Thanksgiving 2023

[ursamajor]

The archiving project I've been working on over the last six months is stalled out somewhere in 2004, mostly because I was working on another writing project and accidentally successfully NaNoWriMoed with it, with that project having crossed the 60,000 word mark by the end of November (and currently at 76,000 words(!)). WHO AM I.

But that means that my posts about the Asian American Thanksgiving thing we've been formally doing for the last six or seven years, where the majority of dishes we put on the table came from recipes by Asian American chefs? Sparked by the #MyAsianThanksgiving discussion of ... 2017? haven't made it over here yet.

Update: yeah, of course that was the impetus for me to fill in my Thanksgiving archives, regardless of chronological order. But they're all there now!

• 2001: the first time I ever made an actual Thanksgiving meal for myself! Guided heavily by Kay Chun, whose Asian American Thanksgiving recipes will continue to show up for me, year after year. The first of many years of turkey boobies, as Technomancy friends put it, hahaha.


• 2002: Andrew came up, we did Thanksgiving for two :) Braised a pheasant, also made cá hồi kho (Vietnamese caramelized salmon, so even back then I was still pulling for yummy Asian food :)


• 2003: Western Mass road trip with friends to mrieser's Ninjamom


• 2004: Ninjamom Redux


• 2005: hyounpark and I went to California!


• 2006: H and I rolled our first just-us Thanksgiving at home! Traditional turkey breast, but also New England style sweet potatoes. :D


• 2007: My first Knoxville Parksgiving! Somewhat trad, somewhat Asian-influenced


• 2008: H + I in Boston, traditional turkey breast roast


• 2009: Knoxville again, with surprise third celebration of our wedding, LOLOL


• 2010: Boston, just us, we roasted a turkey breast in our tiny Cambridge oven


• 2011: Boston, just us, we roasted a duck in our tiny Cambridge oven


• 2012: Knoxville, the most recent time we've done the traditional turkey dinner


• 2013: Knoxville again, Ruth's Chris edition


• 2014: jpallan + crschmidt hosted us and other friends


• 2015: The year of roasted turkey drumsticks, Disney-style :D


• 2016: It was warm enough to grill, so we invited Jane over for ribeye steaks. And still managed to set the veggie skewers on fire!


• 2017: Sticky rice stuffed Cornish hens. We let Joanne and Tracy Chang cook for us, mostly


• 2018: Delmonico steaks with gireumjang; our first formal Asian American Thanksgiving menu


• 2019: Fivespice braised pork belly! We hosted my parents, kept up the Asian American Thanksgiving theme


• 2020: Pork belly, redux, lechon kawali version; first year of the pandemic meant it was back to just the two of us


• 2021: Prime rib! Hosted my dad; mom had a stomach bug


• 2022: Peking duck! Hosted my parents and H's brother and sister-in-law.

2001 and 2002, when I rolled my own, first solo, then with Andrew. 2003 and 2004 mrieser dragged a bunch of us out to Western Mass for Thanksgiving with Ninjamom. 2005, I took hyounpark to SF. After that, we started doing our thing at home most years.

Not that 2017 was the first time we've had Asian/Asian American elements on our Thanksgiving tables, far from it! The first Thanksgiving I cooked for on my own, I leaned heavily on Kay Chun's article and recipe collection about her family's Asian American Thanksgiving in Real Simple in 2001. But in the meantime, have 2023's version! (Pictures of Thanksgiving 2023 on the 'gram.)

This year, we made:

• Peter Som's Char Siu Wellington


• Next time we try this, we will definitely be adjusting the bake times, but the pork and gravy were delicious! But this is the second Peter Som recipe that has, er, not gone to plan, see the time we tried his sweet potato tian (a previous Asian American Thanksgiving year). Oh well!


• Joanne Chang's Roast Lamb


• This is a regular staple in our household; yes, it's the roast lamb from Flour Bakery's original lamb sandwich which is still the best lamb sandwich I've ever had in my life. Sometimes we'll make our own focaccia to eat it with, other times we are grateful to live within walking distance of Semifreddi's focaccia 🙂 But the lamb also pairs well with cranberry sauce!


• Molly Yeh's Pretzel Stuffing


• Tasty and worth tracking down pretzel rolls for!


• Kay Chun's Cranberry Asian Pear Chutney


• As mentioned above, a permanent denizen of my Thanksgiving table. Hall of Fame, MVP, every accolade. We gifted a jar to our next door neighbors this year as well and they loved it!


• Stephanie + Mike Le's Miso Butter Mashed Potatoes


• Everyone loved these; it's hard to believe this was the first time they made an appearance for Thanksgiving! Will almost certainly repeat next year.


• Andrea Nguyen's Greens with Magical Sesame Salt


• These also disappeared quite quickly; we put a bunch of assorted greens in.


• Eric Kim's Little Gems Salad from his cookbook Korean American


• Second year in a row, repeated by multiple requests, and we'll be leaning on the seaweed dressing in particular to encourage us to eat more salads this year.


• Betty Liu's Asian Pear Shrub with Rosemary and Prosecco


• We first served this to my dad at ... Thanksgiving 2021, I think? Forgot to break out the prosecco this year but the shrub was appreciated by all.


• Nancy Cho + Selina Lee's 수정과 (sujeonggwa, cinnamon punch) from their cookbook Korean Instant Pot Cookbook


• And we also had a warm drink! This, too, was a repeat.


• Leonard and Sara made honeynut squash 호박죽 (hobakjuk, pumpkin soup) and challah


• With the 새알심 (saelsim, the rice flour balls) and 팥 (pat, red beans) and 잣 (jat, pine nuts)! Challah served separately.


• My parents brought the wine and cheese, being oenophiles and turophiles


• Alana Kysar's Liliko’i Chiffon Pie from her cookbook Aloha Kitchen


• Back for a third year, though I preferred the previous years when we were able to get ahold of actual liliko'i pulp, even though it can be a PITA to prepare.


• And finally, Brie Burnt Basque Cheesecake


• More below, but this was STUNNINGLY easy. The cheese you use matters a lot; we used a local Brie and this was a winner.

That’s right. Yours truly, cofounding member of anti_cheesecake back in the day? Has, finally, at the ripe old age of forty-ahem, found a cheesecake I LOVE, wholeheartedly. All credit there to Breadbelly and their Mt. Tam Burnt Basque Cheesecake, along with every article about burnt Basque cheesecake where I noted just how many Asian American bakers were making them locally, and now I’m on a quest to try them all!

But obviously, it was the perfect dessert to add to our Asian American Thanksgiving table, where for six years running now, we have heavily featured recipes by Asian and Asian American chefs and cooks. Some of these recipes found a home on my Thanksgiving table long before that, of course; I think Kay Chun’s Cranberry Chutney has been at just about every Thanksgiving I’ve hosted since 2001!

I still detest brussels sprouts, though, despite decades of trying, and remain meh about celery though I appreciate its role in mirepoix and the holy trinity now, and picky about ham (thinly sliced, properly cured, never the honey baked crap), so that’s how you know I’m still me and some things are eternal. 🙂

Comments

[watersword]

This sounds like an incredible menu and I will be making SEVERAL of these recipes, thank you for linking!

[ursamajor]

You're welcome! Tons of deliciousness :)

[ursamajor]

Also, I just edited this post to reflect that I finished putting in the rest of my Thanksgiving archives and linking recipes where we hosted and I had them, in case you were interested in other years' recipes :) They're all under the holidays: thanksgiving tag as well now!