Thanksgiving is to serious cooks what New Year’s Eve is to serious drunks: amateur hour.
If you’re already sick of the turkey-day hype, the Seattle Times has your antidote: an antiholiday screed with suggestions for alternatives.
Writer Anne Valdespino maintains that for hard-core cooks, the unvarying Thanksgiving routine of roast turkey/mashed potatoes/pumpkin pie is something to be dreaded. She cures her own Thanksgiving blues with an “alterna-bird” party; one year her turkey was Mexican-spiced and served with salsa, tortillas, and margaritas; another it was tandoori-flavored.
Her other suggestions include getting a ready-made supermarket bird, skipping the dinner to serve food at a shelter, and the “Slacker Thanksgiving”:
Throw in the dish towel. Don’t even get dressed. Have your buddies come over in their pajamas. Serve TV dinners. Open some box wine, or pool all the money you save to splurge on a couple bottles of champagne.
CHOW has a suggestion that will make it even easier for slackers: Just assign everything out to friends!
My comments from several years ago about T-Day being “amateur night” for cooks:
“There really isn’t a good time to go to the {Berkeley} Bowl Thanksgiving week. Monday you have the post-weekend stock-up crowds and early T-Day shoppers. Tuesday you have the people who *think* they’re the early shoppers who’ve cleverly all planned to shop on Tuesday to avoid the crush on Wednesday.
Wednesday is a madhouse because (1) they’re running out of T-Day staples like sage, (2) T-Day is amateur night for cooks: the Bowl is full of people who only cook one day a year — they don’t know where or what anything is. They (and the friend/partner they’ve dragooned into coming along to “help”) clog the aisles while they stare at their shopping lists, desperately trying to figure out what they’re supposed to be doing, what some of the ingredients in their old family recipes are, and what to do about the fact the Bowl has run out of sage, while said friend/partner says helpful things like “I couldn’t find the fennel, do you think we could substitute celery — they kinda look the same?” http://www.chowhound.com/topics/24465#95587
And from last year:
“Plus, I swear that Thanksgiving is to cooks what New Year’s is to partiers: amateur night. People who never cook are all of sudden inspired to cook a multi-course meal for a dozen people, and not only that, but it can’t just be stuff they know how to cook, it has to be Grandma’s cranberry sauce, and Uncle John’s gravy, etc.” http://www.chowhound.com/topics/341825#2028550
Why get a case of the ass about it? We should be giving thanks, not pitching a hissyfit. Have a standing rib roast instead, or order a turducken, or grilled portobellos, whatever you want. I rarely get a chance to eat most of the things I serve on Thanksgiving the rest of the year (except for mashed potatoes), and I just love roasted turkey. Stuff a few jalapeno slices or garam masala under the skin, or some sage and tarragon leaves, nobody cares what you have (unless they hed their heart set on a standard roasted turkey and you’re rebelling), it will be delicious, and everybody should give thanks, enjoy dinner, and have a good time.
By the way- a shredded jalapeno is really good in cranberry relish or sauce, or some raspberry vinegar- give it a try!
I had some cranberry relish made with cilantro once and it was amazingly good (that is, if you like cilantro to begin with).
Cilantro, eh? Hmmmmmm- may have to get a few packages of cranberries this year…
Try making cranberry sauce with chipotles and a bit of brown sugar. That’ll zip up your Turkey Day dinner!
If you’re tired of turkey, you haven’t had wild turkey – and no, I don’t mean the bourbon. I’ve had the privilege, since I actually managed to successfully hunt one of those wily birds last year. Took it off the bone, made stock with the carcass, and made Mole Coloradito with the stock.
Lightly sauteéd wild turkey strips that are finished in Mole Coloradito, served with warm tortillas, rajas con crema (poblano & onion strips cooked with queso oaxqueño and crema), arroz, and guacamole salad – there are many reasons to be thankful there! And lest you think I’m in CA or TX…I’m in VA.
Great topic. I have been making the traditional dinner for ages and I’m really tired of it…all the planning, effort and stress. And my gravy always comes out poorly. The turkey mole sounds great. I think it’s time for some new ideas.
i say what ever it takes to get your family together in your house is a good thing
make 2-3 or 4 things that are the tradition in your family (as a sort of binder) and then try
1-2 off the wall things to break things up
i have been doing it this way for 25 yrs
and i think it is because i do it this way it comes off fantasticaly and pretty stress free