I’m far from family, so probably my vegan tater tot casserole. I don’t live in the Midwest anymore, but for some reason on Thanksgiving I crave this very heavy food along with my wife’s Mexican green pasta recipe (to die for!).
Stuffing and mashed potatoes. I make the mashed potatoes, and I am really good at it. I am not sure why, since it's just ordinary yellow (or russet, depends on what they have) potatoes, milk, salt, and butter. I don't even peel them, but it gets all the rave reviews.
Making good mashed potatoes is an art form honestly. I'm really good at it too. I go as far as weighing each potato just so I can have the perfect ratio of ingredients. I think most people's potatoes are hit or miss because they just add shit until it looks right but if you have a method they can be consistently awesome.
Stuffing. I would eat stuffing every Goddamn day of the year except I'd get fat as fuck. I have to literally limit myself to eating it once a year for Thanksgiving or I'll gradually work it into my regular dinner meal plans and even that is too much.
Stuffing has no flavor when my family makes it. Plus the texture makes me gag but texture is like 90% of my hangups with food. I'm a picky eater but I really don't want to be.
Man then your family is doing it wrong, sorry. I use fresh bread, a ton of butter, onions, celery, thyme, sage, salt and pepper, then bake it so every bread cube is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I have food texture issues too, so I feel your pain, but there's definitely a wrong way and a right way to make stuffing. Also, NEVER put stuffing inside the turkey, it can result in undercooked stuffing and salmonella from the turkey.
Collards. I only recently discovered them as a transplant to the southern part of the country, and I love making them because they’re phenomenally tasty. Plus you can justify that they’re dark leafy greens (never mind the gratuitous pork fat).
I don't like mushrooms so I make what's basically cream of onion soup as the sauce and it's amazing. Also, stuffing. My mom doesn't really like either one and it's just us, so I get to eat all of it myself.
I'm making Bizzle's Sticky Wieners, which I'm sure already have a name but holy cow I couldn't pass up that joke. It's lil smokies wrapped in bacon and topped with brown sugar, then baked. It's pretty decadent though so I only make them for thanksgiving, I've been looking forward to it all year.
I normally make stuffing (we don't stuff but have always just called it that) this week for my coworkers but my new boss sucks and i don't cook for people i don't like, so i just bought a small ham for the luncheon instead. Can't wait to have the stuffing next week!!
Yep. I've seen them advertised but never bought one before. It's $100 (which i though was kind of a lot) and says it feeds 8-10 people. Arrives frozen, fully cooked - thaw for 3 days and then heat.