I’ll say it. Turkey. It’s… fine. But all the other parts of the Thanksgiving meal are so much better, and the turkey takes quite a bit of trouble to get done. You have to buy a turkey, thaw it for a few days, brine it, prep and season it, and then cook it for hours. And in the end it’s like a thing everyone gets one or two slices of (or if you’re my dad, you get a leg and the blob that was the butt and love it).
I like to think I’m a pretty good cook. I can smoke a nice bird. I can deep fry one too, though I gave that up a few years ago as it’s pretty wasteful to buy all that oil and then not deep fry anything else.
I like turkey in sandwiches, I love a smoked turkey bbq baked potato. I even like ground turkey in just about anything that should have been ground beef. But the whole big bird on a platter is like the biggest pain in the butt performance piece to put out an obligatory dish that people get a little bit of and leave a fair amount behind. You then have to strip the carcass of leftover meat and make sandwiches, then gumbo or soup out of it all later.
Ham is superior in flavor and versatility, easier to cook and serve, and I’d just as soon go ham only than have to do a turkey every year.
I would just get a breast and smoke it to put out the obligatory turkey, except my dad wants the butt, and the breast doesn’t come with a butt or a leg.
Or am I just outing myself that I’m not a good cook and no one likes my turkey?
@djslack Very well put, I agree completely, especially since I don’t even have a smoker to make it more interesting. My family has switched to getting Costco roast chickens for Thanksgiving! Because none of us wants to be the one to make the turkey.
@therealjrn I never considered them a holiday food. Roasted or sauteed until crispy with bacon and a balsamic drizzle, I’m for 'em. But I’m sorry you grew up with them boiled as a holiday “treat”. That seems cruel.
@djslack@therealjrn
My sister tells me that I must’ve gotten a bad one the first and ONLY time I ever tried them. Apparently they’re not supposed to taste bitter…
@Jamileigh17@UpbeatDuck@ybmuG my wife always liked it with the can of MSG soup and the processed fried onions from an industrial mill in Ohio or something. Needless to say I only did a small token tasting.
EDIT sometimes we would have to make a trip to the store to get the perfect artificial ingredients. Ugh!
@ybmuG that would be disgusting. I make mine with fresh blanched green beans, no canned cream of anything, usually a little crème fraiche or sour cream, sautéed, garlic, shallots and mushrooms. And yes I’m the crazy person that makes my own buttermilk fried onions. I have to make 2-3x what is requisite because everyone eats them before they make it to the casserole which only goes under a med broiler for a few minutes.
@sillyheathen
Okay, now I’m confused… Are we talking about over rated stuff or what? Sweet potatoes are a favorite! We have them baked with walnuts and molasses. YUM! Scrap the marshmallows, save those for the s’mores!
@sillyheathen Yeah, I don’t get putting marshmallows on top of (already sweet, duh ) sweet potatoes. So my wife makes them half-with and half-without the gooey (too-sweet ) topping. (Because she is sweet!)
@Lynnerizer I love sweet potatoes. I hate that people make it into a dessert. And I despise commercial marshmallows to begin with. I like them even less on top of sweetened sweet potatoes as a side to a savory meal. I’m all about the sweet/salty combo but the way most people prep them makes me
@sillyheathen We occasionally make sweet potatoes as a quick and easy (and yummy!) meal. We prefer the ones with the darker flesh - YMMV.
Cut the potato in half length-wise and bake in the oven until soft (I nuke them a bit first to speed things up). Scoop the flesh out of the skin, mash it with butter and shredded cheese, season to taste, then return the mixture to the skins. Top with whatever you like (more shredded cheese, cubed cooked chicken, ham or whatever, steamed veggies, etc.) Put filled skins back in oven to melt/brown toppings and heat to desired temp. YUM!
I haven’t had them either of those ways, but OMG-osh that sounds delicious! All this sweet potato talk has me drooling over here! I love a good soufflé!
@djslack@heartny@Lynnerizer IMHO there are good fruitcakes and bad fruitcakes. I think bad ones are more abundant and that’s what most people have had. I used to send Collin Street Bakery fruitcakes to my older relatives each year, who really loved them, but they’re all gone now.
Now that I’m thinking about it, believe I’ll order myself one. Something good to go with coffee for a few weeks!
Stuffing/dressing
Most people don’t make it correctly anyway and it can make you sick if you actually stuff it in the turkey and don’t cook it properly. Box stuff is too salty. I worked at a restaurant that sold it and it was almost liquid. I guess if it’s made correctly it’s good but rarely is it made/spiced well.
@Kyeh@macromeh@mbersiam same! There isn’t really a
Place to stuff ours though because we spatchcock the crown. The legs have a separate preparation. And even then herbs and possibly citrus are the only thing it will sit on. But we do make 1-2 dressings. One to roulade the legs and one for rapid consumption.
For me, it has to be fruitcake. Everything else is mostly a matter of the skill of the chef and the quality and variety of ingredients, but the vast majority of fruitcakes require marinating in a good bourbon to become passable. (Some can’t be rescued at all.) Frankly, I have come to the conclusion that I have better uses for good bourbon.
@Cerridwyn I need to start cooking more often so I can go back to making mashed potatoes. Half regular potatoes and half sweet potatoes. Very delicious.
@Cerridwyn@Lynnerizer I know a lot of people that over-salt their cooking. It’s fine to add to your own serving and also I do use artisan smoked salts for grilling and such. But other than that, please keep your salt to yourself!
Yes, I agree that salt should be added after cooking, on your own food. I’ve never used any kind of artisan smoked salt for anything, and I’m not even sure if I’ve ever tasted it.
TBT, after seeing those large Himalayan rock salt lamps, It’s kinda weird for me to even THINK about salting my food with it.
@macromeh@sillyheathen
The best (only?) use I’ve found for them was making peeps infused vodka… though I must admit having the little eyeballs floating around in the jar at the end was weirdly disconcerting.
I’ll say it. Turkey. It’s… fine. But all the other parts of the Thanksgiving meal are so much better, and the turkey takes quite a bit of trouble to get done. You have to buy a turkey, thaw it for a few days, brine it, prep and season it, and then cook it for hours. And in the end it’s like a thing everyone gets one or two slices of (or if you’re my dad, you get a leg and the blob that was the butt and love it).
I like to think I’m a pretty good cook. I can smoke a nice bird. I can deep fry one too, though I gave that up a few years ago as it’s pretty wasteful to buy all that oil and then not deep fry anything else.
I like turkey in sandwiches, I love a smoked turkey bbq baked potato. I even like ground turkey in just about anything that should have been ground beef. But the whole big bird on a platter is like the biggest pain in the butt performance piece to put out an obligatory dish that people get a little bit of and leave a fair amount behind. You then have to strip the carcass of leftover meat and make sandwiches, then gumbo or soup out of it all later.
Ham is superior in flavor and versatility, easier to cook and serve, and I’d just as soon go ham only than have to do a turkey every year.
I would just get a breast and smoke it to put out the obligatory turkey, except my dad wants the butt, and the breast doesn’t come with a butt or a leg.
Or am I just outing myself that I’m not a good cook and no one likes my turkey?
@djslack Very well put, I agree completely, especially since I don’t even have a smoker to make it more interesting. My family has switched to getting Costco roast chickens for Thanksgiving!
Because none of us wants to be the one to make the turkey.
@djslack @Kyeh
Be a Kyeh and feed the man Costco’s! 
Djslack - I’m betting that you’re not a bad cook! But I think you’re dad IS A PICKY EATER!
@djslack @Lynnerizer
The credit for that idea should go to my sister, to be fair!
Brussel Sprouts. It didn’t help that I grew up just seeing them boiled at home. My mom was excellent at cooking, but I guess dad liked 'em boiled.
So bake 'em, fry 'em, wrap 'em in bacon, I still don’t like 'em.
@therealjrn I never considered them a holiday food. Roasted or sauteed until crispy with bacon and a balsamic drizzle, I’m for 'em. But I’m sorry you grew up with them boiled as a holiday “treat”. That seems cruel.
@djslack @therealjrn
My sister tells me that I must’ve gotten a bad one the first and ONLY time I ever tried them. Apparently they’re not supposed to taste bitter…
@Lynnerizer
That’s a lie! (Told by people that like brussel sprouts…)
@chienfou
You might be right on that one!
@djslack @Lynnerizer @therealjrn They’re tiny cabbages - the same rules for cooking more-or-less apply.
@djslack @Lynnerizer @pakopako Well, I love me some Lebanese Cabbage Rolls…
@djslack @Lynnerizer @pakopako @therealjrn
Giblet gravy
@ironcheftoni
Green bean casserole. Usually frozen beans, a can of soup, and fried onions left over from last year.
@ybmuG Have you ever tried it with fresh green beans, making a mushroom soup from scratch and fresh fried onion strings? Sooo good!
@Jamileigh17 of course. I’ve even made it that way. It’s just that nobody ever does, so it’s always a pass.
@ybmuG gotta add cheddar cheese and Worcester sauce. It’s what’s for (Thanksgiving) dinner!
@Jamileigh17 @ybmuG - It is worth making everything from scratch. So much tastier.
I didn’t have green bean cassarole until I was an adult, so I don’t have nostalgia for the other version. Though I am sure many, many do.
@Jamileigh17 @UpbeatDuck @ybmuG my wife always liked it with the can of MSG soup and the processed fried onions from an industrial mill in Ohio or something. Needless to say I only did a small token tasting.
EDIT sometimes we would have to make a trip to the store to get the perfect artificial ingredients. Ugh!
@ybmuG that would be disgusting. I make mine with fresh blanched green beans, no canned cream of anything, usually a little crème fraiche or sour cream, sautéed, garlic, shallots and mushrooms. And yes I’m the crazy person that makes my own buttermilk fried onions. I have to make 2-3x what is requisite because everyone eats them before they make it to the casserole which only goes under a med broiler for a few minutes.
@sillyheathen now THAT I would eat!
@ybmuG it’s pretty bloody delicious. I usually make two 9x13s and it typically doesn’t make it to leftovers.
Sweet potatoes with marshmallows and pumpkin pie.
@sillyheathen
Are we talking about over rated stuff or what? Sweet potatoes are a favorite! We have them baked with walnuts and molasses. YUM! 
Scrap the marshmallows, save those for the s’mores! 
Okay, now I’m confused…
@sillyheathen Yeah, I don’t get putting marshmallows on top of (already sweet, duh
) sweet potatoes. So my wife makes them half-with and half-without the gooey (too-sweet 
) topping. (Because she is sweet!)
@Lynnerizer I love sweet potatoes. I hate that people make it into a dessert. And I despise commercial marshmallows to begin with. I like them even less on top of sweetened sweet potatoes as a side to a savory meal. I’m all about the sweet/salty combo but the way most people prep them makes me
@macromeh I typically make sweet potato soufflés or a gratin either on its own or sometimes with other root veg. Just depends on the year.
@sillyheathen We occasionally make sweet potatoes as a quick and easy (and yummy!) meal. We prefer the ones with the darker flesh - YMMV.
Cut the potato in half length-wise and bake in the oven until soft (I nuke them a bit first to speed things up). Scoop the flesh out of the skin, mash it with butter and shredded cheese, season to taste, then return the mixture to the skins. Top with whatever you like (more shredded cheese, cubed cooked chicken, ham or whatever, steamed veggies, etc.) Put filled skins back in oven to melt/brown toppings and heat to desired temp. YUM!
@macromeh @sillyheathen
I haven’t had them either of those ways, but OMG-osh that sounds delicious!
All this sweet potato talk has me drooling over here! I love a good soufflé! 
Turkey.
@yakkoTDI most thanksgiving turkey stinks. do recommend a good brine though.
@jouest I would just rather have ham. Much easier to make it good.
@yakkoTDI I think it’s overrated when it isn’t cooked properly.
Fruit cake. Nuff said.
@heartny after my dad has his turkey leg and butt, he wants to settle in with some fruitcake too
@djslack @heartny
Oh NOooooo, not fruit cake too…
I new he was trouble!
@djslack @heartny @Lynnerizer IMHO there are good fruitcakes and bad fruitcakes. I think bad ones are more abundant and that’s what most people have had. I used to send Collin Street Bakery fruitcakes to my older relatives each year, who really loved them, but they’re all gone now.
Now that I’m thinking about it, believe I’ll order myself one. Something good to go with coffee for a few weeks!
Stuffing/dressing
Most people don’t make it correctly anyway and it can make you sick if you actually stuff it in the turkey and don’t cook it properly. Box stuff is too salty. I worked at a restaurant that sold it and it was almost liquid. I guess if it’s made correctly it’s good but rarely is it made/spiced well.
@mbersiam In my family stuffing/dressing is the favorite thing!
@Kyeh @mbersiam
Mine too!
@Kyeh @mbersiam I make the dressing (I don’t do stuffing). The recipe I use uses cornbread and sausage. It’s my favorite part of the meal.
@Kyeh @macromeh @mbersiam same! There isn’t really a
Place to stuff ours though because we spatchcock the crown. The legs have a separate preparation. And even then herbs and possibly citrus are the only thing it will sit on. But we do make 1-2 dressings. One to roulade the legs and one for rapid consumption.
For me, it has to be fruitcake. Everything else is mostly a matter of the skill of the chef and the quality and variety of ingredients, but the vast majority of fruitcakes require marinating in a good bourbon to become passable. (Some can’t be rescued at all.) Frankly, I have come to the conclusion that I have better uses for good bourbon.
@werehatrack
one word: Claxton’s
@chienfou Had it. Waste of bourbon IMO. YMMV.
Pumpkin pie. Overrated / not to mention isn’t pumpkin sort of like a laxative. I don’t like any type of pie that doesn’t have a graham cracker crust.
@AZnatural1 My brother makes pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust. It’s really good.
@AZnatural1 I’m with you. It has to be phenomenal and most aren’t. It’s one of my least favorite pies because it’s often done poorly.
Sweet potatoes that are mush with way too much sugar and many marshmallows with them. Sweet potatoes are yummy but not made this way
@Cerridwyn I need to start cooking more often so I can go back to making mashed potatoes. Half regular potatoes and half sweet potatoes. Very delicious.
@Cerridwyn
My goodness she’s the worst cook ever! 
I think you’ve been eating at my SIL’s house, EVERYTHING she makes is soupy and oversalted!
@Cerridwyn @Lynnerizer I know a lot of people that over-salt their cooking. It’s fine to add to your own serving and also I do use artisan smoked salts for grilling and such. But other than that, please keep your salt to yourself!
@Cerridwyn
this!
@Cerridwyn @pmarin
Yes, I agree that salt should be added after cooking, on your own food. I’ve never used any kind of artisan smoked salt for anything, and I’m not even sure if I’ve ever tasted it.
TBT, after seeing those large Himalayan rock salt lamps, It’s kinda weird for me to even THINK about salting my food with it.
Peeps… Yeah, Easter IS a holiday …
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@chienfou oh thank Buddha! I think peeps are abhorrent!
@chienfou @sillyheathen
Oh yeah, I agree!
@chienfou @sillyheathen Agree (and I would expand that to pretty much any kind of marshmallow).
@macromeh @sillyheathen
The best (only?) use I’ve found for them was making peeps infused vodka… though I must admit having the little eyeballs floating around in the jar at the end was weirdly disconcerting.
@chienfou @macromeh now that sounds funny. I might give that a go.
Potatoes. All they are is a filler, a tasty filler, but why waste space when there are so many tastier things to eat.