Holiday Food Traditions

javelinadave

Administrator
Staff member
What holiday traditions do you and your family have?
The only one we have is stuffing muffins. Stuffing filled muffin tins then baked. Over the years we have gone from roasted turkey to tur-duck-in to fried turkey back to roasted turkey.
 
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SouthTexasRover

Member
Callsign: KF5AAM
We smoke our turkey. I brine with a hazelnut brown ale and hang it in my smoker for about 4 hours. It's incredible. I usually have to make 2 because everybody wants some.
 

The_Vermonster

Well-known member
Loaded mashed potatoes. Standard potatoes with cream cheese, shredded cheddar, sour cream, chives, and bacon. I let my mother in-law make mashed potatoes once and almost threw up. So now I make these out of self defense.
 

chris snell

Administrator
Callsign: NW5W
Staff member
I always do a beef tenderloin. USDA Prime from Costco. I rub it with salt, pepper, and cumin, give it a sear on the cast iron and finish it in the oven. I usually do a wine and chanterelles reduction for it but we live in hayseed Kansas now so I have to settle for some bullshit shiitakes and baby portobellos this year.

Also doing two pies, pecan and a homemade pumpkin that I roasted earlier this week. I do them with a homemade gluten free crust because I have celiac disease but its a good recipe and tastes like a normal crust. Finally, I'm doing that crazy potato recipe from the NYT:

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017724-cheesy-hasselback-potato-gratin

My wife is doing a turkey breast and salad and our houseguest friends are making sweet potatoes.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
We go to the matriarch's for dinner but the standout for me is always is the cranberry-orange sauce.

She takes a bag of fresh cranberries and then zests and juices a bunch of oranges.
You add some water and sugar to the juice and bring that to a boil and then add the cranberries and zest and cover and let simmer.
The aroma is killer and the end product will have you declining anything out of a can for life.

Dad bakes both a pumpkin and a mincemeat pie.

The stuffing is the seasoned pepperidge farms stuff out of a bag but all kinds of stuff gets added like halved green grapes, minced walnuts, sausage, etc.

This years bird is 22 lbs.
 
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Erik

Well-known member
We used to roast the turkey, but last year I smoked it and it was the first time in history we didn't have any leftover.

This year I am both frying one and smoking one. Next year I think I may cold-smoke one for a few hours and then fry.
 

mgreenspan

Founding Member
Here was the chip recipe. Makes the best chips. Period.
 

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Svonc

New member
I used to always fry mine, growing up in Louisiana, it's what we always did. I have roasted it a couple times, this year Chris is smoking two turkeys with different seasonings. I make cranberries similar to what Uncle Doug described, red garlic mashed potatoes. The kids pick the rest of the sides so this year it's sauteed asparagus, honey and brown sugar carrots, and coleslaw with homemade dressing. Deserts picked this year (by kids) were Lemon ice box pie, pralines, fudge, brownies, chocolate cake, lol.
 

Devildog01

Member
Here's a quick guide to the best Thanksgiving ever.

Step 1. Go to McDonald's and get the Big Mac meal
Step 2. Wash down with copious amounts of your favorite alcoholic beverage
Step 3. Watch tv on your couch peacefully and without interruption
Step 4. Repeat step 2
Step 5. Search Craigslist personals for "horny milf"
Step 6. Get frustrated and eat a pint of ice cream
Step 7. Repeat step 2
Step 8. Pass out on couch staining the couch and your shirt with ice cream.
Step 9. Wake up the morning after hungover with the taste of dirty sweat sock in your mouth and not sure what hurts worse, the headache,gas pains or the krick in your neck because you slept on the couch with a spoon in your back
Step 10. Realize it's so much better than spending time with your family

Your welcome
 

jymmiejamz

Founding Member
Callsign: KN4JHI
Here was the chip recipe. Makes the best chips. Period.

What kind of crack are you smoking? Oven cooked chips? The only way to make chips is fry them, let them cool, then fry them again and toss in sea salt and dipping in curry sauce.
 

mgreenspan

Founding Member
What kind of crack are you smoking? Oven cooked chips? The only way to make chips is fry them, let them cool, then fry them again and toss in sea salt and dipping in curry sauce.

Try it. I used to think the same thing. I usually use coconut oil when I do this and have never been disappointed. I tend to do about 10-20 minutes extra, basically 1 or 2 more flip cycles.

If you try it and are disappointed I will PayPal you the NYC cost of your potatoes.
 
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Daddymow

Well-known member
Ok switching from mimosas to Bloody Marys then to beer while watching the rest of the family cook the feast.
 

Jedelmann

Founding Member
I'm always responsible for preparing the turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas and the easiest, best-tasting method that maximizes couch time/drinking time is BBQing the bird. Here's the recipe:
1. Buy a 12- to 15-Lb fresh turkey (make sure it fits in your BBQ).
2. Remove giblets and neck. Clean the bird inside and out. Dry it.
3. Pour olive oil on the turkey and rub it in with a paper towel.
4. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and lots of paprika.
5. Stuff the turkey with quartered oranges, lemons, apples, and onions.
6. Place turkey onto BBQ that's pre-heated to medium about 325°. M-O-M for 3 burner gas BBQs. BBQ for 12 minutes a pound.
7. Go sit on the couch and drink for 3 hours.
8. Remove turkey and oranges, apples and onions.
9. Let stand for 30 minutes.
10. Enjoy crispy, juicy BBQ'd bird. Cheers.
 

flippedrover

New member
Did a Cajun butter injected smoked turkey last year for a group of friends. They were pissed to find out my parents were on the east coast this year so no smoked turkey for them.
 
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