Decadent Thanksgiving Spread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me about the most decadent Thanksgiving or "holiday" spread you've either set out or experienced as a guest. I'd love to hear about unusual decadent items. TIA

FYI, “decadent” means “in decline,” not luxurious, scandalously self-indulgent, etc. So the perfect example of a “decadent” Thanksgiving would be a previously reliable restaurant serving an insipid, watery buffet.

What???? Say it ain't so! All these years of using the word wrong.

So what is the right word for a buffet that has caviar rather than or in addition to shrimp, a guy in a white apron shaving prosciutto off of a leg in a vice etc? Cuz that's what I'm looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Butter board
Table entirely covered with charcuterie

What, specifically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me about the most decadent Thanksgiving or "holiday" spread you've either set out or experienced as a guest. I'd love to hear about unusual decadent items. TIA

FYI, “decadent” means “in decline,” not luxurious, scandalously self-indulgent, etc. So the perfect example of a “decadent” Thanksgiving would be a previously reliable restaurant serving an insipid, watery buffet.

Sure, if you’re a pre-programmed robot dictionary that doesn’t live in human society where words and their meanings evolve

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me about the most decadent Thanksgiving or "holiday" spread you've either set out or experienced as a guest. I'd love to hear about unusual decadent items. TIA

FYI, “decadent” means “in decline,” not luxurious, scandalously self-indulgent, etc. So the perfect example of a “decadent” Thanksgiving would be a previously reliable restaurant serving an insipid, watery buffet.

Sure, if you’re a pre-programmed robot dictionary that doesn’t live in human society where words and their meanings evolve

I understood OP just fine.

PP must be the San Fransisco hotel poster.

[Anonymous]

For me, it's decadent when it's high quality ingredients. Organic free-range turkey, Kerrygold butter, fresh cranberries rather than from a can, fresh green beans, etc.

Then the table is set with low-height flowers, some fall foliage stuff, etc.

[Anonymous]

Caviar and oysters
A whole roasted pig instead of ham
Everone had their own tiny turkey
There were dessert skirts where cater waiters in wheeled ball gowns loaded with pies, cakes, and sweets walked around the room

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Caviar and oysters
A whole roasted pig instead of ham
Everone had their own tiny turkey
There were dessert skirts where cater waiters in wheeled ball gowns loaded with pies, cakes, and sweets walked around the room

Wait, what? The desserts were in their skirts? Wheeled ball gowns loaded with pie? I have never been to a truly upscale Thanksgiving apparently because that is a strange and shocking image.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Caviar and oysters
A whole roasted pig instead of ham
Everone had their own tiny turkey
There were dessert skirts where cater waiters in wheeled ball gowns loaded with pies, cakes, and sweets walked around the room

Wait, what? The desserts were in their skirts? Wheeled ball gowns loaded with pie? I have never been to a truly upscale Thanksgiving apparently because that is a strange and shocking image.

DP, but we went to a lavish 50th birthday party where this wheeled metal skirt setup was filled with champagne glasses, and the modelesque young woman wearing them glided around gracefully so everyone plucked a new glass whenever they wanted throughout the evening. There were also extremely talented oyster servers who wore a harness that allowed them to shuck a fresh oyster in 5 seconds or so, load it up with mignonette, lemon, cocktail, or hot sauce, deliver it to you, and dump the shells in a bucket attached near their hips.

I still dream of that night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[list]

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me about the most decadent Thanksgiving or "holiday" spread you've either set out or experienced as a guest. I'd love to hear about unusual decadent items. TIA

FYI, “decadent” means “in decline,” not luxurious, scandalously self-indulgent, etc. So the perfect example of a “decadent” Thanksgiving would be a previously reliable restaurant serving an insipid, watery buffet.

What???? Say it ain't so! All these years of using the word wrong.

So what is the right word for a buffet that has caviar rather than or in addition to shrimp, a guy in a white apron shaving prosciutto off of a leg in a vice etc? Cuz that's what I'm looking for.

“Lavish” comes to mind.

[Anonymous]

In the past couple of years, I've done a menu entirely comprised of Ina Garten recipes, and another of all Emeril recipes. Both were great - very different meals though with Emeril's Cajun influence.

Since we are a small family, neither was particularly over the top in terms of a vast number of items though, more specific, very curated menus with cohesive themes.

[Anonymous]

We usually make all the old favorites for the holidays, but one year I made a mushroom pate out of the chanterelles mushrooms that the grocery store only stocks at the holidays. I think I sliced and toasted baguette and spread each slice with a small bit of "good" grainy mustard, the pate, and a sliver of cornicon. Both platters were gone in 10 minutes. I can't remember what else I put in the pate but I think it involved white wine and fresh herbs.

Idk if this counts as decadent but it was fancy for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Caviar and oysters
A whole roasted pig instead of ham
Everyone had their own tiny turkey
There were dessert skirts where cater waiters in wheeled ball gowns loaded with pies, cakes, and sweets walked around the room

Those were cornish game hens. There is no way everyone had their own turkey. Unless you mean every table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Caviar and oysters
A whole roasted pig instead of ham
Everyone had their own tiny turkey
There were dessert skirts where cater waiters in wheeled ball gowns loaded with pies, cakes, and sweets walked around the room

Those were cornish game hens. There is no way everyone had their own turkey. Unless you mean every table.

No, I specifically asked if they were game hens or giant quail. They served a ~1lb turkey poult.

[Anonymous]

Love this thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Caviar and oysters
A whole roasted pig instead of ham
Everyone had their own tiny turkey
There were dessert skirts where cater waiters in wheeled ball gowns loaded with pies, cakes, and sweets walked around the room

Those were cornish game hens. There is no way everyone had their own turkey. Unless you mean every table.

No, I specifically asked if they were game hens or giant quail. They served a ~1lb turkey poult.

That seems like it would be just a few bites of food from a 1lb bird.