Serious Eats: New York
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
[Turkey. Sides. Pie. Where does your loyalty lie?]
This week in the New York Times dining section, Kim Severson and Julia Moskin squared off in the ultimate Thanksgiving battle: turkey versus sides. Is the turkey really the most important part of the Thanksgiving meal? Or are we all really in it for the stuffing and potatoes?
While Severson stuck to Thanksgiving orthodoxy, claiming that the turkey was essential to a proper holiday and trying to perfect her recipe to prove it, Moskin took up the cause of the side dishes. But there's a third camp—the pie contingent. In fact, Ed Levine once advocated we forgo turkey and stuffing altogether in favor of an all-pie holiday.
Me, I'm a side-dish girl. I care much more about the smell of roasting turkey than the bird itself; I'll have a ceremonial bite, but not much else. And sure, I love a good slice of pie. But I'm in it for the sweet potatoes, and cornbread stuffing, and biscuits, and Brussels sprouts—a little different each year, but always festive and exciting. Turkey is for the birds.
What about you? What are you really saving room for—turkey, side dishes, or pie?