Silly yet specific question about a dish on Princess

[Belease]

Hello everyone! I'm hoping to go on a Princess cruise for my honeymoon next year, but when I was 20, my nan took me on a cruise to New York with Princess thanks to an amazing deal a local travel agent was doing. I am a huge foodie and I love learning about new cuisine, so for me the cruise is partly a chance to learn about the way Americans eat and view other country's cuisine - even the international menus are fascinating to me. Anyway. On one of the evenings, I had Roasted Tom Turkey with All Trimmings, and I have very vague memories of what this was. At the time, I assume it was a mimic of a Thanksgiving dinner, so I was wondering whether anyone could take the time to explain whether I was wrong about this, and also what the different elements to the dinner was! I remember there being a lot of white turkey meat, gravy with 'bits' in it, and some spiced sweet stuff which I assume was sweet potato...

 

Anyway, thank you very much for reading and sharing all your knowledge and information on this board. I've had a great time reading!

[Colo Cruiser]

Hello everyone! I'm hoping to go on a Princess cruise for my honeymoon next year, but when I was 20, my nan took me on a cruise to New York with Princess thanks to an amazing deal a local travel agent was doing. I am a huge foodie and I love learning about new cuisine, so for me the cruise is partly a chance to learn about the way Americans eat and view other country's cuisine - even the international menus are fascinating to me. Anyway. On one of the evenings, I had Roasted Tom Turkey with All Trimmings, and I have very vague memories of what this was. At the time, I assume it was a mimic of a Thanksgiving dinner, so I was wondering whether anyone could take the time to explain whether I was wrong about this, and also what the different elements to the dinner was! I remember there being a lot of white turkey meat, gravy with 'bits' in it, and some spiced sweet stuff which I assume was sweet potato...

 

Anyway, thank you very much for reading and sharing all your knowledge and information on this board. I've had a great time reading!

 

 

Welcome to CC....

You are not dreaming,

You have described it very well

This is still on the menu the last night of the cruise. ;)

[Belease]

Ah, that's very interesting! I had thought that it was a Thanksgiving meal because we were sailing during the autumn... I thought 'this is very early for Thanksgiving, but I suppose the people on the cruise won't be coming back in another month for the proper day!'. So it's not actually a Thanksgiving or seasonal item, but is it the kind of thing you would see for Thanksgiving in an upscale restaurant?

[bgbaird]

If you're a "foodie" sign up for Chef's table as soon as you get onboard!

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/bgbaird/ChefSTable?feat=directlink

[cruisegal101]

Ah, that's very interesting! I had thought that it was a Thanksgiving meal because we were sailing during the autumn... I thought 'this is very early for Thanksgiving, but I suppose the people on the cruise won't be coming back in another month for the proper day!'. So it's not actually a Thanksgiving or seasonal item, but is it the kind of thing you would see for Thanksgiving in an upscale restaurant?

 

It is the traditional Thanksgiving dinner in the US both at home and in restaurants. I suspect that the reason that it is typically served on the last night is because in the US, this type of meal is considered "comfort" food--sort of a reacclimation to "real" world food and not the typical fancier food served on cruises.

[Toto2Kansas]

What color (if you remember) was the spiced sweet stuff? If it was orange, then it was probably yams or sweet potatoes. If it was red, then it was probably cranberry sauce. ;)

[uppitycats]

A common Thanksgiving dinner might include turkey, dressing or stuffing -- often made of bread cubes, onions, celery, sage, other seasonings and served hot (well, warm) alongside the turkey; mashed potatoes; sweet potatoes (often topped with marshmallows and the marshmallows browned..but why they do that, I'll never understand. Sweet potatoes are called that for a reason! -- they're SWEET all by themselves :p ), cranberry sauce -- red in color, sometimes has other things in it, like orange, pineapple, nuts (almonds, pecans, are popular choices)..

 

desserts might be pumpkin pie, apple pie.

 

Around where I live, while this is a "usual" Thanksgiving meal, folks often serve it at other times in the Fall, whenever large groups are gathering. I suspect the cruise ship served it as a sort of "welcome back home" as it is generally a "comfort food" for Americans, too. By the way, this is often a Christmas dinner, too.

[Belease]

Wow, great insights, everyone, thank you for your help!

 

bgbaird - I hope to be able to do this when I sail! My OH is teetotal though, so the freeflowing wine people have mentioned for this will pass him by!

 

Wheretonext??? - that's very interesting and definitely makes sense to me! What a nice touch.

 

Toto2Kansas - it was orange - definitely not cranberry. I've made Thanksgiving dishes before (I don't know anyone from America so I do it from cookbooks so I have no idea how I'm doing!) but not sweet potatoes in this style. Pureed with spices - I guess nutmeg and cinnamon and these kinds of things. Like you get in pumpkin pie, maybe?

 

uppitycats - I've made sweet potatoes twice with marshmallows on the top, and they're not really to my taste! I thought I'd give them a go in the spirit of Thanksgiving, though! This year I'm going to have a go at making Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Stuffing 101, and I'm very excited! Never had cranberry sauce with much else in it but orange juice or zest, lemon or maybe some liquor. I wonder what it would be like with nuts! Thanks for telling me some more about Thanksgiving and the meal and when it would be served. I try to learn from books and magazines but real life is always a little different!

 

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to respond. You're all fantastic! :D

[Colo Cruiser]

Wow, great insights, everyone, thank you for your help!

 

bgbaird - I hope to be able to do this when I sail! My OH is teetotal though, so the freeflowing wine people have mentioned for this will pass him by!

 

Wheretonext??? - that's very interesting and definitely makes sense to me! What a nice touch.

 

Toto2Kansas - it was orange - definitely not cranberry. I've made Thanksgiving dishes before (I don't know anyone from America so I do it from cookbooks so I have no idea how I'm doing!) but not sweet potatoes in this style. Pureed with spices - I guess nutmeg and cinnamon and these kinds of things. Like you get in pumpkin pie, maybe?

 

uppitycats - I've made sweet potatoes twice with marshmallows on the top, and they're not really to my taste! I thought I'd give them a go in the spirit of Thanksgiving, though! This year I'm going to have a go at making Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Stuffing 101, and I'm very excited! Never had cranberry sauce with much else in it but orange juice or zest, lemon or maybe some liquor. I wonder what it would be like with nuts! Thanks for telling me some more about Thanksgiving and the meal and when it would be served. I try to learn from books and magazines but real life is always a little different!

 

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to respond. You're all fantastic! :D

 

Where are you from?

[Belease]

I'm from England - I actually live in Southampton, which I'm sure some of you may have seen!

[helpmesailaway]

I just love trying different kinds of food also. It is a pleasure to hear your joy over a traditional Thanksgiving dinner here in the US.

 

If you don't like sweet potatos with marshmello ( I love it :D), there are hundreds of other recipes to try. Right now on the websites Epicurious or Foodtv, there are probably 100's of recipes being featured because Thanksgiving is almost here.

 

I am putting some walnuts in my cranberry sauce this year - so go ahead and try it too.

 

Have fun and most of all - ENJOY !!:)

[Belease]

Oh, I definitely will! My friends and family are always very bemused each year when I break out the Thanksgiving recipes, but I love having a go at such an American tradition. I'm going to make mashed potatoes this year as well. I got a Martha Stewart Thanksgiving DVD and I've watched it twice! Last year I was very ambitious and made far too much food, including pumpkin pie, dark chocolate pie and cinnamon cookies and icecream for pudding, but I'm going to try and reign myself in this time. But I'm still really excited to make real stuffing from scratch this year.

[Mary Ellen1]

I saw an article just yesterday on the Boston Globe website with a whole Thanksgiving menu -- recipes, tips, everything you'd need to do a complete meal. Here's the link: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2009/11/18/thanksgiving_can_be_modest_and_mouth_watering_if_you_enjoy_without_excess/

 

Let me expand on earlier remarks re: which night they serve the turkey dinner. When you cruise over Thanksgiving (like ME!!!!! next week!!!), they serve the turkey dinner on the actual Thanksgiving night -- Thursday. Yum-O.

 

One of the things I find so fascinating about cruise cuisine is that you're eating -- in this case -- a very traditional American meal, as interpreted by, say... an Italian chef, then cooked by an Indonesian, and plated by a Serb. Sometimes the results are a little different from what grandma would have served!!! ;)

 

Good luck with your cooking!

 

Mary Ellen

[ggprincess2004]

As a fellow foodie, skip the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes, try a recipe from Foodtv.com by Tyler Florence, that has roasted mashed bananas and honey mixed in with the sweet potatoes. After half a century of sweet potato consumption both with and without sweet potatoes, I swear by this one now.

 

Ingredients

 

• 5 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
  
• 4 bananas, unpeeled
  
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  
• 1/4 cup honey
  
• Kosher salt
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
  
• 1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped
  

Directions

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork, put them in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Toss the bananas into the pan and continue roasting for 10 to 15 minutes, until both the bananas and potatoes are very soft. Remove the pan from the oven but don't turn the oven off.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl. Peel the bananas and add them to the bowl along with 1 stick of the butter, and the honey. Season with salt and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until everything's well combined and the mixture is fluffy. Spoon into an oven-proof serving bowl and smooth the top.

In a separate mixing bowl, use your fingers to rub together the remaining stick of butter, the brown sugar, flour, and pecans until the mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the sweet potatoes and return to the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the crumbs are golden. Serve hot.

 

 

Chef's Table - the price is lower for tea totallers so when you sign up, make sure they know that your hubby won't be imbibing.

[2pbears]

Oh, I definitely will! My friends and family are always very bemused each year when I break out the Thanksgiving recipes, but I love having a go at such an American tradition. I'm going to make mashed potatoes this year as well. I got a Martha Stewart Thanksgiving DVD and I've watched it twice! Last year I was very ambitious and made far too much food, including pumpkin pie, dark chocolate pie and cinnamon cookies and icecream for pudding, but I'm going to try and reign myself in this time. But I'm still really excited to make real stuffing from scratch this year.

 

 

And that, my dear, is what Thanksgiving dinner is all about......far too much food. ;)

[West Coast]

As a fellow foodie, skip the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes, try a recipe from Foodtv.com by Tyler Florence, that has roasted mashed bananas and honey mixed in with the sweet potatoes.

 

This sounds amazing - thanks for sharing.

[regnig]

Belease I just wanted to thank you for such a delightful posting. You've been given some great tips by other CCers about things for our traditional Thanksgiving meals. There are also many here in America who will honor their national heritage by adding things to their menues that reflect that. Just as the Italians will add Italian dishes to their meals so do many other nationalities. I'm pleased you enjoyed the "American Version" but feel free to add some English dishes to your menu also.

 

What ever you will call next Thursday (11/26/09) ENJOY your feast!

[Andee]

Our favorite cranberry dish has apples, walnuts, raisins, and oranges it it; it's flavored with wine vinegar, cinnamon, and ginger--yummy!

 

My son insists on the sweet potatoes with marshmallows--and my husband insists that no one else makes it the way I do--which is funny, as I don't have a recipe and use different ingredients from year to year--sometimes rum or brandy, sometimes not; sometimes orange juice and zest, sometimes not; sometimes crushed pineapple, sometimes not--and the seasonings could be allspice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg.

 

Two years ago, the last time my son was home for Thanksgiving (he's stationed in Germany, but now deployed to Iraq), I thought the kitchen was going to go up in flames when we used my husband's workshop blow torch to brown the marshmallows, and there was a gas leak, and great, big flames. We couldn't do it in the oven because, after we cooked our turkey in it, the oven was no longer kosher. maybe I should be a creme brulee set with a little torch.

 

I don't care for pumpkin pie, but love the mincemeat pie we always have at Thanksgiving.

[gsrunyan]

If you really want different food, you need to fly to New Orleans before you cruise. Take in Creole food at the Court of Two Sisters or Antoine's, eat gumbo or jambalaya at Napolean House, Beignets at Cafe du Monde, eat Cajun food at K-Paul's and breakfast at Brenan's where you are offered your choice of brandy punch or bloody mary when you enter (to help cure your hang over from a night at Pat O'Briens). Be sure to stop a while at Preservation Hall to hear real Dixieland Jazz by some of those that developed the style.

 

Then you will be ready to recover on your cruise.:eek:

 

Glenn:D

 

PS Went to graduate school in New Orleans and lived in Baton Rouge for 11 years.

[cruisegal101]

I'm from England - I actually live in Southampton, which I'm sure some of you may have seen!

 

Lucky you!!!:) You get to see ships and boats and ferries on a regular basis. I love sailing from Southampton!

 

Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner. If you are ever in the State of Virginia during Thanksgiving week, our family gathering would welcome you--we have a wonderful gathering at a cousin's farm outside of Richmond and usually have 50-60 people there so a few more are always welcome! Since everyone brings food, there is enough food to feed a hundred!:)

[Dustyone]

We Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving about 5 weeks before our USA neighbours and for us turkey dinner with all the trimmings is tradition as well - turkey is also a traditional meal for a Canadian Christmas. The aromas of a turkey dinner cooking are awesome and we will often have a turkey dinner 2 or 3 other times during the year. One of our favourites in the summertime is grilling a whole turkey on a BBQ - keep it well basted and our experience is you will find the meat far more moist. For the "tailgaters" there are now large turkey deep fryers (for outside use only) - the turkey is immersed in hot oil (canola or other) and it cooks very quickly - a popular snack at many major sporting events in the USA are large turkey legs - haven't tried one but they are huge.:cool::cool:

[Wormy53]

Wow - you have already got some really good responses. Like someone else said - we all have our own little twists on things! Lots of people now "brine" their turkeys, and Alton Brown just did a demo on Food Network that covered it well. The turkey soaks in a salt and seasoning solution for a day. ( It plumps it up and really pulls in those flavors!)

 

I think the thing that really makes the difference is stuffing. Everyone does it different. Cornbread or white bread - sausage or oysters - stuff the turkey or on the side - nuts or fruit. (See what I mean!!:))

 

Thanks for that sweet potato recipe ggprincess - that sounds interesting and easy too!! And gsrunyan - you are so right about NO - I don't think any city likes to eat as well as they do!!!!

[helpmesailaway]

ggprincess2004 - your recipe sounds delicious. I think that will be my sweet potatoe recipe for this year too - can't wait to try it.

 

Belease - making TOO MUCH food is definitely part of the tradition. Don't hold back - bring it on and enjoy the leftovers.

 

I started a thread asking about grocery stores and bakerys in Southampton in the Europe forum. Your neighbors were just wonderful with ideas of places to visit and goodies to sample. Although, I had to cancel my cruise, I am prepared for a future visit.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all no matter where you live or what you eat!!!

[caribill]

We Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving about 5 weeks before our USA neighbours and

 

In the USA, that day is celebrated as Columbus Day.

[Harleycat]

Wow, great insights, everyone, thank you for your help!

 

bgbaird - I hope to be able to do this when I sail! My OH is teetotal though, so the freeflowing wine people have mentioned for this will pass him by!

 

Wheretonext??? - that's very interesting and definitely makes sense to me! What a nice touch.

 

Toto2Kansas - it was orange - definitely not cranberry. I've made Thanksgiving dishes before (I don't know anyone from America so I do it from cookbooks so I have no idea how I'm doing!) but not sweet potatoes in this style. Pureed with spices - I guess nutmeg and cinnamon and these kinds of things. Like you get in pumpkin pie, maybe?

 

uppitycats - I've made sweet potatoes twice with marshmallows on the top, and they're not really to my taste! I thought I'd give them a go in the spirit of Thanksgiving, though! This year I'm going to have a go at making Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Stuffing 101, and I'm very excited! Never had cranberry sauce with much else in it but orange juice or zest, lemon or maybe some liquor. I wonder what it would be like with nuts! Thanks for telling me some more about Thanksgiving and the meal and when it would be served. I try to learn from books and magazines but real life is always a little different!

 

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to respond. You're all fantastic! :D

 

If you don't like sweet potatoes with marshmallows (I don't like them at all), there is a really good recipe for "Brandied Orange Sweet Pototoes" on the Food Network site. It's an Emeril Legasse recipe. I tried it for my husband and he loves it.