot at them also---this is good!!

thanks so much for all the info and links

i do realise that i wont be cooking a traditional thanksgiving feast.....
but then i dont do a 'traditional' dinner at xmas either!!!
i thought that it would be more similar to something served here at xmas....last year we had roast turkey, roast potatos, sweet potato mash, brussels with chesnuts, gravy, carrots, peas, roast parsnips and sage and onion stuffing. But i'm trying to get foods a bit different, with a more 'american' feel to them.......
and yes i hear what you are saying about the company :D dont worry about that.....
we've got mates coming from all over.....
and loads who a int seen each other in ages

one year i got so drunk at xmas i vomited down the back of the radiator in the bathroom

and of course i'll let you all know how it goes

quote:

Originally posted by tikiI also know that the simple act of breaking bread with someone makes it very difficult to shoot at them also---this is good!!

Heinlein?

And don't worry about it being perfect. Some of the best Thanksgiving stories are about the mistakes - like the year the dog got to the turkey first (who knew she could get up that high?!?) Or the year my sister baked a pumpkin pie to impress her boyfriend (the recipe had a printing error in it & she used 1 cup of whiskey in the pie!! Trust me it didn't go to waste!)

quote:

Originally posted by spadoman

quote:

we do plan to get as drunk as possible. and no football.......yuck!!!!!

My Dearly departed Mother -in-Law always did this at Thanksgiving. She drank beer and smoked Pall Malls. By 7 or 8 o'clock, everybody was toasted and the turkey literally 'bounced' on the kitchen floor when she dropped it while trying to get it out of the roaster. She didn't like football either!

Good luck and have a great meal!

sounds like my kinda gal!

quote:

Originally posted by ocdreamr

And don't worry about it being perfect. Some of the best Thanksgiving stories are about the mistakes - like the year the dog got to the turkey first (who knew she could get up that high?!?) Or the year my sister baked a pumpkin pie to impress her boyfriend (the recipe had a printing error in it & she used 1 cup of whiskey in the pie!! Trust me it didn't go to waste!)

Some of the best meals are those that don't turn out as planned. Thanks, ocdreamr, and courgette, again, best wishes and please report back on the meal.

Oh, I forgot...chicken broth is the same thing as chicken stock or boullion.