Thanksgiving, American Style

We cooked another 'traditional' Thanksgiving dinner last week. I had about given up trying to make anything remotely like I remembered it from America since the episode we now refer to as 'The Chowder Incident.' Attempting to make American-style food over here always results in forced substitutions and ends up being disappointing, inedible or both. This year, however, was different; I used real American food.

Thanks to a company I discovered on the Internet, I was able to import authentic stuffing and some tins of Creamed Corn.

This was all we required to move the meal from the 'what the hell is this' category into the 'just like Grandma used to make' arena. The guests were the ones saying, 'what the hell is this?'

We were still unable to cook a actual turkey due to the size of our oven, but I placed two turkey breasts in a large pan and packed an amble amount of Pepperidge Farm stuffing around them and it came out better than I hoped. The stuffing tasted almost as if it had been cooked inside the bird and the turkey, thanks to the blanket of stuffing, came out moist and tender.

And the stuffing was a huge hit. Everyone said it was better than the English stuffing, which is sort of like breadcrumbs mixed with water and cooked in a pot. Think Stove-Top Stuffing, but not as good.

The creamed corn was a curiosity. They don't have any over here so there was nothing to compare it to. My wife kept referring to it as Cream of Corn and my guests looked askance at it until they tasted it and found it quite palatable. I admire their courage; to the uninitiated, creamed corn does bear a disturbing resemblance to corn someone already ate.

The meal was capped off with pumpkin pie, another thing unheard of over here. I found this amazing, as we bought the pumpkin--the same brand as I used to buy in the states--in the local market, with the recipe printed on the side of the can. Everyone at the table (my wife, who had actually made the pie, include) said it would never occur to them to make a pie out of canned pumpkin--over here, it's reserved for soup.

But the pie, like the stuffing, was greeted with universal approval. And they all ate it with a traditional dollop of whipped cream, even though custard was provided.

The only disappointment was the cranberry sauce. I didn't buy any from the web and, instead, picked up a jar locally. It was tart and tasty and not at all like the solid packed jell in the can that comes out in a purple cylinder and tastes of tin and artificial flavors. Now that's a traditional cranberry sauce.

Maybe next year.