This is traditionally the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving. Instead of yarns of Family Festivus in the past, it is more about the menu than the drama.
In my family we had turkey for Thanksgiving for many years till one year (after we started talking to each other) dad and my siblings discussed how we weren’t happy with turkey. Dad mentioned that we had to approach the topic with mom because he figured she’d be the most upset, but it turned out she wasn’t a fan either.
Turkey freshly cooked is quite tasty (even the white meat) but none of us were fans of leftovers as mom was more than happy to shove them as care packages to us kids going back to school. The only one who really enjoyed turkey turned out to be the family dog (who did a happy dance around the oven for hours waiting for the bird to cook.)
Instead the family decided on something less massive and with fewer leftovers.
The first couple of years we still did turkey, but only the dark meat as done by a catering service who made premade Thanksgiving dinners for sale–my family always preferred dark meat and us kids would often get into arguments over the thighs and drumsticks while barely touching the breast meat. This was great as we could eat turkey but none of the leftovers, but the catering company stopped after a few years to mom’s chagrin.
For a few years, we went Asian as in Chinese BBQ duck. No issues with leftovers as the small bird was picked clean. Then the Chinese BBQ we bought it from closed down.
Mom decided to go with a roast. We were fine with it. Later alternating years with ham or chicken. Either of which was fine as it was enough for five people to eat without too much issue and no passing of the leftovers buck either.
The last year we had Thanksgiving as a family, we ended up with BBQ pork ribs.
As for the sides, well, it was always mashed potatoes, roasted squash, broccoli, peas and carrots along with canned cranberry sauce and homemade gravy. Occasionally sprinkled with kimchee or other Korean side dishes. For desert it was always blueberry or/and pumpkin pie.
So do you do Turkey or prefer something other than Murrica’s “bird”?
Or any other topic on your mind?
No turkey? I have long suspected that the godless Canadians had many heathen practices, but you have now confirmed it. Speak no more of your unsavory traditions; I will not hear of it.
LOL. Our family are a bunch of heathens anyway to some of our paler Canadian types.
Only so much Butterballs one can take before we say enough.
lamb and mint sauce
i mean its not a thanksgiving thing i guess….but it could be
thanks for finally shedding us you useless bloody colonies!
thing of beauty th0…..
mmmm
I enjoy lamb with mint sauce veddy English. We rarely had lamb because I think dad had pet goats and sheep as a kid and mom didn’t like the gamey smell.
Turkey is always way too much food for my small family. And yeah, there are limited reheat options.
Some years we roast a chicken where we cover the breasts with prosciutto to make it delicious.
Another year we made a crown roast – still too much food, but wow leftovers reheat really well.
i mean…turkey wouldnt be too much food if it was any good
theres a reason theres never left over bacon or spare ribs
its not coz pigs are smaller than turkeys
Yep! Doesn’t help that turkey turns into sawdust when it reheats. The best leftovers recipe I would make was turkey enchiladas which doused them in a sauce to keep it from being dry.
it makes decent soup stock as leftovers…..ill give it that
Turkey shepherds pie with leftover mashed potatoes can be pretty good.
*adds bacon cubes*
but okay yes
leftover cottage pie is not a thing to be sniffed at.
The only Turkey leftover I enjoy is the sandwich made from all the leftovers. If there’s a lot of breast meat then I’ll add some mayo (one of the few things I’ll make with mayo.)
I’ve tried some of the turkey dishes to deal with leftovers but they either tasted like garbage (I wasn’t any sort of cook when I was in my 20s let alone a good cook) or was so bland.
I don’t mind ground turkey in chili though.
I hope I don’t upset anyone, but this thanksgiving, we hope to have deer roast or maybe pheasant. I really find those delicious and the game meat we get from the local hunters doesn’t have all the hormones and stuff that you get in store-bought meat.
I never thought I would be eating Bambis, but it’s not my fault they’re so damn tasty. We were resistant at first for obvious reasons, but one of our neighbors gave us some extra deer meat he didn’t have freezer room for and one weekend we decided to try it. Wow, it’s good. And these hunter guys around here are really respectful of their game. It’s certainly more humane than the huge cattle factories we drove past in Oklahoma.
Never lamb though. I draw the line.
They’re getting common enough in my neighborhood and so used to people I almost feel like I could lasso one and take it home.
In reality it would shred me though.
There’s an estimated 1.4 million deer in Missouri. Our Conservation Department will issue more than 300k tags for hunting season, and that 300k+ hunting season will be needed to keep the population stable. We’ve killed off most of their natural predator species and they’re highly adaptable.
Like I will fucking push for natural resources and conservation all damn day, but at least in my state, deer hunting is necessary.
They’ve figured out when they move into city neighborhoods like mine they’re unhuntable. There’s no people shooting rifles around the houses and there’s tons of food. The cars move slower too.
Smart…
Mom used to get moose and deer meat from our neighbors who went hunting every year in the fall. She didn’t know what to do with it so she made Moose/Venison chili and or stew.
Again she wasn’t fond of the gamey smell (she had quite the sensitive nose) so she would dump a bucket full of parsley and sage to help reduce the smell.
deer is delicious
pheasant is pretty good too….but i kinda feel like those birbs were put on the planet to give the noobs a chance to live….suicidal fuckers they are
seriously…hunting them should get you a participation trophy
why draw the line at lambs tho?
are they more deserving of life than say…cows?
i know you keep them so..you know…i kinda get it too..
is one of those stances you probably dont want to think to hard about if you dont feel like being a vegetarian tho
@luigivuoto
i had a reply fail…might have been my doing too…