My wife and I rarely cook turkey for Thanksgiving. This year we’re coming Cornish hens. In previous years we’ve cooked duck, leg of lamb, and rib roast. It’s not that we don’t like turkey, but there are lots of other things that I think I’d prefer eating.
Are you cooking something other than turkey this year? Or maybe preparing your turkey in a non-traditional way?
It’s just me for Thanksgiving this year, but I wanted to do a little something. Made deviled egg potato salad, but everything else was super simple. I decided to do indoor bbq on my Ninja indoor grill/air fryer. Just a sous vide chicken breast finished on the grill with bbq sauce glaze and canned baked beans. I did want a little Thanksgiving flavor so a I made a box of Stovetop cornbread stuffing, with gravy and cranberry sauce, and a small maple/mustard glazed ham steak. The ham steak was the only thing I bought specifically to make. Everything else was just stuff I had in the pantry/fridge.
“Cooking” (i.e. reheating) a city ham (i.e. fully cooked , Easter-style ham) sous vide this year. Just me and the partner this year,so a turkey doesn’t make sense, especially since I’m usually underwhelmed with turkey anyway.
Normally I smoke a turkey, duck, or pork roast. But this year we have canceled Thanksgiving and probably will Christmas too. Just not enough funds to justify the cost of a big dinner for 3 people.
Definitely feel that. I just got a little ham steak and some sides I’m doing just for me this year. Not doing anything for Xmas. I’ll be recovering from a surgery, yay!
Similar situation here. There’s two of us and my SOs veg kids. It doesn’t make sense to make a lot of anything.
Turkey is bland anyway, and I don’t want to be eating one for two weeks.
Bear stew.
My landlord shot it and cooked it.
I thought it would be awful … But it was delicious!
Mostly sticking with ham these days.
Always wanted to try bear! I heard it was fatty/greasy, but it probably wasn’t prepared properly.
Over the top chili, smoked. Never tried it, really looking forward to it.
That’s what I heard too. But it turned out to be great. I haven’t had it since, sadly.
We’ve done Cornish Hens exclusively before, but we usually do ham plus Turkey.
What we did one year and are gonna do again this year that’s a little non-traditional is the boneless turkey roasts that you can get, instead of a full turkey. The breast roast gets a wet salt brine overnight, stuffed, and then wrapped in bacon. The dark-meat roast gets dry-brined with salt and a few herbs, and then coated in solid fat to develop a crust.
That sounds fantastic! I’m a big proponent of cooking the white and dark meat separately.
Edit of title required…
Thanks for pointing that out!
Roasted chicken thighs with mashed apples and garlic and a pork loin with pears raisins and dates in the slow cooker.
