Ordinarily, the TBT Cookbook Review features one book. Today, it is three. Three cookbooks devoted to Thanksgiving. Suzi and I use these extensively, as you will see, and I urge you to add one or all to your kitchen library.
Here’s something I just don’t understand. Thanksgiving is our national food holiday. Thanksgiving week is one where all America seems to travel, where we cook not just on Thanksgiving but on Wednesday and even Tuesday. Not to mention using those turkey leftovers on Friday. You would think that we’d have a slew of Thanksgiving cookbooks.
A slew does not exist. They are few and far between and a search at Amazon will find an array of “holiday” and “turkey” paperbacks. But very, very few serious cookbooks devoted to Thanksgiving. These three books are the best, the very best, Thanksgiving cookbooks.
Here’s a quick peek at this trio.
The Thanksgiving Table by Diane Morgan appeared in 2001:
I’ve reviewed the book in detail and you will find the review here:
We’ve used this book for techniques on roasting turkey and making gravy. We haven’t made recipes directly from the book — for reasons you’ll soon see — but there is trio of recipes here that we will be making this holiday season. These are recipes typical of quality and ingenuity in the book:
Acorn Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice, Cranberries, Walnuts and Hickory-Baked Tofu
Delicata Squash Soup with Parmesan Croutons
Spiced Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Pastry Crust
In 2008, Diane Morgan released an update, From The New Thanksgiving Table:
It’s both an “update” and a “new” book. The general outline is the same and many recipes are the same, but there are many new recipes and even some of the “same” ones have been reworked and retitled. I haven’t posted a review of this book yet, but I will during this holiday season on another TBT.
This has been the “go-to” book for Suzi and me, the one where we have cooked the recipes. We’ve made the Honey and Chipotle Glazed Sweet Potatoes, the Maple Glazed Roast Turkey, Thanksgiving Peas, the Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes and used our turkey leftovers in the Turkey Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce.
Here are links to all these recipes. The enchiladas are divine:
https://cookingbythebook.com/recipes/honey-and-chipotle-glazed-sweet-potatoes-from-diane-morgan/
https://cookingbythebook.com/recipes/thanksgiving-peas/
https://cookingbythebook.com/recipes/maple-mashed-sweet-potatoes/
https://cookingbythebook.com/recipes/oh-turkey-leftovers-turkey-enchiladas-creamy-tomatillo-sauce/
The last of today’s three books is the oldest. The Thanksgiving Cookbook by Holly Garrison dates from 1991.
We’ve used this book every year since 1991. The ideas here include an appetizer of frozen grapes, a turkey hash leftover recipe and more leftovers in a sort of turkey cassoulet. We love the stuffing ideas here include a calvados and rye one with apples and a stuffing of cornbread and mushrooms.
Here are links to those ideas:
https://cookingbythebook.com/recipes/crackling-good-grapes-holly-garrison/
https://cookingbythebook.com/recipes/thanksgiving-leftovers-turkey-hash-holly-garrison/
https://cookingbythebook.com/recipes/calvados-rye-stuffing-golden-delicious-apples/
https://cookingbythebook.com/recipes/corn-bread-mushroom-stuffing/
Yet, again, I have never posted a detailed review of this book. That’s a serious oversight and I’ll correct that in the coming month. This book has over 340 recipes in an age when 100 recipes is the norm for cookbooks. The Thanksgiving Cookbook will give you ideas for decades. It has for us. The book may be almost 30 years old, but you can still find copies on Amazon. Don’t miss your chance.