Do you make the same Thanksgiving dinner that your Mom did?

[BikeBookBread]

If you make Thanksgiving dinner in your home, do you prepare the same meal using the same recipes that your Mom did? Do you do a blend of your Mom and MIL (for dh's sake)? Or do you do 100% your own thing? Or something else? Is there anything you would love to do differently that your family fights?

 

I was just thinking about that Everybody Loves Raymond episode when Debra made the fish...cracks me up every time; I totally understand her desire to do her own thing, yet feel the "pain" of the family for wanting tradition as well.

 

Just curious.

 

ETA: RATS! Forgot the "Other" in the poll....

Edited November 24, 2009 by BikeBookBread

[Aubrey]

LOL--my mom didn't ever cook Thanksgiving dinner. She brought sweet potatoes to my grandmother's meal. Hers were from a can.

 

I'm a pretty traditional kind of girl, so there's little variation here. We do mil's stuffing--because it's good & it's the only recipe I have, & a fresher variety of the things my grandmothers made. But dh's parents grew up w/out their dads & dh grew up w/out grandparents, so there's... less stake in the actual food for them. They've managed, as a group, to somehow get past the food & be glad for *who* is there. (As long as everybody agress about football.)

 

I hope that's coherent. 1yo is banging his head against the keyboard & singing, lol, so ... I have no idea what I've said...

[Crimson Wife]

The first year we were married, my IL's came to visit us for Christmas. My MIL sent me a 3 page list of what to serve. I think she was trying to be helpful, but I was intimidated. My DH insisted that every single item we served had to be made 100% from scratch. I was too insecure as a 22 year old new bride to say anything. I literally cooked for 3 days straight and was too exhausted to enjoy Christmas.

 

I learned my lesson from that experience and from then on, any big holiday dinner is done on MY terms. ;) I'll try my best to accommodate requests but ultimately I'm the one cooking so what I say goes :D

[Crissy]

While my mom gets an enormous amount of satisfaction from feeding people, she doesn't really like to cook. She is the queen of the shortcut in the kitchen. Lots of pre-packaged foods and mixes.

I prefer foods made from scratch with quality ingredients, so our holiday cooking styles are completely different.

[tex-mex]

Lawd no... my mother didn't cook. Her idea of Thanksgiving were Stovetop stuffing, instant mashed potatoes, canned green beans heated up, and a turkey "roll" with store bought rolls. *shudder* :eek:

 

Since then, I've been spoiled rotten by my MIL who can cook! She bakes her own bread, for example. I cook like my MIL... lol :D

[Jean in Newcastle]

I suppose the basics (turkey, stuffing etc.) are the same. But I don't know what hers tasted like. I've never tasted her Thanksgiving meal since I was gone at boarding school. We had cafeteria turkey.

[tex-mex]

I prefer foods made from scratch with quality ingredients, so our holiday cooking styles are completely different.

 

:iagree:

[mommaduck]

I need an other. My mother couldn't cook; my stepdad always made dinner. The only thing my mama knew how to make was pumpkin pie and tuna helper. I do fix some of the same things though...candied yams (with marshmallows), green bean casserole, and stuffing. I do turkey my own way and I would love to do corn on the cob like we used to do.

[Sputterduck]

My mother is truly gifted at Thanksgiving food. There is no better. :)

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

I make virtually everything just like my mom makes. However, she is famous for her stuffing recipe and I never liked it. DH grew up with Stove Top and I prefer a mashed potato bed for my turkey so I humor him with the Stove Top (even though it kills me a little bit to serve something out of a box instead of homemade, despite my distaste for stuffing but anyway...) and make mashed potatoes too.

 

My FIL and/or DH's Granny were the ones who made Thanksgiving dinner on his side, never MIL to my knowledge. I make my dear FIL's recipe for corn spoon bread because it is one of my best memories of him. He passed away in 2000 and I still mourn that loss. DH doesn't even like the corn spoon bread but I won't stop making it.

 

I broke with both sides for a few years with a homemade cran-raspberry sauce (laced with Grand Marnier) that (I thought) was incredible. Unfortunately, I was the only one who would rather have it than the canned jelly so I cried uncle and gave up. Oh, and I make pecan pie even though neither DH or I grew up with it because DH just loves it. We only have it once a year, on Thanksgiving.

[missmoe]

I've only cooked Thanksgiving about 5 times since we've been married(17 years). I cook what I want which includes things from my childhood and traditional Asian food from my husband's family. I don't really remember what my mother served for Thanksgiving. I don't think it was anything special, but she was a really good cook and I learned good cooking from her. I do cook turkey, because I know everyone expects it, but I really don't like it. The first year I did Thanksgiving my FIL carved the turkey and offered my some. I told him no thanks I don't care for turkey, and he replied well then why did you make it? Good question. I think some things are expected for a traditional holiday like Thanksgiving. I am making green bean casserole for the first time this year. It was requested by my FIL. It's such an odd request from him that I thought I would honor it. I told my MIL what the menu is and let her know that she can add to it as she wishes. She doesn't wish to. :D

 

 

 

 

The underlining has no significance--my computer just does that sometimes!:tongue_smilie:

[OnTheBrink]

My mother was a horrible cook, so my holiday meals (and regular day meals) are nothing like what she attempted to make.

[JoyfulMama]

I didn't vote... I'm one of those difficult "other" checkers. :tongue_smilie:

 

This is my first year doing Thanksgiving with the in-laws, so I have no idea what they serve specifically. And my mom never did Thanksgiving, as we were out of town, and went to another family member's house.

 

The last number of years we cooked Thanksgiving, and I think we used one of my family recipes (my grandfather's stuffing), one of his family recipes (dried sweet corn), and a few things of our own (fresh cranberries sauce, fresh bread, a variation on sweet potato casserole, a variation on green bean casserole) and of course a green salad and another vegetable.

 

Our menu was more to our daily food requirements/preferences. Everyone else had to deal with our "funny" way of eating once a year. :D

[kewb]

On the rare occasion that I host Thanksgiving it is all my own. My mother never made the same thing year to year. I will say that some of the things I prepare are mom inspired.

[zaichiki]

My mother didn't ever cook Thanksgiving meals. We always went to the grandparents' house. My MIL is a recent American and doesn't cook Thanksgiving meals either. (She comes over here.)

 

My grandparents used to make gravy from scratch. I have tried it... but failed every time. Interestingly, they also used frozen dinner rolls, boxed-powdered potatoes, and canned veggies. I do it in reverse: gravy from a jar, but fresh dinner rolls, and real potatoes/veggies.

[angela in ohio]

Okay, this is the first time I've ever had to ask for an "other." I voted the second choice, but really it is half moms and half mine.

 

This year, we are having an odd mix for Thanksgiving (my parents, dh's bachelor brother from California, and a Nigerian student from the university,) so I'm trying to keep it close to my moms, some of m-i-l's, and a lot of "traditional American Thanksgiving." I may end up cooking twenty dishes for nine people. :D

[Danestress]

So no, even though I love my Mom's way of cooking, I try to do a blend of what DH loved as a child and what I did.

 

However, this year, my sister is cooking the entire meal, and it's all gourmet. We are doing something entirely different.

[LauraGB]

:smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5:

 

Oh my goodness! If I made the same thing my mom made, we'd all be eating Stove Top Stuffing, canned green beans, brown 'n' serve rolls and crock pot turkey breast mixed with cream-of-some!@#$ soup!

[BikeBookBread]

I'm honestly REALLY surprised by the poll results! I voted "ALL MY OWN", but didn't ever think that so many would do their own thing! Maybe we HSers are just independent by nature...

[Emmy]

I do all my own thing. I don't like the dressing (she calls it dressing, not stuffing) my mom makes and I am probably a bit more gourmet than she is both in cooking style and ingredients used. My MILs thanksgiving involves a lot of jello-cool whip salads and various sides that I don't care for and she cooks her turkey overnight at a super low temp (hello??? not safe) in one of those plug in roasters. It tastes oddly steamed. Weird.

 

The first time I cooked a thanksgiving dinner was right after I was married in 1994 and I did an entire menu straight out of Bon Appetit because I wanted to do something unique. It has turned out to be our own family tradition and I've served that same meal (with tweaking and various additions) many times over the years. My parents have had it with us several times - I wonder sometimes if they are as underwhelmed by it as I am by the food on Thanksgiving at their house LOL.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Emmy

[Laurie4b]

I checked all my own, but I do make turkey and mashed potatoes which my mother also served and they taste pretty similar! Otherwise, my pumpkin pie & cranberry recipes are different and I serve different additional sides.

[OnTheBrink]

a Nigerian student from the university

 

Hey, ask him if he brought that check I keep being promised. I have the email as verification. :smilielol5:

[BikeBookBread]

...and a Nigerian student from the university

Hey, ask him if he brought that check I keep being promised. I have the email as verification. :smilielol5:

 

:lol::hurray::spam::nopity:

Edited November 25, 2009 by BikeBookBread

[Renthead Mommy]

If you mean eat out, eat with friends, or bring as simple a thing as possible, then yes, it's pretty much exactly like my mothers!

 

I am however making Okinawa purple sweet potatos this year.

 

And the 7yo wants to make an apple pie. Should be interesting to say the least.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Renthead Mommy

[Mom22ns]

I cook a lot of things just like my mom did. I have taken a couple recipes from my dh's family. I've added a couple of recipes that I liked (mostly healthier versions of the old ones). Then the truth is, I don't cook by recipe, I cook by taste, so most things become my own.

[Moira in MA]

...I came to the US as an adult, so of course I do it *my* way.

 

~Moira

[Ginevra]

If you make Thanksgiving dinner in your home, do you prepare the same meal using the same recipes that your Mom did? Do you do a blend of your Mom and MIL (for dh's sake)? Or do you do 100% your own thing? Or something else? Is there anything you would love to do differently that your family fights?

 

I do cook more like my MIL, but it's not really for dh's sake; it's because MIL is a dang good cook! I really like my MIL's version of many things better than my mother's. My MIL is also almost completely "from scratch" and my Mom isn't, so I'd rather make from scratch.

 

I never liked my Mom's gravy. :tongue_smilie: It's too thin and she chops up all those weird gibblets and throws them in there. :ack2: I like nice, smooth, thick gravy with no unidentifiable extras.

 

Pumpkin pie I make just like my mom, though. And I like the stuffing she always made, although I've "healthied" that recipe up a little.

 

I haven't hosted Thanksgiving dinner yet, though. So, is it wrong that I answered? :D

[WTMCassandra]

I wish there was a "mostly like my mom's" option. I chose "like my mom's, but with my own recipes." I use some of her elements and techniques, with her recipes, and have added in other elements.

 

My DH likes the way my mom does the turkey, so we do that. However, he also likes ham a lot (he came from a big family where they had to have both turkey and ham to have enough for all), so we do turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas. We do mashed potatoes like my mom made them, because I don't like his mom's mashed potatoes.

 

I do some of the vegetables the same as my mom, but we added in a carrot recipe that my husband found in a Williamsburg cookbook and likes. We make his mother's rolls because we all like them. My DH likes to make pies so he makes the pie.

 

So it's a hodgepodge. We are open to changing some of the elements, but when I gave my children a choice, they begged for the old favorites.

 

ETA: Duh. After having actually typed it out and thought it through, I should have voted "blend of mom and MIL." Sigh.

[gingersmom]

A roast turkey was one of the only things my mother was really good at making. And my grandmothers stuffing recipe.

 

My Thanksgiving meals growing up had canned cranberry and sweet potato with the marshmallow on top.

 

I have been promising to make my son Thanksgiving dinner for 2 years now (bad mommy! we go to my brothers every year). We were discussing in the car what are going to make-

 

homemade mashed potatoes

sweet potato pie

apple pie

Roast Turkey (I suggested a vegetarian Tofurkey but was turned down)

[Annie]

I can only dream of being as good of a cook as my mom, but I do alright for myself. :) I have to work half a day on Thanksgiving, and I'm only cooking for two, so I'm making some menu adjustments this year. I'm not making any rolls or sweet potato, and I'm doing mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes for my low carbing it husband. If I was able to be home all day and had a couple of more people to cook for, my dinner would look more like my mom's.

[amy g.]

Our menu has evolved over the years. Dh makes the turkey, and pies using my grandmother's recipes. My mom made a really great dressing, but I never got the recipe, so I make my own mashed potatoes instead.

 

I make my grandmother's rolls which my mother never did. I also make salad and wild rice and fruit salad for Ds who is a vegetarian, but wants a feast anyway. My sister makes an awesome fresh cranberry and orange relish. She also makes sweet potatoes, which I don't really like.

 

Then there was the year we were on Atkins and had mashed fauxtatoes (cauliflower). My sister liked them so much that she requests them every year in addition to the mashed potatoes.

 

My MIL doesn't really know how to cook, so Dh would not want any of her recipes. It's funny. His dad was a great cook, and so is he and all of his brothers, but his sisters can not cook a lick. I'm not sure if it is genetic or just a case of role models.

[Matryoshka]

A medley. :001_smile:

 

I make the turkey just like my mom's - perfect every time.

 

I make the stuffing that my mom started making when I was in my 20's (rather than the one she made during my childhood) - she came up with it when my brother had a flirtation with vegetarianism and we all decided we liked it way better than what she used to make. :tongue_smilie:

 

I make the gravy like my MIL taught me because my mom always made this long, labor-intensive to-do over the gravy, and it was always watery and not so tasty. MIL's way is much faster, thicker, and tastier.

 

I make my own style butternut squash - I always hated the way everyone else made it, and I love this!

 

I've made the pies for my family since high school, so I guess they're mine...

 

Mashed potatoes I make boring (it's the gravy makes 'em good) - and anyhow I mostly end up eating stuffing. I'm not sure it's a recipe - boil, drain, whip with butter, salt and milk. Mashed potatoes.

 

DH is in charge of the cranberry-orange relish, which comes from his side (via the recipe on the Ocean Spray bag).

 

I never make any of the rest of the stuff because someone else brings it. Sweet potates vary - if I'm hosting for my family my brother brings the sweet potato casserole with pineapples, mini marshmallows and nuts; if I'm hosting for dh's family we have candied sweet potates his MIL brings.

 

Neither side had a tradition of green bean casserole, so that is absent. :D