Happy Thanksgiving--and Hanukkah!
A double-holiday weekend offers more challenges and creative food options
Only rarely have Thanksgiving and Hanukkah coincided. The last time was in 2013 when Thanksgiving occurred on the first day and second night of the eight-day Jewish holiday. The double festivities sparked the portmanteau word Thanksgivukkah, a wealth of jokes, at least one rap song and countless hybrid recipes (think Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Pastrami and Rye Pumpkin “Pye”). More recent suggestions for "Almost Thanksgivukkah" include a turkey-shaped challah and Bourbon Pecan & Chocolate Gelt Pie.
This year, the two holidays don’t share a day, but do bookend a long weekend, with the first night of Hanukkah beginning on Sunday night—which means some of us will be frying latkes while figuring out what to do with the leftover turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. I guess there are worse problems to have. Unlike so many, we can afford to celebrate the holidays and are well enough to enjoy them and each other.
In a way, colliding holidays are not such a terrible issue, since we’re still not doing all that much celebrating—and from a very unscientific survey of friends and relatives, I don’t know if many people I know are holding the large family gatherings of pre-COVID times, even if they are fully vaccinated. I had fantasized after our booster shots that it would now be safe to host my annual Hanukkah dinner, with all the traditional fixings—perhaps not with 25-plus guests as in the past but possibly half that. Then came news of a likely cold-weather virus surge and numerous caution-filled stories about the do’s and don’ts of holiday celebrations.
“Families who are considering gathering will need to decide how much risk they’re willing to accept, both in terms of their own health and those they’ll be spending time with,” said an article in Time.”
We shelved the idea of a large gathering and decided instead to spend Thanksgiving as a cozy quartet at the home of my mother-in-law Judy Graham and her partner Mike Ansell.
As Judy’s a vegetarian (actually a pescatarian as she eats fish) and only three of us are meat eaters, a barbecued turkey breast is on the menu, with salmon for Judy, plus a few side dishes, including Judy’s trademark cranberry sauce (cranberries cooked with grape juice and apples and/or fresh raspberries).
She’s been making the condiment with our son Sam since he was small, and he may join his grandmother from Japan via Zoom to whip up simultaneous batches—assuming he can find some cranberries (he claims the local Costco there “has all the Thanksgiving paraphenalia for us Americans”). My assignment is dessert—just the classics: apple pie and pumpkin bread! In a nod to Hanukkah, I may slip in a few sweet potato latkes or a pumpkin-flavored rugelach or two—maybe even a turkey-shaped challah!
Judy’s birthday is usually Thanksgiving week, sometimes on the day itself, but as long as I’ve known her, she has always celebrated it on Thanksgiving Day, usually surrounded by family and friends in far larger gatherings. I wondered if she would be sad not to have that same experience this year.
“It used to be my favorite holiday,” she admitted. “It was always great to have everyone. But it can’t happen this year—and didn’t last year or the year before. Who knows about next year?”
But, she added, “It’ll be fun. We’ll reminisce about when there were 30 people there.”
It seems that nostalgia is something we’ve all been feeling a lot these past couple of years. Will we ever feel okay inviting a crowd into our living rooms? Will hugging ever come back into style? My husband Jeff says he doesn’t mind because he’s not a hugger. I’m not much of one either, but…good friends? Brothers? Cousins? Sometimes only a hug will do!
Talking turkey—and pie!
Okay, here I go getting sentimental. It is that time of year. Let’s talk turkey—or in my case apple pie. I really don’t make pies often, but when I do, I get nervous. Will I overwork the crust? If I make it ahead of time, will it still be fresh when it’s time to serve it? But this time, since it’s just four of us, I’m not too worried. Family is forgiving—I hope.
I checked out a recipe from the New York Times’ Melissa Clark that calls for cooking the apple filling. It’s intriguing and probably worth a try. Her argument is that pre-cooking the apples (her recipe calls for sautéing sliced apples in butter before piling them into a crust) tenderizes them without turning them to mush. Uncooked apple slices tend to collapse and release too much juice when baked, Clark says.
But cooking the filling is one step too many for me. I’ve decided instead to make a recipe from King Arthur Baking that uses raw apples and a crust that’s about two-thirds butter and one-third vegetable shortening. Many pie-aficionados swear by an all-butter crust; others prefer one made with lard or a mix of lard and butter; and then there are those who opt for a blend of butter and vegetable shortening, as I’m doing.
“Fat is the key to a crust’s flavor and texture,” writes Dorie Greenspan in her 2006 book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. All-butter crusts are crispy and full of flavor, she explains, while those made with vegetable shortening are flaky. If you want the best of both worlds, she says, “use three-quarters butter and one-quarter shortening.” So maybe I’ll change my ratios.
There’s no shame in buying a frozen pie crust either—there are a large collection at our local groceries, including gluten-free versions.
Sweet potato latkes with cranberry applesauce
I’ll be making that pie crust and apple filling and will share a picture and post-mortem in my next post. Meanwhile, I got into Thanksgiving-Hanukkah mashup mode with an experimental plate of sweet potato latkes based on a recipe from Allrecipes. I used quite a bit more oil than the 2 teaspoons the recipe called for; after all, Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of the oil that helped an ancient menorah burn for eight days instead of only one. I also switched olive oil for grape seed, which has a higher smoke point. For the cranberry sauce, I riffed on my mother-in-law Judy’s perennial recipe, which is included in my 2020 Thanksgiving post below.
My changes and additions to Judy’s recipe were as follows:
1 cup apple cider mixed with 2-3 tablespoons of boiled cider replaced the grape juice.
Two chopped, peeled and cored apples replaced the berries.
The simmering cranberries were sweetened with about 2 tablespoons each (add more or less to taste) of honey and maple syrup.
I added the zest and juice of one orange, a cinnamon stick, a pinch of salt and a dash of allspice.
After the mixture was fully cooked and thickened (about 15-20 minutes), I used a potato masher to mash the cranberries and apples (a blender makes it too smooth).
Honestly, I don’t know why anyone would buy canned cranberry sauce when you can so easily make a delectable version yourself—and then serve it with turkey and stuffing, latkes and brisket, or even a Christmas prime rib!
You can find my 2020 post on latkes below—the date for Hanukkah is for last year, of course, but the recipe from Joan Nathan is remains my go-to prep for latkes.
What are you thankful for this year? Are you gathering with many or with only a few for the holidays? However you’re celebrating, I hope you’re well—or getting better—and enjoying the company of those you love, if not yet in person, virtually.
I’m thankful to those of you who read and/or subscribe to my blog. It’s been a privilege to have a place to post my musings, photos and recipes for the past 20 months (thank you, Substack!). I hope to keep writing and also discovering some of the other excellent writers on this platform.
At the top of my list is Jolene Handy of Time Travel Kitchen whose beautifully photographed and written posts referencing old recipes, vintage cookbooks and her own 1927 Chicago kitchen are thrilling and fun and share classic recipes I’m always dying to make. Her latest is on the all-American cookies, Snickerdoodles (who doesn’t love those?). Do check out her blog and stay tuned for more about this remarkable woman in a future Ruth Talks Food post.
More on Hanukkah foods—especially dessert!—in my next edition. To make sure to receive it in your in-box, please subscribe if you haven’t already.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Ruth! What an absolutely delightful post! I was enjoying every memory, picture and recipe and then I saw your
sweet and generous mention of me and TTK ☺️ Thank you so much, my friend, so excited to feature you this Tuesday!