Seeing as there were no starters for this menu, let us get right down to the main course. In case you didn’t read yesterday’s post, I made a Thanksgiving meal from a 1939 menu I found in a newspaper. On the menu were turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, orange sweet potatoes, creamed onions with cream cheese, and a cabbage-pineapple gelatin salad. This is another menu that did not include any cranberry sauce which the 1970s menu omitted as well.

First up is the turkey and dressing and this is the first year I actually made the turkey recipe that accompanied the menu. The 1963 menu did not have a specific recipe and the 1970s one was nothing special, so I usually went with my to-go recipe. The 1939 menu called for stuffing the turkey with the dressing which is something I personally have never done. They were both simply seasoned with the turkeys only being brushed with some melted butter and the dressing including fresh parsley, poultry seasoning, and salt. Surprisingly the dressing was probably my favorite part of the meal.

The gravy menu used was a giblet gravy. Giblets are what is in the cavity of the turkey in the little white package which contains the liver, heart, and gizzard as well as the neckbone of a turkey. In this recipe, these are used to make broth. It is then turned into a gravy where you cut the giblets into small pieces and stir them into the gravy. Giblet gravy is one of the recipes I don’t think was tested or it was created by someone who loves thick pasty gravy. The recipe calls for a roux of six tablespoons of flour and butter for only three cups of broth. Once it got off the heat and started cooling, it became thick and starchy. It was a shame as you make your own broth for the recipe so it should have been such a nice gravy. I did adjust this for the recipe down below.

Oranged sweet potatoes were a simple recipe where sweet potatoes are sliced and parboiled, then sprinkled with brown sugar, orange zest, paprika, and butter. Orange juice is poured over it and then it is baked. I made mine in a deep casserole dish as it was vague in what should be used. I think a 9 x 13 pan would be a better choice and again that is what I say in the recipe below.

Creamed onions with creamed cheese are where pearl onions are baked in a white sauce flavored with cream cheese and topped with buttered crackers. This recipe was pretty straightforward until the buttered cracker topping. Luckily that is quite easy to make. I went with Ritz crackers for my topping because the 1930s was when they hit the market and the round buttery crackers were an instant success. Though you can use saltines or breadcrumbs instead. This dish was also very hard to get a good picture!

Last but not least is the cabbage-pineapple gelatin salad which came together super easy. It gave me a bit of trouble trying to unmold it but that was more on me. I kind of forgot that I had made it and realized only as I was trying to pull the last-minute details together. So in between setting the table and making the gravy, I was trying to get the salad to unmold. The gelatin was made with unflavored gelatin flavored with pineapple juice and a little vinegar that has shredded cabbage and pineapple mixed in. It was a little underwhelming in looks and flavor compared to the ruby cranberry ring I had made a week before.

Honestly, this 1939 menu for being the simplest compared to the other two menus I have done, caused me the most stress. One of the reasons is that this does come from a newspaper where there are space limits so some details get cut out. It is the nature of the beast when trying to use those recipes but I do have to fill in the blanks quite a bit. Two is more to do with me as I had to do this on more of a time crunch so I really did not have room to play if something went wrong.

I mentioned this yesterday but to many, these recipes would seem under seasoned compared to how food is usually seasoned today. Keep that in mind if you try any of these recipes and don’t be afraid to add extra spices or throw some sautéed onions or garlic into the mix. Or keep them as is and get a taste of how another decade liked their food.

If you want to see the other two main courses I have recreated:
Check out the 1963 main course here
Check out the 1970s main course here