Best Thanksgiving ever

[chowmama]

My mom, as has been said before, was a wonderful person with many fine talents and qualities. None of them involved food. For one thing, she was anorexic at a time when that really wasn’t a common diagnosis, even if she’d ever gone to the doctor about it. She was also overworked and short of time in every other part of her life. She did her best and did what was seen as solely her job when it came to feeding us, but the results were largely unmixed. Mostly, they were the Four Basic Food Groups, executed average to awful.

So, Thanksgiving seldom went as planned. My father wanted the whole Norman Rockwell experience – the biggest turkey that would fit in our oven. All the sides, multiple treats and pies. Cold Duck for the adults. (Anybody remember Cold Duck? A sparkling mix of cheap red wine and cheap champagne, and not the slightest hint of dryness. It was the only alcohol my mom would drink and we all grew up thinking it was the height of sophistication.)

First – frozen turkey. Frozen behemoth turkey. Mom even hated shopping for food, so she put it off until Sunday, meaning that this sucker was still hard as granite by Thursday morning. We woke to the sound of water in the sink, running over the boulder to try to thaw it enough to pry the neck and giblets out of it.

It went on from there. We always had our dinner hours after it was scheduled, by which time Dad was in a foul mood and Mom was snappish and exhausted. The worst time, we ended up at 9PM carving underdone tough breast meat off Gargantua and microwaving it until it wouldn’t kill us – we hoped. If you ever decide to try this, don’t. It’s nasty.

So, when we grew up (four sisters, no brothers), we began to lobby Mom to let us do it for her. She’d done it enough, it was time for her to put her feet up and relax. She refused for years. We brought the pies, so at least she didn’t have to be up all the night before. We helped on the sides. But she just wouldn’t give up that damned bird. It was her job.

Finally came the year she’d had enough. We could do the bird. She had also bought a free-range organic turkey from a co-worker who raised them. It had never been frozen. We were pumped. This was going to be the best Thanksgiving ever!

Thursday morning, early. Coffee, rolls and get to work. Made the stuffing according to Mom’s recipe (which is, frankly, great. DH won’t allow me to use any other). Melted butter, prepped the roaster and unwrapped the brown paper from the completely unfrozen bird.

I’m not sure what was wrong with that bird, but I’ve come to theorize that they didn’t bleed it out right. Or at all. It was one giant turkey-shaped bruise. It looked like it had been beaten to death with a baseball bat.

We just stood around it, staring. Once in a while, somebody would say “Maybe if we trimmed…” “What if…” But there was nothing, literally nothing, to be done.

And then, being it was us, somebody snorted. And we all started laughing. Started calling in people from the other rooms. “Hey, you have got to see this!” Even Mom finally laughed.

Now this was a small Wisconsin town some time ago. No restaurants were open on Thanksgiving, no groceries. If we wanted something to eat other than what was in the house, the only thing available was some day-old egg salad sandwiches down at the gas station.

There was hamburger in the freezer and the makings of what my Mom called goulash – homemade hamburger hot dish. That was the Thanksgiving main dish. With all the sides, pies, treats and, of course, Cold Duck.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Wow, you and your sisters really coped! Life handed you lemons........lemonade resulted!

Great story.

Thanks for telling it.

And a very VERY Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your loved ones!

[usonian]

2. Not this duck?

From A Christmas Story.
The dog ate the turkey.

Wisconsin wouldn't have had the Chinese restaurant.
I keep a bunch of nice things in the freezer at all times, mostly seafood.
If I had a turkey disaster, at this point, I guess I'd serve a bouillabaisse or cioppino.

Thanks for the story!

Happy Thanksgiving.

[Laffy Kat]

3. Great story. Thanks.

[MissMillie]

4. Holiday dinners are more difficult than many people can appreciate

Especially people who don't cook.

My sister's husband was a lot like your Dad in the sense that he just HAD to have the biggest turkey he could find--despite the fact that the guest count as typically 6 or less. Sis would often have to be out of bed at 2 or 3 in the morning to get it in the oven.

The pure nostalgia of the meal among multiple guests, budget, counter/burner/oven/refrigerator space, picky eaters... all considerations that can make a host/holiday cook extremely anxious.

My mother was extremely gifted in the kitchen, and very adept at making the most with limited resources. It was not unusual for us to have a dozen or more people for a holiday meal. There would always be side dishes and desserts enough to please EVERYONE.

I have to add that Dad was probably the best sous chef that anyone could ask for. He wasn't on his butt watching football--he was helpful. (That is something I can honestly was a theme of my parents' 70-year marriage.)

I can't remember that there was ever a problem with these holiday meals--but it's quite possible that my memory is clouded by my nostalgia.

I'm going to try not to stress about the meal. Dinner itself will be just the two of us. Al is aware of the few constraints I'll be working with, so his expectations about the meal are not unreasonable. And yeah, he makes himself helpful.

I'll bring some slices of pie over to Dad and my twin sister. The pies are already made, so if there's an issue with them, there's nothing to do about that now.

I hope you (and everyone in the DU community) have a wonderful day.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I don't recall my mother ever cooking Thanksgiving dinner. We always had dinner with

my dad's aunt and uncle. The turkey was dry and the pumpkin pies had way too much cloves in the mix.

I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner as a newlywed and relied heavily on recipes I found in Good Housekeeping magazine circa 1966. I've altered the recipes a bit over the years, but they are basically the same. They are the kids childhood memories.

This year my youngest son and I are cooking at his place. I made cranberry nut bread, 6 pies and assembled the dressing. He and the other guests will handle the rest. It's time to pass the torch, so to speak.

[Marthe48]

6. First year in many I'm not wrestling a turkey for the giblets

I always helped my Mom in the kitchen. We were a good team and I have many happy memories of learning to cook and bake with my Mom and grandmother as my teachers.

I can't remember a Thanksgiving meal where I wasn't the one trying to get the neck and giblets out of the turkey. We always got a big frozen turkey, and no matter how early we got it out of the freezer, it was still partially frozen and those stiff items interred in the cavity were harder to remove than entered. Even in my own kitchen, though I tried to time the thawing so it wouldn't be such a hand-freezing ordeal, I'd still have at least a short tussle before the neck came free.

This year, I am at my daughter and s-i-l's. She is a vegetarian, but kindly cooking a turkey breast and a small ham. So yum!