Bold Thanksgiving Dinner Main Course Options
This month in West Lafayette, IN — as well as all across the country — friends, and loved ones will be sitting down to a Thanksgiving Day feast complete with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, a variety of sides, and of course, pumpkin-spice something for dessert. Today Collegiate Communities Blog has references for roasting a turkey, plus some options for alternative main courses you can try for a fun way to spice things up.
Cooking Tips
There are plenty of ways to prepare and roast a turkey: you could stuff it, roast it in a cooking bag, brine it, braise it, and even grill or deep fry it. Whatever your preferred method, be sure to let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes so it can finish cooking and so you can make the gravy.
Tie-Dyed Turkey
If you want to add some color to this classic meat, while you’re preparing the turkey, prepare a few bowls for your color solution: add a few drops of one color food coloring in a mixture of melted butter and wine. Do this for a few different colors, and then inject each color separately throughout the bird and cook normally.
Of course, the tie-dye effect may not be effective for everyone, especially if you’re using giblets to make gravy. The giblets can be used, but they’ll be a greyish, not very visually appetizing color. So we advise substituting chicken broth for the giblets to make the gravy. Then you can simply enjoy the tie-dyed display when you carve the turkey.
Golden Ham
If turkey just isn’t your thing (tie-dyed or otherwise), perhaps a Thanksgiving ham will do instead! We like this recipe for Golden Clove Glazed Ham from McCormick for a change of pace. This also works well if you have a large group and want to have a second meat dish.
Cranberry Hazelnut Turkey Wellington
Take your Thanksgiving dinner to another level by trying this beautiful dish! This is perfect if you’re only going to be serving dinner to a few people. And it’s fancy enough that it’ll leave a long-lasting impression anyone will love.
Vegetarian Options
Don’t forget the people who can’t or choose not to eat meat! The Daily Meal has a great tofu turkey roll-up recipe you can try. Or you can scroll through Greatist’s 33 vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes (not made with tofurkey) to find something that looks perfect for exactly what you need.
What is your favorite way to make turkey? Share in the comments so we can try it. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in our apartment community!