I just wish we could get some variety! It's always the same food. I prefer when the adventurous cooks help with the meal and we get something besides 3 variations on potatoes.

Must: Place cards.

Appetizers. Pain in the ass and just makes everyone too full for the main event.

Bread rolls. Why in heaven's name do you need a boring filler like bread? Plus, is there some lack of carbs to be made up for Don't think so.

Anonymous wrote:My in laws always do the regular Thanksgiving dishes, and then also:

Duck
Ham
Chicken
Baked Beans
Potato salad

It's all yummy but also bizarre - like Thanksgiving is just piled on top of a random cookout meal and then, also: duck!

I used to be anti-ham at Thanksgiving, but honey baked ham is so much better than the random aunt's Turkey that manages to be both dry and raw. Thanksgiving rotates between a few houses some of whom have better cooks than others, so I've taken to bringing the ham every year and it always goes fast.

My normal Thanksgiving is:

Turkey
Stuffing (yes sausage, obviously)
Mashed potatoes
Cranberry sauce (both canned and homemade)
Green bean casserole (all components homemade: fried shallots, and a mushroom cream sauce in lieu of soup)
Rolls

Also pies, you need a variety of pies. We usually do three types, even if we've only got like five people.

Some years we've done
Corn pudding
Sweet potatoes
Turnips

My only real hard no is salad and soup, I think they work badly with the rest of the meal and its weird for Thanksgiving to have courses (apart from maybe some deviled eggs and nuts put out while the food cooks). That said, I think the biggest rule of Thanksgiving is that any thing anyone brings goes on the table. If you bring a salad, I'll put it out happily, I just don't want any.

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean generically, like on * a* Thanksgiving table, or on my family’s Thanksgiving table? No one in my family eats green beans so that casserole or a corn casserole would never be at our table. None of your “heck no”s would be at our table either except sweet potatoes which for us are a must along with regular mashed potatoes. But if invited somewhere else for dinner I wouldn’t really feel strongly one way or another.

OP here. It's meant to be fun. Don't overthink it. List your Musts, Heck Nos, and Maybes.

No to any kind of jello based salad. I don’t care if it’s tradition in your family. I don’t want it, not even a bite.

Do you mean generically, like on * a* Thanksgiving table, or on my family’s Thanksgiving table? No one in my family eats green beans so that casserole or a corn casserole would never be at our table. None of your “heck no”s would be at our table either except sweet potatoes which for us are a must along with regular mashed potatoes. But if invited somewhere else for dinner I wouldn’t really feel strongly one way or another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creamed onions are the food that I most associate with Thanksgiving because I've literally never had them outside of Thanksgiving.

True. But I don't like them, and when I became responsible for Thanksgiving, creamed onions were the first to go.

I also ditched the green bean casserole.

One down side of this is that my kids expect my Thanksgiving sides at Christmas because my mom's Christmas dinner is basically Thanksgiving II. But her sides are very traditional Midwestern Bland: canned jellied cranberry sauce, stuffing that's just rehydrated dried bread crumbs, the green bean casserole. I felt sorry for the kid I saw digging through his stuffing in search of the sausage, apples, and dried cranberries I include, but I also sort of wanted to laugh.

I know you're trying to show us all how much more sophisticated you are than your terrible Flyover Mom, but nobody wants your fruit salad stuffing.

My in laws always do the regular Thanksgiving dishes, and then also:

Duck
Ham
Chicken
Baked Beans
Potato salad

It's all yummy but also bizarre - like Thanksgiving is just piled on top of a random cookout meal and then, also: duck!

I have a relative with limited coming skills who brings chili con carne to every Thanksgiving.

Anonymous wrote:Creamed onions are the food that I most associate with Thanksgiving because I've literally never had them outside of Thanksgiving.

True. But I don't like them, and when I became responsible for Thanksgiving, creamed onions were the first to go.

I also ditched the green bean casserole.

One down side of this is that my kids expect my Thanksgiving sides at Christmas because my mom's Christmas dinner is basically Thanksgiving II. But her sides are very traditional Midwestern Bland: canned jellied cranberry sauce, stuffing that's just rehydrated dried bread crumbs, the green bean casserole. I felt sorry for the kid I saw digging through his stuffing in search of the sausage, apples, and dried cranberries I include, but I also sort of wanted to laugh.

Creamed onions are the food that I most associate with Thanksgiving because I've literally never had them outside of Thanksgiving.

Again, just for fun. If you can't play, don't bother posting. I'll start:

Yes, must:
Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Dressing
Cranberry sauce made from actual cranberries
Green bean casserole
Corn casserole
Some type of simple green vegetable, like steamed asparagus

Heck no:
Creamed onions
Rutabegas
Sweet potatoes of any sort
Canned cranberry sauce (I said it)
Stuffing stuffed inside a bird (gross and never done properly; if both are cooked to a safe temperature, the turkey is ALWAYS dry)
Sausage in stuffing: NO

Take it or leave it:
Rolls