Finding traditional US holiday foods in UK i.e. Thanskgiving etc.

Hey Everyone,

Well looks like I will be going over to the UK for 6-8 weeks as a trial living situation with my UK partner and it will take place over the upcoming holiday seasons. I am hoping to leave the week prior to Thanksgiving and come back here to NY after the New Year and if all goes well during that time, then we will proceed with me moving over there.

My question is, I would want to still celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas etc. with some of the traditional foods we serve in the States. I have been over in England before and do remember the foodstores having a pretty decent variety of foods so really am not all that worried. I just tend to use recipies, so am wondering if there is anything that I may normally use to prepare a holiday meal here, that would be difficult to find there so that I can either re-work the recipies or maybe even bring some stuff over with me. It will also be the first time I met her mom, so it is important to me that the holidays seem familar but also go over well.

Thanks in advance!
Angela

If you make pumpkin pie with canned pumpkin, bring a can along.  It's incredibly hard to find. Last year I cooked a pumpkin to try to make pumpkin pie with instead of the canned stuff and it turned out really bitter. 

What recipes do you usually make? That could help us to determine if you need to pack anything else or modify anything .  Oh, and fresh cranberries aren't really available until a few weeks before Christmas, so if you make homemade sauce, you will have to buy a jar. I DID find cranberries in Asda the day *after* Thanksgiving, so it's possible if I went before they might have had them, but Tesco didn't have any.

Yes, I think we would need to know what dishes are on your "must-have" list in order to proceed here. I can tell you that deep dish pie pans are pretty hard to come by at the last minute, so if you intend on baking any sorts of pies, you should bring the pie pans with you. Agreed on the pumpkin, as well, though I have used homemade pumpkin puree and like it better than the canned stuff. But finding the canned stuff, if you must, can be hit and miss here - some areas have it and some don't.

A lot of waitrose stores stock American canned Libbys pureed pumpkin, so I find it really easy to get! I used to make my pumpkin pie with fresh butternut squash before I lived near a waitrose and it was always delicious. Pumpkin pie spice premixed is hard to find, but you can mix your own pretty easily. Oh, and most stores stock ocean spray cranberry sauce in jars around this time of year- it tastes exactly like the stuff in cans back in the states, if you're into that rather than the fresh stuff ( I totally agree on fresh cranberries being really hard to find pre-thanksgiving here, but if you plan ahead and have the room, they freeze brilliantly!).

You gals need to give me your pumpkin recipes. Seriously. Mine was so bitter and nasty Tim had to go down to the village shop to pick up a desert!

I used to make my pumpkin pie with fresh butternut squash before I lived near a waitrose and it was always delicious.

I do the same as I don't live anywhere near a Waitrose. It works really well!

As for cranberry, I didn't think to plan ahead and freeze fresh berries last year. But this Thanksgiving, I think I'll buy some Ocean Spray pre-made stuff (which I am really not a fan of) and doctor it with some orange zest and Grand Marnier. Hopefully it'll be the next best thing to proper homemade!

You gals need to give me your pumpkin recipes. Seriously. Mine was so bitter and nasty Tim had to go down to the village shop to pick up a desert!

I followed the Pioneer Woman's method of making pumpkin puree, but I had to strain it twice to make sure the puree was thick and not watery. It wasn't too hard, just a bit time-consuming, then I froze the rest of the puree to use later. I can't understand why yours was bitter, unless you had an off pumpkin. After you roast it, just nibble a piece (I couldn't stop eating mine, it barely made it into the food processor!) and see how it tastes. If it's bitter, then you must have an off pumpkin because the pumpkin I roasted was sweet and delicious.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/make-your-own-pumpkin-puree/

A lot of waitrose stores stock American canned Libbys pureed pumpkin

Ugg, I just went there yesterday and didn't even think to look for it. Don't know if they would have it stocked in October or not but I'll check it out for sure next time. Off topic but I did find Lipton Ice Tea in lemon and peach flavors! 2 for £1.80. 

Thanks everyone. Hmmm I switch it up here and there at least as far as desert, and have only made the whole meal once. I watch a lot of Food Network here, more so during the holiday season and really have gotten into cooking. I love having dinner parties with my friends (will have to find some new friends there to invite over, so I can continue this! hehe)

As for dinner, am part Italian so usually every meal we had with that side of the family during holidays involved that sort of food first and I kind of like that, even though otherwise really don't get into the Italian side of my heritage... so would like to start with maybe an antipasta and baked ziti, then make a turkey breast (not sure yet what flavoring I'd like to baste it in) and yes need some cranberry side as I don't like gravy I usually smother my turkey with the cranberry, then sweet potato something, stuffing and some veggie sides... as for desserts I am not really a pie person, but know my partner like apple pie/cobbler, I do like peacan pie and grew up with my mom making chocolate pudding pies for Thanksgiving day (I like vanilla pudding better). Since dating a Brit I got very into the "trifle" and one year made a pumpkin trifle - for family using canned pumpkin pie stuff and for dinner party I actually went to Cold Stone Ice Cream and got pumpkin ice cream... trifles are always fun as you can switch it up so easily and play around... we also always had some sort of pastries or Italian-type bakery cookies. Pretty much after the meal, you don't want to eat until Christmas!

As for Christmas time... Christmas Eve was usually a fish dish and Italian dishes like eggplant parm or  lasagna and meatballs (now here is where I started doing a lot of baking at home, homemade cookie recipies my mom used to make when I was a kid, and would love to make some recipies over there, but would have to look them up and let you know the ingredients to those)... Christmas Day I'd love to make a traditional England Dinner (I just don't eat red meat or ham) so would go with another turkey I suppose unless any other suggestions? And then was thinking of making a curry of somesort for Boxing Day or New Years Day.

I do like peacan pie and grew up with my mom making chocolate pudding pies for Thanksgiving day (I like vanilla pudding better).

Christmas Day I'd love to make a traditional England Dinner (I just don't eat red meat or ham) so would go with another turkey I suppose unless any other suggestions?

Have you ever tried pumpkin pecan pie? That is amazing and always my Turkey Day desert.

And you said no ham... is that all pig meats you mean?  What about pork?  Or chicken....All my MIL makes is traditional English dinners usually.  Meat, veggies (like carrots and peas), roasted parsnips or potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and then everything gets covered in gravy (might not work for you since you don't like it- although she uses that dry gravy mix that you add water too)

NYAngela, it doesn't sound like you will have much of a problem preparing some holiday meals here, as it seems you have a very flexible menu, which is a good thing! So, just as mentioned before, if you want pie, bring a pie tin or two, and if you want pumpkin anything, I'd bring a tin or two of that to make sure you don't have any trouble finding it at the last minute. Other than that, I think you will be ok!

There are quite a few prepared stuffing mixes here that are easy to throw together, though it's easy to make your own, as well. One note I would add here, though, is that if you like cornbread stuffing (I think it's primarily a Southern thing, though) then I would bring some packets of cornbread mix in order to do that. 

Angela, can I pretty please have your baked ziti recipe? I have never found one I really liked!

MsMort, I don't really have a baked ziti recipie as I usually just wing that together... plus I don't really eat meat so that makes it much easier! Basically just start with one or two boxes of Ziti pasta in the box or bag (depending on how big you want the ziti or how many people you need to feed) prepare that pasta as normal boiling water a little salt in the water; then I usually put some tomato sauce in pan first (helps with the scooping out later) then pasta, then ricotta cheese and then top the ricotta cheese with mozerella cheese then repeat for 3-4 layers. If you want to add veggies or like chopped meat/turkey I normally put that in after the pasta as the cheese then forms on top again making in less likely to fall completely apart when taking out pieces. Then just cook in oven until hot. I am a pretty bad Italian, as still learning to make a good homemade tomato sauce, but a neat quick trick is to take a decent/good brand of jar tomato sauce and fancy it up using some olive oil and a pinch of sugar and even some fresh basil - makes the jar sauce taste much more like homemade - you can even add a can of crushed tomato. I remember laughing because my gf (the Brit) I guess never really ate much Italian style food until she met me and teaching her to pronounce them correctly or what they were was so funny... especially calzone or canoli! But she loves baked ziti now!

BTW how hard is it to find mozerella cheese and even Italian bread over there? I do remember I was like in cheese heaven in one of the supermarts over there - they had cheese from like every country!

And to whom asked about pork, pig etc. Nope pretty much stick to only chicken or Turkey when it comes to meat. I have one roast beef recipie that I will break down and eat. My stepmoms Italian mom makes it once a year usually for a holiday, and that is the one time a year I get my red meat it! It's called spidini [sp?] (which I think can also be made with veal). Basically you ask the butcher to cut you a roast beef very, very, very thin (best to cut when half frozen to get it thin enough) and you take each slice and roll it with chopped onion, a stronger Italian cheese like pecorini and just a little tap of butter then use toothpicks to bind together about 3-4 of them and broil... isn't the most healthiest thing and is a bit time consuming rolling each one, but so good!

Actually that is perfect cause I don't like baked ziti with meat in it.  

Everywhere has Mozz in balls, slices and even (the horror) pre-grated.

At least Tesco and Sainsbury's def have ricotta.

Angela, you can get mozzarella here without much of a problem. Also, there are all kinds of par-baked baguettes, garlic breads, etc. to pop in the oven.