Donning achef ’s hatwhile you cookThanksgiving dinneris one thing , but sticking a tiny one on the end of each crispyturkey legseems like it might be taking the vacation a bit too far .
Over the long time , these traditional paper covering have been called many creative name , includingturkey frills , bomb booty , and eventurkey panties . And while they ’ve fallen out of fashion in recent decade , they originally do a very specific design . accord to 19th - century writer John Cordy Jeaffreson , newspaper publisher trim earn popularity in the 17th century as a way for women to keep their hands clean while they carved meat .
“ To continue the cleanness of her finger , the same covering was put on those contribution of joints which the sculpturer usually touched with the odd hand , whilst the right made romp with the shining blade,”he explainedinA Book About the Tablein 1875 . “ The report - frill which may still be seen round the bony point and small goal of a leg of mutton , is a memorial of the fashion in which stick were dress for the dainty hand of ma’am - carver , in time prior to the introduction of the carving - fork . ”
When etiquette book started encouraging “ ma’am - carvers ” to use carving forks , the composition did n’t become obsolete — it just got frillier . During the 19th and 20th centuries , chop frillswere a cute and classy way to hold in the unsightly leg bones of roast turkey , lamb , volaille , or any otherbird . “ Dress up any leggy intellectual nourishment with them for parties or the children ’s birthdays , ” Iowa’sKossuth County Advancewrotein 1951 . “ They will be throb . ”
If you ’d care to dress up a leggy food or two thisThanksgiving , here are someinstructionsfor making your own chop falderol , courtesy of HuffPost .
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A version of this tarradiddle in the beginning ran in 2020 ; it has been updated for 2023 .
