A Thanksgiving feast, steeped in tradition

Sally and John Waltz prepare their Thanksgiving staples on the hearth of an old kitchen building on John’s family farm in rural Maryland.

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Sally and John Waltz relax for a few minutes while cooking a Thanksgiving meal on the hearth of the original kitchen on their farm in Smithsburg, Md.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz prepare an early American-inspired Thanksgiving meal on the hearth of the original kitchen, shown here, which was in a separate building from the main house, on their farm in Smithsburg, Md. The wooden structure was built in the mid-1800s.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

John Waltz prepares to put hot coals on the brick floor of the hearth and will set the cast iron baking oven containing a mincemeat pie, in the foreground, on top of the coals. Sally and John Waltz prepare a Thanksgiving meal, including reflector-oven roast turkey, on the hearth of the original kitchen on their farm.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Coals are laid atop a cast iron baking dish containing a mincemeat pie.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

John Waltz checks the progress of a mincemeat pie baking in a footed Dutch oven.He and his wife, Sally, prepare their early-American-inspired Thanksgiving meal on the hearth of the mid-19th-century cookhouse on their farm.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

The mincemeat pie recipe recipe Sally Waltz uses has a filling that is drier and meatier than most fruity, stewed variations.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

The couple can prepare the mincemeat pie in a reflector oven with a shelf for baking, called a biscuit baker.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

John Waltz takes a bit out of mincemeat pie prepared on the hearth in the original kitchen on his family's farm. Sally began cooking regularly on the hearth about two decades ago, after she attended a workshop at a Lancaster, Pa., museum.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz use a reflector oven to roast turkey. The oven is demi-barrel shaped to accommodate a bird or roast that’s secured to an ironspit. The oven is placed near —not over — the fire.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz use a reflector oven to roast turkey. Over the course of the five hours or so it takes to cook the 18-to-20-pound turkeys Sally prefers for Thanksgiving, the bird’s dripping juices collect in the bottom cure of the oven, where they can be drained into a gravy boat via the oven’s built-in spout.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz prepare turkeys in a reflector oven for Thanksgiving meals. The trussed turkey browns evenly — like the 360-degree crisp skin of a deep-fried specimen — without the cook’s having to turn the spit or reposition the oven.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally Waltz, seen through a window of the old original kitchen, which is in a separate building on the farm she shares with husband, John, in Smithsburg, Md. The couple refurbished the old kitchen and now use it for open hearth cooking about four times a year.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz prepare a pot of pickled beets and eggs to accompany their Thanksgiving meal, a dish familiar to folks who live in rural Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

An old rolling pin collected by Sally and John Waltz of Smithsburg, Md. The couple found various antique items in the old kitchen building on the farm, which has been in John’s family since 1774.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz prepare Thanksgiving meal, including cornbread, on the hearth of the original kitchen on their farm.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz prepare green beans topped with a cabbage leaf, as part of the old American-inspired Thanksgiving meal. Sally collects redware, earthenware pottery.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz prepare a side dish of green beans with onion and bacon, on the hearth of the original kitchen on their farm. The meal is topped off with fresh apple cider.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sweet potato souffle, another side dish prepared by Sally and John Waltz, is also prepared on the hearth of the original kitchen.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

The spread prepared by Sally and John Waltz for Thanksgiving meal, including reflector-oven roast turkey.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

Sally and John Waltz eat a Thanksgiving-style meal prepared on the hearth of the original kitchen on their farm in Smithsburg, Md.

Dayna Smith / For The Washington Post

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