Buccaneers Pick Six: A tale of two halves

Thanksgiving Food Power Ranking

It’s that time! Thanksgiving is coming up on Thursday so we’re all getting geared up for the best meal of the year. Time to decipher the six biggest hits when it’s time to sit down and stuff your faces.

6.) Rolls

There isn’t much on this earth as delicious as a hot, fresh baked roll right out of the oven with melted butter dripping out of it. Some will complain that it’s a waste of stomach space and you should avoid eating them because they fill you up too soon. Those people are wrong. Smother it in butter, scoop some mashed potatoes and gravy on it and chow down.

5.) Cranberry Sauce

People have their opinions, but cranberry sauce is essential. I’m an “out of the can, jellied” cranberry sauce. Others like the chunky, made from scratch cranberry sauce. Whatever your preference, it’s a staple that usually only comes around this time of year. Combine the cranberry sauce with a roll and some turkey for a delicious turkey day slider later in the evening.

4.) Dessert

Live Feed

With the First Pick

I’m not a pumpkin pie guy. At all. However, there are people who can’t wait to dive in to a big hunk of pumpkin pie smothered in whipped cream. I’m a big fan of pecan pie on Thanksgiving. There’s also caramel apple pie, pumpkin rolls, or whatever your family loves to just dive into this time of year. Unfortunately, dessert sometimes falls to the back burner since we gorge ourselves during the main event.

3.) Sweet Potato Casserole

One of my personal favorites and a Thanksgiving staple. Whether you are a marshmallow on top kind of person or you go the route I do and whip up a brown sugar/pecan topping, sweet potato casserole is phenomenal. You can have your mashed potatoes – we eat those all year long with various main dishes. The casserole? That’s once – maybe twice – a year.

2.) Stuffing/Dressing

If you are relying on Stove Top to fill this Thanksgiving requirement, step your game up. Stove Top is what you use as a quick side on a Tuesday night when you just raced all over the place taking your kids to and from wherever they needed to go. Thanksgiving deserves some special attention. Sautee the celery and onions, add in those walnuts or pecans, maybe even some sage sausage if you’re feeling bold. Cube up the bread yourself. Give this underrated dish the love it deserves. And if you do it right, you’re talking about the best thing on your plate that year. Need a recipe? Hit me up. After all, I used to be a chef.

1.) Turkey

I know, I know. Predictable. However, it’s not called “Mashed Potato Day” or “Pumpkin Pie Day.” This is Turkey Day. This is the day we buy a turkey so big, it could fit on our head like Joey or Monica in an episode of “Friends.” White meat, dark meat, with gravy, without gravy. Scoop it up with bites of stuffing or potatoes, throwing on those nice, hot rolls to eat a turkey slider. No matter how you prefer it, there’s no substituting it. It’s the headliner. The main eventer. The centerpiece of dinner tables across the country. Turkey reigns supreme.