studentsineurope

Feasible Feast: Tackling Turkey Day in Europe

How I miss Thanksgiving at home!

Preparing for Thanksgiving is, more often than not, an all day affair at least. Sifting through recipes, compiling ingredients, making sure you have enough pots, pans, and trays. There are a ton of the things that must be done on top of the actual cooking and baking. Now, move that whole process across the pond to Europe, and your tacking on a lot more time than you had probably anticipated.

All of your mom’s recipes you had planned on trying out for your friends in Europe? Those all need to be converted into metric cooking units. Luckily, though, this problem can be easily solved. A very helpful website, Convert-me.com, effortlessly converts all your measurements, and even lets you choose the substance that you want changed.

Now that you have the conversions out of the way, you still have to find all the ingredients – that is, if they even exist in Europe. In America, we tend to take cooking for granted, as a vast majority of recipes can be made from something in a can or a package. In Europe on the other hand, a lot more people seem to cook from scratch, with fresh ingredients. Therefore, finding the appropriate Americanized ingredients, can prove to be quite troublesome.

Here are several Thanksgiving favorites you might find a little more difficult to find/make in Europe:

Stuffing – Used to that Pepperidge Farm stuffing, that required only the addition of some celery, onions, and broth? Well you better get out those oven mitts, because this year you’re making it from scratch.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce – Nope. You won’t find a can of that jiggly, sugary goodness around Europe. Homemade is your only option.

Pie Crust – If you have the time, you might want to stick to making your own pie crust. While there is an abundance of ready-made dough that can be bought, the consistency differs from that of a traditional American pie crust. With a thinner, flakier, and butterier texture, it might result in your pie not turning out exactly as planned.

Pumpkin Pie - Besides the fact that it is almost impossible to find canned pumpkin anywhere in Europe, there is also the laughable dilemma of the canned pumpkin shortage. A predicament that is causing millions of Americans to fret over finding a suitable substitute for their favorite Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. So here’s to hoping you’re a big fan of pumpkin seeds, as there is sure to be plenty left over once your done scooping the insides out of that giant orange squash.

Pecan Pie – Don’t count on finding any corn syrup in Europe, as it’s mostly a substance used in America. So if your recipe calls for something like Karo’s syrup, you might want to try one that substitutes maple syrup instead.

While you may have to change around some recipes, or even forgo certain favorites altogether, having Thanksgiving in Europe can still be just as tasty as it would be at home. Who knows, you might even invent some new recipes!