Piffka wrote:Hi Eva. I'm sure your meal will be delicious. Last year, was the cycle at our friends and we had deep fried turkey. Pretty good but we're going traditional here. So you buy a smoked turkey and then heat it up? The deviled eggs sound yummy -- one of our favorites. Are they on the table as a sort of appetizer or just part of the regular meal?
...and no mushy green bean casserole or molded jello? Cjhsa's right --must be a midwest thing.
Will you share your green-bean and bacon secrets?
And please... how do you make cornbread stuffing? Will you put sausage in it? I love cornbread, it just seems strange as a stuffing. I've never had any that's leftover to use... doesn't happen in this house.
This is the traditional holiday meal for my family, Piffka. Same as my mother made it. It's the only time we eat these foods, and it gives us a link with our past. I think that's very important. So I don't try new stuff for these important times. Plenty of time for that later, maybe with leftovers.
The only concession I've made is the smoked turkey instead of roasting one the old way. My husband and son MUCH prefer the smoked kind, and I admit I'd rather have that kind for sandwiches later.
The deviled eggs are always meant to go on the table with the meal, but only about half of them make it that long! (People keep stealing them out of the fridge.) The big argument is mayo vs. mustard. I make some of both.
Green beans must be fresh, simmered for several hours in a big pot with several strips of bacon. Simple, really. A lot of people here have green bean casserole, but that isn't my family's tradition. We do it the old-fashioned way.
Yes, we buy two small smoked turkeys at the local meat market (they have the best ones) and reheat them in the oven before the meal. One is sliced and arranged on a platter, and the other is used for the centerpiece until it is needed.
NO molded jello in MY house!!! (YUK!)
Cornbread dressing...never can make enough of it. 2/3 cornbread, 1/3 white bread...all crumbled and left out to dry overnight. Add chicken or turkey stock, onion, tiny bit of celery, poultry seasoning and a little bit of browned, crumbled sausage (some don't like it, so I go easy on the sausage.) Get the kind of bulk sausage used for breakfast patties. Big debate here is sage. Some love it. I don't, so I leave it out.
I've made myself hungry now.
