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The obligatory turkey may take center stage at the Thanksgiving dinner, but it’s really the side dishes that weave the magic, casting a spell around the bird and the diners alike. Without these cherished accompaniments, you risk unraveling the very fabric of a perfect meal.

Childhood memories write the menu for the Thanksgiving dinner.

Don’t Mess with the Cranberry Sauce

“In our family, the nonnegotiable was the cranberry sauce. The cranberry sauce had to be out of a can. That is how I remember it, and that is how I want it. None of this fresh cranberry relish for me,” said Ben, soccer coach and resident of California, who celebrated Thanksgiving with his parents, brother, and sister. “Don’t mess with the sauce! In fact, don’t mess with any of the sides at our Thanksgiving table.”

Every year, gourmet publications like Epicurious, Bon Appétit, and the New York Times publish a new set of menus, tested in their kitchens, to add a gourmet touch to the time-honored classic recipes. Adding a splash of Grand Marnier orange liqueur here and a pinch of orange zest there, they want to jazz up the recipe with an exotic spin. But for the purists of the Thanksgiving table, this is heresy. Having waited all year for this meal, they want it exactly the way they’ve always had it, citrusy-sweet.

On the half-pound bag of fresh Oceanspray California cranberries is printed a recipe, a simple 3-ingredient formula for the classic cranberry relish.

To a bag of (12 oz) fresh rinsed cranberries, add a cup of sugar and a cup of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cranberries have popped and the sauce has thickened to your liking.

The sauce thickens naturally as it cooks and cools due to the pectin released by the berries. Serve chilled.

For American diplomats living in Delhi, it is common practice for the US embassy to ensure turkeys are flown in and cans of cranberry sauce are available. Because whole turkeys aren’t readily available in Indian markets, the embassy (and often the commissary that serves U.S. personnel) flies in frozen turkeys from the U.S. ahead of time.

They also stock up on cranberry sauce, pumpkin purée, stuffing mix, and other Thanksgiving staples that are hard to find locally.

Every family has their own stuffing

Sourdough stuffing and wild rice stuffing take a bow at the table occasionally, but it is the cornbread that rules the roost.

Cornbread, with its sweet, crunchy, and creamy finish, is the ace up Trader Joe’s sleeve. It’s the foolproof staple that finds its way onto the Thanksgiving table. So addictive is this cornbread mix that families reach for it year after year. Vegetarian and vegan members simply doctor it to make it their own.

White Castle, the burger chain, slides in on the stuffing game with the slider stuffing recipe.

The original slider stuffing

Ingredients

10-12 White Castle® Sliders, no pickles

1 1/2 cups Celery, diced

1 1/4 teaspoons Thyme, ground

1 1/2 teaspoons Sage, ground

3/4 teaspoon Black pepper, coarsely ground

1 or 1/4 cup Chicken broth

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, tear the Sliders into pieces and add diced celery and seasonings.
2. Add 1 cup chicken broth, toss well
3. Add ingredients to the Casserole Dish and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
4. Or to stuff the ingredients into the cavity of the turkey, prepare ingredients as noted above, but reduce chicken broth to 1/4 Cup, then cook as you normally would.
5. Makes about 9 cups (enough for a 10-to-12-pound turkey). Note: Allow 1 Slider for each pound of turkey, which equals 3/4 cup of stuffing per pound.

Casseroles, sweet and creamy

Green bean casserole with fried onions was Deepinder Makhni‘s favorite dish on the Thanksgiving menu. His wife, Leann, liked to bring out her finest table linen, china, and crystal glasses to deck out the table. The festiveness of the dinner table and the excitement in the house reminded Deepinder of celebrations at his mother's table in New Delhi. Though the meal did not resemble one made by his mother, the green bean casserole with its fried onions did have a touch of home. Maybe that was why he was partial to it.

Brussels sprouts, a not-so-popular side, arrive at the table wearing a cloak of sauce. Sometimes slathered in a creamy peanutty sauce and at other times in honey glaze, the you-must-eat-your-vegetable dish has settled into a fried crispy avatar.

When faced with the white gooeyness of the sweet potato casserole for the first time, the Californian student in the Midwest took a sudden step back, as if confronted by an alien creature. “Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows melted as a cream topping!! Yumm,” said Hannah, for whom the sweet potato casserole was the go-to dish at the table. A taste so alien to the Indian palate that the East Coast love for the dish has not reached the West Coast tables.

Pie is a ‘non-negotiable’

Costco puts out giant pecan, apple, and pumpkin pies, weighing 4-5 pounds every Thanksgiving. It is impossible to consume those giants at one meal, and yet the family cannot leave the store without buying 2 of them. How can you have Thanksgiving without pecan pie or pumpkin pie??? scream the die-hard Thanksgiving celebrators.

For weeks after Thanksgiving, those pies sit in the refrigerator, calling out to family members who are now watching their calories after the huge Thanksgiving feast.

The most-discussed and favorite Thanksgiving meal is all mashed potatoes and gravy. The anticipation of the meal spills into days of leftovers, building a week of joy.

In the round robin of giving thanks around the table, the purists send a silent thanks for the untouched recipes.