Our Family's Thanksgiving Tradition

Our family tries to stick to traditions, and part of that is celebrating the four major holidays with my in-laws. There are 4 of us families in all -- my parents-in-law, my husband's brother's family, his sister's family, and our very own, that take turns hosting the four major holidays, and for this year's Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law was the "IT." In addition, we have her father with us as well, so that makes for four generations in these gatherings.

I was excited when Eric and Tiffany of theguerrilagourmet.com emailed me for an invitation to be a part of their holiday project - The Gorilla Gourmet -- to represent Maine.  It is an honor for me to do so.

Our family probably typically represents the Mainers in that we try our best to be together with family (and exclusively family) during the Holidays. My mother-in-law prepares her fruit cocktail with mostly canned fruits that they picked from their own trees and bushes.

Our usual menu stars THE TURKEY and it will never be Thanksgiving if we prepare an entreé other than the turkey. (Oh, the Filipina in me tried to do that before, and it was like a major violation to them true Mainers!). The turkey is roasted with stuffing that is usually prepared the night before then stuffed into the turkey's cavity just before roasting.

Mashed potatoes are also prepared using potatoes they harvested from their own garden. White bread is prepared using a breadmaker (and no, we don't mill our own flour; we get that from Hannaford stores). Other sides are pitted olives, cranberry salad, bread and butter pickles, boiled onions (a Tibbetts family tradition that I am still trying very hard to assimilate), and mashed turnips.

My mother-in-law also prepared three various pies -- pecan pie, pumpkin pie and raspberry pie, but I forgot to take photos of these desserts before they were gone. One thing that my mother-in-law prepared last year that she skipped this year was the pumpkin whoopie piea, something that was not really traditionally prepared in our family during Thanksgiving, but my younger son was somehow anticipating this year. Now if there is something in our menu that I would be almost sure was very Maine-ly, it would be whoopie pies. So I decided to make the whoopie pies the very next day (recipe coming soon), and I promised to my son that from now on, pumpkin whoopie pies will be part of the Thanksgiving tradition in our family.

From the slideshow above, you can see how closely-knit our families are.  I feel so blessed to have in-laws who treat my sons as if they are true blood relations, and that is something worth thanking for.  We have a lot other things to be thankful for, but that would be something exclusively for our family to ponder upon.

Apple Dumplings

We had these apple dumplings when we ate supper at my mother-in-law's one night.  We loved them so much that I asked for a recipe. Surprisingly, it was easy to make, using ready-made dough.  I made it the very next day at home. Hubby was even surprised to find that orange juice makes a good flavor combination with apples!

Ingredients:
2 cortland apples, peeled, cored and cut into quarters (to come up with 8 wedges)
1 tube of crescent rolls, divided into 8 parts (cut along the perforations)
1 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg



Instructions:
Boil together in a small saucepan the butter, orange juice and sugar.
Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F.
Wrap each apple wedge with the dough, place on a deep 9x9 baking dish.
Pour the mixture on top. Sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon.
Bake for 45 minutes.

Pork Hamonado

I was asked recently by two fb friends about a hamonado recipe. I presumed it was the pork, since that was what we always used to have when I was still in the Philippines. I did not really have a recipe, but I do remember my Nanay simmering a big cut of pork, usually pigue in lots of pineapple juice, flavored with soy sauce and brown sugar.

Ingredients:
1 pork ham (roast cut, about 5-6 pounds - whether cured or not, it won't matter)
1 liter pineapple juice (about 40 oz)
1 small can of pineapple, round slices, for garnishing (up to you if you want more)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 bay leaves
10 peppercorns

Instructions:
I slow cooked the whole ham in the pineapple, soy sauce, spices and brown sugar on high for about 4 hours (although my son disturbed the whole process by opening the lid after 3 hours, so instead of being completely done by the end of the 4 hours, it was still quite tough although done). I served this as is during the Filipino Christmas Party for the sake of our American hubbies (two attended, so that makes it three including my husband). Knowing my hubby would have liked it drier and more tender, I did not expect him to eat much of it since it was swimming in its own juice plus the pineapple juice and was very wet. But I did not have the time then to fix it some more to his liking. I did so the next day for supper using the big left over.

For those who will attempt to make it the way I did, the gist of the steps is: (1) boil ham in the mixture until just done, but will remain whole when lifted out of the pot instead of fall-off-the-bone tender; (2) remove fat and make the sauce; (3) roast ham with pineapple on top, basting from time to time with the sauce. They way I presented this recipe here is more like narration of how I made mine, adjusting under the circumstances. I encourage you to proceed as it suits yours.

To continue with the details of the next steps after boiling/simmering...

That night, I placed the big leftover ham in a roasting pan and left it out in the garage which serves now as my big refrigerator. The next day, I removed all the fat that solidified on top, then simmered the ham covered inside that roasting pan for about an hour, basting from time to time with the sauce. More fat shed oil, so that at the end of 1 hour (which assured me the ham was heated all the way to the middle), I used the fat separator in making the sauce. [Please take note that if you directly roast after slowcooking, you will not need to simmer again. I did this only to reheat before I roasted.]  Leaving about a cup of sauce in the pan, I transferred the rest to a small saucepan. I drained the juice off pineapple slices and placed the slices on top of the ham while I heated up the oven to 400 deg F. I placed the pan uncovered in the lower rack and started making the sauce in the saucepan. I just let it boil for about 10 minutes then started adding water-cornstarch mixture (about 1/4 cup of water with 2 tbsp cornstarch), and added in thin stream into the boiling sauce until it was thick as desired. Then I basted the roast/pineapple slices with this sauce about 3 times in intervals of 5 minutes, until the meat achieved a good browning and the pineapple slices were glazed good.

I took out the whole ham and placed it on a platter, then poured some more sauce on top, and had the rest of the sauce in a gravy boat for each person to pour as desired on their slices of ham. The ham remained intact as we sliced, yet very tender and done just to my husband's liking. And we shared with my in-laws, who found the taste delightfully good! This time, we had just a little left over, about 3/4 cup chopped meat, enough for me to make a small batch of pork hamonado siopao.

Thanksgiving/Christmas Dinner

It is not my turn to host the Thanksgiving Dinner this year nor last year. So I am not hysterical at the moment...I will come Christmas time. Haha! But since we have basically the same menu for both Holidays, it is like having a preview before I actually have my turn to host.

Anyway, this post is about the traditional Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner our family has...We cannot deviate from the basics...we can only add if we want anything new, but there should always be the following:

Roast Turkey & Gravy with Stuffing
Bread (usually white bread)
Mashed Potatoes
Boiled and Mashed Turnips
Boiled and Mashed Onions
Cranberry Salad
Fruit Salad
Bread & Butter Pickles
Pitted Olives

No we are not pumpkin lovers, so there are no pumpkins here.

We usually get 20++ lb turkey for a gathering of 14 people. The stuffing is cooked with diced celery and onions sauteed in butter. Some stuffing is stuffed into the turkey cavity, and some kept warm in a slow cooker.

My in-laws love the boiled-mashed-buttered turnips and onions (I tried, but they don't appeal to me at all, and they laugh about it, being smug that they found out something I would not eat!).

The cranberry salad is something my SIL Stacey makes, a mixture of cranberry and marshmallows and whipped cream, but I do not know the recipe. I like it, but not so much that I want to learn the recipe.

I love the fruit salad, but my MIL and FIL make that using their own canned fruits (peaches and kiwi in particular came from their own trees, which they canned right after harvesting, and the only fruit here that they get from the store is the cherry topping).

Bread & Butter Pickles is a must for my FIL.

Pitted olives from the grocery store is part of the tradition.

White Bread is made using bread machine/breadmaker.

[Now my frustration is, the same menu is what we have for Christmas. I would want to deviate, but my husband and in-laws are such traditionalists, so I cannot. Ham is for Easter. I can add other desserts, but I cannot change the entree.]

What we are thankful for? That we have a happy and closely-knit family. No one is antagonistic to others. No one is envious or jealous. Everyone is supportive, warm, and loving. The youngest generation, for the most part, behave how they should behave. And of course we are thankful for generally good health for everyone, and all the blessings we receive.

Here's wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Cocoa Crinkle Cookies

 

I did not make this. My MIL did. She makes this about once a year and gives us a big bag of them freshly made. So, even though I have the recipe, I thought I'd let myself look forward to having this at least once a year from her, just as I like looking forward to having paris brest made by my SIL every Christmas or Thanksgiving, whenever it was her turn to host a major holiday. Moreover, I am still trying to learn how to bake full-bodied cookies (instead of flat ones) using the Tollhouse recipe.

Everyone in our family loves them, including my husband who always look forward to getting treats from his mom (and he loves traditions, so this is one traditional food for him).

Recipe is from Hershey's Classic Recipes book; also in their website.

For more photos of actual making of these delights, please refer to the chef's wife's post here.

Cocoa Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Combine granulated sugar and oil in large bowl; add cocoa, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to cocoa mixture, beating well.

2. Cover; refrigerate until dough is firm enough to handle, at least 6 hours.

3. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in powdered sugar to coat. Place about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.

4. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched lightly and tops are crackled. Cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

Lobster Dinner

I have posted sometime in the past that our family traditionally has lobster dinner at Boothbay Harbor during summer. Well, we usually do that once a year, since the trip is quite a long one. However, last week, one of my neighbors asked me if I wanted to order some, as her oldest son was going to catch some lobsters. He would set the traps Wednesday and haul them Sunday. He would be back around noontime. At $5 apiece, one lobster weighed around 1.5 lbs. That was super cheap!!! We were scheduled to go leaf peeping (quite late) that day, but I ordered some for me (15 pieces) and asked my friend Ana and my SIL. We ordered a total of 37, and got them as soon as we were back home. I invited my MIL and FIL to have supper with us that night.

From lobster dinner

My in-laws were delighted, of course! Except for my hubby (who never liked lobsters) and daughter (allergic to most seafoods), we were all heartily stuffed that night with this rare (and often expensive) treat. My husband and daughter ate Italian sandwiches. We had melted butter (for FIL and MIL), mayonnaise (MIL), and a mixture of lemon, butter, salt and pepper (for my sons and I). My sons ate these with rice. The rest of us ate pandelimon rolls as starch source. I prepared the leftovers as lobster roll and lobster and corn chowder (upcoming posts).

Things I learned while we were waiting for the lobsters to cook:
1. Never cook a dead lobster. It could make you wicked sick and may even be fatal. Cook only those that are still alive. Chuck the dead ones.
2. Do not eat the greenish part of the lobster. That is the liver and is loaded with mercury.
3. Better to cook them all at once than freeze to cook later.
4. Have water boil first before putting in the lobsters. Once water re-boils, time cooking for 20 minutes.

Paris Brest

No misspelling here.

According to Wikipedia:

Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) was originally a 1200km long bicycle race from Paris to Brest and back to Paris. It is the oldest bicycling event that is still regularly run.

But I am talking about this wonderful dessert that I always look forward to annually from my sister-in-law. Paris Brest is "classic French creation — a large ring of airy choux pastry filled with the richest praline pastry cream —" (from epicurious.com). I fell in love with it the first time I tasted it. I did not bother to try to make it myself, because I love looking forward to having it during holidays. And of course, I love wolfing it down without having to sweat a drop to make it.

But I asked my SIL for the recipe and instructions to share with those of you who might want to try serving this to your relatives (and I am sure you will impress them!) She warned me not to try making it, and I gladly said, "That's your specialty, so I am not even gonna try."

So here it is:

DOUGH
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
4 eggs

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 deg F. (IMPT)
Boil the butter and water then cook on low. Add the flour and salt, and cook for about a minute stirring constantly until it leaves the sides of the pan.
SET 5 MINUTES on the countertop. (This is critical).
Break an egg and drip into the mixture, beat by hand with a woden spoon. Repeat 3 times more (so that makes it a total of 4 eggs added).
Using a pastry bag (or whatever you can use as substitute. I usually use ziploc bag with a corner cut), pipe and form into a circle with 7-inch diameter on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 400 deg F for 15 minutes then lower the heat to 350 and keep baking for 30-40 minutes more until top becomes dark brown.
Let cool.

PRALINE:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 pint whipping cream

Instructions:
Whip cream then let sit in the fridge for 4-5 hours.
Cook sugar and almonds in a small saucepan over low heat and keep shaking (do not stir) until sugar is all melted.
Pour onto buttered tin foil. Let cool and solidify.
Break into pieces then use a FOOD PROCESSOR (not chopper) to break further into powdery form.
Fold the praline into the whipped cream.

ASSEMBLY:
Cut the top off the dough ring and scoop inside. Fill with praline in the middle. Return the top portion then sprinkle with sugar.

Serve as fresh as you could.