22 Thanksgiving Main Dishes That Are Better Than Turkey. I’ve been trying to get the fam to pivot from turkey to chicken (with all the usual sides in place), but no dice.
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We pivoted a few years ago and it was frictionless, somehow - teens and pre-teens were shockingly agreeable. Wondering what the pro-turkey arguments are for you all.
The teens like turkey more than chicken. 🤷♂️
Perhaps the teens would accept a pivot to duck or steak. Who wants chicken?!
🙋♂️
On the years we don’t do a big family thing my partner and I started a tradition of all-day cooking (&drinking) together. A hearty starter serves as lunch while we prep slow cook the main for late afternoon feast, then dessert and a late night cheeseboard. This year it’s chestnut soup, beef Wellington and sides + apple pie and I can’t wait!
Growing up with a Cajun grandmother who hated turkey (always too dry, always too much effort), our Thanksgiving mainstays were chicken and sausage gumbo, cornbread dressing full of giblets, giblet gravy, green bean casserole, and sweet potatoes pecan'd and marshmallow'd within an inch of their life. Christmas would be the same with ham replacing the gumbo.
Now that she's passed and I'm transplanted to New England, I really need to learn how to make a good gumbo.
Switched temporarily to chicken during the pandemic as it was just my husband and I, and even a small turkey is an onslaught of turkey, and it is so much better! Chicken just makes better leftovers too. Now that we are back to a big group again it’s turkey, or else we’d be doing 3-4 chickens. The chicken lobby needs to create 30# chickens, I guess. (Terrifying!)
How about spatchcocked chickens? You could probably fit 3 in an oven on separate baking sheets.
As a small family that lives in a different country than our extended families, we moved to chicken forever ago. Last year we were living in Europe and I went for duck. My teen doesn't care, as long as there's stuffing.
Our teen is a big traditionalist as well. MUST have the standard fare they've known all their life. However, to keep it sane and with our small oven, my partner gets the smallest possible turkey and butchers it up cleanly before cooking. Recommend!
A third option, just buy turkey legs. Great value and you can confit them.
We must never let the Times forget when they recommended replacing turkey with Really Big Beets. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016979-really-big-beets
After 9 years living in Texas, I've realized that smoked turkey is the only good turkey.
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