It's time to stop dancing around the issue. Thanksgiving food is trash. Sitting down to a standard Thanksgiving meal means negotiating between dry and bland or lukewarm and sticky. But it doesn't have to be. If there's one thing we learned the first time around, it's that Thanksgiving is all about "borrowing" from others.
In the spirit of cultural exchange, here are some ideas we took from our followers on Twitter, Thanksgiving classics transformed into vibrant new fusion dishes. Use them as they are, add your own spice and feel free to mix and match. Any way you slice it, that Adobo turkey is going to be dope.
1. Turkey. It's not Thanksgiving without that festive holiday bird. Instead of eating meat that tastes like wet chalk, you could:
When you're marinating the turkey, rub it down with Adobo (the one with lemon) and drizzle the gravy over the whole thing.
— Annelisa J. Purdie 馃悘 馃摐 馃尵 (@RosyShepherdess)
Tandoori turkey! It looks a little funny cause it鈥檚 red but it tastes perfect.
— Tasneem Raja (@tasneemraja)
I use this Puerto Rican wet rub on my Turkey and top it off w/ an apple cider/rum glaze
— Jimmy McCarty (@jwmccarty)
recaito to marinate the turkey 24 hours before seasoning & cooking. TRUST. 馃敟馃敟馃敟
— Christopher Smith (@infinitewords14)
2. Mashed potatoes. Ever cold, ever oversalted and underseasoned. Rather than mashed potay-nos, try serving:
Sometimes a bit of miso in the gravy. Add mizuna greens and scallions in mashed potatoes for a kind of colcannon.
— Froward Jason (@JasnTru)
Chipotle Bacon Sweet Potatoes. Three different salsas at the table. Pan Dulce for breakfast on Thanksgiving day.
— monica (@monicasegura)
@nehamargosa Also, podimaas instead of mashed potatoes. ()
— lavanya murali (@anthrocharya)
3. Stuffing. Sick of filling your turkey with damp croutons? Do this instead:
I make Puerto Rican mofongo as turkey stuffing for my wife's American family .
— Paul Jennemann (@profepj3)
we always have a Lebanese bird, stuffed with rice, ground beef, pine nuts, caramelized onions, raisins, spices
— jaymileeh (@jaymileeh)
my mother stuffs the turkey with glutenous rice. I will probably stirfry the green beans and onions
— C. (@caitlinchris)
4. Green bean casserole. For the love of all things holy, put those mushroom soup cans away. Green beans are a sensitive vegetable, and they deserve some finesse:
Shitake mushrooms and shallots are pretty good with green beans! I skip the cream of mush, tho
— HapaMama (@HapaMamaGrace)
My Mex Ma makes great green beans by saut茅e-ing them in Knorr Chick bouillon+garlic. They are AMAZING. Hot seeds optional.
— Allison C (@allimuffin)
5. Drinks. There's really only one way to go here:
Champagne with hors d'oeuvres, wine w dinner, brandy or Calvados after dessert. It's a high-proof day,
— Not THAT Karen, thank you (@karenbates)
Somebody else's liquor. RT : Q3: Now we're getting serious. What do you drink with Thanksgiving dinner?
— Nancy Shabazz X (@kevunn)
And if you're squeamish about deviating from tradition, we totally get that. Keep it classic if you must, but for everyone's sake, go ham on those leftovers.
The fam won't fool w the T-day menu, but we go crazy w leftovers: stir fry w lemongrass and veg, yams glazed in chile-honey..
— Not THAT Karen, thank you (@karenbates)
oh, and last year we repurposed leftover colcannon as Japanese-style croquettes.
— Froward Jason (@JasnTru)
Miso-roasted root vegetables! And we make congee with the leftover turkey.
— Rebecca Tran (@beckietran)
also, the leftover turkey goes into a matzo ball soup.
— Gabe Rosenberg (@GabrielJR)
Let us know what concoctions you wind up with, and be sure to send the photos to @NPRCodeSwitch.
P.S. Before the hate mail starts rolling in, let's get something out of the way: We see you, mac and cheese. We see you, pumpkin/sweet potato/pecan pie. Keep on keeping on.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDA5NTM4MTIyMDE0MTg3NDc2MTVlZjdmNQ001))
