There were no potatoes, as these hadn t yet been cultivated in New England, and butter and oils were quite scarce. The corn was most likely in the form of meal rather than on the cob, and although a pumpkin pudding or stew may have been prepared, it would not have been put into a crust. Only four adult married women survived the first year at Plymouth, and it would have been they who did most of the food preparation, albeit with the help of the unmarried girls and the children. Cooking was an experiential craft, and since the women had been born and raised in England, they would probably have employed contemporary English cookery adapted to the native foods. Roasting was the preferred method of preparing meats and poultry, but roasting takes on a somewhat complicated aspect when one has no ovens and has to rely on a spit over a fire.
Somebody has to stand around turning the spit for hours on end.
A likely scenerio would be roasted venison and boiled fish and fowl. This would, of course, include the turkey. Recalling that a party of hunters had gone after the birds and brought back an unusual number of them, it s reasonable to assume more than one diner either swallowed or broke a molar on overlooked birdshot. The story of popcorn at the feast is a fable. Indian corn doesn t pop very well, and this is what the colonists grew.