Friday, November 29, 2019

The lighter side of Thanksgiving


To help us digest all that Thanksgiving food and drink, here are a few giggleworthy mementos of the feast, sent in by readers, to whom my grateful thanks.

First, for those who like the whole Turducken thing, with a side of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos:




And for those who like to deep-fry their turkey (I've sampled it, but I've never liked it as much as a slow-baked, oven-cooked bird):




And finally, from a couple of years ago, what happens when the Irish try American Thanksgiving food?





But wait - there's more! What about the Irish sampling weird Thanksgiving food?  (And some of it sure is weird!)





I wonder how an Irish Thanksgiving meal would look?  The biggest bird in the Emerald Isle is said to be the Mute Swan, but it'd fall foul of all sorts of animal protection regulations to bake one of them.  Perhaps if they put wings on a corned beef roast, and called it a bird?  That certainly has an Irish ring to it . . .




Peter

12 comments:

  1. In Northern Ireland, where my late ex was from, they do have turkeys. They hang them in the butcher shop windows straight out of a Dickens novel. The British have a similar celebration to Thanksgiving, Harvest Sunday. It is celebrated in late September or early October (Sunday nearest to the full moon closest to the fall equinox). I have the been there done that tee shirt.

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  2. I've enjoyed the Irish 7-course meal several times.

    Six pack and half a potato.

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  3. I had fried turkey yesterday. I found it tender and delicious.

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  4. How about veal birds? Getting closer?

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  5. I am in total agreement about good-old oven roasted turkey. It also has the added bonus of making the house smell so wonderful.

    The Cthulhu-turkey is just funny. Though fish-tasting fowl, bleh. Might as well eat seagull.

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  6. Coming from Northern Ireland, I must assure you that a true Irish Thanksgiving feast would be boiled potatoes, fried potatoes, chipped potatoes (what you call fries), saute potatoes, mashed potatoes,.....

    and some carbohydrates, including potato bread

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  7. Isn't Thanksgiving basically an American idea? At least that part of it that happens every year in November? On a Thursday? Tied to the notion that Englishmen escaped close supervision by the English Royals by taking the slow boat to what eventually became America? To live a live of extreme hardship in order to escape the religious orthodoxy that was 17th Century Life? I ain't saying that ALL people, EVERYWHERE, should not have such a holiday, they should. But IT IS American at its core.

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  8. Hey, Peter, I am with you on the notion of fried turkey, though. Or chicken, for that matter. A whole-roasted specimen of either is the ne plus ultra for both. Likely true for any meat that flies, or ought to be able to fly. Squirrels, not so much.

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  9. Bart S. Thanksgiving is basically 'EuroHarvestFest' done American Style. With what used to be an extra helping of Religion, again American Style.

    What a lot of people don't understand is that the first 'Thanksgiving (American Style)' was actually celebrating... not being a bunch of commie socialist commune living commie pilgrims, it was the first harvest of Capitalistic Pilgrims.

    So, well, celebrating Thanksgiving (American Style) by spending money and having excess food fulfills both the HarvestFest side and the 'Escape from Communism' side. Whoooo!

    Isn't history FUN?!?!

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  10. Fried isn't bad, but it's finicky and slightly dangerous to do (hot oil is not a toy).

    We usually smoke our bird. 11 hours over applewood chips. And it keeps well too!

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  11. As Bill B noted, the Irish have been eating turkeys for a long time, as have the Brits. I have several legit Irish cookbooks from the likes of Darina Allen and others. All of them have turkey recipes. If turkey isn't "authentic" enough, the Irish have been eating goose since before Saint Patrick. I prefer goose to turkey, actually, but goose costs about 3x as much.

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  12. Deuce, you need a sump pump for all the grease from a goose. I cooked a couple of them when I was stationed in (West) Germany back in the late 1970's so I have first hand knowledge.

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