8 Classic Can-Opener Recipes of Thanksgiving
The abundance that we celebrate every Thanksgiving sure does take a lot of work to bring together. All over the country, cooks are clearing out fridge space to accommodate brining turkeys and scheduling out the days they’ll shop for, prep, and cook everything from pies to relishes to casseroles.
So an assist from time to time never hurts, even if it’s in the form of a can. For a holiday that’s rooted in the simple agrarian early heritage of our nation, the Thanksgiving dishes we associate with the big meal sure do rely on a lot of processed foods. Every year around this time, grocery stores trot out giant end-caps of canned cranberries, canned pumpkin, canned fried onions, boxed stuffing mix, and dehydrated gravy in little packets. Oh, and don’t forget that other Thanksgiving necessity, miniature marshmallows. Whether you see this all as an edible symbol of our cultural and culinary decline or an emblem of innovation and technology melding with tradition, one thing’s for sure: the following dishes are as American as apple—er, pumpkin—pie.
Cranberry Sauce
It doesn’t get any simpler than this. Open the can, the wobbly cylinder slides out, call it a day. Homemade cranberry sauce is both superior in flavor and really easy to make—whether you’re cooking it for something jammy or grinding fresh cranberries to make more of a chunky relish—but canned sauce has enough fans that some families are forced to present both canned and homemade at the table.
Green Bean Casserole
lotherington CC BY
If you haven’t noticed, green beans are not in season in November in Massachusetts, and in the pilgrim settler’s time, canning technology was still well over a hundred years to come. The gloppy casserole was developed not by a white-bonneted Pilgrim Prudence, but by home economist Dorcas Reilly for Campbell’s Soup in 1955. The ease of the recipe hinges on a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup in lieu of homemade béchamel sauce, but its appeal is all about its crispy-salty crown of canned French fried onions. Whether you use canned green beans, frozen green beans, or tough November truck-farm green beans from Mexico is up to you.
Speaking of November, how did this shortcut green bean gratin establish itself in the modern Thanksgiving repertoire? According to Time, an Associated Press feature ran the story in a Thanksgiving feature in 1955, so something about that must have stuck. Since the 1950s, every year glossy food magazines trot out fancied-up versions featuring shiitake mushrooms or asiago cheese, though none has unseated the reigning champ of totally unhealthy vegetable-based side dishes.
Pumpkin Pie
Maggie Hoffman CC BY
It’s controversial, this one, because plenty of cooks swear by the superiority of home-cooked pumpkin puree over the stuff in the can. I dissent, as do millions of Americans who just get the canned pumpkin and call it a day. The classic Libby’s pumpkin pie recipe calls for a can of evaporated milk. So if you go with canned pumpkin pie mix and dump it all into a pre-made pie crust, lo and behold! You’ve just made the most American of desserts in the most American of ways. And know what? For something so hard to screw up, it still tastes pretty great the convenience-food way.
Sweet Potato Casserole