How to Have a Traditional Country Thanksgiving

Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week is The Vermont Country Store Cookbook: Recipes, History, and Lore from the Classic American General Store by Ellen Ecker Ogden and Andrea Diehl with the Orton Family (Grand Central Publishing). Founded as a mail-order catalog in 1946, The Vermont Country Store now includes a web site and stores in Weston and Rockingham, Vt.

The cover of ‘The Vermont Country Store Cookbook’ (Grand Central Publishing)

Nearly 70 years after Vrest and Mildred Orton founded their original mail-order company, the Vermont Country Store remains a family-run business, and is run by their son Lyman, along with his sons, Cabot, Gardner, and Eliot.

“Family businesses are almost legendary for having drama and all kinds of interpersonal challenges,” says Cabot Orton. But, determined to keep the company in the family and eager to avoid the “head butting, egos, and personality difficulties that come up with family businesses,” the Ortons devoted a great deal of time and energy to figuring out how to make the family business thrive.

“We make sure that each of us focuses on areas of the business that don’t overlap, so we always feel that we can do something that’s deeply compelling to each of us and where we can be of the most service to the company.” They’re also lucky that they get along really well, says Orton. “We’re all good friends. We live very close to one another and we spend a great deal of time together when we’re not at the store.”

Gingersnap Pumpkin Cheesecake (Photograph: Matthew Benson)

This kind of divide-and-conquer approach is also how the Ortons tackled their latest venture, The Vermont Country Store Cookbook, written with Ellen Ecker Ogden and Andrea Diehl. The book features 120 recipes, including Orton Family Meat Loaf, New England Pesto Spiral Rolls, and Homemade Fig Newtons. You’ll also find newspaper clippings, family photos, and essays on Vermont-focused topics like maple syrup, hunting, cheese, and Robert Frost. Various parts of the book are written by different family members, which Orton says was simply an extension of how they write the catalog.

If the family business and the new book are any example, it seems clear that the Orton family knows how to work as a team and how to manage large projects. So it comes as little surprise that they’ve mastered the art of Thanksgiving dinner. While it all builds to one family feast, when it comes to cooking, each family member plays to their own interests and strengths.

“I’m the starch guy,” says Orton, who likes to make different dishes each year. Sometimes it’s a mashed potato-parsnip combination; other times, he opts for sweet potatoes. His brother Gardner has a farm and usually makes the salad. Eliot, the third brother, is a fantastic meat cook and focuses on the main course, while his wife, Julie, takes care of dessert.

Traditional Roast Turkey with Apple-Sage Dressing (Photograph: Matthew Benson)

In the book, the Ortons share their grandmother’s traditional roast turkey with apple-sage dressing. “She always did a complete and classic turkey the way you see in a Norman Rockwell painting and that’s what inspired us to do the classic recipe here,” explains Orton. The recipe features a special technique that comes from Orton’s grandmother’s grandmother: She soaked cheesecloth in lard and spread that over the turkey.

“It’s an amazing trick,” says Orton. “It traps all the moisture in the bird and it’s transformative.” Not a lot of people use lard these days, so the Ortons updated the recipe to use a combination of butter and stock, but you could also use olive oil.

In addition to enjoying an old-fashioned feast, the Ortons have another holiday tradition. Rather than watching TV or taking a nap after dinner, they use the time to visit friends and family. “We don’t get together with our families as often in modern life,” notes Orton. “People are in a social mode on Thanksgiving and it’s a nice alternative to just sitting around after a big meal, to get up and mingle.”

Visit Yahoo Food throughout the week for recipes from The Vermont Country Store Cookbook.

Check out other cookbooks from Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week:

Happy Cooking by Giada DeLaurentiis

The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook by Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez

Everyone is Italian on Sunday by Rachael Ray