E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
AP file, Getty file
L to r: Chefs Susan Feniger, Bill Telepan and Eric Ripert all say no to the traditional holiday entree.
By Krista Simmons, TODAY contributor
Though turkey may have been the center of Norman Rockwell's classic Thanksgiving painting, many chefs prefer not to serve a bird at their holiday table.
Some, like Le Bernardin's Eric Ripert, opt out because they think the taste of the giant fowl is, well, foul. Others, like Susan Feniger, prefer a vegetarian feast for both ethical and logistical reasons.
Feniger, a “Top Chef Masters” competitor and owner of Street in Los Angeles, has prepared a vegetarian feast for friends and family – around 30 of them, in fact – for the past four years. “I don't think one person misses the turkey,” she said. “Thanksgiving really is all about the sides, and I kind of go overboard. We do some traditional dishes, like mashed potatoes with butter and sour cream, and then some fun stuff like yams with ginger lime and honey.”
According to Google, searches for vegan Thanksgivings are up 35 percent, so it should come as no surprise that chefs like Feniger opt for a meat-free holiday table as well. Instead of serving Tofurkey, Feniger just amps up the quantity of fixin's, making sure there a few globally-inspired dishes with lentils or beans on the table.
Chef Bill Telepan, who owns an eponymous restaurant in New York, agrees with Feniger in her statement that fixin's are the best part of the holiday meal. When it comes to the protein, Telepan prefers to go with game meat like venison that's indicative of the autumn season.
Telepan isn't the only one dabbling in game meats and off-cuts during the holidays, though. Dale Talde, “Top Chef” alum and owner of three popular New York area restaurants, fondly remembers his family's unconventional yet endearing Thanksgiving meals.
“I’m a first-generation Filipino-American, and turkey just isn’t a Filipino thing,” Talde said. “There was always oxtail stew, stir-fried noodles, wonton soup. We did catch on to the Thanksgiving ham and my mom did it well — I think it’s because of the deep Filipino love of all things pork.”
Talde says he'll be cooking a ham or rib roast for this year's feast.
David LeFevre of James Beard Award-nominated MB Post will be hosting an-ever-so-SoCal seafood boil at his home in Manhattan Beach, replete with lobster, king crabs, and killer wine. The spread will be served on a table covered with newspaper overlooking the Pacific. “It should be 72 degrees and clear skies,” he said. “I'm really looking forward to spending more time with the family and watching some football.”
Cheers to that.
Krista Simmons is a Los Angeles-based multimedia journalist. Follow her on Twitter.
More:
Crummy or yummy: When turkeys are friends, not food
A guide to Thanksgiving beers (and keeping Drunk Uncle at bay)
Deep-fry a turkey without burning down the house
Obama pardons Cobbler the turkey, but runner-up Gobbler gets to live, too
Leave a Comment:
Turkey is tasteless, dry and overly expensive. For a large bird that should cost about $.14 per pound, a turkey is just way too expensive any more. Ham is better, so it roast beef. By the way, turkey was not part of the first Thanksgiving, anyway.
How would you know ?
Just because you don't know any real cooks, isn't a reason to diss turkey.
As to the first Thanksgiving, I don't think you were there.
I wasn't at D-Day, but I'm pretty sure they're were no atomic weapons involved. It's called historical record. But, actually, I believe there may have been wild turkey at the first Thanksgiving. Personally, I prefer Wild Turkey with my feast. (That's a joke.)
These 'chefs' could always go with live grubs, fresh monkey brains with a side of cobra and tapeworm soup.
I brined and smoked 6 Turkeys today. Take that you vegan freaks!
If Turkeys weren't made to be eaten, then why are they made of meat?
You are made of meat, too. :)
Yes we are.. but we are at the top of the food chain.. Still doesnt stop a hungry Shark or bear from enjoying us when they can...
You are made of meat too...so I guess you are meant to be eaten too ?
For the last 10 or so years my family has had a vegan thanksgiving, we are all vegetarians and/or vegans, except my husband. We have every dish you can think of, there is no shortage of delicious food, and lots of pies and desserts, all vegan. This year we're alone, just the two of us, so much scaled down, but I noticed all the tofurkeys at Safeways were sold out within a couple of days, a testament and there are more people becoming veg for various reasons.
Didn't go vegan, but our duck this year had 100 times more flavor than the hormone-enhanced meat-slab we call "turkey".
Oh, in NJ, we call that "Mike 'Situation' Sorrentino'".
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Tofurky roasted alongside the small turkey, just as it has for the past three years. Everybody's fed and happy, what else does anyone need?
I quit doing turkey for Thanksgiving years ago. Why? BORING! Thanksgiving is a day of giving thanks and having a special dinner. Turkey isn't special so instead we have something that we don't normally eat. Don't get me wrong, I like turkey and usually serve three or four of them a year, just not for holidays.
A couple of years ago a friend of my ex invited us over for what she described as a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. She neglected to tell either of us that she'd decided to serve only vegan dishes because her husband's family was vegan and they told her that if she served meat they'd be going elsewhere for the day. To be polite, I sampled a number of the items she served. They all tasted disgusting. SERIOUSLY disgusting. The two of us left early, and I found out later that my ex emailed her and gave her hell for ruining our Thanksgiving (he was way more pissed than I was about missing the traditional holiday meal he'd been promised), since we had been invited to two other friends' houses, both of whom served turkey and ordinary side dishes, and we passed them up to go to her place because we'd never been there for Thanksgiving. Going meat-free is a nice way to live, if that's your choice, but it's definitely not okay to "spring" a meat-free meal on people whom you've invited for what is traditionally a stuff-your-face-with-meat meal. Personally, I've never cared for Thanksgiving dinners where the cooks try to change things up by serving a bunch of non-traditional side dishes in place of the usual ones. To me, that's definitely a FANCY dinner, but one that should be reserved for another occasion.
How gracious of your ex-husband. Have you no class?
I cook and serve turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I also usually have ham and roast beef. I tend not to eat the turkey, preferring instead the beef or ham or summer or deer sausages. My turkey is very good or so people sho like turkey tell me, but I just prefer the other meats. I've even had salmon - sometimes grilled brats and pork steaks, what really matters is who is there with me (us).
I went to a traditional thanksgivings gathering complete with chitlins. I carried my own vegan meal and no one really noticed. The family lost a beloved member to complications of his obesity (never recovered after a stroke). I'm down 33 pounds and no one made the connection. This is how I eat now and I'm much healthier.
I love Thanksgiving more so than Christmas . Eat what ever you like it is only once a year. I personally do not care what it costs. Once i am dying or dead it will not matter.
Some people waste money on drugs or nick nacks . I waste mine on food. I was wanting to go to golden corral , this holiday but the wife did not like that ideal . She was right i enjoyed last Thursday and i hope everyone else did no matter where you were or what you ate.