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My Journey to a Traditional Thanksgiving
In order to make this happen I needed two things. First, a practice run. Second, a friend who was willing to come clean out the turkey. Because, gross. Let me digress for a moment here, and explain. I grew up in a house that lived on boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Even the chicken we tossed in the pressure cooker for chicken enchilada pie were boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. So, yeah cleaning a whole turkey was DISGUSTING. Things are slightly different now. I’ll gladly allow Alex to buy a whole chicken and butcher it, and he will gladly allow me to use the pressure cooker.
Believe it or not, I did have a friend who was willing to come help me clean a turkey twice. I have to say, friends can do some remarkable things for you, but when your friend is willing to come over early on Thanksgiving morning to clean your turkey, you know you have a friend for life. (Thanks, Donna!)
The trial turkey was simply a roasted turkey, maybe basted in Apple juice. Once it was a success (if I do say so myself), I decided to really step it up a notch and turn to the queen (at the time anyway) of hosting and entertaining, Martha Stewart. I have used her Turkey 101 recipe ever since. It has earned me the highest praise ever given to man or woman. “That’s the prettiest turkey I’ve ever seen.” were the words uttered by Dorothy Smith circa 1999 (full disclosure it could have been 2000). I know there are differing opinions on whether or not the look of your turkey matters. In my opinion it does. Yeah you’re going to cut it up before you serve it but there’s something super satisfying about having that Norman Rockwell (what’s the painting name) moment. In addition to providing a beautiful turkey, and deliciously rich gravy this recipe also gives you the added benefit of getting to sip on chardonnay all day.
It was about this time that I decided I needed to really start making homemade bread and rolls. (I also went through a phase where I hand did everything like cutting up the little candied fruit that goes in lebkuchen- use a food process for crap like that by the way.) Rather than trust just anyone for a recipe like this I called an expert. Dorothy Smith (my grandmother by the way) and asked her for her perfect roll recipe. She said: “Rhodes.” I was floored and my bread making days were set back years. I have since learned Dorothy Smith was not above taking a Stouffers lasagna and putting it in her own pan for a church potluck. (I’m pretty sure she employed this tactic at my cousin’s wedding as well.)
Over time, Alex and I have come up with what we consider the perfect and complete Thanksgiving meal including homemade rolls. With the exception of our first Thanksgiving, which is another story entirely; we have cooked it every year. That is not to say we have hosted Thanksgiving every year. In fact, we have spent most of our Thanksgivings in Corpus or Temple, we simply bully people into letting us cook. Over time we have crafted what many would consider a classic Thanksgiving with a few exceptions. For example, Alex doesn’t like pumpkin so we often include a grasshopper pie. I know for many people Thanksgiving is a holiday that is steeped in family tradition and passed down recipes from many generations. Other people forgo the traditional holiday fare altogether. However you choose to celebrate, I hope you find joy and thanksgiving on this joyous day.
In case you’re interested in our family fare, I’ve attached links to our anecdotal recipes here.