- May 3, 2024
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Everyone has that one dish at family gatherings that you look forward to. Although at Thanksgiving I love the stuffing and mashed potatoes, there is one side dish that my grandmother makes for every big meal that I just can’t get enough of: turnips and carrots.
This also happens to be my grandfather’s favorite dish — besides gravy, of course. So, as long as my grandpa is at the dinner table, I know the sweet buttery vegetables will be, too.
I’ve tried to make this dish myself before, but it never tastes quite like the way grandma makes it. I mean, everything tastes better when other people make it, right? Especially grandma.
It wasn’t until recently, when I was leaned up against the counter in my mom’s kitchen that I discovered the real reason it tasted different: There were no actual turnips in the dish. They were rutabagas!
Well, that would explain it.
I questioned by grandmother about it this week, and she laughed.
“I guess everyone up north still calls them turnips,” she said.
I was dumbfounded by this. They are two different vegetables, I thought. Until, I did my research.
I learned that a rutabaga, while completely different from a turnip, is actually from the turnip family, a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip.
While I still think this deception was a guise to keep the recipe a secret, I can see why people lump the two into one word, like sweet potato versus yam.
I was comforted, however, to find out that after 53 years of marriage, my grandfather still purchases turnips instead of rutabagas when he goes to the grocery store. One would think it’s no big deal to substitute, but I am here to tell you, it is a big difference.
While I didn’t know the real recipe until I was 25, this recipe has been in my family since before I was born. Probably since before my mom was born, also. It’s my pleasure on this food-filled holiday to share the recipe with your family. Good day, and good eating.
