ALT-1 Traditional Thanksgiving Day Dinner Menu
Very few things in this country are more traditional than how we spend our holidays, and Thanksgiving is no exception. Most people serve turkey, roasted whole in the oven, but other than that, what are the other parts of the meal that most would consider to be traditional?
At the top of the most lists I would wager is mashed (or whipped) potatoes served with hot luscious turkey gravy. How could it not be, what with that mass of turkey sitting on your plate. Would it even be palatable were it not for the potatoes and gravy? That’s doubtful, but what is not, is that most guests to any Turkey day dinner would be surprised to say the least if the turkey was cooked and brought out and there was no mashed potatoes to go along with it.
Next up on that traditional list would likely be stuffing (or dressing if you prefer) After all what would the turkey be if it were not stuffed full with something while roasting in the oven? Granted not all stuffing is alike and in fact, there are probably as many varieties served on tables all over the country every year as there are families to eat it.
Once you get past the big three, things start to grow a little murky, but one thing most every family is likely to serve in one form or another is bread or rolls; because your meal sort of begs for it when you serve gravy. Whether the bread or rolls stand on their own or are merely there to help sop up the gravy at the end, you pretty much gotta have something or people will look at you like you’ve made a very serious error in judgment.
After that the rest of the meal is anybody’s guess, though there are some general categories that seem to hold most of the kinds of dishes that get served.
There is also usually a vegetable of course, other than potatoes, and the number one choice is probably corn, because beans tend to arrive in that other category, which is a casserole or side dish. Corn has been and will likely continue to be one of the favorite vegetables served on American plates, so it’s little wonder that it gets a special spot on the Thanksgiving menu as well.
After that are the historical types of items; those dishes that have been in the family for generations for example, or maybe one that is being tried for the first time this year. In any event they are generally concoctions of some kind that tend to go well with mashed potatoes and gravy.
After that, it’s all about the deserts, but those are not technically speaking, on the dinner menu, so they’ll have to wait for another article.
