R10 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020
years after the stock market crash that
helped trigger the Great Depression, food
editor Dorothea Duncan wrote, “A baked
ham or a standing rib roast of beef can be
served for the Thanksgiving dinner at less
cost than a turkey, and if ham is used the
result is more meat to the pound (because
there is no bone).”
Because they can be just as enlighten-
ing as the articles, the display ads at the
time provided additional insight. At the
A&P, turkeys were 28 cents a pound; at the
Piggly Wiggly, prime rib roast was 23
cents. In 1943, turkeys were especially
scarce because of a combination of weath-
er, labor shortages caused by the draft
(“turkeys are too heavy for women to
handle”!) and the sheer volume of meat
being sent abroad to service members.
Menus that year and the next included
options for roast capon (rooster), pork
loin roast and roast duck.
Turkey replacements weren’t limited to
wartime, though. Menus in 1966 featured
duck, Cornish hens and ham, and one writer
in 1974 recommended a roast leg of pork.
More recent dishes have been just as
eclectic, including Grilled Venison in Su-
mac With Black Walnuts (2014), Cuban
Roast Pork (2012), Mincemeat Pie (2011),
Holiday Goose (2008) and Root Beer-
Glazed Black Ham (2005). Of course,
there’s always the meatless options, which
brings us to ...The vegetarian conundrum
The way we’ve addressed people who
don’t eat meat has progressed — from total
silence to wariness to acceptance of a still-
stressful oddity (1992: “Will my brother
bring his vegetarian girlfriend?”) to main-
stream. In 1984, staff writer Carol Sugar-
man noted that “a meatless Thanksgiving
needn’t ignore traditional holiday flavors
or colors, and can certainly be as festive a
menu as one with a main course of poultry.”
Her menu included a butternut squash
soup and “rich and fruity lentil loaf” with
hazelnuts and grated Swiss cheese. By
1999, the tide had turned on the loaf:
“Before you desperately start seeking reci-
pes for lentil loaf, consider that by modify-
ing your menu just a bit, you may be able to
satisfy all the hungry diners gathered atRECIPE FINDER.SEARCH MORE THAN 9,100 POST-TESTED RECIPES AT WASHINGTONPOST.COM/RECIPES.RECIPE QUESTIONS? EMAIL [email protected]PAGES FROM THE WASHINGTON POST, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: 1 937, 1955, 2 012, 2002salad, eggs a la Turk, turkey croquettes,
etc. I’ve tried to escape it at the restaurant,
but we are having the bird in all its
disguises up at Kinsley’s. I shall never be
able to look a turkey in the face again."
I can only imagine the conversation he
might have had with Post staffer Renee
Schettler, who went on record in 2002
about her love of leftovers. Even after
roasting 20 birds that year and untold
more in previous years, “I never tire of
them,” she said. Her less-expected ideas
included adding leftover turkey to a miso
soup with sugar snap peas, sautéing it
straight-up in butter and tossing “with
cooked pasta and garlicky braised
greens.”
Other suggestions over the years: tur-
key cakes with cream and eggs dipped in
breadcrumbs (1935); turkey supreme
made with toast, cheese sauce, asparagus
and chopped almonds (1954); and Curried
Couscous With Turkey, Chickpeas and
Golden Raisins (2013).You don’t need a turkey!
Setting aside the paeans to turkey, it is
not uncommon to find alternatives. This
was especially relevant during the Great
Depression and World War II. In 1934, fiveDEB LINDSEY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Patowmack Farm’s Grilled Venison in
Sumac With Black Walnuts.months later, when the agency retracted
that a bit: “In its latest advisory, the agen-
cy recommends sticking a meat thermom-
eter into stuffing to make sure it reaches
165 degrees, enough to kill bacteria from
the turkey or eggs used in the stuffing.”
What else has gone from trends to
trash? Count basting and washing the
turkey among the discarded conventional
wisdom. And if there’s a method for roast-
ing the turkey that we haven’t covered, I’d
be shocked. In a bag, flipped partway
through, low and slow, high heat, in a
salted dough, butterflied. Cook just the
breast, a whole bird (should it be a heri-
tage breed?), confit the legs.The leftovers
Both love and loathing of leftovers are
as old as Thanksgiving itself. A piece from
the Chicago Herald reprinted in The Post
in 1888 quoted one skeptic:
“I’d like to know if a man has ever tried
to eat turkey for a month. I’m at it now.
Had a big turkey [at] Thanksgiving, and
we got away with about an eighth of it.
Since then that turkey has been appearing
on our boards in its entire repertory —
turkey hash, turkey soup, boned turkey,
giblets of turkey, minced turkey, turkeyDEB LINDSEY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Curried Couscous With Turkey,
Chickpeas and Golden Raisins.HISTORY FROM R1 your table.”
Strategies shifted from making a meal
with really good sides and vegetable dish-
es where the vegetarians simply avoid the
turkey (1976) to the advancements of faux
meat (I’m still smarting from a taste test
we did in 2011) to disregarding all pre-
tense and presenting stunning meatless
entrees, such as Roasted Portobello Mush-
room, Pecan and Chestnut Wellington
(2015), Biryani Stuffed Pumpkins (2017)
and Pumpkin, Walnut and Sage Crostata
(2019).
Meatless and vegan meals aren’t the
only modifications that have been tack-
led. The diet-crazed ’80s saw a flurry of
stories on different nutritional needs, in-
cluding low-sodium in 1981 and 1982.
Suggested adjustments: low-sodium
cheese and baking powder, and boiling
potatoes for mashed potatoes with on-
ions, then seasoning with vinegar. In 1983,
a 500-calorie spa-food holiday featured
cranberry-raspberry mousse and poppy
seed bread. By 1984, the calorie count in
one health-conscious story had been cut
to a paltry 400, with a menu highlighting
sesame chicken breasts and winter
squash with cranberries.
Technology and advancements for
the home cook
One can only imagine the incredible
burden put on the people responsible for
preparing the Thanksgiving meal — serv-
ants or housewives — before the arrival of
modern conveniences. Looking back,
many of the developments seem quaint,
but at the time, they were huge. In 1890,
there were tips on what to feed your
turkey (“chopped turnips, cabbage, and
parsley, varied with cornmeal, boiled rice
and chopped celery tops, impart a pecu-
liar gamey flavor, which to many persons
is very desirable”), and in 1915 an article
advised that you shouldn’t kill the bird
after it’s fed. By the 1930s, buying an
already dressed bird was fairly common,
and frozen turkeys were entering the
scene. “This is a new type of preservation
that has revolutionized large-scale mar-
keting,” food editor Jean Green wrote in- “The food is frozen quickly so that
the flavor and taste remain unchanged.”
More revelations included:
1932: “An excellent cranberry sauce
sells two cans for 29 cents, with interest-
ing printed recipes for using the sauce
tucked under the cans’ label. The grocer
who sells this sauce is explaining to the
housewives a method of opening the can
so that the firm, jellied sauce will slip out
in perfect shape.”
1955: An emphasis on convenience:
packaged stuffing; canned or frozen veg-
etables; and packaged roll mixes or frozen
rolls. Heck, even the men can help! “Pack-
aged pastry mixes make Thanksgiving
dinner easy, even for John,” wrote food
editor Elinor Lee (generic couples were
often referred to as John and Priscilla).
As far as equipment, the ’30s also saw
numerous references to “small modern
ovens” (and the downsized turkeys that fit
in them) and hot plates. Moving forward
in time, we come across references to
grills (1978), deep fryers (2000), sous vide
(2016) and Instant Pots (2018).
Nostalgia
Thanksgiving has always been tinged
with nostalgia. The story of the pilgrims’
encounter with Native Americans (or ar-
guments about where and when the first
Thanksgiving actually took place) is a
common theme. So are menus pegged to
the past. In 1939, an “early New England
Thanksgiving menu” included oyster
soup, venison, cornbread and plum pud-
ding with brandy sauce. In 1966, The Post
again returned to New England of old,
with the same article sharing a menu from
Theodore Roosevelt’s home at Sagamore
Hill, highlighting onions in cream, roast
turkey with chestnut stuffing and vanilla
ice cream.
The draw of nostalgia has been espe-
cially powerful in times of crisis. “Going
back to the simple, hearty Thanksgiving
traditions will add much to the day’s
meaning,” the women’s pages advised in- “Get together as many relatives as
you can this year and share the work and
expense for a fair and fun-making family
reunion ... that’s the best way to keep faith
with your men who are off to the wars.”
The sentiment was not much different
decades later. “In unsettling times, the pull
of tradition can be so strong that people
find themselves unconsciously going back
to the comforting rituals of their child-
hood,” Candy Sagon wrote just two months
after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
One woman who had been a vegetarian for
decades suddenly felt a need to have a roast
turkey on the table.
Looking to other cuisines, cultures
and regions for inspiration
Centering meals on a particular culture
or geographic location is one recurring
strategy for introducing the immigrant
experience and a wider array of dishes into
an otherwise predictable meal. As a small
sampling, themes have included Japan
(1971), Pennsylvania Dutch (1984), India
(1985), Morocco (1991), Mediterranean
(1995), New Orleans (2005), Hawaii (2011),
Cuba (2012) and Native American (2015).
[email protected]Recipes whose names are capitalized can be
found in our Recipe Finder at
washingtonpost.com/recipes.A sampling of Thanksgiving at The Post
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/ASSOCIATED PRESSGrover Cleveland.
What politicians cook and eat
In this contentious presidential elec-
tion year, Americans were yet again trans-
fixed by what political leaders were doing,
saying and, of course, eating. Election
year or not, that has always been the case.
Pore over the archives and you’ll find all
kinds of mundane and even downright
inane coverage of the culinary habits of
the people in charge.
Our pages are peppered with tales of
the size and origins of the birds that
graced presidential tables. In 1887, Grover
Cleveland received one from Connecticut.
“On one side was the monogram of the
President surrounded by ‘Thanksgiving,
1887,’ in a semi-circle ...” The Post report-
ed. “This work was done by pricking the
flesh with hot needles, an idea which
originated in the head of a North Stoning-
ton schoolmarm.”
In 1889, fascination with the wives of
prominent Washingtonians reigned.
“The society women of Washington often
market for themselves, and you bump
against the wives of Cabinet ministers,
Supreme Court justices, and leading
Army officers in buying your daily provi-
sions,” one breathless writer observed.
“The leading ladies of Washington shine
in their kitchens as well as their parlors,
and there are few among them who can-
not play a tune on the cooking stove, and
play it well.” Recipes in the piece include a
“famous bouillon” from first lady Caroline
Scott Harrison and a chicken salad from
Mary Matthews, widow of Supreme Court
Justice Stanley Matthews, “which would
tickle the palate of [famed French epi-
cure] Brillat Savarin.”
Not all first ladies were inclined to
cook, as my colleague Manuel Roig-Fran-
zia reported back in 2012. Michael Rea-
gan, the adopted son of Ronald Reagan
and first wife Jane Wyman, had this to say
about Nancy Reagan: “Nancy? We didn’t
let her boil water.” Instead, Ann Allman,
the Reagans’ longtime California house-
keeper and cook, was in charge of the
meal. Two favorite dishes stand out as
particularly unique, not to mention
tempting: persimmon pudding and mon-
key bread.
In 1992, The Post assembled a dazzling
panel to analyze the typical holiday menu
served by president-elect Bill Clinton and
Hillary Clinton. The experts included
cookbook legend Julia Child, New York
Times restaurant critic and food editor
Craig Claiborne and Miss Manners her-
self, Judith Martin. Among the insights:
Child declared the giblet gravy with
chopped boiled eggs “a good idea,” and
Martin expressed shock that the presi-
dent-elect (who now mostly eats vegan)
would carve the turkey and nibble as he
went. “What? You don’t mean to suggest
he’s leaning over the turkey. He puts a
little on his plate, I’m sure.”
Turkey tips
Of all the topics covered over the past
century and a half, few dominate as much
as what to do with the dang turkey. This
gem from 1883 titled “A Dissertation on
Roast Turkey” sets the scene:
“For one day in a year at any rate the
American people pay homage to a strut-
ting king. The lords of politics, capital,
labor and the professions throw down
their staves of office and power to do King
Gobble homage. Alive he is the object of
admiration for his audacity and pride;
dead, he is adored, and love — love sharp-
ens appetite and, against all tradition,
King Gobble falls a victim to the esteem of
his subjects. Strutting about his Turkey-
dom he is the object of fear, but lying
calmly there on the Thanksgiving day
dinner table, robbed of his plumes, un-
wattled, bound fast and beheaded, love
only possesses the breasts of all who
regard him.”
It’s all not flowery language devoted to
fowl (though you might be surprised at
how often limericks and poems appeared
in our pages). Practical tips for the home
cook abound, and some of them were
shared for years and then rejected. Per-
haps turkey’s reputation for dryness came
about because the recommended done-
ness temperature for so long was 180
degrees. Now, it’s 165. No one thought
twice about stuffing the turkey, until 1996,
when we reported an advisory from the
USDA that warned, “Improperly cooked
stuffing can cause serious illness or even
death.” We were on the case again a few