# Your Most Unusual Thanksgiving Dinner?



## medwards (Feb 6, 2005)

Stories from the past? Unexpected dishes? Unusual locales?


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## Good Old Sledge (Jun 13, 2006)

Some years ago, my father had befriended an old Greek gentleman. For Thanksgiving one year, Dad bought a goat and Nick came over and we put it on a spit and cooked it for most of the day. There was a jug of wine that got passed around and poured on the goat. We'd peal off slices as it slowly turned over the fire and dip them into a jar of wine. I can still the the fat floating on top of that wretched brew.
Wonderful dinner, though, and I remember Nick saying as he left that his wife was making a turkey!


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

tell you what, I could murder a KFC right now.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

The first Thanksgiving I lived in Prague, I remember going from one end of that city to the other trying to find cranberry sauce, or even just plain cranberrys from which I could make a sauce. I finally had to settle for lingonberry jelly, not the same thing at all! Now, some years later, it is more easily available, and even one of the restaurants that is popular with expats has started having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the proper timmings and fixings.


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## whomewhat (Nov 11, 2006)

Tonight's dinner gets the nod for most unusual I have made. The kids could not decide between turkey and duck so I am making both, together, a "Turduck."  I stuffed the duck with an onion, carrots, celery, green bell pepper, and lemongrass. I rubbed the interior of the turkey with my spice rub and then shoved the duck, stuffed side in, into the turkey cavity. I sauteed 40 cloves of garlic, sprinkled it with my rub, let it cool, and then shoved it into two pockets I made over each of the turkey breasts. I placed rub over the entire turkey, covered it with foil, and it has been in the oven since 6AM PST slow-cooking at 225 degrees. My hope is that the fatty duck will baste the turkey, but time will tell.  My first Turduck! :crazy:


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

"durkey".

You could be joining me at KFC, but I hope not!


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## eyedoc2180 (Nov 19, 2006)

whomewhat said:


> Tonight's dinner gets the nod for most unusual I have made. The kids could not decide between turkey and duck so I am making both, together, a "Turduck."  I stuffed the duck with an onion, carrots, celery, green bell pepper, and lemongrass. I rubbed the interior of the turkey with my spice rub and then shoved the duck, stuffed side in, into the turkey cavity. I sauteed 40 cloves of garlic, sprinkled it with my rub, let it cool, and then shoved it into two pockets I made over each of the turkey breasts. I placed rub over the entire turkey, covered it with foil, and it has been in the oven since 6AM PST slow-cooking at 225 degrees. My hope is that the fatty duck will baste the turkey, but time will tell.  My first Turduck! :crazy:


True genius, indeed! We expect a full report. I have actually heard of this method, including a THIRD entry in the form of a game hen stuffed inside the duck. The blending of flavors is purported to be fantastic. Good luck! Bill


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## Spence (Feb 28, 2006)

Good Old Sledge said:


> Some years ago, my father had befriended an old Greek gentleman.


Perhaps I've had a few (and I have ), but the first time I read this I could have sworn it said "years ago, my father had beheaded an old Greek gentleman."



My dinner this afternoon was fantastic. Simply put, the best gravy ever. Drop the gloves...

-spence


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## jbmcb (Sep 7, 2005)

My uncle had us over for Turducken one year. Duck stuffed inside a chicken stuffed inside a turkey - he had it special ordered from Louisiana. Not bad, but the duck was a bit dry. The year after that he BBQed a turkey that was pretty darn good.

The best method I've tried is Alton Brown's classic - a brined turkey full of aromatics, blasted in a hot oven for ten or twenty minutes, then cooked to finish in a couple hours. Comes out crisp, juicy and perfect.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

I just spoke with my daughter who is spending this Thanksgiving with her daughter (my granddaughter, of course) in Russia. She said she bought a 6 lb turkey for approx. $40! Ouch!


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## VC2000 (Feb 10, 2006)

Mock turtle soup on the beach in Costa Rica while waiting for the turtle to come ashore to lay their eggs during nesting season. The soup was a joke that came about after a few drinks and having waited too long for a highly overrated experience. (Neither the soup nor watching a turtle attempt to bury eggs are something I would repeat)


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

whomewhat said:


> Tonight's dinner gets the nod for most unusual I have made. The kids could not decide between turkey and duck so I am making both, together, a "Turduck."  I stuffed the duck with an onion, carrots, celery, green bell pepper, and lemongrass. I rubbed the interior of the turkey with my spice rub and then shoved the duck, stuffed side in, into the turkey cavity. I sauteed 40 cloves of garlic, sprinkled it with my rub, let it cool, and then shoved it into two pockets I made over each of the turkey breasts. I placed rub over the entire turkey, covered it with foil, and it has been in the oven since 6AM PST slow-cooking at 225 degrees. My hope is that the fatty duck will baste the turkey, but time will tell.  My first Turduck! :crazy:


Sounds very good. How was it?


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## PITAronin (Nov 30, 2004)

Years ago I flew out to Lake Tahoe to visit my brother who had just started in the casino business. His employer had given turkeys to the staff but my brother failed to recognize that a frozen turkey take a long time to defrost. Thanksgiving Day we drove all over the area and finally found the only place that was open. I seem to recall that its name was "Keno Bob's" and the most memorable thing we had from its Chinese American menu was a soup that sounded good on paper but wound up closely resembling something dipped from an old aquarium.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Not sure whether this qualifies as the most unusual Thanksgiving or the most unusual Thanksgiving prayer. One Thanksgiving day during the late 70's, when I was assigned as a crew commander in the Minuteman ICBM program, my Deputy and I, sitting in our underground control center with our heated foil packs (a military version of a TV dinner) on the launch consoles before us, gave thanks for many things, not the least of which was not having to perform our primary function that day!


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## huysmans (Nov 5, 2007)

I was going through a rough time right after 9/11 and decided I needed to be away from home for Thanksgiving that year. I took a trip to San Diego to visit a friend of mine from college. We drove down to El Paso where we met up with his uncle. On Thanksgiving night we walked into Juarez Mexico and had dinner at a GIGANTIC restaurant that was totally empty. We walked for miles to find it through streets that we probably should have been killed on. I had some sort of burrito, a strip steak, and some spicy as all hell rice dish. It was an experience I will never forget!


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

huysmans said:


> I was going through a rough time right after 9/11 and decided I needed to be away from home for Thanksgiving that year...


That was a very difficult moment in our Nation's history. I do sincerely hope things are going more positively for you now.
Chuck


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## huysmans (Nov 5, 2007)

Hey, thanks.....everything turned out OK for me.....


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## Aaron in Allentown (Oct 26, 2007)

1998: I went on vacation to Mexico, and I flew home on Thanksgiving Day. I ate my Thanksgiving dinner on an AeroMexico flight. I forget what the food was.

2007: My brother and I went to London for Thanksgiving week. We ate our Thanksgiving dinner at the Savile Club (I have reciprocal privileges through my club in Philadelphia). I had some kind of tartlet for starters, then a wonderful rack of lamb, and Welsh rarebit for afters.


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