U.S. Thanksgiving Dinner (1621-) - Celebrating and Giving Thanks for the Good Harvest in Plymouth, Massachusetts

[Ilaine]

Pat, if you rub the turkey with salt, inside and out, that will keep it fresh much longer than otherwise. Might not have to brine, but not entirely sure.

Rinse first, i don't care what they say, separate from bloody package at least. Remove giblets, too, those go bad fast. Just a clean naked bird, salted.

Google Judy bird while you are at it.

[Barbara]

I'll put my question here instead of a 911 thread.  I'm getting a fresh turkey on the Wednesday but will not be cooking dinner on Thursday.  It's unsure whether I will have time to do it on Friday. I was planning to roast the turkey on Saturday and am assuming it's okay to keep a fresh turkey for 3 days before cooking it, but I realize that  don't know for sure.

Here ya go: This is for a heritage bird, but I can't imagine it's much different from a fresh one:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/Recipe-Roasted-Heritage-Turkey

It says you can keep a fresh bird for up to 8 (!) days if you keep it very cold.  If I were you, I would stuff sealed plastic bags full of ice in the insides and pack similar bags of ice around the turkey and keep it in the fridge. You should be fine cooking it on Saturday.

[Pat]

Here ya go: This is for a heritage bird, but I can't imagine it's much different from a fresh one:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/Recipe-Roasted-Heritage-Turkey

It says you can keep a fresh bird for up to 8 (!) days if you keep it very cold.  If I were you, I would stuff sealed plastic bags full of ice in the insides and pack similar bags of ice around the turkey and keep it in the fridge. You should be fine cooking it on Saturday.

Thanks, especially of the suggestion for the ice.  The digital readout for my kitchen refrigerator reads 36, which is higher than they say, but it's coldest up against the freezer compartment, so I'll make sure I store it on that side.  I'll see if I can get the temperature adjusted down a few degrees from what it is now too.

[hillvalley]

My husband roasts the turkey every year. A few years ago, he found a recipe that involved making a compound butter that included bacon.

Everyone now demands that recipe every year.

Here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Heritage-Turkey-with-Bacon-Herb-and-Cider-Gravy-350421

My mother does pesto, heavy-ish on the olive oil.  I suggested it to the friend who is hosting and she looked at me like I was crazy.  It's going to be a different Thanksgiving this year.

[Pat]

Pat, if you rub the turkey with salt, inside and out, that will keep it fresh much longer than otherwise. Might not have to brine, but not entirely sure.

Rinse first, i don't care what they say, separate from bloody package at least. Remove giblets, too, those go bad fast. Just a clean naked bird, salted.

Google Judy bird while you are at it.

Thanks.  I missed seeing this last night.  I'll definitely have to remember to take out the giblets.  While salt is good from a preserving aspect, it's going to bump up the sodium levels in the turkey.  When I looked at the Parsons' "Judy bird" recipe, it came out to 856 mg. sodium per serving, which is more than half the daily allotment.  I'm almost wondering if I'm better off cooking the turkey on Wednesday and keeping the leftovers for post-Thanksgiving meals.

[legant]

Alas, I will not be hosting Thanksgiving this year.  However, after countless hours sifting through cookbooks and magazines and web pages, I present to you my imaginary Thanksgiving menu.

Appetizers: Pork, shrimp and cabbage raviolis; Wasabi deviled eggs

Salad: Lettuce mix with avocado dressing and pistachios

Main: Turkey roulade "“ stuffed with sage sausage, chard, and walnuts; tea brined, roasted turkey thighs

Sides: Ore Ida tater tots"¦ 'cause it's my menu and I can have anything I want; sweet potato biscuits with clover honey; Momofuku's Brussels sprouts; homemade apple chutney

Dessert: Black Pearl Layer Cake

That wraps up my fantasy menu for the coming holiday. (I definitely have an Asian theme going.) 

[thistle]

I think your fantasy T'giving menu sounds delicious (but I'd make pork/shrimp/ cabbage spring rolls or potstickers, because they are my favorites). I was talking w/ a friend the other day about T'giving menus, & after I told her all the traditional things I don't like, & consequently, don't want to cook, she said, 'You must be fun to have as a guest'.

I haven't heard yet from my SIL what items I'll be asked to contribute this year, but I still enjoy Thanksgiving, because it's not ALL about the food, it's family & friends.

[ktmoomau]

Turkey is ordered, going to grocery shop this weekend.  Debating whether to make or order GF pumpkin and pecan pies.  Willow is right by my house and makes delicious gf baked goods (then I could also order GF biscuits from them).  I also have a GF pie crust mix, but haven't ever tested it out before, but I really like MY pecan pie and pumpkin pie fillings more than most non-homemade.  I could do a pie test run this weekend... 

[Pat]

Turkey is ordered, going to grocery shop this weekend.  Debating whether to make or order GF pumpkin and pecan pies.  Willow is right by my house and makes delicious gf baked goods (then I could also order GF biscuits from them).  I also have a GF pie crust mix, but haven't ever tested it out before, but I really like MY pecan pie and pumpkin pie fillings more than most non-homemade.  I could do a pie test run this weekend... 

This recipe for sweet potato cornbread is gluten-free and fantastic.  The Bob's Red Mill white cornbread mix I used to make it specifies that it's gluten free, but I'd imagine any self-rising cornmeal would probably be.  This cornbread is one the best things I've made this year.  It was hard to hold myself back from eating too much.  I served it with honey butter, which is a perfect pairing, if you ask me.

It's custardy and more pie- than cake- or bread-like.   I don't know that it's really a dessert (not much sugar), but your post made me think of it.  Slices really come out of the pan looking like it could be a pumpkin pie, if you squint just right .

P.S. I used the pumpkin pie spice.  Seriously, this is one of the best foods I've made all year.

[ktmoomau]

This recipe for sweet potato cornbread is gluten-free and fantastic.  The Bob's Red Mill white cornbread mix I used to make it specifies that it's gluten free, but I'd imagine any self-rising cornmeal would probably be.  This cornbread is one the best things I've made this year.  It was hard to hold myself back from eating too much.  I served it with honey butter, which is a perfect pairing, if you ask me.

It's custardy and more pie- than cake- or bread-like.   I don't know that it's really a dessert (not much sugar), but your post made me think of it.  Slices really come out of the pan looking like it could be a pumpkin pie, if you squint just right .

P.S. I used the pumpkin pie spice.  Seriously, this is one of the best foods I've made all year.

So what you are saying is I should test this one out just to make sure it turns out right too? (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more,)

[thistle]

I thought the recipe for almond & oat apple/cranberry crumble (GF) in this week's WaPo food section looked really good, & I would add some crystallized ginger (you may have seen this on CH), I got a box of very good crystallized ginger at the new HomeGoods store, & I've been having a piece almost every day-it's amazing, soft & spicy, almost medicinal, & better than any medicine I'm taking...

[ktmoomau]

I thought the recipe for almond & oat apple/cranberry crumble (GF) in this week's WaPo food section looked really good, & I would add some crystallized ginger (you may have seen this on CH), I got a box of very good crystallized ginger at the new HomeGoods store, & I've been having a piece almost every day-it's amazing, soft & spicy, almost medicinal, & better than any medicine I'm taking...

And ginger is really good at soothing stomach aches and motion sickness.  I love ginger!

[Pat]

So what you are saying is I should test this one out just to make sure it turns out right too? (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more,)

Uh huh.  But try not to eat the entire pan all at once .

[hillvalley]

Cranberry chutney, which I assume I can make the weekend or a few days before.  I really like cranberry and like fresh cranberries over the can.  Any advice on a recipe?

My mom makes an amazing cranberry orange relish using fresh cranberries.  Prep only involves the Cuisinart and can be made a few days ahead.  Let me know if you want the recipe.

[ALB]

I make this one from Real Simple with a few adjustments. I use apple cider instead of juice and add lemon zest instead of orange (and far more than called for) which really brightens it up. Sometimes, I add a little more sugar if it is especially tart.

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/cranberry-sauce-10000001031609/

[LauraB]

I made this cranberry orange relish for years:

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

Grated zest of 1 large navel orange

1/4 c. orange juice

1 cup sugar

1 tsp ground mustard dissolved in 1 tsp cold water

1 TBS cider vinegar

Rinse the cranberries and put them in a heavy sauce pan. Add the orange zest and juice and the sugar. Bring just to boiling point, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the dissolved mustard and the vinegar. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving. Makes about 1.5 cups.

Sweet and tart! We really liked it and it couldn't be simpler.

[Rieux]

This is my favorite Cranberry recipe:

Spiced Cranberry Sauce with Zinfandel
1 3/4 cups red Zinfandel
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
6 whole cloves
6 whole allspice
2 cinnamon sticks
1 3x1-inch strip orange peel
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries

Combine all ingredients except cranberries in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced to 1 3/4 cups, about 10 minutes. Strain syrup into large saucepan. Add cranberries to syrup and cook over medium heat until berries burst, about 6 minutes. Cool. Transfer sauce to medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate until cold. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

On another note, any suggestions for good stuffing recipes?  I made Bittman's recipe last year and it was awful.

[ktmoomau]

This is my favorite Cranberry recipe:

Spiced Cranberry Sauce with Zinfandel

1 3/4 cups red Zinfandel

1 cup sugar

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

6 whole cloves

6 whole allspice

2 cinnamon sticks

1 3x1-inch strip orange peel

1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries

Combine all ingredients except cranberries in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced to 1 3/4 cups, about 10 minutes. Strain syrup into large saucepan. Add cranberries to syrup and cook over medium heat until berries burst, about 6 minutes. Cool. Transfer sauce to medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate until cold. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

On another note, any suggestions for good stuffing recipes?  I made Bittman's recipe last year and it was awful.

Giada has a stuffing recipe with foccacia bread that I love.  I think this is the same that is in her cookbook that I use, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/ciabatta-stuffing-with-chestnuts-and-pancetta-recipe/index.html.  It has impressed many.  (It's not Gluten Free, but darn it is good.)

[ktmoomau]

So... not only do I have a motion in court the day before T-day, now it looks like I might have a mediation the day before that. And did I mention my free time is being filled with car shopping? (If anyone wants a 2008 Saab 9-3 with 57k miles message me!)   SOooo, Willow is making me two GF pies and a dozen GF biscuits.  If she is good enough for the White House, good enough for me!  And I can pick them up fresh Thanksgiving morning (which is super convenient as they are only 1/2 block away from me)!  I feel a little guilty, but not that guilty.  I am making everything else (and that pumpkin cornbread), plus sauerkraut has been added to my menu because apparently the peeps can't live without it. I went to Weggies this weekend to pick up everything except turkey, fresh herbs, cream and LF ice cream which I will get at MOM when I get my turkey.  I went to the one in Sterling which threw me off, but the whole remodel at Fairfax has thrown me off my game there too.  It wasn't too crazy though so that was good, but MOM has a much better selection of LF ice cream and etc than Weggies.  (Everyone but me will get real whipped cream.) MOM is also like the mecca of all things GF.

SIL is also going to make soup which threw me for a loop because I don't have bowls that match my china, and I just chipped another of my casual bowls so I don't have enough. I have these really pretty glasses I could use, but they are very thin glass and from my grandmother, and RARE from a West Virginia glass maker closed long ago, so I didn't want to chance it.   I do have a pretty tureen I am excited to use, it will be cleaned this weekend.  So I ordered some bowls on West Elm for which I had a gc at a really good price that should work, free shipping and they should get here in time and unlike the current bowls I have are actually microwave safe, yay.

Rugs came back from the cleaner today.  So everything is coming right along.  I will set out everything I need this weekend and get organized, make the relish and probably go ahead and do a lot of my chopping.  I might do some mulled wine, that sounds so nice.  And something non-alcoholic for my brother's wife who is pregnant, maybe some really nice homemade mint iced tea.  (I can't imagine being GF and pregnant, it just must be constant stomach pains and nausea.)  My husband makes some of the best iced tea on this earth.  He is amazing.  And I will make some nice sodas with our soda stream.  Thanks for all the cranberry relish recipes.  I am excited about not having canned!  My FIL makes this great jello mold, I know what you are thinking, but it i seriously good, I am hoping they still make it (they won't be at my T-day) so I can have all the leftovers, as only he and I eat it, when I get to their house Friday!  Seriously his jello mold and some sparkling wine are pretty much all a girl needs.  It is easy to make, but I don't need any more food at my T-day at this point.  Maybe if not he will make it for Christmas.

[lperry]

This recipe for sweet potato cornbread is gluten-free and fantastic.  The Bob's Red Mill white cornbread mix I used to make it specifies that it's gluten free, but I'd imagine any self-rising cornmeal would probably be.  This cornbread is one the best things I've made this year.  It was hard to hold myself back from eating too much.  I served it with honey butter, which is a perfect pairing, if you ask me.

It's custardy and more pie- than cake- or bread-like.   I don't know that it's really a dessert (not much sugar), but your post made me think of it.  Slices really come out of the pan looking like it could be a pumpkin pie, if you squint just right .

P.S. I used the pumpkin pie spice.  Seriously, this is one of the best foods I've made all year.

Thanks, Pat.  I've been tasked with "something gluten-free," and this recipe sounds great.  Now I have to explain to our dear friend and hostess that "just a tablespoon of flour" in the gravy isn't safe for a celiac. I'm going to try to make that OK by offering to bring over rice flour.

[Rieux]

I have heard good things about Alton Brown's turkey recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

Has anyone made it?  If so, how would you adapt it for a larger (22lb) fresh, organic bird?

[Rovers2000]

I've used the Alton Brown recipe for about 10 years with excellent success.  I've also used it for bigger birds with the same ratio listed in the recipe and not had any issues.  One thing I would say is make sure you air dry the bird or the skin will not crisp (a major bummer for my father the first year I did it).

Recently I've leveraged the Alton Brown brine with tweaks from Kenji @ Serious Eats.  The spatchcock method really cuts down cooking time and this year I'm going to give his turkey porchetta a try.

[lperry]

How gorgeous is this cranberry sorbet.  With an orange chiffon cake, or maybe JC's Queen of Sheba cake made with Grand Marnier...

[ALB]

I have heard good things about Alton Brown's turkey recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

Has anyone made it?  If so, how would you adapt it for a larger (22lb) fresh, organic bird?

I use this brine- I've had great results.

[thistle]

So how many of us are playing this year?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/joannaborns/thanksgiving-drinking-game

[Barbara]

So how many of us are playing this year?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/joannaborns/thanksgiving-drinking-game

I'm out. Where Dame Edna and I go for T-Day is blissfully free from all of that!

[thistle]

Well, this is most T'giving dinners for most of my adult life-I've adapted to it now, (& if you can make a drinking game out of it, bonus points).

[ktmoomau]

Cranberry relish (sauce) from Julia Child is made, I like it, but might play with it a bit.  All the dinnerware and serverware is washed, and the house is pretty darn clean. 

[cheezepowder]

So how many of us are playing this year?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/joannaborns/thanksgiving-drinking-game

Some of those definitely sounded familiar!

This article about gravy boats made me laugh.

[porcupine]

Decided to make a cornbread stuffing with apples and chestnuts this year.  Thing is, I've never made a cornbread stuffing.  Does anyone have a good basic recipe I can use as a template?

[Pat]

Decided to make a cornbread stuffing with apples and chestnuts this year.  Thing is, I've never made a cornbread stuffing.  Does anyone have a good basic recipe I can use as a template?

This is the cornbread recipe I usually make.  I'm not sure if I've used it for cornbread stuffing or not, but I think I have.

[Ilaine]

Ok, totally winging it here.

Bought a beautiful bronze turkey, $9;99 a pound, and it's got freaking feather ends. I am grossly pissed. For 10 a pound, could they not defeather it properly? Be that as it may. Done is done, and can't be undone.

Not enough time to do a real Judy bird. Rubbed it with salt, pepper and herbs. Not enough time to exude liquid and reabsorb it for a textbook dry brine, so it's in the fridge but not a bag.

Just sitting with the rub, and herbs. nude, on a rimmed cooking sheet.

I will arm twist the kids to pluck all feathers before roasting.

Will it exude moisture but be unable to resorb it? I just don't know. Out on a limb here.

[porcupine]

This is the cornbread recipe I usually make.  I'm not sure if I've used it for cornbread stuffing or not, but I think I have.

Thanks, but I wasn't clear - I meant that I was looking for a stuffing recipe for a template.  I just don't know how different it will be with cornbread.  Will I need a lot more liquid?  A lot less?

[Barbara]

Ok, totally winging it here.

Bought a beautiful bronze turkey, $9;99 a pound, and it's got freaking feather ends. I am grossly pissed. For 10 a pound, could they not defeather it properly? Be that as it may. Done is done, and can't be undone.

Not enough time to do a real Judy bird. Rubbed it with salt, pepper and herbs. Not enough time to exude liquid and reabsorb it for a textbook dry brine, so it's in the fridge but not a bag.

Just sitting with the rub, and herbs. nude, on a rimmed cooking sheet.

I will arm twist the kids to pluck all feathers before roasting.

Will it exude moisture but be unable to resorb it? I just don't know. Out on a limb here.

I suspect you remember this, too, but I can sure recall my Mother having to tweeze out a bunch of pin feathers from the supermarket birds she used to get. Perhaps we have just gotten spoiled by the Industrial Food people who pay slave wages to people who do that these days.

[Pat]

Thanks, but I was clear - I meant that I was looking for a stuffing recipe for a template.  I just don't know how different it will be with cornbread.  Will I need a lot more liquid?  A lot less?

Sorry.  I misread what kind of template you were looking for.  I've made cornbread stuffing but don't have a particular recipe.  I made it moist, though probably not as much as plain bread stuffing, which I like to start out super soggy.  I hope someone else can give you a better answer.

[thistle]

You've probably already found one, but I think this cornbread stuffing looks good-http://www.loveandlemons.com/2012/11/15/poblano-cornbread-stuffing/ & I don't even like stuffing (but I love poblanos).

[porcupine]

thanks!

[Pat]

I've made the green bean salad I'm taking tomorrow and the Armenian noodle and cheese casserole is in the oven.  It occurs to me that, since the casserole is essentially a savory noodle kugel, I'm doing my part to contribute to Thanksgivukkah, though that hadn't been my intention starting out.

Once that's out of the oven, I'm going to start on the turkey, which I've decided to make for dinner tonight, figuring leftovers are safer than trying to keep the uncooked turkey until the weekend.

[ktmoomau]

Turkey is picked up and in the brine.  I made a really pleasant peppermint and lavender iced tea. Champagne and wine in the fridge.  After I take a nap, will chop up and portion everything for the stuffing.  Maybe if I am feeling ambitious and Hubby wants to help, I will peel potatoes and put them in water tonight.  But maybe not.

[The Hersch]

Thanks, but I was clear - I meant that I was looking for a stuffing recipe for a template.  I just don't know how different it will be with cornbread.  Will I need a lot more liquid?  A lot less?

We stopped having turkey for Thanksgiving in my family more than a decade ago, when we all realized that none of us like it very much. But back when we were still having turkey, we always had a cornbread stuffing, made by my mother until she got tired of doing all the cooking for the holiday, and then by me. Once I started doing the cooking, I continued my mother's practice of making stuffing that was half home-made cornbread and half Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix. I wouldn't ordinarily use a pre-made product like that, but I found that it worked with the home-made cornbread very well. I've tried making a turkey stuffing that's all cornbread and no yeast bread, and I've found that such a recipe produces a sort of leaden sludge, tasty though it may be. I wouldn't recommend making it that way. The formula that I eventually arrived at before abandoning turkey and stuffing altogether was half Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix (you could use some other sort of bread; I think Trader Joe's "Tuscan pane" would work very well; obviously, a home-made lean bread would be even better but would require a lot more effort) and half home-made cornbread; chopped tart apples; the liver from the turkey, sauteed; broth made from the heart, gizzard, and neck of the turkey, along with the meat from those parts of the bird; sauteed onion and celery; chopped toasted walnuts. If I were doing a turkey tomorrow, that's the stuffing I would use. I like the giblets in the stuffing much better than in the gravy. A smooth gravy is far more elegant, and you get all the flavor in the stuffing. The stuffing, or at least as much of it will fit, should go inside the bird. To guarantee that it gets hot enough to be completely safe to eat, once you take the turkey out of the oven, remove all of the stuffing to a large bowl and put the bowl into the microwave at full power till the temperature reaches 165F.

[porcupine]

Thanks, The Hersch.  I've read a few recipes and have an idea how I'm going to wing it.  Made a cornbread yesterday.  Will be on the watch for "leaden".  Also, I'm serving pork tenderloin, not turkey.  Mr P and his mother would have a cow if I skipped making stuffing, no matter the main course, so there it is.

The menu, assuming I ever finish drinking my coffee and goofing off on the internet:

herbed pork tenderloin

applesauce (from staymans)

cornbread, apple, and chestnut stuffing

mashed potatoes

glazed sweet potatoes

roasted brussels sprouts

apple pie

pumpkin pie

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

ps apologies to Pat, I made a typo in an earlier post; meant to write that I wasn't clear.

[Ilaine]

Oh, I have probably ruined the brioche. Using Thomas Keller's recipe from his website for his Cup4Cup flour, but using Bob's Red Mill because we don't have Cup4Cup. Followed the recipe exactly and it was nice and silky and then realized that I had not put in xanthan gum, which Keller's has but Bob's does not. I looked at the package of xanthan gum and it said to add a teaspoon per cup of flour. Bad idea, it turned gummy and leaden. Threw in another egg and a quarter cup of butter and that loosened it a bit.

Well, we have never been able to make good bread in this house, there's no warm spot. We have tried the top of the refrigerator, we have tried the laundry room with the drier going, we have tried a heating pad, and this time I have the bowl on a pedestal in front of a space heater. In the past two hours it's risen a little bit but not much. If it ever is ready, it won't be ready for dinner, and we eat late.

Not to mention the fact that Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour includes garbanzo bean flour and fava bean flour. It smells like raw beans. I am hopeful that when I finally cook it, it will turn out OK. Whole Foods was out of King Arthur all purpose gluten free flour.

But next time I am going to Williams Sonoma for a bag of Cup4Cup.

I will edit to add how it came out. Edited to add, the brioche actually rose in time for dinner, thanks to bowl-in-front-of-space-heater-on-stand contraption. Cover with cloth. Rotate bowl every so often. Texture like corn bread. Tasted rather beany. Would not use this flour again.

Nick is still picking feathers from the turkey. Edit: he gave up. I did it for a while and I gave up. We got all the ends we could get with pliars, tweezers, and fingernails. There is a ghastly number left. We are not eating turkey skin this year. Edit again: the bird was good but not $150 good.

[Night Owl]

Gobble Gobble!!! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone...

[hillvalley]

The advantages of celebrating Thanksgiving in Switzerland are 1) when the hot water heater in the dorm apartment of the hosts runs out of oil the night before you can get it refilled on the same day, thus ensuring hot water is available for the meal and 2) when the turkey you ordered in Italy is bigger than the oven and the local grocery store only has frozen ones, the local village butcher actually has a bird available.

Dinner for 12

Five different cheeses

Salami, cream cheese, and cornichon roll ups

Shrimp cocktail

Carrot sticks

Garlic stuffed olives

Hot artichoke and pepper dip

Tortilla chips

Turkey

Stuffing

Canned cranberry sauce

Green bean casserole

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows

Rolls

Homemade apple pie

Homemade tiramisu

Cookie dough

Enough red wine and prossecco to fill two recycle bins

Cappuccino and/or steamed milk with Baileys

Eggnog made with Kentucky bourbon

This was all made from scratch, except the cranberry sauce and rolls, after we worked a full day at school.

Happy Friendsgivingukkah

[ktmoomau]

Well it all seemed to go well:

Turkey was amazing, I brined with a version of Alton Brown's brine, with some subs for things I didn't have.  Also used his aromatics recipe, then cooked at 450 for 1 hour the rest of time at 350.  It was delicious actually, a really good turkey.

Gluten free stuffing was a little, well not my favorite, if I do it again I will buy the mix at MOM's.  But it was ok.  I used the GF girl recipe adding carrots, sage sausage to the mix.

Potatoes and gravy were great, we used Bob's Red Mill GF to thicken the gravy and large red potatoes.  My hand mixer broke halfway through, I forgot I have a stick mixer in the cabinet, so shoved it into my stand mixer, was perfectly fine, not my mother's best ever, but no one noticed.  Green beans made by my SIlL, with a olive oil, grainy mustard and lemon sauce which was great.  GF, dairy free roasted butternut squash soup she brought was a little thick, but very good tasting.

Willow's pies and GF biscuits were great!  Sauerkraut was very good, cranberry sauce good, sourdough bread good.  Polished off three bottles of wine.  All is well that ends well.

[thistle]

My T'giving went well also-I brought smoked turkey breast & brisket (w/ BBQ sauces), bean dip, & creamed spinach - & our host had 3 fried turkeys (w/ one of those cool in house fryers), & we had ham & hummus, & 3 pies & 3 cakes-We had 24 people, adults & kids, lots of space for people to find a spot to relax in, & they had the best behaved dog ever (not that I would try to shame my dogs, but it would be a different story....). Hope you guys all had a relaxed T'giving....

[The Hersch]

Also, I'm serving pork tenderloin, not turkey.

Good call, I'd say.

[The Hersch]

My major lesson learned: Don't think you can make gnocchi dough a day ahead. I was planning gnocchi al pesto as a preliminary course. I made the potato and flour dough on Wednesday evening and formed three or four gnocchi, simmered them till done, and tossed with butter and parmigiano, and they were very good. Great! I thought. That's taken care of! Twenty hours later, I pulled the rest of the dough out of the fridge, and it had completely collapsed. It was a gooey, unworkable, unmanageable mess. I tried working some more flour into it, which made it a little more like the dough I had produced the evening before, but it was basically unsalvageable. Don't do this, ever. I had made the pesto by the time I discovered the gnocchi disaster, and repurposed it as a sauce for the roast leg of lamb that was the main course, and it was terrific in that role. We had had an introductory course of foie gras with a date and walnut bread with cranberry relish, which was pretty filling, so the gnocchi course would actually have been too much food anyway, so it all worked out. There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.

[Torshi]

Notes from Thanksgiving 2013

Our Thanksgiving got crowded so we added fish cooked on the grill to reduce kitchen traffic.  It went over quite well- bought salmon from A&H marinated in soy, oil, garlic and made a tahini sauce from the food blog MidEats (this sauce is like crack to me).  A bit of relief from the heavy food.  I also made a West African Peanut soup based on Moosewood's recipe, but with chicken stock- made it two days prior and put it in the slow cooker for the big day (you could probably do it post Tday using turkey stock and some left-over yams).  I cannot recommend this soup enough.  I made Mrs. Batmanglij's walnut cookies with chocolate kisses- the recipe looked really strange to me, but it worked.  Great plus, egg whites to make meringues.

Out-sourced elements- (1) Cranberry lemon tart from Fresh Baguette, it was great and these guys have great bread, croissant, love of their venture; 2) Blacksalt bourbon pecan pie- yummy, but really heavy, given the ingredients what can you expect; 3) Blacksalt pre-brined and seasoned turkey (Tday was at my mom's and she is not the best chef) it was really salty.  Will take charge of the turkey next year- I will get and post my Tia's Cuban influenced turkey recipe.

Things I do not like to admit- my aunt made her 1980's warm artichoke with three cheese dip and I ate it all up!

Best wishes to all.  I should take a picture of Jamon- the welcomer of the Christmas season.

[TrelayneNYC]

I spent T-day at my boyfriend's sister's place in Pennsylvania, just 25 min. away from Philly.

We had:

chips with a trio of dips -- salsa, nacho cheese dip and spinach dip

shrimp cocktail

spiced pecans

phyllo-wrapped brie with cranberry jam

roast turkey

smoked turkey

turkey jus

mustard sauce

stuffed butternut squash

brussels sprouts and squash stuffing -- this was a vegan option, since one of the guests was a lactose-intolerant vegetarian

regular stuffing

green beans

cranberry sauce (not from a can)

pumpkin pie

pumpkin-ginger cheesecake

Japanese butter cookies

coffee

tea

awesome food and the company was great.