Thanks, who's giving?

If you have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner menu in mind, then it wouldn't surprise you that most people in this country probably have the same menu. Thinking logically, most tables will have a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing/dressing, cranberry sauce, gravy, dinner rolls, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes/candied yams, pumpkin pie. These are pretty much the staple of any dinner I have ever attended (or made myself). It's pretty simple and most of the folks I know share the same stories about the same foods they have consumed in a lifetime of sameness over and over.

I try to go out of my way to include something different when Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner menus are being planned. One year I got a little over zealous and decided to make a stuffed turkey with an orange marmalade stuffing. It didn't go over too well and I learned my lesson when it came to fucking with a simple traditional recipe. I blame it on my measurements and willfully acknowledge that a little bit of orange marmalade goes a long way. Too much and there is no saving the dish. Even the turkey had that overpowering orange flavor. It was a disaster and one my friends rarely let me forget.

I think that experimenting is part of the fun when cooking. Try new things and you might be surprised at what you will enjoy. I have been part of a family that relishes in the same ole same ole. It's hard to get any of the younger generation to try something new when most of the older folks turn their noses at any deviation from the norm. I have made suggestions in the past that have been met with indifference. Debates range from whether or not a dish would be eaten or whether or not I would be taking it home to enjoy on my own. With limited refrigerator space, the outcome has always been to avoid anything new.

New things aren't always a deviation from what is on the standard menu. Instead of canned cranberry sauce, I have made homemade. When it comes to candied yams or sweet potatoes, I am always in favor of (and have made) fresh baked and not from a can. Stuffing/dressing can be made differently (my past mistake noted and never repeated). Dinner rolls taste better when made from scratch rather than the packaged brown and serve rolls that litter grocery stores. All things aside, there are so many things that can be done differently to achieve the same menu options. Boring.

A few years back I took a stab at making a different dressing. Instead of stuffing it inside of the bird, I made it as a casserole dish and it turned out pretty good. I haven't made my apple, sausage and sage dressing for a few years now. It is made with fresh challah  bread, fresh ingredients and spices. I love it more than Mrs. Cubbison's boxed stuffing. I have never used Stove Top for a holiday meal. To me that is just sacrilege and no self respecting chef would ever allow this as part of his/her holiday meal. My recipe is locked in my head to make every year that I am allowed to make it.

Not that anyone really ever asks, but I do have a specific menu that I tend to stick to for the holidays. The central part of that menu is there must be something new to replace something old. Green bean casserole is great, but it is the one thing that almost no one wants to eat. Candied sweet potatoes with charred marshmallows are a novelty, but the leftovers almost always get thrown away the day of or after the holiday. Followed by cranberry sauce and over cooked dinner rolls. I firmly believe that if something doesn't get eaten, then it shouldn't be made. Some traditions just have to die.

My family has always had deviled eggs at any holiday dinner. Up until a few years ago I was under the impression that this was a staple at every Thanksgiving dinner. Now I try to figure out how many people will actually eat the deviled eggs that I make. If there is a small party, there is no sense in going overboard to make them. If my sisters and my mother are present, then there will be an overabundance on the serving line. They're a simple hor d'oeuvres that most people rarely complain about.

Desserts are also something that should be rotated from time to time. I love pumpkin pie. I love pecan pie. I love chocolate pie. I love cheesecake. All of these things don't always belong on the serving line at the end of the day. Yes, yes, yes....we all need choices, but it is too much. I have a girlfriend who makes pumpkin rolls. Another friend makes wedding cookies. Then there are the aberrations like half pumpkin, half cheesecake, that infuriate me to no end. Leave it be or mix the two until you come up with something amazing. A pumpkin cheescake is amazing and tastes so light and fluffy. A cheesecake on a pumpin pie and vice versa is stupid. They cook differently and look weird when layered.

I remember trying to make a cherry and cranberry pie a few years back. I did everything that any normal chef would do. I got fresh cherries and fresh cranberries, then proceeded to pit and cook everything until the right consistency.  I cheated and bought already made pie crust. I took the bottom crust and weighed it down in my pie plate and baked it so that I wouldn't have a "gooey" crust. I mixed the cherry and cranberry compote until it filled the pie plate full. for the top layer, I cut out little stars from the pie crust, put the pie crust on top of the filling and then laid the little stars out over the cut sections to create steam vents for the filling. I topped it all off with crystallized sugar and baked it until a beautiful golden crust appeared. It was my Thanksgiving newbie. I was so proud of it.

When dessert time came that Thanksgiving night, I was all too eager to have folks try my cherry/cranberry pie. I cut a large slice and proceeded to put a huge dollop of whipped cream on top of it. I waited for everyone to get a slice and inside I was giddy. All I could think of was how great this would be to become a new tradition. Then I bit into my piece of pie. There isn't an emoji available that expresses my facial features when the tartness hit everyone of my taste buds. I mean, it wasn't so tart that it couldn't be enjoyed, but it was tart enough to earn the consensus of Thanksgiving failure. I was super disappointed.

This year I plan on making two new dishes that I haven't had since I was a little kid. Well one I haven't had since I was little, the other I have never had. Creamed Corn Casserole is a nice alternative to green bean casserole. It's sweet and gooey and contains everything that is essentially bad for you. It is perfect for a Thanksgiving side dish. The other thing that I am challenging myself to this year is a carrot souffle. I love sweet potatoes, but I think that this may be a great alternative to the candied kind that seem to be thrown out too quickly. I know the kids won't eat the souffle. Hell, some of the adults may scoff at the idea of eating it as well. I just know that both dishes are something that I hope will become a new tradition in my ever changing Thanksgiving feast.

When it is all said and done what I really want to accomplish is creating a memory for the younger kids in my family. Things are changing so quickly in this world. I am afraid that they are going to become those people who can't see what a little bit of imagination can do during the holidays. I am so anti traditional things during the holidays that my non-traditionalism almost seems traditional. It's all about being universal. I only want folks to enjoy things that they wouldn't normally enjoy if they had the choice. Most people choose to bypass something different. It's such a shame.