A traditional meal at the 1876 Tangen House at Living History Farms. (Photo: Living History Farms)
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the current barrage of turkey news. The top 10 tips for brining, roasting and carving. The 17 best vegan alternatives. The 513 essential side dishes (promoted, no doubt, by the greedy corporate marketers from Big Gravy).
So before we hit the kitchen next week, let us now pause to consider the true spirit of Thanksgiving. We asked the folks at Living History Farms to tell us about the holiday’s origins — and to remind you, dear reader, that you don’t have to cook anything on a wood-burning stove.
From the Living History Farms staff:
Thanksgiving officially became a U.S. holiday in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation “invit[ing] my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” But the tradition of a meal celebrating harvest is as old as agriculture itself.
The indigenous Ioway people in this area might have gathered to share pumpkin, corn, beans, venison and bison. European settlers arriving in the mid-1800s brought the tradition of a meal they called “Thanksgiving,” and cookbooks of the time suggested bills of fare centered on turkey. Lydia Maria Child’s poem “A New England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day,” which we know today as “Over the River and Through the Wood,” was published in 1844, ending with the familiar “Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!”
At Living History Farms’ 1876 Tangen Home, the staff often relies on the following two recipes, adapted from “Mrs. Hill’s New Cook Book,” published in 1867. You can make them yourself or, better yet, book a historic dinner for your friends and family.
Turkey
Take out innards, put ½ cup butter in cavity. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Put ½ inch of water in roaster. Roast at 350 degrees for approximately 3 hours, until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
Mushroom-Sage Dressing
1 medium onion
3 cups mushrooms
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon leaf sage
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon
9 cups breadcrumbs
Chop onion and mushrooms finely. Melt butter in a shallow pan. Add herbs and bouillon to pan. Cook onion and mushrooms in butter mixture until tender. Add mixture to breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly. Bake in covered dish at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
