Thanksgiving Recipes. Give ‘em to me.

Since I’m from New York and my lovely fiancee is from Maryland, we won’t be heading home for Thanksgiving. Instead I’ll (begrudgingly) wake up and run in the YMCA Turkey Trot, then head home to create a hopefully delicious feast for the soon-to-be Mrs. and a few friends.

Here’s where you come in. Every region has their Thanksgiving specialties (most of my Italian friends back home have pasta and gravy with their birds, and when I lived in Baltimore we often whipped up a sauerkraut and Granny Smith apple dish that tastes much better than it looks and sounds.).

What about Texas though? Since we’re spending T’giving here, I’d like to ingest something Texasy other than too much Shiner. Leave your thoughts in the comments, and maybe I’ll whip something up and write about it next week.

Likes: butter, bacon, bourbon

Dislikes: lack of butter, bacon, or bourbon

And I can actually cook pretty well (Shout out to 8th grade cooking camp at the CIA!), so don’t hold back.

By Bradford Pearson Nov. 17, 2011 | 10:16 am | 14 Comments | Comments RSS
14 comments to "Thanksgiving Recipes. Give 'em to me. "
  1. Avid Reader @ November 17, 2011 at 10:51 am
    Didn’t know the CIA had a cooking camp. Were you decoding spy messages sent through cakes? Not exactly a Texas only item, but you clearly will need some kind of pie; apple, chocolate, chess, etc. One thing that we have added to our healthy Thanksgiving spread is a bacon explosion. Here is a link to a variation of the recipe with pics: http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/

  2. AngieSunrise @ November 17, 2011 at 11:27 am
    Always:
    sweet iced tea.
    some sort of black bean, corn and vinegrette salad.
    some kind of pecan pie.

    Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a rise in the use of chilis… my fave was some kind of sweet potato chipotle or ancho chili casserole.

    Good luck!

  3. Bradford Pearson @ November 17, 2011 at 11:34 am
    @Avid Reader: My bad. Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, NY, my hometown. Also, I already make a pretty decent apple pie, though this chess pie that people speak of down here does sound interesting.

  4. hpparent @ November 17, 2011 at 11:40 am
    We always have smoked turkey and barbecue sauce. Also, jalapeno cranberry sauce (mix together a jar of jalapeno jelly, a can of whole berry cranberry sauce, and some cilantro, and heat over medium until all is blended – chill and serve). And chocolate pecan pie.

  5. Bradford Pearson @ November 17, 2011 at 11:49 am
    @hpparent: I like that jelly idea a lot. I’ve been tinkering with a cranberry recipe that includes pink grapefruit segments, but the jalapeno one may be the play. I imagine that would be great with pork, too.

  6. tinkerbell @ November 17, 2011 at 1:16 pm
    Take a bag of whole cranberries, some sugar, a whole orange with peel on- cut in eights (take the seeds out), some jalapeno to taste, and a little sherry or nice wine and whir it all up in a blender.

    Dump it in a bowl and add chopped cilantro and anything else you want, maybe some shallot, maybe some onion, maybe some Texas honey, whatever.

    It makes a great cranberry relish. The point is to play with it each year and develop it with a reflection of your tastes.

    I’ve made it with lots of heat, I’ve made it with no heat, I’ve put some pretty odd things in it from year to year. Some have been fabulous, some have been not so good.

    Have fun!

  7. M @ November 17, 2011 at 2:51 pm
    Where can I buy the best chocolate pecan pie in the PC? Sounds delish!

  8. DemBones @ November 17, 2011 at 5:31 pm
    Go out to Furr’s Buffet in far east Dallas and sample all the pies on their dessert bar to pick the kind you want to make. Theirs is a real chess pie. Stuff sold in grocery stores, not so much.

    I think you can make your Thanksgiving Texas-y by serving your turkey or tofurky with salsa, though jalapeno cranberry sauce sounds even better.

  9. UP mom @ November 17, 2011 at 7:17 pm
    Don’t know if they have chocoalate pecan pie, but the best pie I have bought in town if from Rosebud’s on Lover’s Lane. They make a very good buttermilk pie (yum) and then I heat up some blackberry preserves and drizzle it on it. For turkey day, you could serve it with something cranberry based, CM has a cranberry jam that would be great as well. FYI Bradford buttermilk pie is a very southern dish as well.

  10. UP mom @ November 17, 2011 at 7:18 pm
    Typing to fast, meant chocolate.

  11. Happy Neighbor @ November 18, 2011 at 12:37 am
    My family has had the same meal since I was born (30 years now): Turkey, real gravy (giblets and all), stuffing or dressing (always a debate in our household), green beans with almonds, sweet potato pie, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry jelly (also cranberry salsa is amazing over the stuffing), pecan pie, buttermilk pie, wine, cowboys and family for dessert!!

    Throw in a nap at halftime and family photo and you have the best day in America!

  12. kmom @ November 18, 2011 at 10:48 am
    I cannot believe no one has mentioned cornbread dressing and pumpkin pie! No true Southern T-giving meal is complete without those two things.

  13. Meredith @ November 18, 2011 at 5:14 pm
    Our gravy has chopped turkey livers in it….YUM! This is by far my favorite holiday. We are, however, going out to eat this year–it will be interesting to say the least!

  14. Avid Reader @ December 2, 2011 at 7:02 am
    Bradford, Just read the print piece and I am sorry that the link crashed your browser (I am guessing from sheer awesomeness).

Leave a Reply