<p>I enjoy eating turkey, but it’s the smell that’s most important to me, so yes, I need the turkey. That said, I fill up on the sides.</p>
<p>For us the turkey on Thursday is just the beginning of a week of meals. Turkey sandwiches, turkey enchiladas and this: [After</a> Turkey, There’s Jook | The Tasty Island](<a href=“http://tastyislandhawaii.com/2006/11/29/theres-turkey-then-theres-jook/]After”>After Turkey, There’s Jook – Tasty Island)</p>
<p>I’m a vegetarian so obviously for me, the sides are where it’s at!</p>
<p>But even among the meat eaters, turkey is secondary to almost all else.</p>
<p>I don’t care about turkey, but I am making it anyway. It does lend itself to leftovers however.
But for Christmas something else.</p>
<p>Turkey and then turkey leftovers. Yum!</p>
<p>romani - have you heard of Tofurky products? They make a vegan “turkey” breast with rice stuffing, and also vegan gravy.</p>
<p>I just found out about their products this year. My step-father is vegetarian so I found the tofurky and gravy at a whole foods, and added it to our menu. I’m looking forward to seeing what it will taste like!</p>
<p>Yes, FG. Tofurky is easily one of the grossest things I’ve ever tried. I’m not really a fan of fake meat. </p>
<p>My aunt is a vegetarian and cooks most of our Thanksgiving so veg options are not in short supply.</p>
<p>I like a little turkey with all the yummy sides…but if I had to choose, I’d have to choose the sides! ;-)</p>
<p>^For me it depends on what is as far as fake meat. I love Chik patties and other products by that brand better than actual chicken, but I hate Boca burgers.</p>
<p>I cook turkey only once a year - that’s right, for Thanksgiving. It is a tradition, and I stick with it. (We have roast or something else for Christmas and other holiday celebrations.)</p>
<p>I’m with romanigypsyeyes on the issue of food; if I were a vegetarian, I would not eat any meat, even “pretend” meat. Thanksgiving is a holiday when even the most devoted carnivors have plenty of yummy vegetarian-friendly dishes on their dining table.</p>
<p>Need the turkey. I don’t care about any of the side dishes. Turkey then pie pretty much covers it for me. A family member’s a vegetarian and only has mashed potatoes, corn, bread.</p>
<p>But why try to choose - why not just have the turkey plus the sides plus the pies?</p>
<p>It’s not Thanksgiving without the turkey. It’s just another family holiday.</p>
<p>Love turkey, love stuffing (some in the bird some out of it), love cranberry sauce, love gravy. Don’t care about the other sides which vary. I like the taste, but I especially like the look. One day a year it looks just like tradition: <a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Freedom_from_want_1943-Norman_Rockwell.jpg[/url]”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Freedom_from_want_1943-Norman_Rockwell.jpg</a></p>
![http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Freedom_from_want_1943-Norman_Rockwell.jpg[/url]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Freedom_from_want_1943-Norman_Rockwell.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>The rules of Thanksgiving are simple and inviolate:</p>
<p>There must be turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and the exact same side dishes that I have served for the twenty five plus years I have been cooking the Thanksgiving feast.</p>
<p>I may add sides, but may not delete any of the originals.</p>
<p>The sides include a jello “thing” that has been handed down from one side of the family, and a dried fruit compote that has beed handed down from the other side, along with a yam recipe I found in a magazine twenty five years ago, and the cranberry recipe from the back of the cranberry bag. At least one dessert must be the pie made by a particular aunt…</p>
<p>Last year I tried to skip the yam dish and was forced to make an emergency run to a grocery store on Thanksgiving morning after my twenty year old had a conniption fit when he found out I was planning to skip it.</p>
<p>It is all about sameness, comfort, and tradition. It is OK to tinker with the turkey in terms of brining, cooking in a bag, deep frying, etc., but there had <em>better</em> be a turkey!</p>
<p>Couldn’t a 20 year old make an emergency run to a grocery store for yams?</p>
<p>Turkey’s the main attraction at our Thanksgiving table. Mashed potatoes are boring without the turkey gravy (for which you need turkey drippings, for which you need a turkey), stuffing is kind of pointless without the bird, cranberry sauce has nothing to jazz up without the turkey meat, and as others have said, the day-long smell of the turkey roasting is the essence of the holiday. But we also just love the taste of the turkey itself, perhaps because DW has mastered the art of roasting a turkey. We start with a fresh, organic, free-range, locally sourced turkey; that’s half the battle right there. But I also credit DW’s technique and skill; her turkeys always come out moist, juicy, and tasty, never dry or “tasteless” as turkeys are often described. (Come to think of it, I’ve had some turkey white meat that tasted like cardboard, but never in our home). </p>
<p>My favorite part is actually the leftovers: nothing like that first open-faced hot turkey sandwich with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, and cranberry sauce on the day after. Yum! Can’t wait!</p>
<p>Another vegetarian (pescatarian, really) I think the turkey makes a lovely centerpiece and a cooking vessel for the stuffing. And I agree that tofurky is downright horrible. I usually make some kind of unusual vegetarian side dish for my SIL’s bash, but I always bring my cranberry sauce.</p>
<p>^^ Could you have turkeyfish?</p>
<p>(I wouldn’t want to try to eat one (also called a lionfish) although I did have one in my salt water aquarium for a number of years. They do come with built-in toothpicks though but with a sting at the end)</p>
<p>We haven’t prepared a whole turkey in years, instead we roast a turkey breast. For the kids, we also serve a spiral sliced honey ham. The kids don’t care about the sides, they’re more interested in the pies. Dh & I love homemade cranberry sauce, dressing and gravy, and green beans with almonds. Other sides (mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn souffle, etc.) are rotated. One year, D1 requested a ribeye roast. Dh can’t say no to her, so we had our turkey feast on Sunday after she left. After having so many holidays interrupted by illness, accidents, family emergencies, etc., it wasn’t a big deal to postpone the turkey.</p>
<p>Since I’m sick, and not expecting to be back to full strength by Thursday, this year our feast will come mainly from Fresh Market with a pumpkin cheesecake from another grocery store for dh.</p>
<p>If done well the turkey can be crowning glory of a Thanksgiving dinner. And by done well I mean a moist, tender, delicious bird. But if overcooked into a dry, chewy pile of disappointment, well, there are plenty of delicious side dishes to more than make up for it.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving is the only holiday on the calendar on which everyone in the country (except vegetarians) eats the same thing. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it. Without the turkey Thanksgiving would be just another random harvest festival dinner. Nothing special.</p>