The Thanksgiving Mega Thread

Will this make decent gravy? That's my main reservation for doing just a turkey breast and not a whole turkey. The gravy is imperative to the meal!

No, I'm not sure it would.  We'll be having one veggie gravy anyway, rather than having two gravies.  But if I wanted non-veggie gravy, I'd probably make chicken broth ahead of time for the gravy instead.  (I don't like turket giblet gravy anyway.)  The breast is just too lean to give off enough broth, IMO.  That much turkey breast (remember breast meat alone!) will also feed a LOT of people, so I suggest downsizing if you're going to be not so many (unless you want loads leftover).

I worried last year that it would turn out dry - being just breast, but I cribbed off this recipe (minus the booze, believe it or not, plus my own tweaking which I think might have included slapping some bacon around it):

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/herb-roasted-turkey-breast-with-pan-gravy-recipe/index.html

And it was delightful!  Maybe if you did it the whole way with the booze, there would be enough gravy?  Hmmm - I don't know, 'pan gravy' doesn't suggest to me a whole gravy boat full though.

I thought that might be the problem with the leanness of the breast meat. I had it at a friend's for Thanksgiving 2 years ago and it was delicious with the bacon on it. I can't remember what they did for gravy though. I may look at M&S for some turkey stock to use for my gravy and just pick up a small breast for the two of us. I was just thinking today that I need to start looking for all the bits needed for the day because it's definitely not a one-stop-shop around here!

Are you finding cranberries (frozen or fresh) anywhere?  I forgot to go hunting around the "big" Sainsbury's last week, but they don't seem to be in any of our local (and small) stores yet.

They have them at Whole Foods, but I don't think you are in London.  You can order online from the American Sweets place.

Hi there,

I couldn't wait until Thanksgiving so I'm having a practice run this weekend, this way i get the leftovers.

Waitrose did not have any turkeys available until Christmas, so I ordered mine through Sainsbury's and they had fresh cranberries too.  All being delivered today.  Yeah! If you order online make sure your search "whole turkey" as when I just put in "turkey" the whole ones didn't show up.

I bought the Libby's canned pumpkin at Whole Foods.  The check out lady said it was selling like crazy as it was a bad crop this year and this was last years stock.  She said the US was running out...not sure if that was true or not.

Another exciting find at Whole Foods last week was Tri Tip roasts on sale for half off. i grabbed two and they tasted so yummy.  They aren't marinated like the Morton ones you get at Costco in the states, but still a nice treat.  The exact name on the wrapper is "Dry aged Sirlion Filets" if you need to ask for them.  At half price they were 7 pounds each.

Happy cooking all!

Just an update- our local butcher did have fresh turkeys.... however they were humongous and about £30 a pop. 

I definitely want a whole turkey (for gravy and stuffing), however I think I'm going to go with a young frozen one since it's only going to be 6 people.

Hi there,


The check out lady said it was selling like crazy as it was a bad crop this year and this was last years stock.  She said the US was running out...not sure if that was true or not.

Yes, this is true.  It was a bad year for pumpkins- at least in the Northeast.  Terrible weather.




Not totally on the subject of dinner, but.....

any advice on finding NFL or Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade??? Links online???

I may be reaching here....

I live is south devon and found a jar of ocean spray cranberry. They sell it at our 2 local spar shops and in Sainsbury's...and if anyone wants the crispy fried onions for green bean casserole Sainsbury's sell them in the salad dressing section. They aren't Durkee but they are exactly the same...

I am cooking my first thanksgiving next week and I am nervous. But luckily Jaime and Patty from the UKY thread are coming with their husbands for our first UK thanksgiving...so they will be making some good stuff too...so if I ruin dinner we will still have stuff to eat lol

I was just in M&S and they had a large selection of turkeys. There was quite a variation in sizes and prices: turkey crown, turkey crown with stuffing, turkey breasts, turkey breasts with stuffing, frozen whole turkeys, frozen turkey breasts, frozen turkey crowns with stuff....you get the idea! Since it's just DH and I, I bought a breast that allegedly feeds 4-5 people, so hopefully we get some leftovers. I threw it in the freezer. I'm going to use this as a backup though, and I'll look for something fresh and a little larger the day before....I want MORE leftovers! They didn't have turkey stock, but did sell turkey gravy. I am going to keep looking for turkey stock and worst case scenario, I'll get chicken stock and use that for gravy.

I was just in M&S and they had a large selection of turkeys. There was quite a variation in sizes and prices: turkey crown, turkey crown with stuffing, turkey breasts, turkey breasts with stuffing, frozen whole turkeys, frozen turkey breasts, frozen turkey crowns with stuff....you get the idea!

I didn't even think about going to M&S!!! GOOD CALL!!!

We checked out the stock at M&S last week, and were impressed by the selection of turkeys they had. All frozen, but at least it will be turkey. I've never cooked Thanksgiving dinner before, so it should be interesting. I had my parents send over some ingredients that I couldn't find here. Wish I'd known that you could order pumpkin in a can on ebay. That would have saved me a great deal of strife!

I've found a few other sites to order the canned pumpkin on....


which brings me to this question... amazing pumpkin pie recipes.

My family owns a store, and theres a woman we get homemade pies from that are out of this world.   So we always eat her pies on turkey day.  So I've never actually made pumpkin pie before.  Obviously there's loads of recipes online, but I want to know the best one!!!

Any recommendations?

I think I'm making this one:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/No-Bake-Pumpkin-Pie-I/Detail.aspx

It seemed to have a lot of good reviews, and few ingredients (my fav kind of recipe). I'll be using pumpkin pie spice instead of all the separate spices.

which brings me to this question... amazing pumpkin pie recipes.

I always use the recipe on the can of Libbys pumpkin!  It's tradition. 

I agree Libby's recipe. 

I am going to try a pumpkin mousse and gingerbread trifle though.  Yum, I hope.

I don't like pumpkin pie, so I'm making this:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Spice-Bundt-Cake-with-Buttermilk-Icing-233011

I don't like pumpkin pie, so I'm making this:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Spice-Bundt-Cake-with-Buttermilk-Icing-233011

That sounds really nice.