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Thanksgiving Menu
Posted by Will Collier  ·  25 November 2004

Since Martini Boy is still incommunicado, I might as well post today's menu. The wife is working today (hospitals don't close), so I'm playing grandma in the kitchen. Y'all will notice that this is a decidedly Southern Thanksgiving:

• Smoked turkey breast (I got off easy here--my dad smokes these as gifts, all I had to do was thaw ours out. It's fantastic.)
• Cornbread dressing (not "stuffing"--I just said this was a Southern menu.)
• Cranberry sauce (canned, with the ridges. Sue me.)
• Sweet potatoes
• Green beans
• Fresh corn
• Fried okra (food of the gods--and no egg batter or deep frying allowed; just cornmeal, salt, pepper, and the same cast-iron skillet used for the cornbread.)
• Cornbread (hey, I like it--here's the best recipe around for genuine Sand Mountain cornbread.)
• Garnish: sweet pickles, fresh tomato slices, and the last of the Vidalia onions
• Dessert: pumpkin and lemon meringue pies

Y'all have a safe and happy one. Don't forget to burp; you'll feel better for it.

Comments

Lemon Meringue....hmmm

In my family, that is "throw pie"

My grandfather (may he rip) once said to my mother, "I dare you" as she walked into the dining room with my grandmother's freshly made LMP (from scratch natcherly)....it ended up all over his face. We all learned a very valuable lesson - Don't ever DARE my mother!!

Happy Gobble gobble day to everyone!

Posted by: MammaMel at November 25, 2004 10:30 AM

I'm making chili, and I think I'll try that cornbread recipe to go with it. I'm going to try to make my own tortillas, but I don't count on them coming out.

Posted by: David [.net] at November 25, 2004 12:08 PM

Damn I love the fried Okra. People in this heathen area (Delaware) make fun of me for going down to the truck stop just to order up a helping. Even though it is mass produced and frozen before just being deep fried.
So, in 3 weeks I'm moving to Colorado Springs. Can I get fried okra anywhere around the promised land?

Posted by: chad at November 25, 2004 06:23 PM

"[N]o egg batter or deep frying allowed; just cornmeal, salt, pepper ..."

I assume you allow some oil in the frying pan?

Posted by: Martin at November 25, 2004 08:03 PM

I was planning to hot-smoke a turkey breast today, but between temperatures in the thirties and a nap after picking the wee wifey up from third shift, it simply went in the oven slathered with Russian dressing and with a Pyrex cup of water for humidity. Nowhere near as tasty, but moist and reasonably flavorful.

Posted by: triticale at November 25, 2004 08:18 PM

Ummmmmm!

Corn Bread in a glass, alternated with some sugar and milk over it all......then spoon it out.

A fine dessert/treat!

Grew up on this from my Grandmother back in Illinois...

Grew to appreciate Okra after moving to the Sunshine State 26 years ago!

Hope all had too much to eat yesterday.....as for me, I am doing the post-turkeyday waddle!

Posted by: Duke DeLand at November 26, 2004 06:00 AM

I may have said this here last year; I should say so again (even though it's a day late):

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Posted by: Aakash at November 26, 2004 09:18 AM

For future reference, homemade cranberry sauce takes under 10 minutes to make.

Buy a bag of fresh cranberries, throw them in a collender and rinse them off. If any berry looks funky throw it out, or if anything else ended up in the bag, throw it out.

Put them in a small pan, with one cup of water and one cup of sugar. Bring to boil. As they start to pop, turn heat down but keep a light boil going for roughly 5 minutes. Pour into heat resistant bowl and allow to cool at room temp before putting in fridge. Your done.

Posted by: Dayna at November 26, 2004 09:37 AM

After all that food yesterday, I'm now going to have to go to the store and buy the fixins for cornbread. Hmmm, not sure I should thank you for that .

Posted by: Retread at November 26, 2004 10:12 AM

The sad truth about cornbread is that you can't make really good cornbread without really good cornmeal. And there ain't no really good cornmeal outside the South.

I've got a friend in North Carolina who sends me a Care package during the holidays every year: cornmeal, White Lily flour, country ham.

Posted by: Dave Schuler at November 26, 2004 11:35 AM

As someone who spent the better part of her childhood actually ON Sand Mountain, I can safely say that AIN'T Sand Mountain cornbread. This is...

Martha White self rising corn meal, about half the small bag.

One egg.

Enough milk to make it all wet and stir easily (not too runny, mind you).

Oven to 350 degrees.

Wet the cast iron skillet with Wesson oil...don't soak it, just a fine coating.

Bake until it smells done.

Garnish with mashed potatoes, pork chops, and pork gravy.

THAT is how you make Sand Mountain cornbread. The recipe isn't written down so much as encoded in the genes of Southern women.

Posted by: Sekimori at November 26, 2004 05:36 PM

"Corn Bread in a glass, alternated with some sugar and milk"

Not just milk, buttermilk....

Posted by: carl at November 26, 2004 06:38 PM

In our family... cranberry sauce with the ridges is a must have.

In fact... I'm very disapointed in Ocean Spray for changing their cans.

Posted by: Nick at November 27, 2004 01:49 PM

Crap... this is the link I wanted.

Posted by: Nick at November 27, 2004 01:50 PM

You're really starting to scare me, Stacy. My mom is from Albertville, and we were over there just yesterday. Too bad all the best tomatoes are long gone.

That said, I scoff at cornbread made with an egg, and so do generations of my foremothers...

Posted by: Will Collier at November 27, 2004 03:38 PM

No holiday meal at our house is complete without Waldorf Salad.

Posted by: unixdude at November 27, 2004 05:39 PM

Neither of this year's turkey dinners (yes, plural; ate two in four hours at different homes) included cranberries from a can. Sigh.

I first ate fried okra in North Carolina. That's some good stuff--and very difficult to find in SoCal.

Posted by: A Recovering Liberal at November 27, 2004 07:27 PM

Dayna is exactly right! You've got to go with the homemade cranberry recipe. It is the only way to go and tastes way better than the canned version. For additional zest add a bit of chopped orange and a tiny bit of lemon. Great eating!

Posted by: Essive at November 27, 2004 07:57 PM

Try my Cranberry recipe:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup Red Wine
12 oz Cranberries, rinsed
1/2 cup Orange Marmalade
1/2 cup Orange Juice
2 Cinnamon Sticks
2 1" pieces ginger, peeled
Zest of 1 orange
In med saucepan, bring sugar, wine, orange juice, and marmalade to boil. Add cranberries, cinnamon sticks, ginger pieces and the orange zest and bring back to boil. Simmer for 25 minutes, remove cinnamon sticks and ginger, place sauce into a bowl to cool, cover and place into fridge until ready to use.

Posted by: Bob at November 28, 2004 07:25 AM

Interesting, 'this' Sand Mountain girl has never had cornbread without egg in it...

I like to preheat the skillet (with the oil in it) before I pour in the batter. Makes a nice brown crunchy crust.

Posted by: Suli at November 28, 2004 08:56 AM

I always pre-heat the skillet. South Alabama cornbread doesn't have an egg either. Fried okra is about the most wonderful thing edible. I made a Key Lime pie for Connie the Short Bus Lady (my "housekeeper". Not hard at all except for aqueezing a lot of little, bity limes. I loved Sand Mountain tomatos when I lived in Birmingham.

Posted by: Deacon Blues at November 28, 2004 01:30 PM

Well sue me already but, who or what determines the "official" cornbread anyway?

There are about 900 different ways to make cornbread, and most all of them are yummy (and I say this as a born&bred Alabama gal who's been all over and back).

My own preference - nothing 'official' about it - is savory cornbread with bacon grease instead of shortening.

Harden, me arteries!!

Posted by: Suli at November 28, 2004 09:47 PM

I agree with carl. Don't use milk for making cornbread: use buttermilk. Also use buttermilk for making fried chicken batter.

I hope that Stephen gets back on-line before the SEC championship: Auburn v. Tennessee. When these two teams met in October -- in Knoxville -- Auburn took UT to the woodshed. :^(

Posted by: kevino at November 29, 2004 07:49 AM

"Cranberry sauce (canned, with the ridges. Sue me.)"

do they make another kind?

Posted by: cube at November 29, 2004 12:03 PM

Cornbread, hot, fresh from the oven crunchy crust dripping with butter (real butter). I hate Atkins.

My yankee husband loves fried okra.

Auburn has done great this year. We'll be wearing our Crimson Tide T's and yelling War Eagle.

Posted by: Pamela at November 29, 2004 01:47 PM

When I was a little fella....and folks that was a L-O-N-G time ago, I was living with my Mom and grandparents at Joe Wheeler Dam in N. Alabama....(we're talking WWII when my Dad was in Europe fighting the Germans....) We had cornbread with actual chunks of fatback in it.....at first I found it discusting, but grew to love it.....I was maybe four or so.....My Grandpa Hage was Supt. of the dam and I got "preferential treatment" by the locals which amazed lil ol me!
Duke

Posted by: Duke of DeLand at November 29, 2004 03:35 PM

Where were the black eyed peas?

Posted by: Sean at November 29, 2004 06:01 PM

Sean,
Black eyed peas are for New Year's Day - for good luck all year.

Posted by: stontflar at November 29, 2004 09:53 PM

The very best cornbread is made with home ground cornmeal. My grandfather (who died in '91) had a hand grater my dad made by poking holes in a sheet of metal with nails, then attaching it rough side out to a small plank. My grandfather grated the dried corn (still on the cob) on it. We used that meal with a bit of flour, buttermilk, soda, baking powder and salt. ALWAYS used a cast iron skillet. Dad melts grease (bacon grease, used to be; not so much anymore) in the skillet, pours the hot grease in the batter, stirs it and then pours the whole thing in the very hot skillet. As noted above, that makes a fantastic crust.

No eggs. No sugar. Amazing with butter. And a fine snack crumbled in a glass with sweet milk. Of course, all this is Appalachian foothills fare. Eastern Kentucky.

Just this weekend, my parents were discussing the cornbread different great-aunts made, identifying it as "sour" or "soda" or "just right". It all depended on how much soda you put in, and most, they said, leaned toward too much, making it a bit soda-breadish. Better than sour, when there wasn't enough soda in it to neutralize the buttermilk.

Posted by: susanna at November 30, 2004 12:04 PM

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Posted by: carisoprodol online at December 1, 2004 10:06 AM

Will, my grandmother was from Albertville. Spent quite a bit of my childhood there, too. :)

Posted by: Sekimori at December 1, 2004 04:12 PM



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