Whose baking or getting ready for Thanksgiving (and weight gain)

O' Clarkii Stomias

Landlocked Atlantic Salmon
Forum Supporter
Unpopular opinion:

Pumpkin is a garbage pie.

Don't get me wrong, I'll eat it if someone puts it in front of me. I'm not going to be a jerk about it or anything. But just about any other pie is better. Apple or Pecan, now those are real pies. Cherry, Peach, etc are all good too. Even that cranberry tart looks interesting. Pumpkin I can do without.
IMG_20221124_143523095.jpg
Garbage pie?
 

iveofione

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
So cool. Every time I lose hope in humanity, I hear a story like this. Beautiful!
Thank you. The granddaughter is even better than I ever could have dreamed. Back during the pandemic when she was laid off from her job I offered her $800 a month to help with her rent. Her response was: "Oh, thank you grandpa but I know how to take care of my money, I'll be just fine."

Then late last year when her car was stolen and totaled I offered her $10,000 to help purchase a new car but she reminded me that I was all alone and might need the money more myself. She is generous and kind and always brings food and goodies when she comes up. And with her medical training she is aware of the things I need as an elderly and has me on a program of supplements which are definitely helping.

I wish every old person that is alone could have such an angel to watch over them, it makes a huge difference in morale and how to approach life on a daily basis.

My other angel is our own Freestone Sue, my little sister. We visit almost every day and when she was in New Zealand last winter she called every day she had a signal. She was recently here for 2 weeks and is coming back after Thanksgiving to help me move down to the Spokane area for the winter. She found a luxury apartment for me while she was in New Zealand and it turns out to be in the same town my granddaughter lives and she is only 3 miles away! Instead of monthly visits we will be able to do weekly if we want, cook together, listen to music, hike and visit the family, only 10 miles away. No snow plowing this winter!
 

Zak

Legend
Thank you. The granddaughter is even better than I ever could have dreamed. Back during the pandemic when she was laid off from her job I offered her $800 a month to help with her rent. Her response was: "Oh, thank you grandpa but I know how to take care of my money, I'll be just fine."

Then late last year when her car was stolen and totaled I offered her $10,000 to help purchase a new car but she reminded me that I was all alone and might need the money more myself. She is generous and kind and always brings food and goodies when she comes up. And with her medical training she is aware of the things I need as an elderly and has me on a program of supplements which are definitely helping.

I wish every old person that is alone could have such an angel to watch over them, it makes a huge difference in morale and how to approach life on a daily basis.

My other angel is our own Freestone Sue, my little sister. We visit almost every day and when she was in New Zealand last winter she called every day she had a signal. She was recently here for 2 weeks and is coming back after Thanksgiving to help me move down to the Spokane area for the winter. She found a luxury apartment for me while she was in New Zealand and it turns out to be in the same town my granddaughter lives and she is only 3 miles away! Instead of monthly visits we will be able to do weekly if we want, cook together, listen to music, hike and visit the family, only 10 miles away. No snow plowing this winter!
Your story makes me so happy! It sounds like you and your granddaughter are both very lucky to have found each other!
 

Pink Nighty

Life of the Party
Thanksgiving is the only holiday that I take seriously, I suppose because I have so much to be thankful for. The others are mostly mattress sale or get drunk days.

Back in 2017 I was buying a new cell phone and the sales clerk-a lovely young Moldovan lady-asked me for my next of kin while filling of the paper work. When I told her I had none she paused and said: "Well, I need a grandpa, will you be my grandpa?" From that moment I have been Grandpa Ivan and over the years the entire family has adopted me making me one of the luckiest men in the world! Now I have 2 granddaughters and a grandson and their wonderful parents. I will be spending Thanksgiving with them again and if the past dinners are any indication there will be lots of Eastern European food, accordian, guitar and piano music, folk songs in their native language and much laughter. The best day of the year!

And this year I am teaching my youngest granddaughter to make bread. I usually take fresh bread when I visit and always have it when the family visits me. If I am successful and she is patient she will be able to duplicate exactly what I do and then be able to expand on it over the years. In June my granddaughter and I celebrated our 5th anniversary as grandpa/granddaughter and the entire family came up for the day. I baked a rhubarb/strawberry cobbler for them and they had never tasted it before. A big hit with vanilla bean ice cream! I have enough rhubarb left in the freezer for one more cobbler....
This is the best thing I've heard about Thanksgiving plans in a long time. Congrats to you, Ive!
 

skyriver

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Cooked and ate this 12 lb bird yesterday for Thanksgiving with my side.
2 sticks of unsalted butter with fresh chopped rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage under the skin. Some butter melted on top as well. Just under 3 hours in the Traeger at 325 using pecan pellets. I'm not a huge turkey fan, but it was good! This is the 2nd one I've done on the Traeger and this one was much better than the 1st one. I brined (homemade) the 1st one a few years back. I think it was on about 15-20 minutes too long. It tasted great, but was a little dry. It was a bit more smokey that my wife prefers as well. I think I used the signature blend at 275 for about 4 hours for that one.
This one on Saturday was nice and mellow, barely smokey and very moist. Everyone loved it.

Will do the same with a 10.5 lb bird on Thursday for my wife's side. If you don't like much smoke on your bird, or fish, the Traeger Pecan pellets are very mellow. Cherry and apple are as well, but I think pecan is even cleaner for turkey.

20231119_155135.jpg


And Josh, pumpkin pie is a legit dessert, but my mom brought apple pie made with her friends Gravenstein apples. The OG of pie apples. It kicks ass on any pumpkin or even sweet potato pie out there. Served with vanilla ice cream, of course.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
 

Zak

Legend
Cooked and ate this 12 lb bird yesterday for Thanksgiving with my side.
2 sticks of unsalted butter with fresh chopped rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage under the skin. Some butter melted on top as well. Just under 3 hours in the Traeger at 325 using pecan pellets. I'm not a huge turkey fan, but it was good! This is the 2nd one I've done on the Traeger and this one was much better than the 1st one. I brined (homemade) the 1st one a few years back. I think it was on about 15-20 minutes too long. It tasted great, but was a little dry. It was a bit more smokey that my wife prefers as well. I think I used the signature blend at 275 for about 4 hours for that one.
This one on Saturday was nice and mellow, barely smokey and very moist. Everyone loved it.

Will do the same with a 10.5 lb bird on Thursday for my wife's side. If you don't like much smoke on your bird, or fish, the Traeger Pecan pellets are very mellow. Cherry and apple are as well, but I think pecan is even cleaner for turkey.

View attachment 91645


And Josh, pumpkin pie is a legit dessert, but my mom brought apple pie made with her friends Gravenstein apples. The OG of pie apples. It kicks ass on any pumpkin or even sweet potato pie out there. Served with vanilla ice cream, of course.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
My Mom says "Northern Spy for pie."
 

Driftless Dan

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
I'm the cook this (and every) Thanksgiving since I was married. This year will be a bit different - the trouble and strife is visiting family in China, so it's me, my adult son, and my brother. It's tough to find a small turkey, just for the record. Anyway, as I've done the past several T-Days, I'm going to spatchcock it, season liberally, and toss it into the oven (it'll be fully brined by then). Pretty much the traditional dinner otherwise, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade dinner rolls, green beans, and of course dressing, which, this year, will be the traditional sage style. Except for spatchcocking the turkey, it's about as traditional as it gets.
 

Brute

Legend
Forum Supporter
IMG_5257.jpegIMG_5263.jpegIMG_5264.jpegIMG_5268.jpegIMG_5269.jpeg
For over twenty years I would go to my diving partners house in Waimanalo and put a turkey in the imu…imagine pulled pork, but it’s turkey; moist, shredded and smelling like mesquite smoke. I can’t eat turkey any other way.

It’s just my wife and myself, so I’m doing a prime rib roast…
 

charles sullivan

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Absolutely not good pie. Boston cream is better and that is just pudding and whipped cream, so not even pie really. At least chocolate pudding tastes good. Pumpkin does not.

As far as turkey goes. Spatch cock it or cut it into pieces. It is far better. It does not take as long. The meat will be cooked correctly and not dry. You can cook at a higher heat to get a better crunchy turkey skin. It's just all around better. I have no idea why anyone cooks whole turkeys. Even if you deep fry it, why would you do it whole?
 

RCF

Life of the Party
I haven't seen it mentioned yet but I much prefer stuffing balls over cooked stuffing from inside a turkey or in a separate pan. It makes it much easier to cook the turkey when not stuffed. Stuffing balls are cooked the last half hour or so (depending on ball size) in the turkey roasting pan around the outside side of the turkey where they can soak up all those yummy juices. Just turn them once in a while to evenly cook. You can use your family favorite recipe - just roll them up in balls. My family recipe also uses suet as part of the recipe. Frowned upon these days but heck it is only onetime a year...
 
Last edited:

Stonedfish

Known Grizzler-hater of triploids, humpies & ND
Forum Supporter
Keeping my old Swede pops family tradition going of having pickled herring every Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Not as easy to find now with many of the local fish markets no longer in business. Used to buy a big tub of it for each holiday every year from Sandy’s on Greenwood. This will work though to keep the tradition going.
Anyone else like to eat pickled bait? 😉😂
SF

IMG_5608.jpeg
 
Last edited:

O' Clarkii Stomias

Landlocked Atlantic Salmon
Forum Supporter
Keeping my old Swede pops family tradition going of having pickled herring every Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Not as easy to find now with many of the local fish markets no longer in business. Used to buy a big tube of it for each holiday every year from Sandy’s on Greenwood. This will work though to keep the tradition going.
Anyone else like to eat pickled bait? 😉😂
SF

View attachment 91687
I love pickled herring. This is also one of my swedish favorites.8564642-origpic-69af12.jpg
 

Brute

Legend
Forum Supporter
Keeping my old Swede pops family tradition going of having pickled herring every Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Not as easy to find now with many of the local fish markets no longer in business. Used to buy a big tube of it for each holiday every year from Sandy’s on Greenwood. This will work though to keep the tradition going.
Anyone else like to eat pickled bait? 😉😂
SF

View attachment 91687
I like it…I also like anchovies & canned sardines and most small dead fish…
 

Mossback

Fear My Powerful Emojis 😆
Forum Supporter
Like anchovies and sardines... but draw the line at pickled or creamed herring.
We had it on the table every holiday growing up, Lutefisk too...but no longer makes an appearance at my table.
 
Top