FiveThirtyEight, ESPN's data driven nerd blog, crunched poll data recently to show the regionality of Thanksgiving side dish preferences.
As we do every year, we are having a virtual feast with all your favorite side dishes. And also in line with tradition, I'll be scoring your choices.
Dressing Your Holiday:
Our most common answer was dressing, and it is absolutely one of my favs. +4 to Swamp Dawgs (DR) and SayMyName (RB) for having good taste. Home Team Confusers (KW) added "because it has everything in it," so I want to see your dressing +4. 15 National Championships' (CG) preferred variety is crawfish. I'm down with that +4. Pee Wee Sperman (AL) said "oyster dressing," which I've never had and really want +5.The Macaroni To My Cheese:
We had two cheese lovers, I got nothing (KS) +3 and A Northmen (ANo) +4. Its a solid dish, but extra points for A Northmen's pick of Caramelized Sweet Potato, Garlic & Rosemary Macaroni and Cheese, which keeps all the kids out.Do The Mashed Potato:
AccidentChild (MN), chicainery (CCa), DirtBurglars (DT), Bevo XIV RIP (DW), Bill F*cking O'Brien's Juice is Loose (KH) all picked some sort of mashed or sweet potato dish +3. While usually secondary to the dressing in my opinion, extra props to chicainery for the baked sweet potatoes with pecans & brown sugar +4 and all of the props if a ever see the item that KH and KZ submit every single year of Pick'em's existence: Gramma Boots' SWEET POTATO PONE +5.Going Stag:
Somebody had to bring the cranberry sauce --right out of the can -- to the meal (Gig'em (AP) +3), Green Been Casserole (Tannesaurus Rex (CT) +4), Pumpkin Pie (Naked Bootleggers (JN) +3), Alcohol (The Velvet Neutral Ground (JC) +4), and what I consider the greatest side dish; Gravy (Left Hand Scissors (GN) +4).Peyton's Ponies (MM) almost flirted with the potato gang above, but decided to put a little wow in our collective meal with a brussel sprout salad and a cranberry stuffing +4.
Alexandria Cyclones (SS) submitted pimento cheese. I freaking love pimento cheese, but I've never seen it at Thanksgiving. However, I think I'd like to. +5 for pimento cheese.
I should warn some of you that Beelzebubbles (CCo) may bring "this little cutie [she] met in Dallas at the game last year" +3. I don't think it is the first time we've heard that though.
Long Form:
BlitzKrieg's (RK) +6 answer is presented unedited below. Happy Holidays to everyone.I hark back to when I had season tickets for the Lions. We would show up at our tailgate spot at 7:30 a.m. and begin to drink. By about 10:30, I was ready for my morning pre-Thanksgiving feast meal (for the purpose of this question, I'll consider it a side) -- Winter's bratwurst. I'm still searching the Austin area for a quality purveyor of sausages so that I can continue the tradition with my kids.
