Anita Campbell
County Reporter
I apparently am one of the few people who refuses to put up the Christmas tree until after we eat the turkey on Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving and just don’t want to rush the season.
I always saw Thanksgiving as the time to teach my children how to prepare all the special recipes handed down to us from each of the famous cooks from our family. I would assign each child a special dish to fix and then I would supervise.
Daughter #1 being the oldest was often assigned the turkey and brisket because those were considered the more difficult and important dishes. Daughter #2 usually made the dressing, gravy and rolls, following Nan-naw’s (Grandmother Mabel McLaughlin) recipes.
Daughter #3 was in charge of setting the table and peeling potatoes while Daughter #4 fixed green bean casserole and corn casserole.
I put #1 Son in charge of the hors d’oeuvres table. Since he was only 5 at the time it consisted of cheese, summer sausage and crackers but at least he felt like he was contributing.
I continued to make the pies because I just couldn’t hand over that responsibility.
Anyway, one year I had knee surgery so they took over the cooking completely as I sat in the living room with my leg propped up with pillows. It was difficult not to laugh as I listened to the conversations.
“Amber, I need the giblets for the gravy,” said Daughter #2.
“I don’t have them,” was the answer.
“You have to have them because you fixed the turkey and they are inside the turkey,” Daughter #2 replied.
“Listen, I just buttered and seasoned the turkey and I put it in the oven. I didn’t see any giblets. What is a giblet anyway?”
I told them to look inside the cavity of the turkey for a package.
“Oh, this is disgusting. We cooked the giblets with the turkey.”
I told them it was okay and to just cut the giblets up and throw the bag away.
They also thought they had ruined the ham because they couldn’t cut it but they had forgotten to take off the wrapper. It was the best ham ever!
We also had an incident with the oven the first time Son-in-law #1 came for a visit. I opened the oven door to check the turkey and flames shot out of the oven. Everyone rushed over to check out the stove, except our guest. He just sat calmly in the living room waiting for dinner. The oven had died but the turkey tasted delicious.
Luckily, they made all their mistakes in my kitchen and by the time they were in their own homes with their own families, they were amazing cooks.
This year I decided that the grandchildren would fix the big dinner. Grandson #3 was in charge of the turkey while Granddaughter #1 fixed meatballs and rolls. Grandson #4 was in charge the mashed potatoes and stuffing.
Grandson #3 said he volunteered for the turkey because all he would have to do would be to butter the turkey and put it in the oven. When I asked about the seasonings and temperature for the oven and how long the turkey should cook, he looked puzzled. “I’ll look it up on the internet!” he replied. “You might not know this, Nana, since you were born in the 19’s but you can find out anything on the internet.”
Grandson #3 was most concerned when he removed the neck of the turkey from the cavity. “What is this?” he asked. When I explained it was the neck and that we would cut what meat we could off to add to the dressing and the gravy. “Oh, good, I was afraid it was a part of his body we wouldn’t want to eat.”
Anyway, Grandson #3 came up with what he called his special turkey sauce and using a marinade injector, he injected his special sauce under the skin of the turkey. He also added fresh rosemary as his finishing touch. He made sure to ask me to add his special sauce recipe to the family cookbook.
Grandson #4 enlisted the help of Grandson #3 to peel potatoes. There was a slight mishap when Grandson #4 happened to slice one of his fingers but a band-aid fixed the injury and he continued his job of peeling ten pounds of potatoes. I thought it was a bit much, but it was his decision. He ended up mashing the potatoes with an old-fashioned potato masher since all ten pounds of potatoes wouldn’t fit in the mixing bowl. After adding milk, butter, sour cream, salt and pepper, the taste testers reported the mashed potatoes were a success.
Granddaughter #1 mixed up bread dough the night before and kneaded it before setting it out to rise. Luckily, it did rise! She did not kill the yeast. She and her brother and cousin rolled the rolls Thanksgiving morning to bake at noon. They were delicious and were quickly eaten at Thanksgiving dinner with plenty of honey butter. She was also in charge of meat balls and made enough for everyone to have four. We may be eating meat balls for a while.
Granddaughter #9 helped with setting the table so we did have to check around the table for silverware, but she did get to participate in the special dinner.
The best part of the experiment was that the children were very proud when the family praised their culinary skills and remarked how good everything tasted. They helped clear the table and load the dishwasher, but their mothers ended up putting the leftovers away and washing the big pans. My crew was worn out and needed a break. Two days of cooking was exhausting. Now we are ready to start decorating for Christmas!
