For Thanksgiving year, Kate Collins, assistant librarian at Duke University, looked to the past to feed her family and friends.
Collins reproduced the sweet potato custard recipe from the November 1870 issue of The Rural Carolinian. The experience of cooking vintage food helped me feel connected to people from the past.
Writing about her experience in the Rubenstein Library Test Kitchen, a blog by Duke University Libraries staff, Collins said, “It’s just another way history can get really close to you.” It feels like another way to connect to that history and get a little more information about what their lives were like.
Similarly, family recipes have become holiday staples because they are tied to the memories and nostalgia of the special times gathered around the table each year.
This Thanksgiving, Working@Duke gathered their favorite main, side and dessert recipes from staff and faculty to create an e-booklet with 20 recipes and a few special stories about the dishes. Here are some mouth-watering recipes.
feed the crowd
Leanna McKay has fond memories of a childhood Thanksgiving road trip to Illinois with over 30 family members.
Each year the house was filled with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, often with more to dine with. When that happened, McKay and Granny headed to the kitchen to make a cherry pineapple dump cake to satisfy the crowd.
“No one bothers with an extra mouthful to eat, but desserts tended to disappear faster than anything else,” says McKay, a human resources specialist at the Duke University Health Systems Clinical Institute. I could always have a spare tin of pie filling and yellow cake mix, just in case I ran out of dessert before my guests ran out of food. It is ready to be whisked together and eaten before the guests have prepared their plates and finished their dinner first.
taste of new york
Stan Paskoff is responsible for preparing 1 to 20 friends and family for Thanksgiving at his home each year.
While making his usual ingredients such as turkey and vegetables, his favorite dish is stuffed potatoes. This recipe reminds me of his potato quinish filling. This is his Kirby goodness from his childhood in New York City, which can be found in any deli.
Paskov inherited the recipe from his wife’s sister-in-law, whose mother-in-law brought the recipe for the stuffing when the family came to the United States as immigrants in the early 20th century.
Paskoff, an IT analyst and network administrator at the Sanford School of Public Policy, said: “That recipe is his one of the recipes in the book.”
tribute to her father
Leah Austin’s father knew that Leah Austin and her sister didn’t like the old-fashioned stuffing cooked inside the turkey.
He always set aside some special Italian sausage stuffing, cooked in a glass dish, and brought together the savory and sweet flavors of sausage, onion, celery, apple, maple syrup and fresh herbs.
Since his father passed away in 2017, Austin has been making stuffed dishes as a tribute to his father and as a reminder of a special holiday spent together.
Austin, Assistant Manager of Event Management and Production Management at Duke Venues, said: “It’s really good, but it’s also tied to the nostalgic memories of spending time with my family each year.”
Join us on Monday, November 14th at LIVE FOR LIFE for our “Health Matters” live webinar on healthy Thanksgiving recipe ideas at noon. A recording of the session is available at a later time if you are unable to attend.
Download a copy of the Thanksgiving Recipes ebooklet here.
Submit story ideas, comments and photos through the Story Ideas form or write to working@duke.edu.
