Mike has it 100% correct. There’s no reason to choose. Thanksgiving is not about being healthy. It’s about stuffing your face with food while in the company of the family you love (or other group of people you like or love or whatever).
But as an Idahoan, I’m a little miffed that people would choose stuffing over potatoes. In spite of what people try to tell you, potatoes are a very nutritious food. Just because most people only eat them as french fries or chips doesn’t make the potatoes themselves bad! Potatoes are filling, cheap to purchase, if you know how to store them (and you don’t get those wimpy Norkotah ones that are pretty but don’t store well at all; go for the Burbanks) they last quite a while, plus, they are great sources of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium, fiber! And they are delicious and versatile to boot.
Take that, Crow and Tom! I’d like to see your precious stuffing manage all that!
As for potatoes, as an adult I just mash them with the skins still on. I keep what’s basically an oversized hard-bristle toothbrush on hand to make sure that they’re nice and clean first. But the skin holds a lot of the good nutrients, I’m told.
(One combo I tried not long ago in a mash was cracked white pepper and Romano cheese. Delicious! But then I misplaced the recipe. I’ll have to try and work out the formula on my own next time.)
My fam always cooked it inside the bird. I detest the taste of stuffing, but they’d always insist I try it, only I think they did that to hear what I’d come up with each year in response, “You want me to sample what’s in the cat’s box next?” or, “Can I just go outside and lick your encrusted snow tires instead?” or, “how about shaving uncle Fred’s back hair and serving me that?”
Laughter would ensue, and then I’d load up on the potatoes. Mountains of potatoes with rivers of gravy. Yum! (they always served mashed potatoes, which is fine, as I frequently do the baked in skins variety at home)
Potatoes have the even-more-fabulous goodness waiting right on the heels of Thanksgiving. (11/28) I speak, of course of…
LATKES!! (My version has potato, carrot, parsnip, and leeks or red onion in lieu of the traditional white onion.) Accompaniments: Mom’s cran-applesauce and sour cream!!)
Oo, I love latkes! And I’ll be making my own potato leek soup recipe soon. The secret ingredient? A bottle of fine beer, ideally a hefeweizen.
As for stuffing, we usually do the outside variety, but I’ve had the inside one too. I prefer that one made with oysters when possible. I’ve not yet had a very good cornbread stuffing, but I know it must exist. Maybe if it were moister, like spoonbread.
I’ve always been a stuffing guy—outside the bird, please—until my first Thanksgiving with the ex-in-laws, who served some weird variant that had slices of hard-boiled egg mixed in. They refused to believe that not everyone did it that way while I opted to go starch-free for the day.
I was pretty basic with my dinner needs - no fancy recipes, no unusual additions. I wanted the same thing every year. Turkey (white meat, with gravy), a ton o’ potatoes, buttered dinner rolls, a ton o’ fruit salad in whipped cream and that was it, I didn’t want the stuffing or the cranberries or the veggies (I might have a spoonful of green beans, but mostly I wanted stomach room for the other goodies, and the pumpkin pie at the end).
Boiled eggs in stuffing? That is a new one to me. And it does not sound appetizing.
I think we probably all have at least one unusual variant food in our family traditions. When you say “banana sandwich” to most people, they take it to mean banana and peanut butter. But I grew up eating banana and mayonnaise sandwiches.
The side veg of choice in our family is rutabaga. We’re all quite mad for it and often would race for the last spoonful. It’s one of those vegetables, like leek or chard, that I love the smell of when it’s cooking.