kimilseung

It si one of the great mysteries of life how in America it has not become commercialised.

Semi-religious is about right. Atheists get dragged in to it when I am have been around, evryone holds hands and although grace is not said, everyone has to say what they have been thankful for.

lazza

I love pumpkins! Not necessarily served as a vegetable but pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread etc. Yummy! On a drive between Norwalk and Redding in CT the other day I drove past what seemed like a pumpkin warehouse - literally hundreds and hundreds of them waiting to be bought - It was so orange and pretty!

I hate winter, so the US having a number of events to get you through the shortening days has got to be a good thing right? Having said that, I don't have a family, so will be watching some sort of TV marathon on Thanksgiving unless someone at work takes pity

Lothianlad

So that's it - I'm staying on this side of the Ocean, full stop.

I know zilch sod all about the American Thanksgiving except for turkey dinners and pumpkins and all I know about a pumpkin is that it's turned into some kind of a pie in America and which I have since discovered, via the great Yorkshireman James Martin, does contain ginger but positively no garlic - cinnamon yes, but no garlic, which even I know doesn't go too well with whipped or ice cream or whatever they have with it over there.

But I'm sure I've tasted pumpkin and I didnae like what was dished out to me, the gungey stuff scoured out from its insides while the outer shell was carved out into some weird Halloween thingy, as Halloween seems to be the only time of the year when you see pumpkins on sale at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Somerfield, M & S Food Departments or wherever.

I'm much, much better acquainted with all the very varied and supremely tasty culinary delights of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Greek islands (esp. Crete), Cyprus and even Libya and Egypt where the nosh was surprisingly delicious and spicy. Norway and Sweden are bloody expensive but the seafood is really good. And all those locations (except for Libya and Egypt) are so much closer at hand and far more convenient in terms of entry and departure on a coming and going basis with no checks for EU nationals, even in Norway which is technically outside the EU.

But I'm still sorry about my Thanksgiving boob and garlic flavoured pumpkin pies.

When I was at uni in Leeds we had a party for Guy Fawkes' Night / Bonfire Night and they served up some deliciously spicy parkin cake, my very first tasting. Now I challenge any American to describe the delight that is a good slab of parkin.

meauxna

Looks like gingerbread with oatmeal. Sounds good!

HannahGreen

[QUOTE=Lothianlad;8870977]So that's it - I'm staying on this side of the Ocean, full stop.

"But I'm sure I've tasted pumpkin and I didnae like what was dished out to me, the gungey stuff scoured out from its insides while the outer shell was carved out into some weird Halloween thingy, as Halloween seems to be the only time of the year when you see pumpkins on sale at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Somerfield, M & S Food Departments or wherever."

We don't eat the stuff scraped out of the pumpkin lol. The pumpkin in pumpkin pie is the part that stays in the Hallowen jack'o'lantern - it's attached to the outer skin. If I'm cooking pumpkin from scratch, I scoop out all the innards (clean and roast the seeds and throw out the rest of the 'glop'), cut the rest into chunks and bake it like squash. We don't use the jack'o'lantern though - not after it's been sitting around. My local zoo takes them for the elephants!

AmerLisa

AmerLisa

I've had parkin, it wasn't bad....

helwardman

Good parkin is fantastic

AmerLisa

Ok, it was fantastic!

Jerseygirl

My mum used to make the best parkin in the world and her scones were to die for.

meauxna

An yet, no one has yet described what it's like, except me. And I'm the only one who hasn't had it! (yet)

Jerseygirl

I used to make it when I lived at home but can't remember the recipe.

When I lived in the UK I used to love McVities Ginger Cake.

SultanOfSwing

I could quite happily polish off a whole one by myself if left to my own devices

Battenberg cake too, mmmmmm.

ian-mstm

I've got to agree with you on that. I used to have really bad parkin until I switched jobs and transferred to a different building, and now I've got great parkin!

Ian

Nutmegger

I've had a subscription to the little Yorkshire magazine "Dalesman" from my family for decades, and there's been some correspondence in there about finding a good parkin recipe recently. So the September issue has this one (they note that it has all the "old" measurements which might now be outlawed by the food police!):

1/2 lb flour
1/2 lb medium oatmeal
1/4 lb soft brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 egg
8 oz treacle
4 oz lard
about 1/4 pint milk
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Mix together the flour, oatmeal and ginger; melt the sugar, lard and treacle and add a little of the milk and the egg, well beaten. Put this mixture into the flour, etc., and mix to a stiff batter. Add the bicarbonate of soda, dissolved in the rest of the milk. Mix quickly, pour into a shallow tin 11 inches by 9 inches by 2 inches, and bake for about one hour, or until firm, in a moderate oven. (I think that translates to about 350 degrees.)

I always associate parkin with November the Fifth, when we used to have parkin pigs, along with plot toffee (guaranteed to rip your fillings out). Don't worry, the pigs were just the parkin cut out into pig shapes!