BritSaff 'Merican Thanksgiving

As this was the first Thanksgiving to be away from my family, I wanted to make it as authentic as possible.  Lots of our friends offered to bring dishes to the dinner but since I had the extra time (and because I doubted the South Africans knew how to make 5 cup salad) I decided to make most everything on my own.  It turned out to be a massive undertaking, and probably the first and last time to try that experiment :)  Thanksgiving took weeks of preparation because all the ingredients for regular dishes aren't ready available in the UK - I actually had to order corn syrup off of Amazon!  ...From the South African store, of all places! Also, the closest grocery store to our house is a small store so they didn't have some of the random ingredients I needed, such as yellow food coloring for Grandma Cooper's famous egg noodles.  Lloyd was such a trooper and helped prepare Thanksgiving dinner every step of the way.  After we came up with a guest list, we sort of sat around thinking how on earth we were going to feed ten people, since we usually only cook for three!  I knew we had to have a pretty big turkey but we also have a small oven, so I wasn't really sure how big was too big in terms of turkey size.  Luckily we have two butchers within walking distance that had free-range birds available so I at least had some options. However, I did not have the luxury to put my 5 kilo turkey in my car and drive it home - instead I had to carry it all the way back to our flat, which was no small feat!   In order to fit in the oven I went with a 5 kilo turkey, and I thought this was enough since I had already made the mistake before of assuming that a kilo is about the same as a pound (ha!).  In fact, the first time I went to the butcher I told him I wanted, 'a pound of chicken, beef mince, and lamb'.  The butcher looked confused and said, 'you mean kilo?' and I told him sure...so I went home with about 3 kilos of meat that day!! Needless to say he has since remembered my name and asks me 'why you not come in so often' (he's Polish).

I digress - Once I ordered the turkey I assembled the ingredients for the brine since we had decided that brining the turkey might make for a good experiment.  I told the butcher my plan and he informed me that Americans loved their brine, but that he tried one prepared in brine last year and it was delicious, and that was all the affirmation I needed.  In case you're looking for a good brine for next year I used Alton Brown's recipe from Food Network.  Lloyd and I used a host of YouTube videos to help us learn to cook a turkey and our favorites were these.  

Lloyd  preparing the turkey for brine 

Whether by guilt or out of the goodness of his heart, Lloyd was super helpful throughout the whole Thanksgiving process, so I made sure to document his efforts.  I was proud that he was so enthusiastic to help, though food is a powerful motivator for him :)

Pie crust prior to rolling out

Cranberry Cherry Pie 

Pumpkin pie

My pecan pie!! GG would have been so proud

Another difficulty of cooking Thanksgiving dinner in the UK was the absence of refrigerated pie crusts.  My dad was totally devoted to Pillsbury pie crusts in the states and I was pretty annoyed to not be able to find any in the UK.  I guess I could have used refrigerated 'pastry crusts' but I wasn't sure that it would taste quite the same.  So again, if you can't find it, make it yourself, and for this I relied on the recommendation of Arlyn Shields who had used Martha Stewart's recipe for many years.  In the spirit of authenticity I decided to make 4 pies:  2 Pumpkins, Pecan, and per Lloyd's insistence, Dad's Cranberry Cherry pie.

Egg noodle sheets drying 

 

My apprentice cutting up the noodle sheets

Another item that was a necessity for the menu was Grandma Cooper's famous egg noodles.  This recipe has been in my family for many years and has present at every Thanksgiving I can remember.  It is a pretty labor intensive process which involves making dough from scratch, rolling out the noodles, cutting them up into slices, and then refrigerating them to boil in turkey juice on Thanksgiving Day.  The last few years Grandpa was in charge of making the noodles and luckily I had learned how to make them with him, although I wished I had paid more attention!  In a funny twist of fate, I actually videochatted to Grandpa & Mom at the exact moment when we were both rolling out the egg noodles!!  It was really a very special moment because that process is something that Grandpa and I used to do together, so the fact that we were able to roll out our noodles despite our 4,000 mile separation was really amazing.  It wasn't the same as being in the same room with him, of course, but it was special nonetheless.  I missed my family so much this year so it was very important to me to stay busy and continue important family traditions that my family had worked so hard to preserve.

Thanksgiving table

Another cute decoration

Luckily Jamie sent me lots of Thanksgiving decorations in the Halloween shipment so I was able to make the table pretty.  The final count - Below is a list of all the things that we made for Thanksgiving Dinner:

Our BEAUTIFUL & juicy turkey!! 

We underestimated the cooking time for the turkey and it was finished a bit early for my liking, but it turned out beautifully.  It was flavorful, juicy, and simply delicisious  We let it rest in the fridge for about 8 hours after brining and prior to cooking which dried out the skin and allowed it to turn a nice brown color in the oven.  I also underestimated the appetites of our guests, as we had hardly any turkey leftovers (much to Lloyd and Jonno's disappointment!). 

Final Thanksgiving Menu  

• One delicious 5 kilo turkey! 
• 2 batches of homemade egg noodles
• Stuffing (from a box, but I would have had to buy cornbread from Amazon to make the homemade kind!  And frankly, I was exhausted!)
• Bacon & Brussel Sprout salad
• Green bean casserole
• 5 cup salad
• Dinner rolls 
• Mashed potatoes & Gravy
• Cranberry sauce
• Sweet potato mash with melted marshmallows on top
• Cranberry Cherry pie w/ homemade pie crust
• Pecan Pie w/ homemade pie crust



Stuffing, rolls, noodles

• Pumpkin Pie w/ homemade pie crust

Bacon & Brussel sprout salad & 5 cup salad

The spread

Gravy, mashed potatoes, noodles, stuffing, cranberry sauce

The food queue 

In the end, we fed 10 people - 3 Australians, 5 South Africans, an American, and a baby :)  The meal was a huge success and Lloyd even downloaded the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade that we watched during our food coma after dinner.  He wanted everything to be as close to home as possible for me and it was so sweet of him to think of that part.  After such a huge undertaking, I definitely appreciate all the work that my parents and grandparents did to make Thanksgiving so special and tasty for me, and I wish I would have paid more attention during the prep process when I was a kid!  Being away from family helps me to understand what family traditions I value and want to continue with my family someday, and I'm so thankful that my parents helped continue these traditions so that I could enjoy them.  Also, thanks to my UK 'family' for humoring me and tasting all sorts of strange American foods.  And although they've all 'booked in their seats' for next year's Thanksgiving, I think I'll add some international cuisine to the menu so I don't have to make every dish!

Our Thanksgiving attendees & UK 'Family'