Thanksgivings Past: Old Holiday Menus	When Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday in 1863 the typical Turkey Day table was stuffed with far more than turkey. Multiple meats were the norm including unheard-of-today mincemeat pie.	Gradually as Thanksgiving mythology became codified during the late 1800s turkey took its place at the head of the table. But some of the side dishes eaten in Thanksgiving's early days rarely make an appearance now.	Here are some menus and recipes from early Thanksgivings provided to LiveScience by food writer Cynthia Bertelsen who blogs at Gherkins & Tomatoes. Maybe these old-fashioned meals will inspire something new on your table this year. [Read More: The History of the Thanksgiving Menu]    	Pies Pies Pies	The French Cook a 1653 translation of major French cookbook Le Vrai Cuisinier François including this pumpkin pie recipe which illustrates a rather more laissez-faire method of cooking instruction than seen today:  	Tourte of pumpkin - Boile it with good milk pass it through a straining pan very thick and mix it with sugar butter a little salt and if you will a few stamped almonds; let all be very thin. Put it in your sheet of paste; bake it. After it is baked besprinkle it with sugar and serve.	If crust isn't your thing the 1796 American Cookery has you covered with several options for pompkin pudding:	No.1 One quart stewed and strained pompkin 3 pints milk 6 beaten eggs sugar mace nutmeg and ginger laid in to paste and baked in dishes three quarters of an hour.	No. 2. One quart of milk 1 pint pompkin 4 eggs molasses allspice and ginger in a crust make 1 hour.	Menu madness	Menus for Thanksgiving Dinners from American Cookery magazine November 1921:	I	Three-Course Dinner for Small Family in Servantless House:	Roast Chicken stuffed with Chopped Celery and Oysters	Baked Sweet Potatoes	Boiled Onions	 	Salad	(Fine chopped apples and nuts in red apple cups)	Cream Dressing	 	Mince or Squash Pie a la mode	Sweet Cider	Coffee	 	II	A Simple Company Dinner of Six Courses	 	Celery	Clam Bouillon Saltines	Ripe Olives	 	Roast Chestnut-Stuffed Turkey Giblet Sauce	Buttered Asparagus	Glazed Sweet Potatoes	Moulded Cranberry Jelly	 	Chicken Salad in Salad Rolls	 	Thanksgiving Pudding	Hard Sauce	 	Chocolate Ice Cream	Strawberry Sauce	 	Assorted Fruit	Coffee	 	III	A Formal Company Dinner. Eight Courses	Curled Celery	Oyster Soup Bread Sticks	Radish Rosettes	 	Turbans of Flounder	Hollandaise Sauce	Potato Straws	Olives	Crusty Rolls	Salted Nuts	 	Capon a la Creme	(Stuffing of Potatoes Mushrooms Chestnuts etc.)	Mashed Potatoes	Green Pea Timbales	Cranberry Sauce	 	Sweet Cider Frappe	 	Venison Steaks	Currant Jelly Sauce	Baked Parsnips	 	Apple-and-Grape Salad	 	Macaroon Pudding	Frozen Mince Pie	Hot Chocolate Sauce	 	Glaceed Walnuts	Fruit	Black Coffee	 	IV	Elaborate Formal Dinner. Ten Courses	Fruit Cocktail	Oysters on Half-shell	Brown Bread-and-Butter Sandwiches	Quartered Lemons	 	Clear Bouillon Oysterettes	Radishes	Celery	 	Boiled Halibut	Potato Balls in Parsley Sauce	Sweet Pickles	 	Cauliflower au Gratin	 	Braised Turkey or Capon	Bread Stuffing	Giblet Gravy	Duchesse Potatoes	Spinach	 	Crystallized Ginger	Salted Pecans	Pineapple Fritters Lemon Sauce	 	Granite of Cider and Apples	 	Cutlets of Duck with Chopped Celery	 	Orange Salad	 	Pumpkin Pie	Raisin and Cranberry Tarts	Chocolate Parfait	Almond Cakes	 	Nuts	Raisins	Bonbons	Candied Orange Peel	Black Coffee	 	Thanksgiving menu from Fannie Farmer s 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.		Oyster Soup	Crisp Crackers	Celery	Salted Almonds	Roast Turkey	Cranberry Jelly	Mashed Potatoes	Onions in Cream	Squash	Chicken Pie	Fruit Pudding	Sterling Sauce	Mince Apple and Squash Pie	Neapolitan Ice Cream	Fancy Cakes	Fruit	Nuts and Raisins	Bonbons	Crackers	Cheese	Café Noir	Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience Facebook&  Google+.