FLOUR & FLOWER -- Memories, history, comparisons
We always had turkey for Thanksgiving.
Growing up, I remember my mom had this huge metal roasting pan that just did fit in our oven sitting on the lowest rack. The top seemed every bit as tall as the bottom was deep and I can now deem it the turkey tank because of its stoutness. Sometimes it reminded me of a ship out to sea and the turkey was its only passenger. Planning to cook our turkey was somewhat magical too because I always forgot we even had the roaster until my mom unearthed it beforehand. I mean where do you hide a pan as big as that one?
Early on Thanksgiving morning - like before dawn - Mom would fill the turkey cavity with chunks of onion and stalks of her favorite celery, finishing this preparation with the liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper. Then the bird was placed on the rack....the rack went inside the roaster...and the whole apparatus was hoisted and slid inside the oven at 325 degrees. All of this was done, BEFORE sunrise AND morning coffee. The turkey had to be done by mid-morning in time to bake the side dishes or the whole Thanksgiving meal train would be derailed.
There are other means to prepare a turkey for the holiday table. The first one I ever did was similar to my upbringing. I used a large metal baking pan, probably a rectangular cake pan. The turkey took the place of a sheet cake that day or brownies. I'm positive I covered the bird with aluminum foil....and for the first bird (which stuck to the pan), it turned out fine... maybe a little dry and bland. As for how we have cooked our turkeys over the years, roasting in the oven has been precluded often by the use of a charcoal or electric smoker. Yes, roast turkey is delicious, but smoked turkey is too. The trick with smoking is in the timing. And let's not forget roasting the turkey in a bag specially made for the oven. I first saw my mother-in-law try this and I was pleasantly surprised. I've even used the oven bag once. Clean-up is a breeze, unless you tear your bag. (personal experience!)
I know my additions to the cooking process included my mom's onion and celery, salt, and pepper, but I also added carrot. Not only did I stuff the cavity with the veggies, but I soon began to sit the bird on whole celery stalks and carrots. For cooking liquid at the bottom of the pan I began using a little water like Mom. I graduated to chicken broth or a mixture of broth and white wine. I've even used apple cider. Later my additions changed to lemon, apple, or both, sometimes garlic, and thyme.
All of these holiday cooking memories bring me to the first Thanksgiving or harvest celebration of 1621 at Plymouth Colony. (photo below) I have done some reading about this event and below have listed the two sites I visited, as I always like sharing information. It is very easy to believe that there were turkeys when the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians met to celebrate the harvest. However there is thought that wildfowl in the form of geese, ducks, swan and even passenger pigeon were definite additions to the menu. I read in both accounts that the Wampanoag brought five deer to share from a hunt. Roasting all of these meats I suspect was mostly accomplished over an open fire. However, I read where the smaller birds were cooked on a spit and larger ones were often boiled in large pots. Then I read where a roast-boil method might have been done for a single kind of meat or even boil and then roast. Well..... tasting from one of those methods would have been interesting.
I know that some families today choose to serve other meats for Thanksgiving like ham or venison in addition to their turkey. It is strongly suspected that smoked fish, shellfish, lobster, clams and mussels were part of this first feast. That does make sense because we know the Pilgrims were very close to the ocean.
What we call side dishes today can include dressing that we sometimes use to "stuff" our turkey cavities. This is primarily a bread mixed with broth, herbs and seasonings, a few chopped and sauteed vegetables and baked in a casserole dish. Marshmallow covered sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and corn pudding are also popular additions. Side dishes then were virtually non-existent. What we make to "stuff " our birds today was then probably chunks of onion, herbs, and chestnuts (like "....on an open fire"). Recently I ate part of a raw chestnut. It was kind of chewy with a milder flavor than a pecan or walnut. I would actually like to try chestnut stuffing some day. In addition, walnuts, beechnuts, flint corn (multicolored), beans, squash, and pumpkins also may have been donated to the first meal by the Wampanoag.
 |
| Flint corn |
I've touched on the meat and bread-like dishes served. Possibly in the not too distant future, their vegetable harvesting included turnips, cabbage, parsnips, wild onions, and parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Surely those vegetables and herbs added more to the menu. Disappointing to us might be that there was no pie! Pilgrims had no butter or resources to make flour this early in our history. However, it is thought that their harvest table could have included native fruits like plums, melons, and grapes. For beverages it is unlikely that any other drink but water was available. The Pilgrims had not been in America long enough to cultivate and harvest any fruits or other plant life in which to make wine or beer, for example.
www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-was-on-the-menu-at-the-first-thanksgiving-511554/
www.epicurious.com/holidays-events/the-real-story-of-the-first-thanksgiving-menu-recipes-article
