well turkey is a must - even if you don't serve meat, at least make a tofurkey or something! sweet potatoes, often served with a brown sugar and, amongst lots of households, marshmallow topping, but always in a casserole type dish (I had it like that!). mashed potatoes (gravy offered on the side), stuffing (any variety, varies wildly from area to area), cranberries (served any style), corn (on the cob or not) are all staples. people usually serve a type of pumpkin or fruit pie for dessert, too, and apple cider (with booze or not) and similar drinks are popular with people who bother with beverages.

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I just tried to play "tofurkey" in one of my Scrabble games and had it disallowed. But the petition to get the dictionary updated starts HERE.

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I had=I hate, rather.

the presentation varies from household to household, from cook to cook, but the basics are savory, very heavy, and VERY plentiful! the more people the better, and football should be on in at least one room, whether or not you like to see it!

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It's just like traditional British Christmas dinner - only in November.

(Where "just like" = "very similar")

Edited at 2007-11-08 08:19 pm (UTC)

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So what do Americans do for Christmas dinner then? *confused*

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Turkey
Sweet potatoes (for true authenticity, cook with butter and brown sugar)
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Cranberry sauce
Stuffing
Green beans
(Some people have other veggies they like to serve)

Apple pie
Pumpkin pie

All other dishes are personal preference!

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I'll rate this stuff in terms of traditional importance:
Main course:
Turkey
Cranberry sauce
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Dinner rolls
Yams

Desert:
Pumpkin pie
Mince meat pie

I've only listed things that I consider core to the Thanksgiving experience. Funny though, always reminds me of Bill Maher when he said that Thanksgiving represented the only positive moment we had with the Native Americans. Kind of like a date rape, but the rapist wants to reminisce about the nice dinner they had before the rape. It's sardonic and it amuses me.

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Turkey - there are various ways to prepare this but mostly it's just a big roast.

Mashed potatoes
Bread rolls
cranberry sauce
Green bean casserole
stuffing (or dressing if it's not cooked in the bird)
sweet potatoes

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CORN. easiest and most appreciated thanksgiving side dish.

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Whiskey and beernuts. The whiskey must be Irish.

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Candied yams.

Spookiest side dish ever.

My dad makes 'pilgrim beans' which we got out of a 1960s cookbook my Gran had when they were in the States. French beans with peanuts and bacon. Yum.

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Turkey is strongly suggested, as is corn on the cob, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

But pumpkin pie is REQUIRED.

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I agree with the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce. Also try little pearl onions in a cheesy cream sauce. My mom adds walnuts to her stuffing, its pretty good.

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We have crackers and cheese and lunchmeat and raw veggies and fruit and pickles and chips and, possibly most importantly, Easy Cheese, and sit around the television all day watching movies.

That's not orthodox, but at least we actually do it on Thanksgiving, instead of the Saturday before.:-P

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries (the_original1's mom has an interesting — and I don't mean bad — cranberry relish recipe, I'll get it for you if you'd like). Pumpkin, mincemeat, apple, and pecan pies are all fairly standard. I realize those have pretty much all been listed before, but I thought I'd list them again.

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i super love mince meat pie and every one teases me about it they think it's revolting so please lets have mincemeat!
and Turkey! And Wine :-)

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It doesn't matter what you serve, so long as you eat and drink entirely too much.

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Turkey with sausage stuffing that is dangerously cooked inside the bird recklessly flaunting all of the advice handed out by the today show and Oprah -- my mother is nothing if not a dare devil. Cranberry sauce -- buy the canned gel kind. Open the can at both ends, push out the shimmery red stuff in one piece and then you can slice it and arrange it attractively in a small dish.

And as good Americans of German heritage, we like saurkraut with our turkey -- it actualy goes with very, very nicely. You can spin that kind of tradition any way you like -- my best friend's mother serves a tray of lasagne as an appetizer. But look, you cannot get away with mince meat -- we don't eat weird pie like that here, we just don't. Apple pie at the end is good.

Look, if you're really going to do this, you HAVE to watch American Football -- you know that, right? Otherwise, Homeland security is going to be all over your little soiree.

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The core of the traditional Thanksgiving is turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, and some form of potato (sweet potato casserole and/or regular mashed potatoes with gravy). Most people like to add something green as well, a vegetable or a salad. Pumpkin or pecan pie is usually done for dessert. There are infinite variations possible on the menu but if you have turkey, stuffing, cranberries, potatoes, and pie, nobody will accuse you of missing anything.

Here's the menu I'm planning this year. I'm hoping to kind of blend the traditional foods with more local, seasonal California cuisine:

* Two different kinds of spiced nuts as an appetizer (warm-spiced pecans with rum glaze; mexican-spiced almonds, peanuts, and pumpkin seeds).
* Cranberry-orange sauce
* Pecan-topped sweet potato casserole
* Heritage turkey with chanterelle stuffing
* Arugula and radicchio salad with fuyu persimmons, pomegranate seeds, and blue cheese
* Two desserts: rum-baked apples with mascarpone and almonds, and chocolate bouchons

The game plan is to make the nuts and the cranberry sauce two days before, and the baked apples and the sweet potato casserole the day before, leaving only the turkey, stuffing, and chocolate bouchons to worry about cooking on Thanksgiving. This menu I think would be considered fairly light by Thanksgiving standards; it's customary for everyone to be sitting around in gluttonous lumps, holding their bellies and groaning, by the time the meal concludes.

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I'm veggie so I load up on side dishes.
Mashed spuds
Yams (not with marshmallows, yuck)
Peas
Olives
STUFFING
Pecan pie

the end.

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I am informed - and, indeed, have personal experience - that watching football (and, possibly, falling asleep during same due to overeating) is a compulsory ingredient, for the non-cooks, of a proper Thanksgiving. Celebrating on a Saturday, there'll be all sorts of (authentically) college football games playing that day, as well. If you're only being semi-orthodox, then it need not be American football - CFL, Aussie Rules, Rugby or Association football will all suffice at a pinch.

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i'm a dirty vegetarian, and when i've made thanksgiving potluck meals it's been vegan-friendly, so i'm not so traditional. but i've had nothing but compliments from vegetarians and carnivores alike!

i use the recipes for three sisters stew and walnut-apple stuffing from this page as well as a vegetarian version of green bean casserole. you can find the recipe for the latter on any can of cream of mushroom soup, usually, but i find that it's much tastier when you make it from scratch. (it's also not that difficult to do.) so google a recipe that demands real mushrooms are used!

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I'm not an American, but...

Turkey is a given. Prepare some bison meat (you can get this fresh from the St. Albert Farmer's Market, every day---you might even find frozen bison meat in the grocery store) or a roast of ham, in case there's someone who HATES turkey and isn't willing to settle for salad.

Other essentials in any North American Thanksgiving: stuffing (whether in turkey or not...usually not), cranberry sauce, salads (this could include anything from Caesar to Chef to Macaroni salads, or even coleslaw), and either potatoes or sweet potatoes (yams), whether mashed or not. My grandmother always cooked us cabbage rolls, but you don't have to. And nalesniki---NUMMERS! But again, ethnic dishes are up to you.

As for dessert---you HAVE to have a pie of some sort. Whether that's pumpkin, apple, blueberry, rhubarb or cherry or some other kind of dessert pie is up to you. And ice cream---what's pie without ice cream? Maybe vanilla ice cream, b/c it seems to go best with pies. Thankfully, all this is available at any good grocery store.

Personally, I'd love to try a mince pie, or something "English", at your dinner---never had one before! In fact, my exposure to English food is very poor...which may mean I'm the better for it health-wise, but still! (Okay, I know mince pies aren't exclusively "English", it's just my association for that dish, I guess.)

And chocolate eggs and halloween candy? Sure, why not? :-) It's YOUR Thanksgiving Dinner...so make it something you'll enjoy! Heck, the more sweets the better! :-D

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Brussel Sprouts are mandatory. Nobody will eat them, but for some reason they still have to be there.

I would also sugest yams, possibly mashed, with brown sugar.

Of course I'm Canadian, not American, but you did say you're inviting Canadians.

And from my own exerience, you'll want about twice as much wine as you expect to drink.

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Isn't the dessert traditionally a trifle made with a layer of ladyfingers, then a layer of jam, then custard (made from scratch), then raspberries, more ladyfingers, then beef sauteed with peas and onions, then a little more custard, and then bananas, and then some whipped cream on top?

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So? Did you roast a turkey? How did it go?

Mine came out of the oven pink and had to go back in, delaying dinner by an hour and a half, but everybody was very understanding and once we sat down to tuck in everything was great...

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