Find out how some local foodies celebrate…
Living in a ski town for well over a decade, I’ve attended many a Thanksgiving potluck feast in celebration of the Holiday. Potlucks always bring variety, fun and sometimes new traditions to attendees. So, in celebration of the tradition of potlucks, I’ve put together a “potluck” of Thanksgiving experiences from local foodies.
Favorite Dishes
Whether you cook a traditional or nontraditional feast, everyone tends to have a favorite dish they look forward to. Kelly Little, from Local and Trio, states, “One dish I always look forward to is my dad’s stuffing two ways. Every year, he makes a savory stuffing and a sweet stuffing, every family member has their preference! Personally, I’m a savory stuffing girl.”
Hannah McClellen, owner of Figgies, agrees, “Stuffing is my FAVORITE part of thanksgiving. It’s gotta be traditional though, nothing fancy!” Stuffing is also the go-to dish for Jason Azarpour, food and beverage director at the Whistling Grizzly, and hailing from Maryland, his version must have oysters in it!
Jayme Pronger of Nurse Jayme Aesthetics goes for the sweet side dishes, a diehard fan of sweet potatoes with marshmallow and honey baked on top.
State Farm Agent, Austin O’ Bryhim‘s go-to dish? “Veal or chicken parm is a specialty dish I make every year. You cannot go wrong with a good veal or chicken cutlet. My tradition since growing up has been to do Italian or seafood instead of traditional thanksgiving dishes. I usually attend a friends-giving where we will bring a roasted turkey and some sides, but for family and close friend it’s been a nontraditional tradition that we love.”
Traditions
If I had to choose one, a good ole fashioned traditional Thanksgiving dinner cooked by my mom, would be my last meal on earth. The classic Thanksgiving experience runs deeps in my family. As a collegiate tennis player, I often brought home international teammates to experience their first ever Thanksgiving dinner (yes, my mom is a saint!). I will never forget my mom asking my teammates what their favorite traditional Thanksgiving dishes were, so she could prepare them. She was very concerned about their experiences, so much so that she forgot Thanksgiving is an American holiday. We’ve never let her live it down since, and often a few of them make it back to my family’s table for the big day.
Here is what a few other local foodies said their T-day traditions are:
Alex Suckling, owner of Alpine Air Coffee, got introduced to a new tradition along with a new addition to his family last year. “We have a new special tradition; my daughter was born on the day before Thanksgiving last year so her birthday will be forever tied to turkey tradition. The Jackson Hospital offers a fancy meal when you have a kid there, and they were also doing a thanksgiving dinner special, so we ate like royalty for the couple days we were there. Steak dinner one night, followed by a most excellent Thanksgiving meal with no clean up! All you had to do was have a kid at the right time.”
Hannah of Figgies, “A tradition in our family was making turkey notes, which are little rhymes that we would make pretty funny! “Turkey fresh, turkey fine. Turkey says moms had too much wine!”
Jayme Pronger’s tradition is to participate in the Jackson Hole Turkey Trot with her husband and pups. When asked if she’s the cook or a guest, she responded, “I’m definitely the professional host and my husband is the chef! We often host Thanksgiving, and my husband smokes a turkey on his Green Egg each year, and the family help with the sides.”
Evie Brooks from Glorietta‘s family tradition is to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday. “Last year we spent Thanksgiving at Pikes Peak and roamed around Colorado. This year we are all meeting in Grand Cayman to go scuba diving for 2 days!” Evie’s family are pescatarian, and typically enjoy sushi or grilled fish for Thanksgiving dinner, plus all the carb-loaded side dishes.
Dinner Time Blunders
Most of our featured foodies are dog owners, and dogs always tend to get into mischief on this feast focused day. Austin O Bryhim shares, “When my grandparents used to host Thanksgiving, my grandfather always got to have the turkey leg. Once, he was so proud of the leg he pulled off, but he set it down because the Washington/Dallas football game was on, so we all went into the living room to see who had scored after we heard a commotion from the announcers (we grew up outside of DC so we were all big Washington fans and hated Dallas). His pet Schnauzers had gotten a hold of the leg and carried into the living room side by side. Needless to say they got to enjoy the leg!”
And outside of Fido-induced mayhem, Jason Azarpour includes, “Thanksgiving in Jackson can present its own unique challenges. My first rental had a barley functioning oven. The oven finally decided to die on Thanksgiving Day one hour into roasting a turkey. Cooking stoves and charcoal grill to the rescue. This was the year of the “grilled” turkey.”
What To Wear
The age-old question, “can I wear something stretchy on Thanksgiving?” We asked Dana Sanders Souther, owner of Terra what does she wear for the holiday. She states, “In my house, it’s all about the food, and I don’t stand on ceremony! Since I do the cooking, and it’s a small affair at our place, I tend to favor a cozy cashmere sweater and my favorite pair of Freecity sweatpants. Yes, I said it. I enjoy the food and calm of this holiday as I await all the sparkle and magic that December always brings.”
Next Day Leftovers
Both Alex and Hannah both look forward to next day sandwiches from dinner leftovers. Alex loves to pile everything into a crusty french stick with plenty of cranberry sauce. Hannah from Figgies, (and she’s the sando pro!) will be creating a special Ode to Thanksgiving sandwich at the Deli. “We’ve switched it up years past and have done everything from homemade green bean casserole to sweet potato aioli to mashed potato cakes with gravy Who knows what we’ll come up with this year?”
Don’t sleep on the Figgies Thanksgiving sando special, I made a special trip to Driggs for it last November. I earned my sandwich by boot packing up Grand Targhee for an early season ride first. Yes, boot pack (ouch!), I was so excited for the sandwich I forgot my skins!
