For GreerToday.com
This week many of us will prepare my favorite meal of the year. I was introduced to it in 1965 when I had my first Thanksgiving Dinner in America.
During my upbringing in Germany, a turkey dinner was almost unknown. Europeans favor roasted duck or goose at holiday times. It was in Cape May, N.J., where I experienced my first Thanksgiving. Most vivid in my memory was the bread stuffing with oysters. Creamed onions, mashed rutabaga, mashed potatoes, string beans, and cranberry sauce also were served. For dessert we had pumpkin and mincemeat pies which I found to be favorites throughout America. This is typical for Jersey and points farther north.
However, the farther south I moved, the better the turkey dinners and trimmings became. When I worked in the Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach, Va., we prepared a turkey with all the trimmings for every reservation. In fact, we baked as many as 140 turkeys each Thanksgiving. The trimming in that region consisted of sweet potatoes, roasted chestnuts, string beans, mashed potatoes, and cranberry salad.
Here in South Carolina, I believe I have finally reached the ultimate. I personally roast my turkey with an onion, apple, and spices. Of course, there are a few other little tricks and secrets, but I am very pleased with the finished product.
We always serve sweet potato soufflé with pecans, mashed potatoes, string beans, and red cabbage, lots of gravy and biscuits. My wife, Janice, has a scrumptious cranberry salad recipe, which she received at a bridal shower 40 plus years ago. Of course, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cake with vanilla ice cream always show up on the menu. However, there will be an extra additional culinary offering this year. Our daughter, Christina, works for Publix and she has insisted that we also serve that store’s pumpkin ice cream.
With thoughts of food set aside, I hope you all will be able to celebrate with family and friends, and reflect on all the blessings God has showered upon our great country.