Thanksgiving in Denmark

Thanksgiving is all American and attempting to recreate the festivities here in Denmark was quite a chore, but one that I'm quite pleased to have taken on.

I searched high and low for a turkey. This was not quite as easy as I had hoped. After finding that Bilka had chicken, duck, goose and assorted other birds, I felt sure there must be a turkey buried amongst the poultry somewhere. But, no.. I could have purchased turkey drumsticks (mysteriously sold in a package of 3... so I'm assuming there is now a one-legged turkey hopping around Denmark somewhere) and a turkey breast (minus the skin) and rebuilt the bird on my own, but that seemed a rather daunting task and it just wouldn't be the same. We asked the store clerks, but they advised us to call back and speak with Andre in the morning - something we, of course, forgot to do.

Ole stopped at our local Super Brugsen and lo and behold, a french turkey! Oui, oui! Said turkey was purchased on Monday and left to thaw in the refrigerator until today. Yesterday I put together my official recipe plan and headed off to Kvickly in search of the needed ingredients. As it turns out, the only pumpkin sold in Denmark is in a jar, and it's pickled.. since I can't quite imagine what a pickled pumpkin pie might taste like, the pie was out.

Next stop, produce. Denmark is a potato country. They eat potatoes religiously with every meal. They sell multiple varieties of said potatoes so you would assume that somewhere in that veritable plethora of potatoes that one would find sweet potatoes. You would be wrong. They don't exist. Sweet potato pie is now off the list.

However, I did have a Eureka moment in produce. There, sitting quietly amongst the kiwis and oranges, lay a pile of bags of dear old Ocean Spray cranberries! The real thing, fresh from the US of A. Cranberry sauce can remain on the menu !!

Today I am proud to say that I made homemade mashed potatoes, homemade celery and onion stuffing, fresh cranberry relish, creamed spinach, turkey gravy and of course, the french turkey. Ole's parents joined us for their first ever Thanksgiving dinner and it was wonderful.

Who says the Danes can't celebrate Thanksgiving? And now, since I'm just as stuffed as a bird on Thanksgiving, it's time to say... bring on Christmas! (I think I'll start my shopping tomorrow - minus the black friday crowds!)