As TNT reminds us for 24 hours every Christmas, the Bumpus’s dogs broke into the little Ralphie Parker’s childhood home and ravaged his family’s turkey to the bones. It was a tragedy. Until Kevin Malone fumbled his heaping pot of chili in The Office decades later, it stood as this great nation’s undisputed standard of agonizing food loss. Check the footage if you don’t believe me:
Adult Ralphie narrates the carnage and its aftermath this way: “The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey a la King! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, ALL GONE!”
Take care to note that adult Ralphie isn’t just mourning the loss of Christmas dinner, he’s mourning the loss of the parade of leftovers that should have followed his family’s triumphant holiday feast. Therein lies the real tragedy. As we all know, dreams of a well-spent Thanksgiving Weekend are built on an abundance of football, leftover turkey, and the dynamite recipes we use to breath new life into said turkey. At least that’s how we see it.
Which is why we put together this list of our favorite leftover turkey recipes. As always, if you need a turkey for Thanksgiving and beyond, check out our Catering Menu and give us a call to order yours today.
The Thanksgiving Ring
The brilliance of the Thanksgiving Ring lies in its simplicity: Great ideas are usually intuitive and leave you wondering why someone didn't think of it sooner. Like asking for a medium sized coffee in a large size cup before it, stuffing all your leftovers into the dough from a tube of crescent rolls is a brilliant idea that deserves your consideration this Thanksgiving.
Turkey and Dumplings
November is the official start of bulk season. If you've been falling behind, don't worry this turkey and dumplings recipe will get you back on the right track.
Turkey, Cranberry, and Brie Grilled Cheese
Each Thanksgiving my family starts making leftover turkey sandwiches at midnight on the hour every hour until we OD on tryptophan and fall asleep. This isn't healthy behavior, but who are we to break tradition? This year I substitute this turkey, cranberry, and brie sandwich for dessert so I can kick off the leftover sandwich run early.
Turkey Hash
A hearty Saturday morning breakfast/brunch is a pivotal meal during any Thanksgiving weekend. The right meal offers a solid base for weekend projects or college football-inspired day-drinking. The wrong one will leave you rifling through the tupperware for stray piece of cold dark meat that you can shove in your mouth. You deserve better! So does your leftover turkey, which is why you should treat yourself to a proper Saturday morning brunch and drop a poached egg on top of your turkey hash.
Hot Brown
The Hot Brown is named for the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky where it was originally invented. The open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon and a delicate Mornay sauce was developed as a late night offering to the hotel's weary revelers in the wee hours of dinner dances during the 1920's. Since then it's become a bit of an institution. If you've never had one, Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to treat yourself.
Turkey Ramen
The improbable ascendance of ramen noodles to the top of the foodie pantheon is an inspiring underdog story. It also may be one of the biggest reasons we still believe in the Mets. Accordingly, we'll be enjoying turkey ramen this Thanksgiving weekend while we daydream of Pete Alonso mashing taters in the 2024 World Series. You gotta believe...