How to Make a Traditional Southern Thanksgiving

Growing up in the heart of North Carolina smack dab in the middle of the rural Southern traditions of the 1960's, Thanksgiving was always a 3 or 4 day affair. From the killing of old Tom to the boiling of the cranberries, everything was made from scratch. In the true traditional sense of the season, all of the vegetables on the table were out of the garden or picked from somewhere on the property. The smells that came from my Grandmother's kitchen could put you in mind of being in heaven. Just pulling up in the driveway was intoxicating. As her favorite(or so I thought)kitchen helper, I was part of the action from beginning to end. If you aren't quite sure what a Traditional Southern Thanksgiving consists of, let me give you the general menu. Of course in most Southern households, it wasn't enough to have just a good ole Tom Turkey. It was a general rule in our household that there was a beautiful ham on the table as well. All dressed in the pineapple and clove dress.

Along with the standard meats which were meals all by themselves, traditional Southern fare included a feast of the taste buds.

My grandmother always grew potatoes in her garden so she had several potato dishes on the table at Thanksgiving. There were new potatoes cooked to sweet, buttery tenderness, mashed Irish potatoes and mustard potato salad made from both. These dishes took care of any starch that you may have needed at Thanksgiving.

Of course there were sweet potatoes of several varieties. Sweet Potatoes baked with marshmallows on top, Sweet Potato Pie with whipped cream, Baked Whole Sweet Potatoes and Sweet Potato Puffs w/raisins and marshmallows.

Vegetables are always a great part of the Southern tradition. Collard Greens are about as Southern as it gets. These wonderful greens cooked with ham hocks or salt pork, are a necessary part of this meal. Turnip greens are another winter vegetable that adds to a traditional Thanksgiving.

Corn is another vegetable that was always a staple on Thanksgiving. Corn on the cob, corn off the cob, and corn fritters. Butterbeans, Green Beans, Fried Okra and stewed tomatoes were also on the menu.

Of course the Cranberry Sauce was made from whole cranberries and chilled before serving. I didn't realize they put it in a can until I was older.

The bread was the binding of the main meal. As with most of the other dishes, there was always at least a couple of different kinds of breads on the table for the holiday. My favorite was homemade biscuits. Now you can buy these in the store that are great. Cornbread and homemade Parkerhouse rolls rounded out the breads.

The part of the meal that took the most time to prepare other than the meats, were the desserts. These were the things that I helped with the most and were the reasons for starting several days ahead.

My grandmother had frozen peaches, blueberries, strawberries, canned apples and other fruits from the trees on her farm. At Thanksgiving, she would make Blueberry Cobbler, Apple Pies, Peach Pies and Strawberry Pies. Along with the variety of pies, we would have Coconut Cake and German Chocolate Cake, again all homemade.

In today's world you can get most anything above, almost ready to cook at the store or already prepared. Including some of these Traditional Southern Foods to your Thanksgiving is very simple. You can either go totally traditional or just add in some of your favorites. If you need help with specific recipes or instructions on how to cook the turkey or ham, check the links below for more info.

Make your Thanksgiving a little Southern. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Cooking!