Thanksgiving Sides

I like my candied sweet potatoes, sage dressing using bread ( not cornbread), cranberry gel (not sauce) and deviled eggs
Aunt Bea said:
Mashed yellow turnip is a must have for me at or around Thanksgiving.

Just tender boiled turnip, salt, pepper, and a knob of butter roughly mashed.

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That looks and sounds good. I've never heard of it.
 

I don't know when mac & cheese became a traditional American Thanksgiving side, but I don't consider it traditional at all. Mac & cheese doesn't say Thanksgiving to me. It's ok along side a hot dog or some fried chicken, but not a turkey.

My mom always made the green-bean with fried onions casserole. I didn't like it, but Dad did, so it was always there, and that was understandable. Mom's kid-friendly sides were a gelatin salad with either mixed fruit or thin-sliced cucumbers in it, and a carrot-raisin salad. And, of course, everyone loved her sweet-potato casseroles.
 
Murrmurr said:
I don't know when mac & cheese became a traditional American Thanksgiving side, but I don't consider it traditional at all. Mac & cheese doesn't say Thanksgiving to me. It's ok along side a hot dog or some fried chicken, but not a turkey.

My mom always made the green-bean with fried onions casserole. I didn't like it, but Dad did, so it was always there, and that was understandable. Mom's kid-friendly sides were a gelatin salad with either mixed fruit or thin-sliced cucumbers in it, and a carrot-raisin salad. And, of course, everyone loved her sweet-potato casseroles.
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From what I’ve read mac ‘n’ cheese became a holiday staple during The Great Depression when the government started subsidizing farmers by buying up surplus farm products and handing out surplus foods, including blocks of cheese, as part of the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation.
 
Being Armenian, we always had pilaf as a side....in addition to mashed potatoes.
And, my mother would make souberag, traditionally made w/phyllo dough and lots of jack cheese and parsley.
Baked. But, she would make mock souberag, w/extra wide egg noodles 'stead of the phyllo dough.

I always brought home a turkey that they gave away at work to their employees.
 
I never tasted bread dressing until I got married and ate it at MIL Thanksgiving. My family always made a meat dressing made with ground veal, pork, pork sausage, onion, celery and apple. It gave the turkey such a delicious flavor. We used to stuff the turkey with it but later baked it separately and used the liquid to baste the turkey. Mmm, can't wait.
 
Bell's Seasoning is the key to bread stuffing. It comes out of New England, but AMZN and others carry it. For me it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving w/out it


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IKE said:
I've had it prepared through the years by several people and it seems to be a big favorite around Thanksgiving in a large majority of households but am I'm the only person that doesn't like green bean casserole ?
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Green bean casserole was never a tradition in our family but I do like it, especially the Durkee’s/French’s crispy fried onions.

We always built our Thanksgiving menu around the inexpensive late fall vegetables like Brussels Sprouts, winter squash, cabbage, turnip, carrots, potatoes.

These days anything goes, people seem to have lost touch with the natural rhythm of the seasons.
 
This year DD is hosting and they're doing a low country boil. So seafood. The sides I bring will go with that.
Normally, my favorite sides are mashed potatoes (DH is a southerner so we have to have sweet potatoes too), stuffing which he calls dressing, and gravy. Not a fan of cranberry sauce unless it's GG's branded cranberries. I remember Bell's seasoning. We always had a box in the cabinet.

I'll be making my clam dip, shrimp dip from 1980s recipes. Also, a cranberry bread and date nut bread. Both from an old Good Housekeeping cookbook.
 
^^^Which reminds me of food safety. Stuffing is far more likely to cause illness than dressing, although in all the years I've never encountered stuffing making anyone ill. I've started to heat the stuffing prior to putting it inside the bird so it hits temp (165°F) quickly, reducing the chances of bacteria or whatever it is that can make one sick and having to overcook the bird to insure the stuffing is safe to eat.
 
When I was in college, I dated a man whose parents invited me for Thanksgiving. His mom made oyster stuffing. It made the whole bird taste fishy. Since I am not a big seafood fan, it was unappetizing to me, but I was polite and complimented her on how great everything was. That was probably their tradition.

My mom made killer cornbread stuffing - I'll never have that again. I buy stovetop style cornbread stuffing mix, but it's just a weak shadow of my mom's.
 
debodun said:
My mom made killer cornbread stuffing - I'll never have that again. I buy stovetop style cornbread stuffing mix, but it's just a weak shadow of my mom's.
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Don't we miss our moms during the holidays? My mother never made a pie crust that wasn't flakey or a piece of meat that wasn't perfectly cooked. I didn't even know it was possible to make some of the messes I made when I was first married.

The first Thanksgiving I cooked, to which my family was invited, I got up early to start that turkey and used a new thing called an oven bag to cook it in. I didn't realize that bag would make it cook faster than the guide in my Betty Crocker cook book. That thing was like jerky, we had to wash it down with my lumpy mashed potatoes and my pudding-like gravy.
 
debodun said:
Are there certain side dishes to a Thanksgiving meal that are "essential" to you? In other words "it wouldn't seem like Thanksgiving unless I had this".

My list: scalloped corn and winter squash
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I hafta have Turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes and green beans. Some form of dinner rolls and pumpkin or sweet potato pie. I never really ate cranberry sauce til just a few years ago. I also like to have pickles to nibble on and we always sucked down all the deviled eggs before dinner even hit the table.
 

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