Since it is coming up...what's the one non-Thanksgiving dish that's your family tradition?

OK - So we've the MUST HAVES and the WON'T EATS, but what is the one dish that your family serves that most folks would not consider traditional Thanksgiving fare?  ETR pretty much lays out the traditional stuff here:

EatingTheRoad


What dish in it's absence would just ruin your Thanksgiving? Mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberries, candies yams, pecan pie?

They all rank up there for me but I guess the most important would have to be the turkey...then the pies

I thought of this after reading stricken_detective longing for meatballs and gravy.

stricken_detective

... My strategy is not to make one at all!!! We make meatballs & sauce & homemade pasta for Thanksgiving. ... 

I think having Italian dishes with the turkey is common with many Italian families.

We don't have a regular non-traditional dish, but we like to try at least one new dish each year.  Last year a coworker mentioned having to stop in the Polish part of Chicago to pick up his Kielbasa for Thanksgiving.  I thought that was a cool enough tradition until I got to my butcher and saw Polish sausage on sale.  I added it to the bounty for our Thanksgiving, not that we needed anything more to eat.

 We save the big Italian dishes for Christmas but....
 
If I did not make homemade Stromboli for Thanksgiving I would be out of my family. No notice hearing or vote....just out.
 
I serve baked plantains instead of sweet potatoes.

It may be a Thanksgiving dish for some but it wasn't for me until my step-family brought it along...King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. Other than that our dinners are traditional to the T.



Oh wait...I thought of one more...Snyder's of Hanover Honey Mustard and Onion Pretzel Pieces, my grandmother always placed this out to munch on before the feast and we carry that one to this day. I wonder where she got this from?

Addictingly good!!!

Our Thanksgiving appetizers are non-traditional. We almost always have Guacamole with tortilla chips, and we often have stinky bleu cheeses, pot stickers, and stuff like that.

My mother-in-law cooks a standing rib roast on Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day breakfast is usually hot openface sandwiches made with the leftover beef, potatoes, and gravy.

Brad

Thanksgiving Day breakfast?!? I save as much room for the turkey as possible!

Brad_Olson


My mother-in-law cooks a standing rib roast on Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day breakfast is usually hot openface sandwiches made with the leftover beef, potatoes, and gravy.

Brad

I like that tradition.  Thanksgiving Eve Dinner AND Thanksgiving Day Breakfast.  
 
 

It's only a recent development.  The rib roast used to be Christmas Day dinner but since they moved we no longer visit on Christmas, and a few years back I mentioned offhandedly that I missed the roast.  She took the ball and ran with it from there!

Thanksgiving dinner isn't served until around 5:30 or 6 so breakfast is a necessity!

Brad

Brad, I'll be knocking on your door Thanksgiving eve!

We always have the cold sliced kolbassi and crackers as hors d'oeuvre before the main meal comes out.  I'm not sure why, it's not like we'll starve without it.

JRPfeff


OK - So we've the MUST HAVES and the WON'T EATS, but what is the one dish that your family serves that most folks would not consider traditional Thanksgiving fare?  ETR pretty much lays out the traditional stuff here:

I thought of this after reading stricken_detective longing for meatballs and gravy.

stricken_detective

... My strategy is not to make one at all!!! We make meatballs & sauce & homemade pasta for Thanksgiving. ... 

I think having Italian dishes with the turkey is common with many Italian families.

 
It appears I am getting my wish. The one who insisted we have turkey is most likely having her own celebration for her side since her daughter & mother have moved closer to her. Nonna says if it turns out to be less than 10 people, we are not making pasta, we are going out to eat.

I make what the original pilgrims almost certainly feasted on at that very first Thanksgiving dinner - Skyline Chili dip :-)

The stuffing. It's usually black or red beans and rice. Not traditional to most of you folks, but traditional to many of us here. Instead of sweet potatoes, we do Boniato which is grown locally. It's sort of like a white sweet potato. I also do a marinated  leg or shoulder of pork sometimes instead of the turkey. Sort of a dry run for Christmas Eve.

TJ Jackson


I make what the original pilgrims almost certainly feasted on at that very first Thanksgiving dinner - Skyline Chili dip :-)

Recipe?

TJ Jackson


I make what the original pilgrims almost certainly feasted on at that very first Thanksgiving dinner - Skyline Chili dip :-)

   Got a recipe?

Just saw that stricken_detective asked too. Guess it sounds good.

Stuffed Quahogs as appetizers (often called Devilled Clams or something like that but not the same).  Grew up on Cape Cod, and we just did it. Probably was part of the original T-day since the clams were abundant in Plimouth Harbor, and Wild Turkeys were scarce(r)

I don't know if you'd consider it non-traditional, we always had cole slaw as part of the meal, and white dip (cream cheese onion-y dip) that my cousin makes for an appetizer when we ate with the family in Ohio.  Now it's just the immediate family, we've scaled way back.  I do try to make an interesting hot dip to go with the leftovers every year though.  Last year's was broccoli cheese dip on fritos YUM!

  We still have my great grandma's Broccoli salad, it's just fresh broc. with LOTS of shredded cheddar and TONS of bacon bits in a mayo-sugar-vinegar sauce. make it at least 3 hours ahead of time so the broccoli can " cook " in the sauce a bit...one of the only veggies I've ever seen my little brother eat!! 

Tamales, both savory and dulces. With lots of fresh pico de gallo to dump on them.

Sweet tater pie
Corn bread
 

Its funny you should ask that, as I mentioned before, I like to make a polish style cooked vegetable salad, this includes potatoes.   The rest of my family all over the US, they ALL like to have a "potato salad" with Thanksgiving too.  It really goes well with Thanksgiving as well as the 4th of July.

I make a cranberry salsa to serve with the Turkey dinner

Tex-Mex Cranberry Salsa
1 16-ounce can Ocean Spray Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
1/4 cup canned jalapenos, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
chopped cilantro to your taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon lime juice
Combine all ingredients in medium mixing bowl. Serve with nacho chips or as a condiment for poultry or pork. Makes about 2 cups.

enginecapt


Tamales, both savory and dulces. With lots of fresh pico de gallo to dump on them.

Slashfood just had a post about pumpkin tamales for Thanksgiving.

The gap between tamales and the Thanksgiving table is continuing to narrow as an increasing number of Mexican-Americans are stuffing their holiday masa with pumpkin and sweet potatoes.