<p>Oh, my, what an education this thread is. There are so many different methods I feel like I want to print out this thread and study it for years to come.</p>
<p>I was raised in a PA Dutch family (simply means we were descendants of the Amish, but most of us were Mennonite or Church of the Brethren), so all the relatives cooked the same. The bird went in the oven very early. Since many mothers/aunts were already up to help with the 5 AM milking, this wasn’t an issue. Typically the bird was finished long before the meal was served so there was time to carve it and make gravy before the feast was served. BTW, we ate closer to the noon hour because the farmers had to be ready for the second milking at around 4 PM.</p>
<p>Birds were not stuffed. We had filling. That’s our version of stuffing, although I contend that it is much better than stuffing, but it’s probably all about what you were raised on. Later, my mother found the virtues of potato filling. Simply mix mashed potatoes with the filling. To this day I like to fill up on that when attending Thanksgiving Day feasts. There was also the obligatory green bean/ mushroom soup. fried onion rings casserole, corn, lima beans (veggies from the garden), sweet potatoes (also from the garden), celery, carrots, olives, and homemade pickles (I still can’t find a store brand that rivals the homemade kind, but don’t have the patience to spend the 14 days to make my own.) There might be applesauce (again homemade). Almost forgot- we began the meal with homemade fruit salad served in goblets. The meal would be served with rolls, butter, and either homemade jelly, or cranberry sauce from a can ( go figure).</p>
<p>Then dessert. Pies, and lots of them. Pumpkin (cooking our own pumpkin, never from a can), pecan pie, apple, and maybe even a cherry ( from the cherries we picked from the tree in June and have since frozen or canned). Most popular were the pumpkin and pecan pies. At Christmas, my grandmother also made mince pies. I never tried them, and she is gone now, but I remember the aunts and uncles going crazy over them. Then we couldn’t have pie without ice cream. And you can’t have ice cream without pretzel sticks and salted peanuts. Yes, we had coffee. But nothing any stronger. My DH and I joke that we are going to carry our own supply along to make the family dinners more enjoyable, but it’s never gotten past the joking stage.</p>
<p>For more than 10 years, my immediate family started a tradition of traveling to Washington DC for Thanksgiving, staying at the Embassy Suites, and spending a few days enjoying the city. At first I made the mistake of trying to find a restaurant that served a Thanksgiving meal similar to our tradition. Not finding that, we found some other fabulous places, and started our own tradition that included omelettes, squash soup, shrimp, and pasta. Oh, and champagne!</p>
<p>Now that our first D is in college, she wants to stay home instead of traveling to DC for the short time she is home, and we are enjoying two great meals in one day.</p>
<p>Thanks for this opportunity to travel down memory and celebrate the traditions of so many cultures that make up this board.</p>
This is indeed a wonderful thread.</p>