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Is There A Thanksgiving Dish On Your Table That Is Not Traditional?

rhinefire

rhinefire

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My folks never really broke with the ranks of the traditional food items for Thanksgiving but sometimes you here of families of different countries or origins serving some great ethnic dishes in addition to the big bird.
 
rhinefire said:
My folks never really broke with the ranks of the traditional food items for Thanksgiving but sometimes you here of families of different countries or origins serving some great ethnic dishes in addition to the big bird.
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Tamales and chocoflan this year in addition to the traditional dishes. Chocoflan is like a half chocolate cake half flan dessert.
 
We always go traditional for Thanksgiving, but for Christmas, for the past few years, we have decided to go with different ethnic themes for Christmas dinner. So far, we've done Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and Cajun. At Thanksgiving, we decide on the Christmas theme, and everyone brings a dish specific to that. It's been fun to break from tradition for a change.
 
rhinefire said:
My folks never really broke with the ranks of the traditional food items for Thanksgiving but sometimes you here of families of different countries or origins serving some great ethnic dishes in addition to the big bird.
Click to expand...

Well, it's certainly not "traditional Thanksgiving fare," but, then again, it is at our house: stuffed artichokes. Started with my gram's Italian Thanksgiving feasts when I was a kid:

Breadcrumbs, chicken boullion, minced garlic and Parmesan cheese mixed into a stuffing-like mixture. Pointy-ends lovingly snipped off every leaf. Rinsed well in salt water; pried open; and generously spooned in between each row of leaves. Dollup of olive oil on top of each. Slow boil in salted water (covered) until leaves easily pull out. Yummy!!
 
If I am cooking it, it rarely is traditional.

Two years ago I cooked, and although I had turkey, and cranberry sauce, neither were delivered in a traditional manner. I made a Moroccan tagine with the turkey, raisins and a few dried cranberries here and there with a fresh ground/mixed Ras al Hanout for seasoning. I made a cranberry sauce from scratch and used a lot of fresh ginger and some cinnamon and nutmeg to season it, and served it over crescent rolls drizzled with gooey fresh baked brie as an appetizer course. I also served a Mulligatawny stew made with lamb.

Last year I was in charge of dessert, I made caramel apple pie, a nutmeg ice cream, and a pig candy ice cream (maple flavored ice cream with candied bacon crumbles and a hint of hot pepper).

I will probably make the mulligatawny again this year, since I am not doing the bulk of the cooking.
 
MaggieD said:
Well, it's certainly not "traditional Thanksgiving fare," but, then again, it is at our house: stuffed artichokes. Started with my gram's Italian Thanksgiving feasts when I was a kid:

Breadcrumbs, chicken boullion, minced garlic and Parmesan cheese mixed into a stuffing-like mixture. Pointy-ends lovingly snipped off every leaf. Rinsed well in salt water; pried open; and generously spooned in between each row of leaves. Dollup of olive oil on top of each. Slow boil in salted water (covered) until leaves easily pull out. Yummy!!
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Same dish and same recipe at our family Thanksgiving dinner

Christmas Eve we used to have the Feast of Seven Fishes dinner but we considered seven the starting point, not the goal.
 
sangha said:
Same dish and same recipe at our family Thanksgiving dinner

Christmas Eve we used to have the Feast of Seven Fishes dinner but we considered seven the starting point, not the goal.
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Well!!! Now I know why we're kindred spirits! ;)

Gram's Christmas Eve dinners included fried eel (yikes!!), sauteed perch, fried shrimp, spaghetti with a sweet raisin-tomato sauce, ravioli, and a beef roast with browned potatoes. (Unfortunately, the beef roast was cooked to within an inch of its very life, but the rest made up for it.) I always wondered about the fish. Guess that's a tradition, yes?
 
MaggieD said:
Well!!! Now I know why we're kindred spirits! ;)

Gram's Christmas Eve dinners included fried eel (yikes!!), sauteed perch, fried shrimp, spaghetti with a sweet raisin-tomato sauce, ravioli, and a beef roast with browned potatoes. (Unfortunately, the beef roast was cooked to within an inch of its very life, but the rest made up for it.) I always wondered about the fish. Guess that's a tradition, yes?
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Feast of the Seven Fishes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I love eel, but only have had that in restaurants.

After a round of vegetarian apps, our feasts traditionally included, but were not limited to Spaghetti Aglio y Olio (a sauce made with olive oil, garlic and a lot of anchovy), fried shrimp, broiled lobster, baccalla in a raisin-y tomato sauce, stuffed squid, baked clams, steamed mussels, and fried flounder.

Then, it was time for the main course which was usually chicken which most of us just stared at.

Oh, and sometimes the stuffed squid or baked clams makes an appearance at Thanksgiving.

Last year, a guest brought latkes.
 
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I could eat Mexican every meal but, there's nothing better than leftover turkey samitches.
 
For thanksgiving it usually looks traditional,
but for Christmas We have left the tamales behind, and now
go with barbacoa, and lingua.
 
lizzie said:
We always go traditional for Thanksgiving, but for Christmas, for the past few years, we have decided to go with different ethnic themes for Christmas dinner. So far, we've done Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and Cajun. At Thanksgiving, we decide on the Christmas theme, and everyone brings a dish specific to that. It's been fun to break from tradition for a change.
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Great idea!
 
As quirky and unconventional as my family is, they are sticks-in-the-mud when it comes to T-Giving and Christmas dinners. They scream bloody murder is my sister and I even suggest anything non-traditional.

As a compromise, and with never seeking permission, I include a non-traditional dish as a side dish. Always something different based on my mood or craving at the time.
 
rhinefire said:
My folks never really broke with the ranks of the traditional food items for Thanksgiving but sometimes you here of families of different countries or origins serving some great ethnic dishes in addition to the big bird.
Click to expand...
If all goes well my thanksgiving dinner will be pizza with my boys hanging out in a hotellroom.
 
No, I'm nothing if not traditional. We never, ever had traditional Thanksgiving dinners when I was growing up. I make sure that we have traditional food for dinner now, every year. I mean, not traditional, Pilgrim, traditional, you know? Not popcorn and lobster and stuff like they supposedly had at the first Thanksgiving dinner. I stick with turkey, sausage and cranberry stuffing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, etc.
 
Giant cheeseburger, sweet potato cheesecake
 
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