Alternative Thanksgiving Dishes/Recipes

[HoosierDaddy]

We've decided to go turkey free this Thanksgiving. Maybe a roast with trimmings instead?
Any good ideas for something else?..or complementary dishes a little different?..good recipes?
My wife seems at her wits end finding something not so necessarily the traditional Thanksgiving fare.
HD

 

[bulldog1935]

what do you think of mudbugs? they're in season

http://www.lacrawfish.com/Party-Packs-To-Your-Door-C27.aspx

 

[Feraud]

How about a big tray of lasagna?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

what do you think of mudbugs? they're in season

http://www.lacrawfish.com/Party-Packs-To-Your-Door-C27.aspx

What do I think..? Love em after living with Caguns for a couple years. However...the wife probably wouldn't touch them even with gloves on!..especially if they're ALIVE.
(sigh)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Sometimes I like baked ham as a change of pace.

 

[kiwilrdg]

You could always try to recreate an early Thanksgiving.

Deer and fish are perhaps the best documented early Plymouth Thanksgiving items.

The first North American Thanksgiving at Berkeley Plantation was a day of fasting, but that's not as fun.

 

[Feraud]

I've purchased ham from Neuske's and was very satisfied.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had a baked Spam one year, and it was absolutely delicious. Glaze it with brown sugar and mustard, stud it with cloves, and it's perfect for a small, two-person meal.

 

[kiwilrdg]

We had a baked Spam one year, and it was absolutely delicious. Glaze it with brown sugar and mustard, stud it with cloves, and it's perfect for a small, two-person meal.

Sounds very much like a 1943 type meal.

 

[sheeplady]

You could do a stuffed pumpkin. Bake the pumpkin and then stuff it with some type of stuffing (I like rice and meat, seasoned Middle Eastern style) and rebake. Although, that is fall themed.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Sounds very much like a 1943 type meal.

Close enough. I have a 1939 National Geographic magazine with an ad for Spam that offers that very suggestion.

 

[Atticus Finch]

I sometimes steam a bushel of oysters at Thanksgiving...or several bushels if a whole bunch of people are coming. But that's not something I thunk up. Steamed oysters at Thanksgiving is actually a fairly well-established tradition here in eastern NC.

AF

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I sometimes steam a bushel of oysters at Thanksgiving...or several bushels if a whole bunch of people are coming. But that's not something I thunk up. Steamed oysters at Thanksgiving is actually a fairly well-established tradition here in eastern NC.

AF

Can't beat fresh oysters from NC/SC. Some of the best I've ever had was while visiting Charleston.
HD

 

[countryclubjoe]

Not having turkey on thanksgiving is well ' Unamerican"

CCJ

 

[Warden]

I filmed this a few years ago as an alternative Christmas dinner, called Murkey (Mock Turkey) but thought it might be fitting for my American chums holiday

[video=youtube_share;IGFgOF0x9d8]http://youtu.be/IGFgOF0x9d8[/video]

 

[HoosierDaddy]

It is fitting and looks yummy! Thanks for the vid..!!
HD

 

[Feraud]

Not having turkey on thanksgiving is well ' Unamerican"

CCJ

Many turkeys would disagree.

 

[bulldog1935]

Oysters - now I have to visit Captain Benny's in Fulton Beach - it's only 2 hours away...

 

[dhermann1]

I've had a couple of vegetabilian Thanksgivings over the past few years, and as delicious as the food was, they both seemed like a panoply of side dishes, looking for a main course. I made a big stuffed pumpkin once, and it was great. But we grossly (I mean GROSSLY) overestimated the size pumpkin we'd need, and wound up tossing about 3/4 of it away, after eating a LOT.
I think the venison idea is a great one, if you can find it. Farm raised venison can be superb, but it can easily cost twice as mush as almost any other kind of meat. Likewise, pheasant might be nice, but requires sloooowww cooking to be good.
The internet has staggering numbers of wonderful looking recipes to try.

 

[bulldog1935]

venison or duck (or anything) slow-smoked in a side-box smoker is too good for words.

smoked a turkey for 20 hours one Thanksgiving, and not a crumb was left over

my ex- is a vegan - stuffed acorn squash was a norm every holiday meal.

how about bacon-wrapped chicken?
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,chicken_wraps,FF.html