While Germany celebrates Thanksgiving, it’s a different event altogether. Thanksgiving, “Erntedankfest”, traditionally is recognized as the celebration of the harvest on the first Sunday in November. There is no or story about natives assisting them or related food menu. So, since Thanksgiving is one of the traditional American holidays, I decided it would be a great way to bring my host family and friends a taste of America, literally.
I started planning the menu a week before Thanksgiving Day with the invitation to come together to celebrate the Sunday after the American Thanksgiving Thursday. After some online reading and review (Buzzfeed was great!), I selected the menu: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, orange glazed carrots, stuffing, brussel sprouts with chorizo and toasted almonds, cranberry relish and apple pie with whipped cream. I bought all of my supplies at the local grocery store with my host family letting me shop their pantry for basics like flour, salt, potatoes and eggs. Two things surprised me with my shopping experience. One – I actually found the green bean casserole French Fried Onions. I discovered they are a Danish favorite to eat as a topping on hot dogs along with ketchup, so the onions are sold in stores. My other surprise was the cost of the dinner, $20, but that was before the turkey. I called around to see who carried turkey (Tuthan), but most stores only had the female turkey, which has a different name in German, Pute. I purchased two small/medium turkeys/Pute and that’s when it got more expensive, bringing my total menu cost to $60.
I started planning the menu a week before Thanksgiving Day with the invitation to come together to celebrate the Sunday after the American Thanksgiving Thursday. After some online reading and review (Buzzfeed was great!), I selected the menu: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, orange glazed carrots, stuffing, brussel sprouts with chorizo and toasted almonds, cranberry relish and apple pie with whipped cream. I bought all of my supplies at the local grocery store with my host family letting me shop their pantry for basics like flour, salt, potatoes and eggs. Two things surprised me with my shopping experience. One – I actually found the green bean casserole French Fried Onions. I discovered they are a Danish favorite to eat as a topping on hot dogs along with ketchup, so the onions are sold in stores. My other surprise was the cost of the dinner, $20, but that was before the turkey. I called around to see who carried turkey (Tuthan), but most stores only had the female turkey, which has a different name in German, Pute. I purchased two small/medium turkeys/Pute and that’s when it got more expensive, bringing my total menu cost to $60.
With many of the recipes allowing preparation a few days ahead, I started prepping on Thursday, putting the green bean casserole together, ready for the topping and to be baked in the oven Sunday. Friday I made the stuffing, the cranberry relish and the apple pie. Saturday I started first by calling my dad, asking him for his ideas and what spices our family uses with the turkey. I didn’t realize defrosting the turkey takes three days and didn’t have time to do the water defrosting method so I researched cooking the turkey frozen. While it added on two hours roasting time, removing it from the oven after the first hour to remove the giblets and butter/season the turkey, it turned out great! The oven ended up cooking the turkey in about five hours which was an hour or two shorter than normal, but the temperature was actually warmer than it was supposed to be inside. As I have never carved a turkey and didn’t want to watch a video, I called my dad and received virtual video instruction with him. Since it was hard to hold the phone with one hand and carve with the other, I positioned my phone on my forehead, tying/wrapping it in place, so Dad could see my hands and direct where to carve. It was almost like he was over my shoulder telling me what to do next. I cut all of the good meat off, taking about an hour and a half, with a lot of laughs with my host family and then I was done - success! I prepared my first turkey! All that was left was to prep ahead was the apple pie and our neighbors allowed me to use their oven to bake so I wouldn’t have to overcrowd our oven Sunday.
For our Erntedankfest or Thanksgiving feast, we were joined by some girls from school, church and choir and the neighbor family friends whose oven was used to bake the pie. We gathered Sunday afternoon, beginning our celebration around 1:15 p.m. Funny, but as the afternoon went on, more guests continued arriving (about 17 total) making it a fun time sampling and sharing a bounty of food. The apple pie was probably my favorite as the recipe selected called for apple cider vinegar which really helped make it more about the apple flavor than pure sweet. I was also happy with how pretty it looked. Overall, this is one of my proudest moments – the success of planning, making and serving a Thanksgiving meal shared with my new family and many friends. (And another surprise - making the lunch was actually a lot easier than I thought it would.)
Following our Thanksgiving lunch and visiting, we left for Kiel. Being the first day of Advent (November 29), it is widely celebrated in churches and the community. We attended a local festival at the kindergarten followed by a 4 p.m. coffee and cookie service at our church. It was great to have a hosted a successful Thanksgiving lunch, smelling like turkey while relaxing during the church service. Following the service, each family was asked to bring home these adorable and easily crafted Christmas decorations. What a great way to begin the days and weeks leading up to Christmas!
Following our Thanksgiving lunch and visiting, we left for Kiel. Being the first day of Advent (November 29), it is widely celebrated in churches and the community. We attended a local festival at the kindergarten followed by a 4 p.m. coffee and cookie service at our church. It was great to have a hosted a successful Thanksgiving lunch, smelling like turkey while relaxing during the church service. Following the service, each family was asked to bring home these adorable and easily crafted Christmas decorations. What a great way to begin the days and weeks leading up to Christmas!