ALT-2 How to Celebrate Thanksgiving without Turkey
The main meat served during Thanksgiving is turkey. However, one could get sick and tired of having turkey every Thanksgiving, simply do not care enough about turkey, or waiting to have it for Christmas, there are plenty of alternatives to serve on the dinner table. Just because you are planning to serve Thanksgiving dinner does not mean you have to strictly serve turkey. While turkey is a traditional meat served during Thanksgiving, traditions can change. Most often, traditions do have slight to major changes. One could compare Thanksgiving to the traditional martial arts. Traditional martial arts, over the years, will make gradual changes to their respective curricular systems. Moves could be added, modified, or removed. A traditional Thanksgiving meal is by no means any different for the most part.
The first substitute for turkey, in Thanksgiving, is pork. There are many families across the country that would choose to serve pork instead of turkey for a number of reasons. Also, pork can be a bit quicker to prepare than turkey. However, that solely depends on how big is the pork going to be. Keep in mind that, if you want stuffing, you will have to prepare it separately. Unlike pork, you can easily stuff the turkey. While you can stuff pork, it should take a little more effort to do so. You could also go for pork tenderloin as it will be easier to serve. If you come from a Chinese and/or Vietnamese household, then your family may more than likely serve up roast pork.
The second substitute for turkey can be chicken. However, chicken is not necessarily a substitute for turkey in most cases. Fried, grilled, or barbecue chicken can be a fast and viable substitute for turkey. In the movie called “What's Cooking,” the Vietnamese family decided to go buy fried chicken as a last minute safety call when the turkey got burned in the oven. Depending on how many people are coming to your place for Thanksgiving dinner, you can buy a few buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken or a few boxes of Popeye's Chicken. You could even roast up a couple of Cornish game hens in your oven. Roasting chicken itself can be easier than roasting a turkey.
The third substitute for turkey can be beef. There is nothing against Thanksgiving traditional about serving beef for dinner. You could cook a big chunk of beef; but, that will take a long time to cook. However, you can still afford to serve the beef at medium rare. Like pork, you can also cook up some beef tenderloin.
The fourth substitute for turkey can be lamb. You could serve up leg of lamb as a Thanksgiving meal as a viable substitute.
The fifth substitute for turkey could be roasted ham. Though, this is not a common substitute as ham can be reserved for Christmas, New Year's Day, and/or Easter. In most cases, ham is already prepared. It should be fast to heat up and serve the ham. With ham, you do not have to
The sixth substitute for turkey can be “tofurky.” Unfortunately, tofurky is usually available on a seasonal basis. Mainly, this can only be available during Thanksgiving and Christmas. This can be bought as a loaf or a loaf with gravy. It is a good substitute for those that are vegetarian or vegan. If you have dinner guests that are either vegetarian or vegan, it should be a good idea to also serve up tofurky out of consideration.
Also, keep in mind, a Thanksgiving dinner does not have to be traditional. With all these substitutes for turkey, you can do so many different things. With ground beef, you could make a large meatloaf. If you want something more casual, you could have steaks, burgers, and ribs. In short, you could have a Thanksgiving barbecue which feels more casual and relaxing. There are cases in which households served pizzas instead of turkey. This is good due to football games which do play on Thanksgiving Day.
Even if it is Thanksgiving, you do not necessarily have to serve turkey. Also, a Thanksgiving dinner does not have to be traditional. In short, there are plenty of substitutes for turkey.
