I’ve been thinking of food all damned day. So obviously this will be a food themed lunchtime poll. I keep dodging the copout of asking whether you all are team cake or pie, but since food is clearly the biggest word in our tag cloud (down and to the right for people who don’t scroll) it seems likely the polls will be chow heavy as well.
For most of us, the Thanksgiving holiday is full of semi-pleasant family visits, delicious food and/or a bloody ton of work. We’ll chat about all of those details in Friday’s lunchtime poll (if I can remember in my turkey haze), today I want to know about your family or holiday group’s regional dishes or the oddball item everyone looks forward to or dreads every year. I’m from Indiana, where we have something called sugar cream pie. Other states (I’m looking at you, Kentucky) will try to claim the sugar cream pie, but it is 100% Hoosier. My late grandma said so, and she was always right. Sadly, I cannot hotlink grandma. Anyway, a sugar cream pie is similar to custard pie (also dreamy) but with no eggs. It’s really easy to make and the taste is unforgettable.
From my other late grandmother, we always served noodles instead of gravy on top of mashed potatoes. Oh sweet carb explosion, don’t knock it until you try it. It may be the perfect comfort food. Not the most attractive, but every bite is like being read a bedtime story by Betty White and wrapped in cashmere. And noodles.
How about you, readers? What dishes and traditions are you looking forward to tomorrow?
3 replies on “Lunchtime Poll 11/24”
Ohioans don’t have anything special, except the Buckeye (the candy, not the nut, the nut is poisonous). I really just wanted to tell you I giggled at “Sadly, I cannot hotlink grandma.”
I grew up up in New York and every Thanksgiving was spent cooking with my parents in the kitchen. Everything was homemade except for some cheats, like the cranberry sauce in a can… To which I remain a faithful consumer to this day. Everything we prepared was cooked that day. My Mother-in-Law however cooks her turkey 2 WEEKS ahead of schedule, slices and freezes it only to be reheated in the oven on Thanksgiving day. Unfortunately, I cannot get behind this concept. I want to see the turkey transformation from floppy naked headless bird in my sink to the gloriousity of the golden brown roasted or fried turkey that smells a bit like ginger and paprika as soon as you open the oven. When you freeze and reheat said already sliced turkey, there is no crispy skin, no ‘ooh’ or ‘ahh’ when it is brought into the dining room for slicing as a drool inducing preview to all diners that we are about to sacrifice this bird for the sake of our own appetites, needing the energy to clean up from our day of cooking, preparation for our Black Friday madness or just to lull us into a post-meal turkey induced coma.
I am particularly fond of the cranberry sauce that comes out in the shape of the can.
My favorite holiday treat is the Ranger Cookie. Ranger cookies are like oatmeal cookies with cornflakes and a crapload of butter. They are little crunchy/salty/sweet bits of wonderful.