Thanksgiving Dinner

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we've been doing the Thanksgiving thing at home with no guests.  We did the same this year but when I think back to my decades of Thanksgivings, I can honestly say that this is a highly unusual way for me, and even for Sheila and I since she has come into my life, to celebrate Thanksgiving.  This Thanksgiving, however, we continued the pandemic tradition of celebrating alone.

Throughout my entire adult life, I've always been the one to arrange a Thanksgiving dinner with everyone who had no other place to go.  I've arranged and hosted some rather quiet dinners for four to eight people and I've arranged and hosted many more festive Thanksgiving dinners for upwards of dozens of people.  On a rare occasion, I go to someone else's home but that really is rare.  

Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday for various reasons...  reasons I don't care to get into here or now...  and I think I cover up those horrendous memories by creating my own Thanksgiving.  Regardless, I really do despise Thanksgiving...  I do not like professional sports so you won't find football on my television...  I abhor turkey, a vile, nasty bird that is most often poorly roasted...  and I can't stomach canned cranberry sauce nor the average person's "Cooking for Idiots" green bean casserole using canned or frozen green beans drowned in nasty Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup.  In short, putting aside my intense dislike of the day in general, the food typically served by most families on Thanksgiving simply isn't worth eating...  perhaps not even for basic sustenance.  Actually, most of what people serve on Thanksgiving would put me in the bathroom, sick as a dog.  Consequently, I definitely prefer to cook my own Thanksgiving dinner in the comfort of my own home.  

Usually, we invite people to our home on Thanksgiving but the pandemic has made this impossible.  Now we are at the age where all our friends have grandchildren so they host their own families on every holiday.  We would host our own grandchildren but they are always bouncing around from house to house through the entire weekend.

I think I made something different for each Thanksgiving.  I never do the same thing two years in a row.  Sometimes I will make a roast beef.  Sometimes I will make a standing rib roast.  Other times I will make a pork roast of some sort.  When I was younger and living with my parents, I would grill a steak on the grill while everyone else ate turkey!  On the rare occasion, I will make a turkey breast but I always do something special with it.  I do not ever put a whole turkey in my oven.  Turkey's are best as roadkill, in my opinion, along with skunks, seagulls and a few other nasty animals.  This year, I chose to make a slow-roasted pork loin on the grill.

I started preparing this meal a few days ago with some freshly-made cranberry sauce.  I planned to use some of this cranberry sauce for a cranberry compote I made for the pork.  Both Sheila and I couldn't help ourselves as I made the cranberry sauce...  as I was canning the cranberry sauce (in canning jars), Sheila and I both helped ourselves to some...  more than once!

I took the pork loin out of the fridge a couple of hours before putting it on the grill so I could rub it with some spices and herbs.  I let it sit with the dry rub to allow it to come to room temperature and then seared it on the grill.  After searing, I turned the temperature of the grill down to low and moved the pork off to the side over a burner that was turned off.  I slow roasted the pork at around 275° for about one hour and forty five minutes (it was a rather large pork loin).  I then let it rest in the kitchen for about 15-20 minutes while we finished up the rest of dinner...  ie, dinner rolls, green beans, fried onion straws.  

The meat was looking good when it came off the grill though...  and it was very tender!  I didn't slice it until after it sat for 20 minutes.  After the 20 minutes, I sliced it into one inch slices.  The pork drippings were used for another dish.

While the meat was resting, I finished up making the green beans and fried onion straws.  I had already made a tasty white Bechamel cream sauce with parmesan and garlic.  As the meat was resting, I made the fried onion straws.  Once the fried onion straws were done, I quickly pan-broiled the fresh green beans so they were warm but still crispy, poured in the white cream sauce, and then added the fried onion straws on top.  Wow...  I can't begin to accurately express how much better this is than frozen or canned beans, canned fried onions, and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup!  Actually, I feel that none of Campbell's soup is edible in any way, including as soup.  Uggg...  nasty.   This homemade green bean casserole is delicious though!

I made a cranberry compote for the pork.  I sauteed some shallots, some chopped rosemary, a bit of red wine,  some chicken broth, the pork drippings from the cutting board after the meat rested and some fresh cranberry sauce.  I topped the pork loin with this and it was delicious!

Of course I also made mashed potatoes and some yams.  Those were good too and a nice addition to this meal.  The mashed potatoes had onion and garlic in them which elevated the taste a bit.  

All in all, it was an outstanding meal on a nice quiet day at home.  

Sheila is now sick after spending the day before Thanksgiving with some sick family members.  I avoided that scene because I didn't want to get sick.  Sheila, however, still spent the day with them and started getting sick two days later (the day after Thanksgiving).  I'm kind of annoyed to say the least.  No...  I'm not "kind of annoyed"...   I'm very annoyed.  Sick people should stay home rather than risking getting everyone they come in contact with sick too.  This sort of stuff makes me want to socialize even less.

I'm heading to the doctor tomorrow for some immunizations but now Sheila may be heading that way too.

Anyway, Sheila and I had a very nice, very quiet, Thanksgiving day at home.  Oh...  and we ate very well!