Traditional family menu

[Anonymous]

My mother has always been the one to cook Thanksgiving. She’s getting older and we were talking while cooking tonight about how she may want to hang up her apron next year but she expects me to continue cooking her menu… even after she’s gone. Her recipes are fine, but I’ve never been the biggest fan of some of them (eat them because it’s what she serves). For those of you who have taken on hosting/cooking duties, did you continue cooking your family’s traditional menu or did you make it your own? What did you keep and what did you toss?

For one, I will toss cooking the stuffing in the bird (after reading articles about how it doesn’t really cook, I always feel gross about it but my mother won’t listen when I tell her that)…

[Anonymous]

If you know it's important to her I would not do anything drastic right away..but that doesn't mean you can not add a dish of your own and cook that stuffing out of the board

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you know it's important to her I would not do anything drastic right away..but that doesn't mean you can not add a dish of your own and cook that stuffing out of the board

Out of the bird

[Anonymous]

If I’m hosting and cooking, I get to set the menu. I tossed the concept of everything being beige, of having a dry turkey, of buying from the grocery store (no more Butterball).

[Anonymous]

Ditto. I've been hosting Thanksgiving for over 20 years now (our kitchen/home is larger than my parents - we all just fit better), and my mom was happy to hand it over. There are some things that I will never change (my aunt's cranberry relish recipe), and many that I've made my own. Mom doesn't care, she is happy not to deal with the cooking/cleaning/hosting.

[Anonymous]

Just change it slowly. Start with her recipes before t change the stuffing. Then the next year drop something and make a substitute etc. or use her recipes but improve them.

[Anonymous]

I host and cook, and most family members have the same 1 or 2 favorites, then I can decide the rest. 2 people have to have sweet potatoes, so I make a smaller amount. Several have to have pumpkin pie, so I keep that on the list. Otherwise, I've changed things but mostly simplified. I've replaced squash casserole with brussels sprouts, dropped the congeales salad, added mac and cheese, etc.

[Anonymous]

Ah yes, the stuffing in the bird issue. My mom always did this but she also made extra in the oven/crockpot because we had a huge Thanksgiving crowd and people preferred it different ways. So she was a little bummed when we stopped making the stuffing in the bird for safety reasons, but she still brings her stuffing in the crockpot, so we're all happy.

If people have a favorite less-universally liked side (I'm looking at you, creamed onions) they can bring it as their contribution.

[Anonymous]

Agree with changing it slowly. Let traditions evolve, keep the things she is most attached to while alive.

My mom died 20 years ago. My extended family still gathers and maintains about 50% of our childhood menu, and many of the new additions are now “traditions.” Gone are the mincemeat pies, plain wild rice and poppy-seed roles, but here to stay (at least for now) is the same beloved stuffing, carrots and dill, turkey, and garlic mashed potatoes, and the new addition popovers, wild rice pilaf, and kale/pomegranate salad.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and we all fight about the stuffing in the bird question! We do it both ways and those who want to risk it stick with traditional in bird stuffing, despite one sister being horrified.