I'm coming down for the LSU-Arkansas game. I was wondering....what does a typical Louisiana Thanksiving meal include? I am assuming it's not the traditional turkey/stuffing/mashed potatoes like up here in the north. Or am I wrong?
Ours is pretty traditional. This year we will have turkey, turduchen, ham, cornbread stuffing, oyster stuffing, candied yams, green beans, mac and cheese, 4 or 5 pies, and tons of wine and beer. Oh, and duck bombs.
Oyster stuffing? Never heard of it, but I definitely like the sound of that. Duck bomb? Explain please?
It pretty much the usual pilgrim stuff. The main difference is we use cornbread dressing, not white bread dressing . . . yuck. And we inject our turkeys, but some yankee are doing that now, too. In south Louisiana there will be rice and gravy instead of mashed potatoes. And many people prefer a smoked ham for Thanksgiving. There may be cajun and creole side dishes, however.
My mom isn't so much into the tradition of Thanksgiving meals, so we change it up a bit. Last year it was turkey and ham; the ham is always a given (I could take it or leave it, though). This year, ham, but no turkey--cornish hens, instead. She's cooked everything from duck to shrimp au gratin. But there is ALWAYS cornbread dressing--it makes me hungry just thinking about it. For Christmas Eve, the Cajun tradition is gumbo, and we always do an injected pork tenderloin for Christmas day.
We hunt ducks. The wood ducks are small and we just "breast" them when we clean them, meaning we end up w/ just the breasts. Marinate the breasts, cut into small pieces, stuff into jalepenos with cream cheese, wrap with bacon. Cook on the grill. Awesome appetizer.
Finding out what is open in Baton Rouge on Thanksgiving hasn't been easy. Does anyone know of any restaurants that are open on Thanksgiving, whether for dinner or a buffet? I know some sports bars will be open later in the day, but I was hoping to find somewhere for dinner.
