While our often large Thanksgiving gathering--which typically ranges anywhere from 20 to 40 people, depending on the year--will be decidedly smaller this year, I'm still making a bunch of food:

1) Cranberry sauce (red wine, honey, brown sugar, ginger, salt, pepper)
2) Autumn Bisque (homemade chicken stock, butternut squash, carrots, onions, celery, heavy cream, shiitake mushrooms, chicken)
3) Parker House Rolls
4) Heirloom Turkey (15 lbs)
5) Stuffing/Dressing (my version of a family recipe that dates back at least 70 years)
6)Gravy (Homemade turkey stock, pan drippings, etc)
7) Haricorts Verts (roasted cherry tomatoes, baby portabella mushrooms, shallots, butter, salt, pepper, parsley)
Mashed Potatoes (not sure yet if I'm going to do a casserole or keep it simple)
9) Chocolate layer cake (requested by one of my kids)

The menu will also consist of whatever our guests bring (salad, pie, sweet potatoes).

I just finished making the cranberry sauce--my first go-round for this particular recipe, and it tastes very good. Now I'm beginning to make the stock for the bisque, which i have been serving for 15+ years and is always amazing, especially with warm rolls.

How is your Thanksgiving cooking coming along? What are you making?

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I already made my NPR cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Tomorrow morning, I have two cornbreads to make (cheddar, and cranberry orange), sweet potato casserole, and something new: roasted Brussels sprouts with fennel and leek in a balsamic vinaigrette. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a Chinese five-spice with Sichuan pepper.

Your autumn bisque sounds really good, and normally I'm highly averse to cream-based soups.

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Ambitious for a small group, let alone 20-40. All sounds great, enjoy.

I have the benefit of not hosting every other year so will happily watch bad football and do zero cooking tomorrow.

Happy thanksgiving all.

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I like the sound of that Brussels sprouts recipe. Let us know how it turns out.

Two cornbreads, wow! I've never had a cranberry cornbread. How is that?

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It's a nice change of pace. Very cakey. I just puree the cranberries I have left over from making the relish, then use orange juice instead of milk and throw in baking soda+powder. Zest an orange, too.

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For 5. Usually 15-20. Not changing anything but looking forward to football and leftovers on Friday.
20 & 15 lb turkey
Homemade cranberry sauce
Stuffing
Green bean casserole from scratch
Corn casserole
Sweet potato dish
Apple pie
2 different pumpkin pies

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

You all sound like you have your shit together. For the ___-year in a row I be going to my parents and eating their delicious food while getting drunk and watching football. God bless.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I love corn dishes. What's in your casserole?

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35 pounds of turkey for five people?

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It’s a recipe I found on line after having it with a lobster dish while vacationing on cape cod. The kids love it. Not sure it is the exact one I had but the kids think it is so I have made it since.
Cape Cod Corn Pudding
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cap ... n-pudding/

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

Yup. Can never have enough turkey sandwiches. We eat turkey on rye for several days. Nothing better than turkey and football all weekend.

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

Thanks for the link, looks like a good recipe.

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OK, I'm done with the chicken stock for the bisque. Now I've got to chop up the vegetables so I can brown them up in a pan.

I also have some turkey parts roasting for the gravy, and some cherry tomatoes roasting for the green beans.

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I was planning this but life got in the way. It's a friend's recipe. Delicious and simple.

2 cans shoepeg corn
1 block of cream cheese
Diced jalapeño
Garlic salt
Shredded cheese

Soften cream cheese in microwave

Mix corn and cream cheese and

jalapeño and garlic salt to taste in a bowl

Put in a pan and top with shredded cheddar jack

Bake

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Solo this year, first time ever. So it's just a random Thursday, but most places are closed.

I made myself potato salad (oil/malt vinegar base, not mayo) on Tuesday night so it could sit. Otherwise, I have baked Italian sausage and pasta for dinner, and some salad using locally grown lettuce from the farmers market, cherry tomatoes, and feta. And High Road cinnamon crumble ice cream for dessert.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Just us 3 for dinner this year, so doing instant potatoes and stovetop stuffing. Not fancy, but it works.

12lb Turkey going on the grill around 1. Indirect heat, and I add briquets every 40min or so. Butter under the skin, sliced orange and onion in the cavity. I also put a jar/can with a bunch of aromatics in it. Done this every year for the last six and the bird always comes out terrific. Juicy, tender, but the skin crisps up nice.

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Follow-up: good but not great. I love fennel, but this recipe didn't transport me to another plane of existence. But certainly not bad by any means. I may make it again. I always change up how I do my Brussels sprouts, and I think my favorite was with Thai sweet chili sauce.

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I usually go to my aunt's for Thanksgiving and she does a good job of putting out the usual fare. This year for various reasons I said I would stop by and say hi to her, my uncle, and grandma but then go to my mom's. Usually it's the reverse where I go see my mom in the morning and then to my aunt's for dinner. It was just going to be my mom and her friend and she initially said she was going to pick up Thanksgiving diner from a local place in Rockford - which makes sense because why would you cook a turkey for three people? Anyway, she changed plans and bought some stuffed chicken breasts and had some stuffing and green beans (not green bean casserole because Heaven forbid you eat anything unhealthy on Thanksgiving). It was fine, but it wasn't Thanksgiving diner. As I pulled out of my mom's driveway I called my aunt and asked if she had any leftovers. I stopped back by her place and grabbed a to go plate on my way out of town. It's Thanksgiving damnit, I wanted some turkey.

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How’d it all go today?

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It all worked out pretty well, though my timing was off because the turkey cooked quite a bit faster than expected. I think that's just the way these heirloom birds go. I'll have to remember that in the future.

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Thanks for the report. Is the recipe for the Thai sprouts online?

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I host next year and was thinking of going two turkeys: one traditional and one bbq. Always seemed like the outcome of the bird depends on the quality of the gravy, stuffing, etc.

Good bbq sauce covers up a lot of mistakes re: overcooking poultry.

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I like to deep fry turkeys. They always turn out extremely juicy, and using a fryer obviously helps save oven space.

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Hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. Moved into our house in March and have been looking forward to finally hosting, but was thinking 20 people, not 4. but, having such a small crowd took the pressure off in terms of possibly screwing up the food.

Cooked a turkey for the first time and completely nailed it. Did a 24 hour dry salt brine and then made an herb butter of butter, puree garlic, rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, pepper. Put the butter under the skin and over the breasts. any remaining butter when over everything else. Filled the cavity with half an onion, a lemon some bay leaves, rosemary and thyme. Filled teh bottom of the cooking pan with a carrot, onion, celery and a box of chicken stock and also some parts of the turkey like the wing tips. Cooked it at 450 for 30 minutes and then 350 till it was done.


Then I made my own gravy. Took at the solids out of the bottom of the pan. Removed all the liquid/drippings from the pan and put to the side. Put the pan over heat and put the solids back in and fried them up. Added the onion and lemon from the cavity. Added a box of chicken stock and the resting juices and reduced by half. Crushed up all the solids with a masher and added the drippings and reduced again. Put everything through a strainer and boom, homemade gravy.

Everything turned out fantastic.

Wife made cranberries and dressing and salad, all good as well.

Wife made a pecan pie and my mom made pumpkin bread pudding. I bought two small cheesecakes from Factory. 4 desserts for 4 people was excessive, but I needed insurance in case I screwed up the bird.

The one thing that made it really tough was cooking all day while also watching our two 8 week old lab puppies.

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we have now reached the reconfiguring stage of the thanksgiving meal, with turkey tetrazinni on the menu tonight

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

My mother and two aunts did the cooking and sent a giant box of food over for myself and my sons. It was way too much but no one ate it after Friday. But I'm at a point where I never make or buy more of a thing than I'd eat twice. I've never been much of a fan of leftovers.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Not from week old turkey?

I think I worked through leftovers till Saturday and after that told my wife that I was done with turkey for a while. Not even a huge fan of if it to begin with but it was time to move on. Got through the left over sides at least.

Oddly enough, it's rare for me to leave the leftover sides as well. I think that I'm coming away from eating meat.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.