Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumThis tweet made me wonder, Mac and Cheese is a touchstone in the SE US/SideDish
FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) Tweeted:
Heres what your part of America eats on Thanksgiving. https://t.co/WDpqVXnoSY https://t.co/4drVC50DJ3 Link to tweet
The Great Migration of African Americans to the north and west US brought different types of cheeses to Mac & Cheese for family dinners. I'd sooner get between a sword fight between sisters & sister in laws, but tell me what type you use.
Daddy D would only allow York State Sharp Cheddar. Rest in glory Daddy D
Ohiogal
(31,997 posts)I have never experienced that.
underpants
(182,802 posts)Salad?
DURHAM D
(32,609 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)from California, but it's a must at Thanksgiving, and potlucks can often end up with several.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)I never understood mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving, either. There are plenty of carbs with the stuffing and desserts.
Our family was an odd mix of North and South. Mom's family was all from Alabama since 1834. Dad's was from Upper Peninsula Michigan since the 1870s. Dad insisted on rutabagas, but he and I were the only ones who really liked them. The menus was turkey, dressing, gravy, peas, green beans, rutabagas, and rolls. Desserts were pecan pie and for the Northern branch, mincemeat pie with hard sauce. The hard sauce was a favorite of my tea totaling great aunt who never realized that Mom's hard sauce was brandy and confectioner's sugar.
dameatball
(7,397 posts)It contains powdered mustard (which the newer box recipe does not). I also add an extra stick of butter than the recipe calls for. Top with breadcrumbs and put jalapeno slices on 1/2 of the pan, since some people do not care for the heat.
So, while you are waiting for Mueller indictments and guilty pleas you can enjoy some Mueller's mac & Cheese.
irisblue
(32,973 posts)dameatball
(7,397 posts)CentralMass
(15,265 posts)Delmette2.0
(4,165 posts)But please, you enjoy
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)I saw it here and there later, but my children were raised without it also.
Afromania
(2,768 posts)redstateblues
(10,565 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Here in the south salad is NOT a traditional Thanksgiving dish. Actually I do make salad for Thanksgiving because my DIL loves it, but to keep a whole, otherwise untouched bowl from being left over I long ago started serving little individual salads topped with high-calorie seafood salad. Want the crab, have to take the green stuff it's sitting on also.
Instead, we have macaroni and cheese -- de rigueur. Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving without it.
northoftheborder
(7,572 posts)but we usually use plain cheddar cheese, also Monterrey Jack.
My mother prob. used Velveeta.
CottonBear
(21,596 posts)NC, TN & GA. Never had Mac and Cheese for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Homemade from scratch sides include:
Sweet potato souffle (never any marshmallows)
Cornbread dressing
Turkey gravy
Cranberry compote
Fresh green beans
Fresh asparagus
Pumpkin pie
Pecan pie
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)tastes, and since there are a bunch of them they rule. It's not that none have money, or even education and travel, but there are no real foodies and for them Thanksgiving's all about tradition. And I suspect some of these traditions extend well back into the reconstruction period, which after all only really ended after the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
That said, really? Fresh cranberry compote instead of canned cranberry sauce? How do you even get away with that? Don't you have to serve both to avoid the disappointed complaints from the canned faction? Ours drew a fat red line on that one a long time ago.
Oh, btw, went to a big Thanksgiving potluck once in northern Florida. There were 11 mac and cheeses. I counted and took pix for friends back in California.
CottonBear
(21,596 posts)My mom makes the perfect sweet potato souffle and her cornbread dressing & gravy are so good.
11 Mac and cheeses must have been awesome!
Homemade Mac and cheese is delicious
irisblue
(32,973 posts)snip..
In black culture, for the most part, macaroni & cheese is the pinnacle, the highest culinary accolade. Who makes it, how its made and whos allowed to bring it to a gathering involves negotiation, tradition and tacit understanding. Its made from scratch and usually involves multiple kinds of cheese, secret touches (eggs and evaporated milk may be involved) and debates over toppings. Its baked, and its a side dish, but its the side dish of honor, present at every important occasion.
snip...
In white culture, for the most part, macaroni & cheese is certainly considered tasty cheesy, comforting and filling. Its also cheap, the kind of thing your mother pulled together on a weeknight to stretch the budget. You might make it from scratch for a filling meal, but its also so simple, any kid can make it: Tear open the box, boil the macaroni, dump in the powder, stir in the milk.
Macaroni & cheese on a holiday table would be as out of place as ripped blue jeans in church.
More at article
CottonBear
(21,596 posts)I always learn something new on DU!
MontanaMama
(23,314 posts)with the right crowd. In fact, I could do without most traditional thanksgiving fare in general...but mac and cheese? Shut the front door. Thats what Im talking about. Count me in! 🧀 😍👍🏽
Dream Girl
(5,111 posts)Baked, no velvetta please
japple
(9,824 posts)IMHO.
dameatball
(7,397 posts)old neighbor's birthday. She loves the stuff.
My other off beat holiday meal is lasagna at Christmas. That started back in the early 90's. For some reason it just seems festive to me.
irisblue
(32,973 posts)Afromania
(2,768 posts)at Christmas I consider it a holiday meal option too.
Freddie
(9,265 posts)Dont know anyone here in the great NE USA that makes that for Thanksgiving.
spinbaby
(15,090 posts)But always green bean casserole and homemade rolls.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,855 posts)fit any definition I know of as "side dish". They are a bread accompaniment.
Turkey is the main dish. Vegetables and dressing/stuffing are side dishes.
Salad likewise is not a side dish. I suppose I'd consider mac and cheese a side, although I can't begin to imagine it on Thanksgiving.
dem in texas
(2,674 posts)Cornbread Dressing, yes, that is a must have, but as far back as I can remember for all my Texas thanksgivings, always cornbread dressing plus yeast dinner rolls, homemade or the ready to bake kind. Plus pumpkin and pecan pie with gallons of freshly made whipped cream - Ha!.
My grandson married a girl from New York, Long Island, to be correct. I don't think she had ever eaten pecan pie, but she caught on right away and now when they come to visit, I have to make pecan pie for her.