My aunt and uncle do the family Thanksgiving dinner. We're from MD so we do it Chesapeake Bay style. There's always 2 turkeys done different ways. They've had deep-fried, grilled, roasted, and the infamous oven-cleaning super-fast roasted. They've also done roasted duck with butter herbs which was absolutely mouth-watering. I made a roast turkey one year with oyster stuffing, which was really good but I didn't know my grandma's boyfriend was allergic to shellfish so it ended up being a minor disaster (he was OK without an ER visit thankfully). I have recipes for the duck and turkey with oyster stuffing if you'd like.

Usually we have oysters (eaten both raw and steamed) but last year oysters were too expensive so my uncle made shrimp bisque, which was delicious. I can probably get the recipe for you. We've also had Crab Imperial on rockfish (got a great recipe for that), clam chowder, oyster stew, and various other bounties from the bay. It all seems appropriate. I forgot, where are you? It seems silly to go on and on about the wonders of the Bay if you are land-locked and can't even get great seafood.

I would love your recipe for oyster stuffing for duck or turkey! Could you please post it? We have Pacific Ocean bounty here, so any other seafood favorites you feel like posting would be appreciated, too. Thanks!

Cheers, from
SwampWitch

Maybe some chopped liver beforehand to keep hungry people out of the carving board...

soup -- my family's signature green vegetable soup
Roast turkey!
cornbread stuffing - some in bird, some in pan
oatmeal/cornflake stuffing (squares)
mashed potatoes
gravy
roasted yam & carrot & potato & dried fruit tzimmes
cranberry sauce (whole berry and canned jellied kind -- they insist!)
some sort of green vegetable that no one will eat
Cousin Nancy's Famous Garbanzoganza (marinated chickpeas)
[No "tofurkey" this year, as Cousin Nancy, the vegetarian, isn't coming]
Grandma's apple pie
Aunt Elise's pumpkin chiffon pie

My mom makes the stuffing; I make the soup, cranberries, tzimmes, and the pies; my brother usually makes the (BEST) gravy; my husband and son make the turkey. My daughter does NOTHING! Usually Nancy makes the garbonzagonza, but she can't come this year. My brother and brother-in-law can't come this year, either, but I would give BIL the vegetable assignment ordinarily; he is the most creative.

My favorite meal of the year is breakfast the day after Thanksgiving. Stuffing and pie! :-)

Oyster Stuffing
1 cup (1/2 pound) butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
7 cups day-old bread cubes
2.5 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1 pint shucked oysters, drained, liquid reserved, and chopped
about 1 cup milk

Melt the butter in a skillet and saute onions and celery until soft.
In a bowl combine all remaining ingredients except the milk and oyster liquid. Mix well. Pour in the oyster liquid, then slowly add enough milk to moisten. Do no make too wet. Loosely stuff into the turkey cavity. If there is extra, bake separately in a buttered pan during last hour of roasting the turkey.

Roast Duck
1 duck (or boiler-fryer chicken) 3-3.5 pounds
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon majoram
1/4 teaspoon oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon dry basil

Remove giblets and reserve for other uses. Rinse bird and pat dry. Split 1 clove of garlic and rub skin of bird with cut sides of garlic. Place garlic cloves (including the cut one) and bay leaves inside the bird cavity.

In a small bowl, stir together butter, salt, pepper, thyme, sage, majoram, oregano, and basil, Put about 1 tablespoon of the mixture in the cavity of the bird. Tie legs together. Generously brush bird with remaining butter mixture.
Place bird, breast side down, on a rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake, uncovere, in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes. Turn bird over and continue baking, basting occasionally with any remaining butter or pan drippings, for 40-45 minutes more or until meat is no longer pink when slashed.
Makes about 4 servings

- Cornish game hen(s)
- Stuffing
- Green Bean Casserole
- Cranberries
- Pumpkin Tartlets
- White wine