Just about every common food option for thanksgiving is mediocre. Turkey is dry and flavorless unless you drench it in salt. Cranberry sauce is awful. Not only does dressing (stuffing) look unappealing it also tastes just as bad. And pumpkin pie could be better. Casserole and mash potatoes are alright but nothing to just fond over. The only good meal is mac and cheese and that ONLY depends on who’s cooking it. The 4th of July is the superior holiday in terms of food.
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Turkey is dry
Found the guy who doesn’t know how to cook a turkey.
…I mean, neither do I. But I’ve never had dry turkey either. One of it’s defining characteristics is that it’s moist.
Cranberry sauce is awful.
That depends. I’ve had awful cranberry sauce, and I’ve had good cranberry sauce. Also, I do love that jellatin blob that comes in a can.
Not only does dressing (stuffing) look unappealing it also tastes just as bad.
WHO IS PREPARING THIS FOOD FOR YOU, AND WHY ARE THEY SOOOOO BAD AT IT???
And pumpkin pie could be better.
Eh, fair enough. It really depends on how flavorful the pumpkins were. I’ve had bland pie before. Try adding whipped cream.
Casserole and mash potatoes are alright but nothing to just find over.
Casserole is disgusting, but thanksgiving mashed potatoes are the second best food all year (number one is turkey).
The 4th of July is the superior holiday in terms of food.
4th of july is hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and potato chips. You can have that literally ANY time of the year!
I would also throw in barbecue chicken and potato salad in with Fourth of July food. But hey even as simple as it is atleast you can for the most expect it to be actually good.
BBQ chicken is way easier to make dry than a turkey that slowly roasts all day
You can hide dry chicken with a lot of barbecue sauce. Gravy isn’t as good at hiding dry turkey.
BBQ chicken IS pretty good…but I think people are downvoting the potato salad. Potato is a french fry, or a mashed, but not a salad!
This isn’t about the food being bad, this is about your family being bad cooks.
I second this. I thought I hated turkey until I went to my first long term significant other’s family thanksgiving in my 20’s…
Turns out my mom just always overcooked it.
lol I consider my grandmother (the cook) to be the best I’ve ever had. But when it comes to thanksgiving, it’s average at best.
Then she is not a good cook for Thanksgiving food.
it’s not always about the cook. Some food is just subpar. I’ve had it from her, my other grandma, other family members, cooks at school. Eating the same dishes every single year. It ain’t horrible but it’s not to die for either.
Sounds like you need to learn how to cook.
This post is such a skill issue it’s crazy. Get some gravy on the turkey, make some cranberry sauce and stuffing from scratch, and get some pie variety if you’re not a fan of pumpkin. Casserole and mash potatoes are mid, agree, and good mac and cheese is godly regardless of the time of year.
Man, this is a great post. Full on unpopular, no matter how you look at it. Kudos on that! Also, good on you for not making it a rant about other people’s preferences.
Any way, that aside, I don’t disagree with you, though I think your points are off as to why Thanksgiving food is overrated.
First, a lot of what you’re using as a basis for that is down to the specific foods being cooked well. Any of those things that are made from good ingredients and is tbhen well executed are phenomenal. Others have covered that already, and the bit about turkeys being horribly bred, and treated even worse while alive.
So, moving on to why I tend to agree with you.
Thanksgiving food is nostalgia. It isn’t about the food at all, it’s about having a tradition. This means that you have people making things that they don’t practice much in a time crunch, with the real effort going into making it a Thanksgiving meal, rather than a good meal they’re able to execute well.
Turkey, as the perfect example. How often do you cook a whole turkey? Once, maybe twice a year for the vast majority. But it can take dozens of tries to get a dish right the first time. And it might take longer to be reliable with it, depending on the complexity of the dish.
Of course Thanksgiving turkey is overrated, people aren’t happy with it because it’s great, it’s the tradition. So they ignore the fact that it’s actually a difficult thing to execute well, and that most turkey you can buy is crappy turkey because it isn’t important.
About the only thing in your list that isn’t harder to get right than the average dish is mashed potatoes. Frankly, if you’ve only had mashed potatoes that are alright, in your words, chances are that whoever cooked the rest did a mid tier job on those too. Mashed potatoes are freaking bomb when done well, and they aren’t hard to do well.
So I’m with you, Thanksgiving food is very overrated, but mainly because they’re difficult foods that aren’t practiced outside of the holidays. The foods themselves, done well, are amazing.
Upvote for unpopular, and I totally disagree. I haven’t had a dry turkey since I was a kid and my parents were still young. Stuffing, mash potatoes, and green bean casserole to me are like comfort food. Our family also does candied yams, devilled eggs, ham, bacon-wrapped asparagus, homemade dinner rolls, and all sorts of deliciousness.
You’re doing it wrong. It sounds like you’re following some goofy rules about what Thanksgiving is supposed to be.
Turkey? Yeah, sure, we’ll have one. Ours wears a woven blanket made of bacon to cook. Never had it come out dry.
Ham too, why not. Lasagna, of course. Crab cakes, definitely. Maybe a beef roast or ribs.
Sides? No fewer than 12. Chestnut stuffing, potato filling, green beans, roasted potatoes, caprese salad, broccoli, asparagus, etc.
Desserts. Should be four or five. Pumpkin pie (don’t like it? Good. I wanted it all anyway). Cherry pie. Apple pie. Blueberry pie, chocolate cream roll, ice cream, etc.
Based on your description, whoever is cooking your food doesn’t know how to do it right. It’s not like Thanksgiving requires you to cook everything wrong.
So uh is your family looking to adopt? 🤤
All the foods I mention are standard Thanksgiving meals. It’s just mediocre. Don’t see it any other way.
It’s only mediocre if it isn’t prepared properly.
I love turkey, but I’ve never had a turkey come out dry. Mother brines hers, I just baste it and mine is also nice.
Cranberry sauce is delicious but I home can that in advance, cranberry orange thing. Very tasty.
Overall I’d probably pick chicken being easier to cook, but the turkey is not bad and oh man cold turkey sandwiches later are just easy lazy meals for me.
Best part of thanksgiving is the leftover turkey sandiwches
Hell. Yes.
Fry up that skin like a piece of bacon. Brine some tomatoes. Mix up some concoction of mayo/gravy/whatever suits your liking…
Or…
Dice up that turkey & skin. Press it together into discs with the leftover stuffing/dressing, and brown it up like a patty with some butter…
This goes surprisingly well with a bit of canned cranberry mixed with mayo.
Leftover Turkey sandwich time is the Holiest time of the year.
For what it’s worth, it depends so much on whether or not the meal is done justice by a proper cook. It’s a tall order, and loads of folks cooking it are just doing their best.
That being said, shit is phenomenal when it’s done justice. I was quite lucky to live in the household with the best spread of all time. Ma’s t-day feast is undefeated.
Talking crisp-skinned juicy bird with balanced herbs and seasoning. Fully homemade roasted stuffing with crispy bits and sausage, a jealously guarded family recipe. Fresh homemade cranberry sauce two-ways cause both versions too damn good to skip either. Spuds with gravy made from them bird-veg roast drippings – most valuable juice on the planet. Homemade lefste. Cranberry upside down cake, or like pumpkin cheesecake, the works.
Just got really excited for Fall ngl…
For me, DEFINITELY an unpopular opinion, but for obvious reasons I’m biased af. (Don’t even get me started on the other holidays)
You need to try a deep fried turkey that’s been injected with seasoning. And maybe try other people’s sides whoever has been making your food sounds awful at cooking
Turkey is pointless. It’s just chicken but always slightly worse. You have to deep fry turkey to get it within spitting distance of your average grocery store rotisserie chicken.
I’m mostly with OP here. The traditional American Thanksgiving menu is aggressively mediocre.
You’ve just been subjected to bad Thanksgiving food.
Nope, bad food in general.
Separate the breast from the dark meat and cook to different times. Reassemble on the cutting board. Enjoy perfect turkey.
Alternative: oven the breast and confit the dark meat with rosemary and garlic. You do it once a year so why not go the extra mile? Leftover confit meat can be made into ravioli filling.
You got a newsletter? I’d subscribe.
If you don’t care for a cranberry sauce’s tartness or oversweetness to compensate for that tartness, consider pomegranate seeds or red currant jelly instead. Much more balance between sweet, fruit, and tart.
Cranberry sauce is better with jalapeño. Miles better.
I’m just sayin
As others have said, it’s all based on how good the cook is. Since the food is so ubiquitous, everyone tries to make it, even when they’d be better off throwing a frozen pizza in the oven.
Except pumpkin pie, that is the only thing that is impossible to be bad. Mediocre, sure, but always worth eating. (Just drown the crust in whipped cream if it’s store-bought.)
