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Lori Alexander 83: Fully Cook the Chicken!


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I'd eat a microwaved turkey before I'd eat the one my husband's aunt attempted to smoke four years ago. She is the most impatient person I've ever known. Properly smoking a turkey takes too long for her, so she turned it up as high as she could and did it in like a quarter of the time. That bird was charred. Like the color of charcoal. Father-in-law was asked to cut it and was literally trying to saw through the outside. It was absolutely disgusting. I'd eat Lori's soup before trying that again. 

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A couple of years ago MIL asked SIl to smoke the Thanksgiving turkey.  After about 90 minutes she started calling every hour to ask if it was ready yet.  ::smh::

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9 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

A couple of years ago MIL asked SIl to smoke the Thanksgiving turkey.  After about 90 minutes she started calling every hour to ask if it was ready yet.  ::smh::

Even doing the traditionalroast, its going to take more than 90 minutes! 

Personally we have given up on turkey. We used to spatchcock, which worked well. But other than the sandwiches with cranberry and dressing the next day, meh. We'll be making something else. 

It also means that we can skip the annoying search at the store for traditional stuff that Safeway will be out of. 

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Neither Mr. Dress nor I like turkey so no turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  As Thanksgiving is for giving thanks, we decide in early November what we'd like for dinner.

Over the years it has been baked ham with raisin sauce, a lovely crispy brown skin roast chicken*, lamb chops, baked pork chops with cornbread dressing. All sorts of delicious main dishes with assorted vegetables and side dishes we love.  Christmas is the same.

There is a side dish we always have:  congealed salad. Thanksgiving is orange jello with shredded carrots, pineapple chunks, and mandarin oranges. Christmas is black cherry jello with whole berry cranberry sauce, chopped celery, chopped apples, and pecans. 

Holiday desserts vary depending on what we feel like and what baking I've done, But as Mr. Dress adores mincemeat I always make mincemeat tarts for Christmas.

 

* I make chicken soup from the roast chicken carcass -- picking off all the left over meat, very slowly stewing the carcass and skin in water (with 2 bouillon cubes) to make stock, straining out the bones, adding back the chicken, lots of veg and cooking slowly.  Noodles go in toward the end.  If I say so myself it is delicious soup and looks much more appetizing than Lori's. I season with salt and pepper only. I want that intense chicken flavor to be what you taste, not the garlic, basil, and oregano. And no avocado oil in sight.

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Ooh it’s the annual Thanksgiving food discussion! I always enjoy these, being from the U.K. My mum actually likes to do a Thanksgiving type of dinner on Thanksgiving day too, just as a change. We were going to do it last year, but we all had COVID at the time so we weren’t particularly up to it. None of us were badly affected, but we just went for something a bit easier to cook. 

Usually for Christmas we have roast duck, although we had goose last year instead. 

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Roasted turkey, cornbread dressing (not stuffing, haha!), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans, creamed corn, and homemade yeast rolls.  Dessert will be homemade apple pie (hubby is a master of crust).  We freeze the leftover turkey and then make a delicious turkey noodle soup later on.  Yep, we cook too much, overeat, and enjoy it!  And yes, I make the cornbread several days in advance so it's properly dried out to make the dressing.  (Y'all have to have a Southern perspective here!!!! )

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Right on cue, Lori blames women for all the ills in the world, voting Democrat and having any voice whatsoever. Her solution this morning?  "Revoke the 19th amendment"

Earlier this week she was teaching how men are better than women in every way. From X/Twitter:

"The Transformed Wife 

@godlywomanhood

Men excel women in almost everything . Even the best artists and chefs in the world are men. So what? Feminism was built on envy. Envy is a destructive foundation to build a movement upon. Women are better at nurturing babies and children. Women make far superior mothers than men. Feminists want women to discount and discredit this, and they’ve succeeded, as if anything is more important than raising the next generation."

She really, really hates women. If it weren't for birthing babies, women would have to use whatsoever. 

Edited by SongRed7
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@fluffernutter, you bring to mind the single worst dinner I’ve ever tried to choke down.

My MIL, who was in frail health, had just moved with her husband to a new, smaller house. She was a know-it-all and the most egregious narcissist I’ve ever met—you’d think she was doing sketch comedy, it was so over-the-top.

She invited us to her home for a Thanksgiving-adjacent dinner, and I offered to bring the meal, which she declined. Unfamiliar with the new stove in her house, she didn’t set it correctly, and at dinner time we were presented with a pale white bird. She and her husband remedied this by hacking it to pieces and microwaving them.

The sides were a flavorless frozen vegetable mix and box-mix scalloped potatoes. (She actually bragged about them: “My sister is so jealous of me that mine always turn out so well and hers don’t!”)

I just turned down seconds of the bland, rubbery turkey and filled up on vegetables.

@SongRed7, that old saw about men being tHe BeSt CoOkS has always pissed me off. The best according to whom, exactly? Yeah, my grandfather and uncle were good cooks, but this didn’t make the women in the family incompetent.

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It's always dressing, never stuffing. You have to make the cornbread and let it dry; infinitely better than Pepperidge Farm.

I've made plain, sausage, sausage and chopped apple, and sausage and oyster dressing.  All have lots of chopped celery and onions simmered in the chicken stock and butter broth then mixed with the dry cornbread. I also stew the innards and add the broth to the cornbread as needed.  I season with sage, thyme, mace, allspice, salt, and pepper, top with bits of butter and bake until crispy on top but not dry.

This dressing goes well with roast chicken, roast pork, and with  pork chops baked on top. I've even served it with baked ham or roast beef.  For roast beef I swap out the chicken  stock for beef stock.

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According to Mr Dress his mother was never a great or inventive cook. Her meals were bland.  One of her favorite dinners was well done broiled round steak.  Which turns out tough as rubber tires.

She was also a portion control freak, monitoring every mouthful Mr Dress and everyone else ate..  He went off to college weighing 118 at 6 ft.. His freshman 10 lbs was nearly 20 lbs.  She put him on a strict diet over Christmas break because he'd "gotten fat"  She tells this story with glee that he lost the weight in 2 weeks because she basically didn't let him eat.

Mr Dress says that growing up his mother made gravy twice a year -- with the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey. You were allowed 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes with 1 teaspoon of gravy. The first time he told me this I said oh sure yeah right. He said no she served that way so no one would eat more that she allotted.  And by mashed potatoes he means simply mashed potatoes -- no butter or milk to make them delish.

She's still a portion control freak but she just snarks at people when dining out with Mr. Dress as she doesn't cook in independent living. She doesn't really eat either as she goes days without eating, just drinking coffee or hot chocolate.  She is utterly appalled by the amount of food in the dining hall.

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I never ever liked stuffing or dressing. My mom's was just a gross soggy mess. She insisted on sticking it in the bird, which made the mush even more unappealing. Then, we started going to thanksgiving at my in laws, and she always made that brand stove top stuffing. Meh. When I started doing our own thanksgivings, I just skipped it. But then, then! I found a recipe on my favorite food blogger, and since I've never made anything that didn't taste amazing from her, I took a chance. This is now one of the dishes I look most forward to. It's once upon a chef's sausage and herb stuffing. We also make mashed potatoes, turkey and onion gravy, homemade cranberry sauce, a pumpkin and a pecan pie, baked corn, a green vegetable that changes every year, and of course the turkey. My husband is in charge of that and does a great job. He's a big fan of brining. Oh and our youngest daughter loves to make homemade rolls so she is in charge of that.  @FishOuttaWater that's a good idea to freeze the meat- we always do a Black Friday card game/pizza night with my aunts, then that weekend is often spent celebrating my birthday out somewhere, and I often find myself throwing so many leftovers away. I think I'll just put some of the meat directly in the freezer this year and have soup a few weeks into December. 

@Red Hair, Black Dress Oh that's awful. What is with that generation being so obsessed with food intake? My grandmother was like that, she would get my cousins candy at Easter but not me, and tell me if I wanted to have candy I'd need to lose weight that year. My one girlfriend's mother sounds a lot like your mother in law, and to this day she comments on my friend's weight every. single. time. she sees her. I hope we've all learned and done better by that BS and the next generation has a better relationship with food. 🤦‍♀️

Edited by fluffernutter
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I LOVE this particular thread drift topic! ❤️  This year I get to make Thanksgiving dinner at my son's out in the midwest. With a brand new baby in the house!😁 I'll be taking my 80 year old enamelware roasting pan with me--no microwave/smoked/deep fried turkey for me!😆--and will be doing turkey, dressing (used to call it stuffing or filling, but I don't put it into the bird anymore because it comes out all soggy with whatever it is they inject turkeys with these days!), mashed AND sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, a green veg of some kind (might ask DIL's mom to do that), pancit (husband's job!), and possibly a light fruit salad to balance out all the heavier stuff. Plus pan de sal, imported from here at home as there are no Filipino bakeries in their area. And pumpkin pie, plus whatever dessert my son's MIL wants to make; she's from Mexico and is a fabulous cook! She'll probably want to make at least one or two other dishes, I'm only not mentioning them here because I don't know what they'll be. I'll be thrilled to share the kitchen with her!😃

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Food! Thread drift to food! Glorious food! Luscious delicious food!

Oh how Lori hates reading about all our wonderful Food.  That we eat.

(You know she reads here.  :hi: Lori)

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40 minutes ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

Food! Thread drift to food! Glorious food! Luscious delicious food!

Oh how Lori hates reading about all our wonderful Food.  That we eat.

(You know she reads here.  :hi: Lori)

And furthermore, she can stick her Einkorn flour where the Thanksgiving Day sun don't shine, because I'm using Marie Callender pie crusts (I can't make it homemade to save my life I've tried many a time!), Libby canned pumpkin, and loads of spices. And sugar. NO molasses or whatever that was she put in her pie. There's a place for molasses, but pumpkin pie isn't it. Her pie must be heavy as lead.

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I remember going to my IL’s for thanksgiving once. It was so different from my own thanksgiving experience that I was so irritated. I didn’t realize until that day how sentimental we all are about our thanksgiving foods. We like the sameness of thanksgiving. Sure you can add some wild side dish but everything else should probably stay the same. The turkey, the potatoes, the dressing. It reminds me of the Friends episode where Monica tried to please everyone with the thanksgiving food they were used to. 

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16 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I remember going to my IL’s for thanksgiving once. It was so different from my own thanksgiving experience that I was so irritated. I didn’t realize until that day how sentimental we all are about our thanksgiving foods. We like the sameness of thanksgiving. Sure you can add some wild side dish but everything else should probably stay the same. The turkey, the potatoes, the dressing. It reminds me of the Friends episode where Monica tried to please everyone with the thanksgiving food they were used to. 

This. I don't mind different side dishes at all, AS LONG AS...I have my mashed and sweet potatoes, and dressing the way I make it, which was the way my mother made it, and her mother, and her mother before her. Any other time of the year, I can get by with Stove Top or Pepperidge Farm (with a little doctoring up!), but for Thanksgiving? Do not serve that to me unless you want me to put on my SEVERELY disappointed face!🤣 (well, I wouldn't, I'm a polite person, but oh, I'd be wearing that face on the inside!)

Edited by Loveday
punctuation is impor'an.
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We have a turkey with all the usual fixings for Thanksgiving, but switch to a filet roast for Christmas Day. I've enjoyed reading about everyone else's holiday choices. However, this curious mind wants to know one thing: Is my family the only one that wants and loves the green bean casserole with the crunchy onions on top???

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30 minutes ago, Celtic Roots said:

We have a turkey with all the usual fixings for Thanksgiving, but switch to a filet roast for Christmas Day. I've enjoyed reading about everyone else's holiday choices. However, this curious mind wants to know one thing: Is my family the only one that wants and loves the green bean casserole with the crunchy onions on top???

Any time our office has a potluck meal, I am specifically requested to bring the green bean casserole!  I don't know how to cook many things, but that I can do.

We have Thanksgiving breakfast at my inlaws: sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits, gravy, with DH's pumpkin pie for dessert!  We have Thanksgiving lunch at my sister's house with our side of the family & her DH's side of the family.  My sister & her husband never have to leave home on Thanksgiving, unless she is working the early morning shift.  All of the traditional goodies there. 

I have had to cook Thanksgiving dinner at home twice in my fifty years.  Once in 2020 when my mom had COVID and last year when DD had the flu.  I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed those two years, not having to race around three counties and eating too much with (some) people who couldn't care less whether or not we were there.  I cooked a turkey breast, small boneless honey ham, corn, green peas, grean beans, canned cranberry sauce for me, store bought rolls & DH made his pumpkin pie.  It's just three of us, so we don't need a full turkey and I wouldn't know what to do with it anyway!  We watched Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while we ate lunch, FaceTimed DH's family, then started decorating our home for Christmas.  We were able to take our time with the decorating, while watching Christmas movies.  It was wonderful.  However, I know my mom & DH's parents won't be here forever, so I try to enjoy the holidays we have left with them.  I probably won't see my siblings at the holidays after Mom is gone.  We will probably see DH's sister, but just have a casual swing by instead of a full meal.

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57 minutes ago, Celtic Roots said:

We have a turkey with all the usual fixings for Thanksgiving, but switch to a filet roast for Christmas Day. I've enjoyed reading about everyone else's holiday choices. However, this curious mind wants to know one thing: Is my family the only one that wants and loves the green bean casserole with the crunchy onions on top???

I love green bean casserole. I think it’s more of a staple of the Midwest thanksgivings. I look forward to it along with all the other sides. Sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Baked corn. Pumpkin roll. Now I’m getting hungry. 

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Part of the reason I have to mention homemade is that most pie crusts have sodium metabisulfite and I'm am ER visit allergic.  So was my mother.  Our beloved frozen Walmart crusts just changed and now, a ton of ingredients including the dreaded sulfite.  I'm so mad.  (same goes for dried fruit, coconut (like Baker's), lemon and lime juice concentrates, some flour tortillas, yada yada yay)  Organic won't allow it but since most people don't use organic, I have to forego certain things at restaurants, potlucks, and family dinners.  I actually made my cousin dig through her trash so I could see what pie crust she used and then I could not eat the beloved "Aunt Sophie's chess pie".

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6 hours ago, fluffernutter said:

@Red Hair, Black Dress Oh that's awful. What is with that generation being so obsessed with food intake? My grandmother was like that, she would get my cousins candy at Easter but not me, and tell me if I wanted to have candy I'd need to lose weight that year. My one girlfriend's mother sounds a lot like your mother in law, and to this day she comments on my friend's weight every. single. time. she sees her. I hope we've all learned and done better by that BS and the next generation has a better relationship with food. 🤦‍♀️

I've actually never seen a generation more obsessed with food and food intake than the current generation of 20 and 30 somethings. They go and on about antioxidants, macronutrients, keto diets, veganism, carnivore diets. . . it never seems to end. And they think everyone is interested in what they're eating!! All that fiddling about food seems like such a small way to live.

The older generation, like my mom, counted calories and that was that. Food wasn't 90% of the conversation like it is at a modern thanksgiving.

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My favorite Thanksgiving food story - my oldest daughter went to her future in laws for the holiday for the first time.  She called me in literal tears, "Mom, Mom, they don't have any decent food.  NO turkey, no ham!  They have Holiday Fish!"  I told her to try it, it was one meal, it would be fine.  Come to find out, her inlaws serve lobster for Thanksgiving.  I'm going -I want Holiday Fish!!!  

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6 hours ago, Celtic Roots said:

However, this curious mind wants to know one thing: Is my family the only one that wants and loves the green bean casserole with the crunchy onions on top???

When I was a kid I once cried because no one made it one year. So now my aunt always makes me one if I show up. Even though the only reason I cried was because it was literally the only thing I liked, and that's because I like green beans/string beans. Now I'm much more likely to bring roasted green/string beans, succotash, or a non-marshmallow sweet potato dish. I tend to skip the dressing if it was stuffed in the bird (as my dad preferred), the meat, and any desserts (just don't care for desserts). My family has never done the cornbread thing (I think i've had it twice in my life and I've been so unimpressed). Usually it's me and my cousin picking at veggies and drinking wine these days. She'll usually make a salad for us as well. If I go to that house. 

Making my own Thanksgiving meal is way better than being a kid and being told that you are weird for not being insanely over the top in love with turkey, mashed potatoes and my all time hated food: gravy.  

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