America Gets The Bird

[LizzieMaine]

Thanksgiving, 1945.

Seeing an actual 1940s turkey in action puts Norman Rockwell's famous 1943 painting "Freedom From Want" into context -- he wasn't depicting the reality of his time as much as he was offering a postwar dream of a world where no one could ever go hungry. A fantasy-sized monster turkey was part of that dream.

Of course, Brother Rockwell didn't count on genetic and hormonal manipulation of poultry as the way forward, but the Boys certainly did. By the late 1950s, the typical American Thanksgiving turkey was considerably heavier -- although a good bit of that weight was broth, brine, or water injected into the carcass after slaughter to keep it juicy.

 

[HanauMan]

Growing up in the 1970s, our family Thanksgiving meal usually consisted of Mom, Dad, my brother and I having a Turkey TV dinner each. May not have been a traditional meal, but I still have fond memories of them.

 

[Fading Fast]

Growing up in the 1970s, our family Thanksgiving meal usually consisted of Mom, Dad, my brother and I having a Turkey TV dinner each. May not have been a traditional meal, but I still have fond memories of them.

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I ate a ton of those growing up (my mother hated cooking). My only complaint was they should have switched the peas-and-carrots partition with the dessert partition and then the amounts of each would have been closer to the quantity you wanted.

I also remember Swanson putting out a fried chicken version of the Hungry Man meals - and that one made up a sizable number of my teenage-years' dinners.

 

[LizzieMaine]

To be honest, I don't like turkey. I've never liked turkey. I don't like the flavor, and I don't like all the fuss that goes into preparing it, and I really don't like the leftovers that start to smell up the refrigerator before the loathsome thing is finally gone. The smell of a week-old half-picked turkey carcass to me is the odor of the grave.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving, to me, was always the bowl of Cain's sweet mixed pickles, specifically the pickled cauliflower. I can't stand plain cauliflower -- but the little pickled kind is something I would always look forward to. I would always eat all of those out of the bowl and leave the rest of the pieces for everybody else.

The best Thanksgiving meal I ever had as a kid is the year we had baked Spam instead of a turkey. Glaze that baby up with brown sugar and mustard, stud it with cloves, and you've got a real treat.

 

[scottyrocks]

Last night we had corned beef on rye with mustard, potato salad and coleslaw. And sour pickles.

Apple pie for desert.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Here in Austria, I had to work yesterday. So we are celebrating Thanksgiving today, Friday. Substituting roast chicken for the big bird. Sides: my wife’s famous stuffing, my mashed potatoes, gravy, local Preisselbeeren (lingonberries?) as a cranberry substitute, green beans. Pretty low key event. Last year we bought a French free-range turkey. I’ll just say that it wasn’t anything that an American would call a turkey. Half as meaty and with a somewhat gamey flavor. Probably it was more similar to what the pilgrims ate than a butterball is. For all that nitpicking, thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. Mainly because it has mostly evaded the boys’ efforts to commercialize it. Happy thanksgiving everyone.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

To be honest, I don't like turkey. I've never liked turkey. I don't like the flavor, and I don't like all the fuss that goes into preparing it, and I really don't like the leftovers that start to smell up the refrigerator before the loathsome thing is finally gone. The smell of a week-old half-picked turkey carcass to me is the odor of the grave.

How about making a large curry with the leftovers & then you'll have the odor of an Indian grave perfuming your fridge. Exoticism !

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Growing up in the 1970s, our family Thanksgiving meal usually consisted of Mom, Dad, my brother and I having a Turkey TV dinner each. May not have been a traditional meal, but I still have fond memories of them.

View attachment 145555

Reconstituted meat, processed vegetables & aluminium tray......they knew how to live dangerously back then.

 

[Zombie_61]

We had a reasonably traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year: Turkey, stuffing, home-made Au Gratin potatoes, a "vegetable medley" (cauliflower, broccoli, and sliced carrots swimming in cream of mushroom soup, Swiss cheese, and "French fried" onions), that cranberry gelatin stuff out of a can, and "pumpkin pie" cheesecake for dessert. It was a very low-key gathering that most people might consider boring, but that's the way my wife and I like it--sharing time and a good meal with people we care about.

 

[vitanola]

Thanksgiving, 1945.

View attachment 145548

Seeing an actual 1940s turkey in action puts Norman Rockwell's famous 1943 painting "Freedom From Want" into context -- he wasn't depicting the reality of his time as much as he was offering a postwar dream of a world where no one could ever go hungry. A fantasy-sized monster turkey was part of that dream.

Of course, Brother Rockwell didn't count on genetic and hormonal manipulation of poultry as the way forward, but the Boys certainly did. By the late 1950s, the typical American Thanksgiving turkey was considerably heavier -- although a good bit of that weight was broth, brine, or water injected into the carcass after slaughter to keep it juicy.

 

[scottyrocks]

Reconstituted meat, processed vegetables & aluminium tray......they knew how to live dangerously back then.

These days we know that about the only thing you can cook in that won't poison you is glass. Plastic and aluminum, as in foil, both leach chemicals and/or residue into the food.

 

[3fingers]

Last I knew my old iron was safe, at least outside of California.

 

[GHT]

These days we know that about the only thing you can cook in that won't poison you is glass. Plastic and aluminum, as in foil, both leach chemicals and/or residue into the food.

You forgot Teflon, but of course, as DuPont will say, nothing sticks.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

These days we know that about the only thing you can cook in that won't poison you is glass.

Yep, if you cook in glass, it's only the toxic residues in the food you gotta worry about.

 

[Billygee]

To be honest, I don't like turkey. I've never liked turkey. I don't like the flavor, and I don't like all the fuss that goes into preparing it, and I really don't like the leftovers that start to smell up the refrigerator before the loathsome thing is finally gone. The smell of a week-old half-picked turkey carcass to me is the odor of the grave.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving, to me, was always the bowl of Cain's sweet mixed pickles, specifically the pickled cauliflower. I can't stand plain cauliflower -- but the little pickled kind is something I would always look forward to. I would always eat all of those out of the bowl and leave the rest of the pieces for everybody else.

The best Thanksgiving meal I ever had as a kid is the year we had baked Spam instead of a turkey. Glaze that baby up with brown sugar and mustard, stud it with cloves, and you've got a real treat.

I was just about to get some leftover turkey,but changed my mind

 

[Haversack]

Thanksgiving dinner here was fairly low-key. Four of us. My wife and her father and step-mother. Cooking was a joint effort. She made a pecan pie, no-churn maple-walnut ice cream, and baked sweet potatoes with balsamic vinegar. Since a turkey has two cavities we each got to make our preferred stuffing, (i.e. what we grew up with). Her's was a Southern cornbread stuffing and mine was a Scottish oatmeal and sausage stuffing. I roasted and tended the bird, made the Brussels sprouts and salmorejo, and washed the dishes. Leftover turkey is disappearing via enchiladas, crepes, paella, omelettes, and sandwiches.

 

[Bamaboots]

Simple this year, just 4 of us. Baked a buttermilk brined turkey with roast garlic mashed potatoes, and a green bean casserole made using green beans canned, harvested from the garden, no Campbell's cream of mushroom soup in the casserole and cornbread dressing. Do they still use the apostrophe?

The only drama came was when during the last temp check on the bird, I noticed the temp not rising on the oven when I closed the door. Took my dumb@$$ until the temp dropped to 190° to realize there was a problem. I was at least smart enough to leave the door closed and was able to get the bird up to temp.

Mashed potatoes were done on the still functioning stove top. It took a little creative work on the gas grill to get the green bean casserole and cornbread dressing cooked. All turned out well. Cheesecake Factory cheesecake from the frozen section was dessert.

Tonight was spent in a box store looking at ranges/stoves. The POS LG that tanked is only about seven years old, about the same age as the POS LG dishwasher that I replaced a year ago. Enjoy the holidays, ya'll.

 

[3fingers]

Modern appliances are just garbage. They come into your house just waiting to betray you.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Modern appliances are just garbage. They come into your house just waiting to betray you.

It's not the appliances that betray you, it's the manufacturers but hey, you want economic growth, you gotta keep the goods rolling.

 

[LizzieMaine]

If The American Way is the wheel, you're the gerbil.