THANKSGIVING REPORT

I slept later than I intended Thanksgiving morning, but the turkey was thawed, the bread stuffing was ready, and Clint helped me with the final wrestling – helping me slip the bird into the Reynold's roasting bag. Fortunately, the turkey was done by noon for our immediate departure to my sister's home in a rural setting near Troy, Idaho, where twenty-four of us gathered.

Years ago, when tradition ruled our holidays, my dad roasted the turkey. I don't believe I had ever roasted a turkey prior to his passing in 1987, but I bravely took it on when no one else wanted to. Dressing has been difficult for me to make because I feel there's a certain expectation. My dad made dressing that people loved, but when he left us, he took his recipe with him. I know just one thing – he started with a pan-ful of butter, and when I took over the project of roasting the turkey for our extended family gatherings, I decided to cut back on that troublesome ingredient, a.k.a. fat. To compensate, I added extra celery and onion. One of my nieces let me know that this was not Grandpa's dressing. So, I've always been self-conscious about my dressing and when this year someone else offered to bring it, I was glad enough to be relieved. And – I felt free to do my own thing: I made mine with apple and raisins and then I left what wasn't in the turkey here at the house. I couldn't help but be amused as the dinner-table conversation turned to the dressing. "The recipe called for two cups of butter, and I just couldn't do it," said the one who brought it. "So I used far less and added more vegetables, apples, and dried cranberries." It was very good and everyone said so. No one said it wasn't like Grandpa's – but it wasn't.

I was responsible to provide only the turkey – and the Dr. Pepper Salad. Now there's a recipe that's a little on the strange side. I think Mike's mother developed it based on a Coca Cola salad recipe. The ingredients are Black Cherry Jell-O, crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries, pecans, cream cheese, and, of course, Dr. Pepper. If I follow the recipe proportions, there's hardly enough liquid to dissolve the Jell-O. The method isn't clear, so every year I do it a little differently. You know what I've said about recipes: sometimes the originator just isn't clear or writes something down incorrectly.

And despite the large gathering, plenty of sliced turkey remained to be shared for turkey sandwiches. We also served ham.

"You never need more than two dozen rolls, no matter what size the group," advised my sister Harriet. "If you get more rolls, they will just be left over. Not everyone takes a roll. Why fill up on bread when you have so much delicious food available."

It was the usual carbohydrate feast, including pumpkin pie, apple pie, and coffee ice cream pie (one of my personal favorites) for dessert. My philosophy is to eat a bite of everything and not to over-eat.

My two sisters feel the stress of holiday gatherings in their homes. My town house is too small and the country home too far out for winter gatherings. Younger family members are not stepping up to the challenge, pointing to busy schedules. "Why not look into a restaurant for next year?" I suggested. "And let someone else provide the ambiance and wait on us." We'll see.

So – how did your feast go? KW

PLANNING THE PORTIONS, OR HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

I bought the turkey for our extended family Thanksgiving dinner – 21.3 pounds at $.27 per pound at Albertson's with additional $25.00 purchase. It's not hard to spend the additional $25.00 these days. I brought the turkey home and managed to fit it into the freezer by removing the box containing Hallie and Nick's cake tier. It's now in the refrigerator freezer.

I thought the turkey would be big enough for a gathering of 22 people – almost a pound per person. Of course when you discard all the juice that bakes out, you no longer have a pound per person. But an article I read last night said to plan a pound and a half per person, which would allow for leftovers. Whoever heard of a 33-pound turkey? And who would want one? And I'M NOT roasting two turkeys. In point of fact, I'm only responsible for providing turkey for the dinner at which 22 will be present. Our hostess will also provide a nice ham.

Our extended family dinners aren't so much potlucks as cooperative affairs to which participating families agree to bring assigned food. Our blogger on "Retro Modern Housewife" points out that if you step outside your assigned area to provide additional food, it upsets the balance. She related an incident wherein she was assigned the pumpkin pie and she made two. Someone else decided to bring pie also, just because she wanted to. In the end there was too much pie, and our writer carried home her untouched pumpkin pies, which don't keep. I had never thought of the provision of additional food in that light.

But – it's evidently an age-old problem. Here's what Ina wrote about a cooperative Christmas dinner in 1934: "Aunt [Bertha, Ina's sister] helped me out by dressing a fat young rooster and bringing it ready for the roaster. She also insisted on making pies since I had my hands full – mince and pumpkin. One of each would be plenty, I said, but no – here came two each and ginger cookies frosted. She'd tried a new recipe. So we had mince and pumpkin pie with whipped cream on it, ginger cookies, fruit cake and do-nuts, and fruit and whipped cream for that, coffee, oranges, nuts and candy besides the after dinner mints. Well, we just parceled out the leftovers amongst the guests. I got thru it just fine. It was a good day."

At first I thought that fat young rooster was surely not enough for a gathering of 12 adults. It looked as if they would have very little meat per person, especially in consideration of all the dessert on hand. In re-reading that letter, I found Ina had also prepared roast beef. It was a feast in a lean year. To me it proves one thing. The tradition of holiday feasting, at least in my family, goes way back and is not just a modern-day development. KW

FEASTING ON SWEET POTATOES

I remember Mother and my sister, Nina, discussing sweet potato balls. I'm going to say I was no more than 10 at the time. I couldn't see that there was anything wrong with Mother's candied sweet potatoes, but Nina was talking about making sweet potato balls. I even remembered that they were looking at Mother's copy of Irma Rombauer's "The Joy of Cooking" (1946). In fact, when I checked that cookbook for the recipe, I found Mother's marker still on the page.

Sweet Potato Balls

Prepare by the preceding rule: Mashed sweet potatoes (I assume you can figure out how to mash your sweet potatoes.)
You may add: Grated orange rind or juice
Form potato balls around: Marshmallows (may be omitted)
Dilute: 1 egg
With: 2 tablespoons water
Dip the balls in the egg, then in: crushed cornflakes (I remember that Nina pressed half a red candied cherry into the center of each ball.)
Place the balls in a greased pan and bake until crisp in a moderate oven (350). Turn them to brown evenly. If desired the balls may be topped before being baked with a dab of butter and a little brown sugar.

Candied Sweet Potatoes (Mother made them this way.)
Slice 6 pared cooked sweet potatoes. Place in greased casserole. Add a syrup made of 1 cup brown sugar, ¼ cup water, ¼ cup butter, 1/3 cup butter, ½ tsp. salt. Bake at 350 (moderate oven) 45 minutes, basting occasionally. Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, 1950 edition

Now, I'm not one to fuss much over the food, so when it fell to me to fix the sweet potatoes, I used the recipe below. If I made it today, I would use fat free sour cream and egg substitute and never know the difference.

Sweet Potato Mallow -- A classic recipe, Marshmallows form a snow-capped topping on the colorful casserole. It's a natural teammate for ham or the Thanksgiving turkey.
1 pound sweet potatoes or yams (about 3 medium)
½ cup dairy sour cream
1 egg yolk
½ tsp. salt
1/3 tsp. mace
¼ cup miniature marshmallows or cup-up large marshmallows
If using fresh sweet potatoes, prepare and cook.
Heat oven to 350. In small mixer bowl, combine sweet potatoes, sour cream, egg yolk, salt and mace, beat on medium speed until smooth. Pour sweet potato mixture into buttered 1-quart casserole, top with marshmallows. Bake 30 minutes or until marshmallows are puffed and golden brown. 4 servings. Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 1969

Richard writes about Thanksgiving, Southern style:"Mike's right about the dressing. We gave up mashed potatoes years ago but continue to have sweet potatoes (different recipes for different years). My favorite is to boil them, peel them, slice them about a 1/4 inch thick, put a little butter and brown sugar on them and caramelize them in a black iron skillet. So what if it's not low cal? It's Thanksgiving."

It's quite chilly here at the farm today and raining off and on. We're rather confined to the house, so I made a good start on deep cleaning the kitchen. And I rewarded myself for my efforts by putting my Pfaltzgraff Christmas Heritage dinner plates in the plate rack. KW

FEASTING AT THANKSGIVING

"We are to have a community dinner at the Gilbert schoolhouse Thanksgiving. I got 2 quarts of Cranberries Saturday. If it is bad weather I'll have Julian's here. We have had 2 weeks or more of fine weather, just a shower now and then and some frost and in October it got to 24 above and froze the pumpkins some." Great-Aunt Bertha Dobson, 11-26-33, Gilbert (near Orofino), Idaho

"Say! Why didn't you tell [in your last letter] what you had for Thanksgiving dinner? I am always interested in hearing it. . . . . We all went to the old Gilbert schoolhouse. You should have seen all the cakes, chicken, pies, and lovely salads. 44 [people] there. In the P.M. we went to the other schoolhouse and had songs and Mrs. Weeks gave that reading "Sally Ann" where she turned all the deacons and even the preacher a going over; it was fine and we all had such a good time. Ida and Ella went to Ella's at Ahsahka; 21 in all there for dinner. August Grimms had 21, too, and had a 22-pound turkey for them." Bertha, 12-17-33

"You folks sure had a feast on Thanksgiving but your Xmas dinners were good enough for any one and healthier, too, I suppose. I know that squash must have made a nice vase. I've read about such things." Bertha, 2-13-34

"What a time you all had Thanksgiving and what a big dinner. Mine didn't come up to it only we had pork cake and squash pie, too." Bertha, 12-18-35

Bertha also tells the relatives in Drain, Oregon, that she had never had turkey for Thanksgiving. They had pork roast instead. Of course, they didn't raise turkeys and living on the farm they wouldn't have bought meat. In the letters I have, Grandma Ina does not mention Thanksgiving, but she does describe several New Year's dinners at Bertha's (another post).

Over on the Modern Retro Housewife blog, we've been wondering if Thanksgiving was a less lavish meal, perhaps a healthier meal, in years gone by. Thanksgiving menus in recipe books seem to suggest this, but frankly, I can't remember that Thanksgiving dinner was ever anything but a lavish feast in my family. Our extended family gathered for turkey, dressing (stuffing), giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes in some form, a few side dishes, dinner rolls, and then at least three varieties of pie. Of course, the meal was a shared responsibility with each family bringing side dishes or desserts as agreed in advance. In addition, Mother would set out a plate of whatever holiday goodies she had ready, such as fruitcake and divinity. It was rich food – and my parents weren't ignorant on the subject of diet and nutrition. The menu was planned along traditional lines with no particular thought as to whether the meal was healthy. It was meant to be a feast and we looked forward to it as such.

Mike, born in 1941, says he also remembers Thanksgiving as a feast at his family home in Arkansas and then Mississippi. He says the menu was the same as my family's with the exception of potatoes. You don't need potatoes, he says, when you have stuffing. Well, this year he gets his way, because my sister says she doesn't want to deal with mashed potatoes and gravy.

In 1972 and 1973, I was living in Boston, and I had Thanksgiving dinner at the beautiful apartment of a friend in Cambridge. We were a diverse group, coming from Idaho, Colorado, California, and Missouri. We all had the same expectation of the feast. The meal was much the same as I'd had at home. I remember thinking, "There is no relief on this plate!" Everything was so very rich. I began to think about the self-imposed agony of over-indulgence and to realize that I simply didn't have to over eat. The food is not going away in a flash. There will be leftovers to enjoy.

So – how do you remember Thanksgiving? Do you think the feast was simpler in "simpler" times? Are you interested in simplifying your celebration of this holiday?

[The photos are of Thanksgiving celebrations at my Mother's taken in the early '70s. I probably wasn't there. You can see that we are dressed casually -- a concession to making a more relaxed day.] KW

[Daughter Hallie comments that she can't confidently identify any of the people. These photos are probably 10 years before her time. I decided to identify them here on the original post so that those for whom identification is meaningful can do so more easily.

Photo 1: lst table -- Mike N. (back to camera), David (redhead to Mike's right), Shann Profitt (to Mike's left), Mark Nunan in 4th position. Big table: Grandma Dobson (my mother) in white with back to camera; Mary to Grandma's left; Rachel; Becky; Harriet; L.J.; Pat in red sweater; probably Cheryl tucked between Pat and her dad, Chuck; Bill to Grandma's right.

Photo 2: Joni in gold; moving clockwise -- Grandma; Becky; Monica; I'm guessing the next is Rachel and the next we can't see; then Harriet just over Joni's chair; Pat; Mike; L.J.; Mary; and Mark. Hard to believe 35 years have passed. Seems like yesterday.]