What's your Thanksgiving timetable?

Thurs. afternoon: Probably microwave some soup, hope that my roommate comes home with leftovers.

So I've regrouped with a smaller bain marie, and hope for the best.

The turkey is oddly shaped (one of those organic heritage things) and doesn't fit in the pan for brining particularly. Why we got a 14 lb bird for two of us (new in town, no family here, etc)....the excuse is there were no geese to be had. Two weeks ahead of turkey pot pies, turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, and that turkey/broccoli/cheese sauce stuff.

They have some conflicting instructions about temps and cooking time - part of the article says 400 F for about 2 hours, but another section says 400 F for 45 min and 325 F for an hour. Neither seems quite enough time, based on my standard chicken roasting formula of 20 min/lb at 325 F after 10 min at 400 F. Right now I'm thankful it's just us to eat this, because it could be a minor mess.

The pumpkin turned out okay. It didn't unmold cleanly from the pan, but tastes great. I'm going to coat it with whipped cream lightly sweetened with maple syrup.

Time to boil up the taters for mashing and prep the stuffing casserole.

Don't have the patience myself but I'd love to know true (not magazine) resul;ts

type, depressedly, onto ILCooking.

I ended up having a little energy and making a pumpkin-ginger-molasses tart. (I didn't feel like making a pie crust and I had tart crusts in the freezer. I haven't tried it yet.) And then, since I had leftover pumpkin, I made the Pumpcran muffins that Archel linked to elsewhere. (I left out the walnuts. They're alright, it's a somewhat odd mix of flavors.)

I'm waiting for leftovers to hopefully come home. (Heh, I should call my roommate "leftovers" from now on.)

Jesus, here's everything we had on the table for 10 people:

20lb Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Mashed butternut squash
Stuffing (regular)
Stuffing (cornbread)
Brussels Sprouts
Roasted carrots & parsnips
Brushetta
Cornbread
Focaccia
Korean sushi rolls (Brought by Korean relatives)
Jap Chae (Brought by Korean relatives)

Pumpkin pie

I had a little too much turkey and white wine- I was fast asleep by 4pm. Woke around 6pm and endured a splitting headache for the rest of the night.

Can't wait for next year. Oh wait, yes I can. I'll be living off leftovers for the next two weeks...

The spread...
- apps
Cheese and crackers
Apples and caramel dip
Artichoke/Parmesan dip with baguette
Baked brie and apricot with baguette
Chicken wings, yep, hot spicy buffalo chicken wings
Mixed nuts
Sweet potato chips - thinly sliced, deep fried with salt and rosemary
Cranberry-Orange bread*
- dinner
Mixed green salad
Brocoli and cheese casserole
Mashed potatos
Stuffing
Green bean casserole
Steamed green beans
Oyster casserole
Baked yams
Grilled Turkey
- dessert
Pumpkin Cheesecake*
Apple Pie*
Chocolate Torte

sweet jesus did we go overboard.
* - items made by my wife and/or I

Flipping the turkey over wasn't as bad as I thought, and cooking at 400 F for 45 min, then finishing it at 325 F for 2.5 hours gave excellent results. I'd brined it overnight too, breast side down in a mix of salt, brown sugar, bay leaves, cloves, and thyme, which I think contributed to how juicy the breast meat came out.

We are going out for Christmas dinner.

The rest of the menu - pumpkin pudding, baked yams, Great-aunt Lena's presbyterian rolls, those roasted brussel sprouts with walnuts from another thread in here, canned cranberry sauce.

Maybe I should hop on the Empire Builder and crash the Jaq Family Thanksgiving.

I love me some canned cranberry sauce, the totally smooth kind that plops out of the can with the ringmarks.

We may be in Portland for a night or two around Christmas/New Years, in transit to Seattle, btw.

But of course I do want to see you guys when you come by Portland.

So, we are having duck.

Tomorrow: start the dough for the presbyterian rolls. Buy a green vegetable (brussel sprouts?).

I roasted some lightly coated with olive oil, mixed with some walnut halves and shaved parmesan, last year and they were amazing.

We've been having lots of green beans of late - sauted in a hot skillet in a bit of oil until a bit charred but still bright green, tossed with a touch of toasted sesame oil and a drop of chili oil. Sprinkle on some crushed red pepper flakes at the end. Very spicy good.

Breads are starting. A biga is slowly rising. Slowly.

It is rather a pain to skin pumpkin mind you (I just slice big chunks of skin off). Most of my punkin cooking is roast chunks of it, punkin soup (savoury and curried, not really that sweet), and veg curries.

I might be able to do it from memory though...

From memory, the standard pie recipe has 1 big can of pumpkin (28 oz maybe?), 4 well-beaten (foamy) large eggs, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp mace, 1/2 tsp allspice. Mix together well, then stir in 1/2 cup flour, sifted.

A few years ago, Cooks Illustrated did some research on pumpkin pie, in which they dewatered the pumpkin on a thick layer of white paper towels spread on a baking sheet. Pumpkin has this great property of not sticking to the paper. I put down 5 or 6 layers of towels and spoon/smear the canned pumpkin over them. Lay a couple more thicknesses of towel on top and press. Change the top layer of towels several times. It doesn't have to be bone dry, but you want to take out a good quantity of moisture. When you're done sopping up the top layer, carefully lift one end of the bottom layer of toweling and flip that half of the pumpkin over on top of the other half, to make it easier to get into the bowl. When I make it this year, we'll do a photo session of the process :)

After nearly setting the cabinets on fire three years ago because my giant stainless bowl/bundt pan combo didn't actually fit in the oven, I switched to making the same amount of pudding divided into 2 4 cup ceramic ramekins and using my big oval roasting pan for the bain marie. The water needs to come all the way to the top of the mix in the mold, and I add more at the 1/2 way point of baking. I also start the baking/steaming with hot water in the bain marie, to speed things up a little bit. The 2 ramekins cook in 3 - 4 hours at 315 - 325 deg F. I don't bother greasing/flouring because I don't unmold it, just scoop it out instead.

Over the years I've tried straight baking vs. steaming - the results were not good. Higher heat/shorter time is also bad. Eating it hot is bad - the texture is all wrong until it has cooled. Warm is good, cold is better. It's not terribly sweet and it's delicious for breakfast.

I am looking forward to this! This technique sounds very interesting.

Oh, wait, now I remember last year! Holy crap, that was weird. I haven't seen any of the people I ate Thanksgiving with again.

Anyway I will be making breads and pies. My apple cranberry pie will make its turn. And maybe I'll try out Jaq's pumpkin madness. (Unless you want to come down for our Sunday-before-Tgiving orphan's Tgiving party/house show?)

if you google for nut roast recipes, you'll probably turn up a bunch of stuff. they have a reputation (in the uk, anyway) for being the ultimate humorless (and tasteless) vegetarian dish, but that rep is pretty outdated and i'm quite fond of them.

The pumpkin challah is just challah with pumpkin. Let's see...

One envelope instant yeast, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp ginger, 2/3 c (90g) bread flour, 2/3 c (140g) hot water. 20 minutes until bubbling. Then add 1/3 c (70g) sugar, 1/4 c (55g) oil, 1 1/2 tsp (8g) salt, an egg, 1/2 c (115g) pumpkin. Then the remaining 3c+2tbsp (410g) bread flour. Knead, let rise, shape, let rise again. Makes two 1 lb loaves or 1 1.5 lb loaf and 3 rolls. Glaze with egg wash and add sesame seeds. Cook (rolls 25, 1 lb for 40, 1.5 lb for 45 minute) at 350/180C/mark 4.

(sorry to piss on anyone's chips here, but when I was veggie I stopped eating it)

(yes yes, I once was veggie)

(yes, yes, I was a veggie as well)

Quorn's uptake in the vegetarian market was hampered by the use of battery eggs in its production process, a practice opposed on ethical grounds by many vegetarians. For this reason, the Vegetarian Society initially did not approve these products. Working with the Vegetarian Society, Marlow began phasing out battery eggs in 2000, and by 2004 all Quorn products sold in the UK were produced without battery eggs, earning the seal of approval of the UK branch of the Vegetarian Society.

Note all the UK qualifiers.

It's time to REVIVE!

My current T'day schedule: hope and pray I get to go home on Tuesday 11/20.

research paper due monday 11/19. everything thanksgiving to occur after that.

Yeah, I'm thinking t'day might get pushed back a bit later in the month this year.

Although, Mr. Jaq is picking up the turkey today. I went for a small one this year, after the fiasco of the giant bird last year.

1 pm - go to chinese restaraunt and order $50 of food
2 pm - get home and get down

I didn't invite anybody this year because of this goddamn job and the high probability of it fucking up my life. But when I get home, those cranberries better WATCH OUT.

our menu per my host: pumpkin fritters to start, then pumpkin and pea soup, lemon-honey glazed turkey and pumpkin cupcakes with vanilla cinnamon icing

i have changed the dessert to rosewater napoleon and added green beans. i think he chose too many pumpkin dishes.

anyway, i don't know what his recipe is for the turkey, but the other stuff seems not too labor/time-intensive, right?

Will the fritters be fried? (Can you bake them? I don't know the options.) That might be a bit labor intensive, if they can't be done much in advance. Pumpkin and pea soup sounds yummy, btw. But I think 2 pumpkin focused things are plenty in one meal. Also, green beans = yes please.

Mr. Jaq advised he got "a nice" turkey - 9.8 lbs of standard bronze heritage goodness. Much more manageable than last year's 25 lb behemoth.

10-11am - everybody starts showing up at the farmhouse hauling foil-covered casseroles, crock pots, and various other serving dishes full of dumplings, roasts, cakes, casseroles (indeed), macaroni & cheese, greens, and ambrosia

noon - bell rings. uncle jerry says grace at the head of a long line of people I am ostensibly related to one way or another

2pm - everyone more fatter, thinking about seconds, wondering why aunt sally has such a thing about no booze at thanksgiving, 'cause a beer would be sweet

Mmmm, ambrosia.

The thing to try to get around the no-booze rule: rum balls, or a rum cake absolutely dripping with dark rum. Not the same as a beer, but not bad.

This morning: Wake up extra early, run to store, get eggs and various other ingredients, run home, make molasses cookies and peanut dip for today's pre-Tgiving "orphan's Thanksgiving" style party. All of which I have done with like an hour to spare.

well, i bought the wine and rosewater tonight, but it looks like everything else shopping- and prep-wise is happening on wednesday! eee the thought of the lines is not appealing considering how insane they were today.

omg! Tonight, I found out I actually get to go home for a few days tomorrow. Will be going to visit my MIL for t'day apparently, which I'm sure is the right thing to do, but I would so much rather just sit in my own apartment with my feet up, thinking about what I COULD cook if only I had the energy. I'll have 4 days in Seattle to be thankful for, at least, before I am returned to this sunny hellhole for as long as it takes to finish this fucking project.

Today I'm making pumpkin dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, maybe some mashed turnips and some similarly mashed potatoes. Some of which I'll have tonight and some of which I'll hopefully be sharing with someone tomorrow night.

But this is my 21st Thanksgiving as a vegetarian and I still haven't figured out a main dish that makes me happy.

Oh! And some brussels sprouts.

Happy Canadian T-day! Are you going to have a US one as well? I'm very interested in your pumpkin dinner rolls.

I never did roast last year's turkey ;_;

I hope it is not too freezer-burnt for this year.

I am planning to have a US one as well. We'll see how the pumpkin dinner rolls turn out, they are rising very slowly.

What sorts of things have you tried as main dishes? I'm generally stymied by what makes a good holiday vegetarian main, and hate falling into the gigantic cheese-bomb casserole trap.

i am going to a vegetarian/vegan thanksgiving this year at my boyfriend's parents' house. my first ever thanksgiving!

Does anyone know what that non-Tofurkey veg turkey recipe was? J0hn D had it on his site way back when, I forgot to bookmark and have completely forgotten the name.

Was it quorn? They make a turkey roast.

I've tried tofurkey, pasta/lasagna, nut loafs, and so on. I was thinking some sort of squash-and-tofu-on-rice dish might work.

The pumpkin rolls were ok, but something was a little off on them. Stupid internet recipes. But one of the comments said she added rosemary, which might have balanced it a bit more. Also they might taste better in the morning.

It was some little company that made them, then went out of business and released the recipe on their website.

i just realized the incredible difficulty presented by going to visit my little sister in dc for thanksgiving: i would not be able to go til wed night (i think) and she doesn't drive. wonder if i can convince her to plan ahead and buy a turkey (she's not good at this stuff) so we're not like 'WTF' on thursday.

Can you order one and have it delivered? Might be simpler than hauling one home on the bus or something.

well, we will be taking over my other sister's house, which means that if she plans, she can get them to take her to the store and drive it home. this means she has to actually plan, though...

other sister and her husband will be in korea during festive times.

Man, while standing in line @ the grocery store, I thought about Thanksgiving & got ANXIOUS at all of the work I'll have cut out for me. It's just me making all of the food, so I have to make a schedule. Doing a lot of stuff on the night before. Shudder.

Write it all down and see where (if anywhere) you can simplify stuff. Everything you can do ahead of time (like weeks even), do it (freeze it or whatever). Like if you want to make a cake, make the layers now, wrap them tightly and freeze them, then they'll be ready to thaw and frost. Yeast rolls and bread - you can make ahead and either freeze the dough, or freeze the baked goods (again tightly wrapped).

The one place I consistently trip up - needing a particular pan or appliance for something when it is already in use by something else. Sometimes, you can make do, but other times creativity falls short at the last minute and that's really stressful.

I TOTALLY write out the game plan. Too, no one, NO ONE is allowed in the kitchen. I'm starting to re-gain my confidence.

I am making a pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie this year! Mmmmmmm. Too, Jaq, I am going to use your yeast roll recipe. I'm going to "practice" them this weekend. Should they turn out, I'll make a batch to freeze. Good tips, thanks!

i would love to write out my game plan, if my sister would just settle on a location/general idea of what the hell we're doing!!! now she's talking about coming here!? i have no idea what's going on and this frustrates me because my life gets very busy and i just like to have things like this settled so i can organize what needs to get done!

my big t-giving plan is making a real, boozey, old-timey fruitcake that will get buried in sugar until xmas.

my aunt has suggested "hot flash sparklers" for thanksgiving. though the name leaves much to be desired, the recipe looks tasty!

1 cup pomegranate juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut to yield one 1/4-inch thick slice
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon Cointreau or other orange liqueur
1 bottle brut Champagne, well chilled

Combine pomegranate juice, sugar and ginger in a saucepan; bring to boil, and cook, stirring, until mixture is reduced to 1/3 cup, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Pour 4 teaspoons pomegranate syrup, 1 tablespoon orange juice and 1/4 teaspoon of Cointreau into each of four 6-ounce Champagne flutes. Add 2/3 cup Champagne to each flute. Garnish with 3 to 5 pomegranate seeds each.

that sounds delicious!

nom it!

awesome!!

nommed!

did you change the name to something a little less menopausal?

Starting to dig through recipes right now and lolling about drooling over cooking magazines. Will probably lollygag for another two weeks and then pretend that I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO TIME to get anything done! :)

Jaq, I'm back in Seattle until Thanksgiving. Would love to get together for coffee. My schedule is pretty open. Contact me at wee little sprout at hot mail dot com (no spaces) with your phone number, please! I've been looking forward to meeting you since last Christmas!

today i enlisted the intern to help me plan my menu since i don't seem to have time to do it!

she found a recipe for raspberry tiramisu today that looks intersting. i can't handle pumpkin pie.

Craven and I sat down and talked about fabulous Thanksgiving desserts this afternoon - raspberry tiramisu sounds delicious! I'm pretty set on roasting a leg of lamb this year instead of a turkey (the turkey that has been in the freezer since last year looks very very sad and frostbitten I'm afraid).

Jaq (and others), I posted a question on Is that pie..?, but I figured it'd be answered here more quickly.
We are getting a smoked turkey this year for Thxgiving. We aren't doing the smoking, so I"m not going to have turkey drippins' for gravy. I was wondering if you could share you cream gravy recipe from the blog? I am losing sleep over this!

Thx.

Sure thing - though cream gravy might be a bit heavy (it's what you pour over chicken fried steak). Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a skillet over medium low heat. Sprinkle in 2 heaping tbsp of flour and stir into the melted fat. Stir in 1/2 tsp of salt and several generous grinds of black pepper. Let this cook on medium low for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Heat up 1.5 cups of half and half (or 3/4 c milk and 3/4 c heavy cream) until very hot but don't boil. I usually put the liquid in a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup and nuke it for about 2 min. Pour the hot liquid into the butter/flour mixture, stirring constantly and gently. Increase the heat a notch or two and keep stirring until thickened (7-15 min). It will thicken up more as it cools.

You might want to make gravy with chicken stock instead. Use the same process (though possibly won't need to add salt and pepper depending on how your stock is seasoned) and the same proportions of fat/flour/liquid.

On the timetable: I made up the rolls on Sunday (including a test batch that we snarfed for dinner that night), have the turkey thawing in the fridge and will brine it tonight, am making pumpkin pudding today. Will possibly start the cranberry relish today - this year I'm making one with cranberries, quince, pecans, and port as well as having a can of the jellied stuff (which I adore). I'm making stuffing with pecans, fennel, and shallots. Brussel sprouts: parboiled, halved, brushed w/ oil, roasted at 450F, sprinkled with shaved parm. Sweet potatoes: simply mashed with butter, maybe a dash of cinnamon and cumin. Roasted fingerling Yukons and redskinned potatoes. Possibly deviled eggs. Possibly some other dessert. A guest is bringing the salad.

btw Ai Lien, I was trying to add you as a poster to Is That....Pie? but you need to make a wordpress log in.

The gravy is mostly for the mashed potatoes. I probably won't even touch the stuff as I feel I make the potatoes really rich, but there are family members who like gravy! On everything!

Jaq, do I need to sign up for wordpress?

Yep, then send me the email address you used for your account. Use the email address on the Is That....Pie? page (isthatpie✧✧✧@ya✧✧✧.c✧✧); my webmail for ILX doesn't work.

What liquor best goes with hot apple cider? To be served at Post-Thxgiving Bring Your Leftovers Potluck.

I would vote dark rum. But then, I pretty much always vote dark rum.

this^

1 pm - go to chinese restaraunt and order $50 of food
2 pm - get home and get down

― jergïns, Saturday, 10 November 2007 23:58

i would like to point out how awesome this was last year and how i'll be doing this again, only with indian or thai

i am going that also but i'll keep it to $15 because i'm not quite that rich

damn we are smart

3pm -go to Whole Foods
3.30 pm -buy pumpkin pie
6pm -eat pie

Turkey is brining away in the cooler (brine still full of ice this morning yay!). Yeast roll dough made on Sunday is thawing. Stale bread is cubed for stuffing assembly. Stock is made. Sweet potatoes were roasted last night and whipped with butter. The final stretch of the cooking marathon starts in 1 hour.

2pm: leave house
2:05pm: buy butter and milk bc i forgot lol
2:10pm: get on train
3pm: arrive at friend's house
3:01pm: open champagne/wine
3:45pm: begin making potatoes (rosemary mash!)
4:30pm: eat?

after all the stress i had planning earlier in the month, i am now only responsible for potatoes! host is making turkey, stuffing, dessert. one of the other guests emailed that she is making "Kale with Cranberries and Creamed Green Peas and Carrots" which worries me. is that all one dish? why would you cream peas and carrots? not sure what the other guests will bring!

haha i think "creamed" means with cream sauce in this context, otherwise that would be like baby food or something, yuck

either sounds gross to me!

my grandmother makes creamed green beans at thxgiving/xmas and it's very good. not something i'd eat more than once or twice a year though. also might be kinda weird on carrots, but ok.

as a kid i loved the mushroom soup green been casserole but i've strayed from it for fresher green bean dishes in recent years, so the thought of cream sauce and PEAS is kind of 'uhhhhh'.

also this will be my 2nd thanksgiving with my filipino friend hosting which is a little funny bc he does not exactly "get" thanksgiving traditions since he didn't grow up with them. will still be a lovely day, though!

I woke up and baked an apple pie. My wife was amused to find that I had gotten so into my baking that I forgot to make any coffee.

the horror!

Turkey's been in the fridge for two days now but is soaking in water now to finish thawing.

Pecan and pumpkin pies are on the counter.

Cornbread is cubed, ready to be toasted and mixed with chorizo (which still has to be cooked) for stuffing.

Turkey stock is in the fridge, I'm going to brown the giblets and neck and add it to this for a couple of hours.

Green bean casserole needs major work.

I've got six hours or so. How long does it take to heat 3 gallons of peanut oil to 350 degrees?

i imagine not too long.

just finished making cranberry salsa, and the nigella lawson gingerbread stuffing is baking. that's all i had to do!

My timetable involves letting my wife finish up the complicated dishes she is making and then sneak in and make the ones I have committed to doing. Then eating, followed or preceded by giving the kitties some fresh turkey which they will love.

I ate the pie. it was suprisingly good.

also:

just finished making cranberry salsa, and the nigella lawson gingerbread stuffing is baking(...)

― lauren, Thursday, November 27, 2008 6:24 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this sounds dereesheez

also1:

My timetable involves letting my wife finish up the complicated dishes she is making and then sneak in and make the ones I have committed to doing. Then eating, followed or preceded by giving the kitties some fresh turkey which they will love.

― sheepie (libcrypt), Thursday, November 27, 2008 6:41 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

AWWWW

i am already 10 min behind schedule!
hah

surely that's one of the biggest t-giving traditions?

with my duties taken care of, i'm going to walk one of the dogs IN THE SNOW! rah.

omg, cranberry/quince relish with port, cassis, black pepper and tiny smidge of ginger!

The aromatics for the stuffing are chopped. The water is coming to a boil for the brussel sprout immersion. The turkey is in an obscene position in the roasting pan on the dining room table (only place there was room). Potato scrubbing commences shortly. And the oven is heating up.

LOL turkey JUST went in oven! Timetable gone!

Cranberry gin-n-tonic is apparently quite tasty.

how it went down:
100 called raga indian & ordered
200 broke out the naan and rice and coconut lamb and chicken vindaloo
230 laid down arrrghgurggurgglegurg
245 popped up a minute to post, gonna be flat on my back watching the Seahawks get trounced as soon as i hit submit

Wife set the cooked turkey down on a table and went into another room and we chilled out for awhile and I called my ma and when the turkey was checked-on, it was missing a leg except for the bone. There are 3 furry suspects.

There are 3 furry suspects

!!!

our two stomped noisily around under the table and head-butted every calf and shin they came across. The turkey, salumi, and cheese were all too well guarded for them to sneak any this year.

turkey was done to a T, but nothing else could fit in the oven with it. So the dressing and brussel sprouts baked/roasted while the turkey was resting and I just gave up on the roasted fingerling and redskin potatoes, but that was okay.

cranberry-quince sauce made with port & cassis - A++++ will make again. Also, dressing with fennel, shallots, and pecans.

3 bottles of wine (rose of sangiovese (x2) and cotes du rhone) / 5 people over 3 hours = just the right amount of buzz and no excessive anger from anyone. Not a bad day.

Pinot noir, champagne with creme de cassis, gewurtztraminer, salas with blue cheese and pomegranate, turkey, rosemary mash, kale with garlic and cranberries, stuffing with apples and sausage baked in tomatoes, the weird pea/carrot thing, oh yeah, and some turkey. Woah. We ate at 930. Hah!

Deep fried turkey is awesome, I'd never done it before. Especially if you are sitting around splitting a couple of Ommegangs with a friend while it cooks. Though now I have a giant vat of oil in my backyard that I have to deal with tomorrow.

But wife's coworker drinking 8(!) of my New Belgium Abbeys and Deschutes IPAs plus random glasses of wine over three hours and being rambling and crazy is certainly not at all awesome and actually very very annnoying and kind of sad.

We're having our Thanksgiving party tomorrow (American-stylee). Back in Portland, when I did Thanksgiving parties, no one cared if there was a turkey, but suddenly it was a big deal here! OK, so my housemate, who is not a vegetarian, is in charge of that. Except: He can't cook.

Well, we picked up a do-not-thaw type bird, pre-stuffinged, and I guess he's going to give it a go, and I will do what I can to help, which is pretty much nothing. I have no idea. Any tips? Should I have had him get a meat thermometer? I don't want my bread thermometer going into a carcass. It's just a thing. You know.

Yes, get a meat thermometer. I don't know what a do-not-thaw, prestuffinged bird is, but if you can, have him make sure the skin of the bird is dry before putting it in the (hot) oven. That will both crisp and brown the skin. It doesn't hurt to leave it uncovered in the fridge to dry it out some. Don't baste it, don't bother it at all once it's in the oven, just cook for the allotted time less about 30 minutes, then check the temp. It's done when the temp hits 165 deg F in the meatiest part of the thigh. Check the temp once every 8-10 minutes, no more. Take it out and let it sit for at least 15 min before carving.

mini version of the usual - tiny turkey, veg/herb stuffing, wine/vegetable sauce, wild rice, non-homemade cornbread, cranberry-orange relish, non-mom (ie wholly inferior) apple pie, pinot noir

The instructions say to brush vegetable oil on the bird first. The temp tip is handy.

I'm an antibaster.

How do you do the wild rice, gabbneb? I've always mixed it with white in a sort of pilaf (cooked w/ stock) and am looking for something different to try.

Holy crap, all the food I made came out great. That doesn't usually happen. Jaq's cranberry relish survived being made with pear instead of quince, tho I bet the quince would have been better. My rustic loaf rolls were some of the best bread I've ever made, or at least the best in ages, especially since I didn't have my KitchenAid. Weird!

The turkey was apparently good too; thanks for the advice.

How do you do the wild rice, gabbneb? I've always mixed it with white in a sort of pilaf (cooked w/ stock) and am looking for something different to try.

all i do is eat. my Dad is responsible for rice. it was unadulterated with domesticated rice, though onions or shallots were involved. he may use chicken stock.

personally, i would go for vegetable, it being grass and all

Finished up the last of the leftovers this morning (pumpkin pudding for breakfast) and made a quart of solidly gelled stock from the carcass on Monday. If I can find some more quince, I'm going to make up and can a few pints of relish.

Yay for rustic loaf rolls sans Kitchenaid. Presbyterian rolls turned out well, even the pan that sat out rising for too long.

I made a pot roast! I realize pot roast is kind of a no-brainer, cooking-wise, but it was delicious. Now I want to do another one with some adjustments, but let's face it: the eye of round was $15 and a bottle of wine to reduce for sauce would be at least another $10 so this is not actually a cheap meal.

It's that time again. Picked up the turkey from our farmer yesterday - I'd ordered a medium, but it's pretty large at 15 lbs.

I'm doing Thxgiving for my husband and a friend (and maybe any other stragglers we know who want to stop by). First time doing this shit – any timetable tips? I am going to cook a goose.

Prep as much stuff as you can beforehand.
If you want to cook things together in the oven, test the pans out first to make sure they all fit.
If it's cold enough outside (<40 F), it's a spare fridge.

I am excited about this year's menu. Tonight I made the cranberry sauce, potatoes, dessert (flan!), and herb butter. Tomorrow I will make cinnamon rolls and quiche (breakfast), fennel-beet salad with citrus vinaigrette and butter rolls (with herb butter) for lunch, and turkey/taters/cranberry/sauteed green beans for dinner, then flan/limoncello/apple pie for dessert. This meal is for three people btw.

i plan on eating more than i normally would in 2 full days so watch out

Ok truth I haven't made the flan yet. I'm a little nervous.

The beet salad sounds awesome! You will be able to swing flan, no worries. Custards & their kin are less challenging than their reputation suggests.

Today I made tzimmes (hope it tastes ok reheated), pecan pie bars, lemon bars & cut up a bunch of veg. Is it just me, or are shallots way more overwhelming in the tear-inducing department than onions are? Have to wipe my eues 2x while slicing up just one of those little things.

I also rubbed orange liqueur all over a raw goose.

The menu:

Drinking throughout the day:

Hell of bloody maries

Lunch (around 1 p.m.? I have this stuff premade too):

Butternut squash soup
Hummus & pita
Steamed asparagus

Dinner (around 7 p.m. – friend's working @ Wal-Mart & shift ends at 6:30...hopefully she'll be assertive abt getting out on time):

Goose w/orange sauce
Wild rice stuffing w/mushrooms & chestnuts
Corn on cob
Tzimmes
Brussels sprouts w/shallots
Mashed Spuds
Gravy

Dessert in bar form = lemon bars & pecan pie bars

Sounds lovely! I've never made a goose.

in terms of bevvies, i'm having beer with lunch, wine with dinner, and limoncello for dessert. at some point i may have a rosemary-lavender lemonade from the simple syrup i made a while ago

to be perfectly honest, i'm a little distracted because my dog just bit my husband and he (husband) is really mad at the dog.

sorry i mentioned dogs ;_; it was kind of a bad day

yesterday went alright though. my flan was A MESS but everything else turned out alright. had a bit of a headache though

Bump!
Planning on stuffed pork tenderloin. Brussels sprouts. Serviettenknödel.

Ah dear god this year I swear I am making things much easier on myself. I feel like last year I cooked a meal for 10, and three people ate it. Actually I hardly ate at all – I had been puking out of a combo of grief/bad beaujolais and had to take an anti-nausea pill to even eat. Also we realized none of us knew how to carve a bird at all. It was a weird day.

OTOH I feel like Thanksgiving is the day it's acceptable to go all Cookie Monster on a pile of mashed potatoes, so I have to take advantage of that. What I;m making besides mashed potatoes, I haven't figured out yet.

Not sure what is happening this year. The turkey from last year is still in the freezer, poor thing. We ended up eating one of those store-bought everything dinners at MIL's, may do the same this year.

advice on cooking a goose? for christmas, not thanksgiving, but i like to plan early...

Oh man, every advice I read was like "get as much fat off that football-shaped fowl as you can." I made a goose last year and I followed that advice to the T! If you have looked at your goose already, it's obv you can just rip handfuls of snowy fat off that shit, so do it! After that, what some said to do was to pierce your goose's skin with many pricks (like in the Biblical sense) and then to submerge the whole thing in a giant pot of boiling water. IIRC for a minute or two? Like not long enough to blanch it. More rendered fat than you anticipated will float to the top.

Another thing to do, to get crispy skin, is to leave the thing defrosted/defatted/uncovered in your fridge for 24+ hours to let its skin dry out. This worked way better with ducks I have cooked in the past, tbh – I would not describe the goose I cooked as being crispy skinned. You're on your own there! Make sure you flip the thing over at some point while it's drying out in the fridge. They just have so much surface area!

Even after doing this shit it made so much fucking fat when it cooked. Not quite waterfalls, but notable amount. I had it on a little rack above a pan w/water in it to catch all the fat. God, that thing exuded so much fat. Empty the pan out often, it is said, or your oven will catch on fire from a goose fat spatter. Yuck! I don't know how big a threat that is but that's the kind of threat I try to avoid. Some things I read said, "Don't remove the v hot floaty fat from the pan with a baster because it could melt the baster." Scary!

In all honesty, I would never cook a goose again. Like I said above, I didn't know how to carve the damn thing. They are also pretty expensive imo, for what you get, which seriously feels like 70% fat. It was maybe enough meat for 4 gluttonous people (who, unlike me, could carve its meat and make the most of it) but cost over $50. Actually, I loved cooking with the goose fat, I loved the split pea soup I made where I cooked the goose neck in it instead of ham hocks like usual – delicious. The goose itself? I think I would rather have eaten any other meat except maybe ground beef.

I would say ducks are about 6x easier to cook and so much more rewarding + tasty.

i mentioned this maybe on another thread but i think i am going to do a turkey test run on a whole chicken this weekend... will this help or will i encounter all sorts of crazy surprises when i try to do a turkey?

Turkeys are put together the same as a chicken, so carving a chicken is similar to carving a turkey (the leg and wing joints are built the same, the rib cage/wishbone is the same). Is that what you want to test? They cook a bit differently.

i meant cooking, not carving. i've never prepped and roasted an entire bird before.

i have never gotten all science on a chicken and my chicken has always turned out delicious
do it once and you'll see how easy it is

the carving can get wacky, but who cares. that also depends on your knives, i guess.

The prep is similar - clean, truss, dry, season, roast. Trussing for a turkey might include cutting off the wing tips, depends on how tight the wings hold to the body - if they don't I leave the tips on and fold them under the back of the bird. Otherwise, the tips go in to make stock for the gravy. You might brine a turkey where a chicken generally doesn't need it - chickens have more fat under the skin in proportion to the amount of meat than a turkey does. Some loosen the breast skin on a turkey and pack butter under it, to try to increase the fat and keep the meat from drying out. With a chicken, I just clean, truss, dry, season (usually thyme and cayenne) and roast. With a turkey, I clean, brine, truss, dry. When I roast, I start it breast down, then flip it breast up about 2/3rds of the way through the cooking time. Use a meat thermometer and check temps in both the thigh and breast on a turkey (breast meat cooks faster) - internal meat temp will climb at least 10 deg after taking it out of the oven. Let it rest for at least 15 min before carving.

Here's an interesting take on turkey: confit.

http://www.salon.com/food/eyewitness_cook/index.html?story=/food/francis_lam/2010/11/17/turkey_leg_confit

We're having a smaller group than usual for Thanksgiving this year so if I'm not barbecuing the bird, I might try this.

Roasted a chicken today for chicken salad sandwiches for lunches tomorrow and Thanksgiving lunch (because you do need to eat lunch on Thanksgiving, that is unless you're eating at 2). Chicken carcass thrown into a pot with water, salt, pepper and leeks for a broth. The broth gets used for gravy and stuffing.

I removed the legs and wings off of the turkey this afternoon and am now curing with salt, pepper, herbes de provence and a tiny amount of ground cloves (I hope this works -- the herbs and spice smelled good together). Will confit these in olive oil tomorrow.

I then dry brined the remaining parts of the turkey carcass with salt, pepper and sage. I've only ever wet brined a turkey before so I'm interested to see how this turns out. Anyone tried dry brining before? How did it work for you?

It's a timetable thread right?

oh lord i am already behind. i'm doing thanksgiving tomorrow. was gonna make my chocolate mousse (i don't do pumpkin pie!) tonight, but we got back from hiking around 7:45 and i have not had the energy. so... big day tomorrow!

Some of my family members will probably take charge of my grandma's kitchen for part of Thanksgiving. My grandma will keep walking into the kitchen (despite people trying to shoo her out) making sure nothing wrong happens and I'll probably hear he say "Ai-Yi-Yi" a couple times throughout the day. Then we'll eat Thanksgiving dinner around 5 pm

i'm working all day, then coming home to make a vegan (oh lol) thanksgiving dinner and share it over skype with our family in chicago, since we can't be there with them all.

Pumpkin pie finally in the oven! Tomorrow, all I have to do is bake the zucchini casserole (pre-made Tuesday), and prep some mashed potatoes (gonna try Julia Child's version, wooo, potato ricer and everything)...then cart them all over to my in-law's house.

Been using the Cook's Illustrated recipe for pumpkin pie every year for about 3 years now, and every year as I'm pouring hot pumpkin filling into a running food processor I think, "I really need to find another recipe." Love America's Test Kitchen but godammit they know how to make their recipes OTT.

Confited the legs and wings in olive oil yesterday. It is now cooled and in the refrigerator. My son has started getting into 'Good Eats' and saw the pumpkin pie episode with pie made with fresh pumpkin. He and my wife baked a pumpkin yesterday evening, cooled it and turned it into puree. The neat thing about the Good Eats recipe is that there is extra filling. When I saw that, the first thing that came to my mind is pumpkin ice cream!

VegemiteGrrl -- Too late for this year, but I know in the Alton Brown recipe and in the latest CI recipe they don't use a food processor, but the more traditional form of making a custard -- making the filling on the cooktop, tempering the eggs with the filling and returning to cook until thickened. They get around the food processor by straining the filling.

All that's left now is roasting the turkey breast (my wife will not knowingly eat confited anything) and yams, making the cranberry relish and my part of the T'day labor is done!

gonna light the smoker in 30 minutes, doing two birds; been brining them since Monday night (not just brine, but Jim Beam + fruit also). The chaos is underway.

It felt weird not to cook anything on T'day (I am doing the restaurant thing this year), so I made chocolate chip pecan cookies.

Hope there is something PUMPKIN at the restaurant! Turkey I am OK without, but I do really love stuffing and PUMPKIN confections.

. . . although not so much pumpkin pie, oddly. But pumpkin bread, muffins, mousse, custard, ice cream, cake, puree. . . big fan.

my meal came out pretty awesome. i think the stuffing was my favorite (kale, butternut squash, turkey sausage, focaccia, leeks). probably should have put the turkey in the oven later (i wasn't actually as behind as i thought!) because it was not quite warm enough by the time we ate. but, it came out even better than my practice chicken, so yay :)

my menu:
turkey
gravy (need to work on this)
stuffing (linked, bc everyone should try this at some point)
blanched green beans w/ citrus vinaigrette, dried cherries, and toasted pecans (served at room temp)
mashed golden potatoes
cranberry-orange sauce (bought from tj's)
chocolate mousse w/ bourbon-scented whipped cream, tangerine zest, and blackberries on top

gonna make a stock w/ the carcass probably tomorrow. today all i will do is eat leftovers and watch movies, i think?

in terms of timing, i think i started the mousse around 12:30 and cooked til about 4, then showered/got ready, and finished gravy and green beans after people got here.

All of my father's living siblings are in town for the holiday (there are five of them left out of the original dozen), so I made my super-crowd-pleasing carrot cake yesterday -- http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tropical-Carrot-Cake-with-Coconut-Cream-Cheese-Frosting-107949

tehresa, those green beans sound really good

thanks! i started doing them that way a few years ago after i finally decided i was done w/ the mushroom soup/fried onion topping green bean casserole (a staple of childhood thanksgivings, but not as appealing to my adult palate). sometimes i've tossed in a little red onion, too. but i forgot this year.

that cake sounds nommmm.

It is totally nommmm -- it's almost not a carrot cake anymore, with coconut, crystallized ginger, macadamias, pineapple, etc -- it's got a lot of competing texture/flavor storylines happening at once, but it's ridiculously good

Apple tart is made
Pomegranates are juiced and juice is reducing for sauce
Serviettenknödel is ready for the hot water
Going to butterfly the pork tenderloin, and the red cabbage stuffing was made yesterday, so it will go in the oven as soon as it is stuffed

I don't know what serviettenknödel, but I'm pretty sure I would very much like to eat it!

All came out great!

quincie, here is the recipe I used:
http://www.germanfoodguide.com/recipes.cfm?recipe_number=172

Next time, though, I'm going to use my regular turkey stuffing recipe, and wrap it in foil, the cheesecloth was a bit of a mess.

tofurkey roast in the oven
mashed potatoes done
water boiling for minted peas
found mint sauce
cauli and brocc in dijon/tarrogon/lemon sauce in oven
lamb chops ready to fry

combo nz/vegan thanksgiving

Whoa a STUFFING LOG? Amazing!

xpost

About to head out for late night Chinese food. Have pumpkin and chocolate cakes awaiting our return.

waiting for bf to get home so we can share the last serving of chocolate mousse from last night...

Ok, all done cooking and eating for today.

Breakfast:
*quasi chilaquiles with potatoes instead of tortillas and extra vegetables
*fancy coffee i got for free at whole foods

Lunch:
*warm pear and spiced walnut salad (arugula/baby romaine) dressed with walnut oil and orange champagne vinegar
*toasted french bread with herbed goat cheese
*la chouffe spiced belgian golden ale

Dessert:
banana with chocolate sauce and dulce de leche/cajeta/caramel

Dinner:
* potato soup
* giant sea scallops
* beef tenderloin (fancy pasture raised, grass-fed beef!) with red wine/herb reduction
* brussels sprouts with garlic-white wine-butter sauce (had some lemon but forgot to put it on there)
* butter rolls (an annual tradition)
* herb butter

Dessert:
pumpkin pie with maple whipped cream

I've never felt obligated to eat turkey on Thanksgiving, so I always experiment. One year it was an ill-advised stuffed pork tenderloin. I've made turkey, but usually it's a time to do something classic, but different than what I normally make/eat.

giant sea scallops <3 <3 <3

whatcha doin this year, ilxors?

embarking on a new pumpkin pie - either plain old Libby's recipe off the back of the can, or possibly a Bobby Flay joint that has a graham cracker crust and a fluffier filling (still baked). leaning towards flay bcz it seems like a nice change and is still v simple/not fancy.

same old Zucchini Sausage casserole, every year by request of inlaws. I don't really like it much myself but they love it.

And a small sweet potato/apple gratin for my mother in law.

Apparently we're having steak for thanksgivign this year, lol. I don't really mind, as long as we get something good to eat.

This year I am going to Tulum and eating tacos.

Last year we went to the Bahamas and ate steaks cooked on a beach fire.

If I never did a "traditional" T'day again, I'd be OK with that.

I'm going to be completely diagonally across the country from my kitchen (hello Miami area!) at my son's house - chips and wine is my plan.

I do love my parent's stuffing. That I miss a little, but I can make it in a roasted chicken any ole time.

Mr Veg brined a turkey one year and then smoked it...goddamn that was good. I want that again.

so thanksgiving is friendsgiving and my peoples were too slow to get a "nice" turkey. it is from trader joe's and it is pre-brined. any idea how to deal w/ this, not that my orig brining idea is redundant?

you can sort-of-unbrine with distilled water. Mr Veg has done it, abt 5 gallons distilled water overnight will pull a fair bit of salt out.

-have started to incubate the turkey egg, hoping for good results

<3

Driving to my sister's house downstate, dinner at a lakeside resort, no cooking this year.

hi again -- it's more like, how do I additively work w/ the brining?

TJ's has some butter-under-the-skin thing it suggests, but that sounds Harder than it needs to be; also last year we did not baste or do any of that shit and it was DELICIOUS and TJs is suggesting we do that.

I'd leave the pre-brined bird alone and just stuff good things inside (either stuffing or at least some onion/celery/lemon slices/herbs) before roasting breast down for the first half of roasting, then flipping boobs up for the last part. I'm a big fan of the high-heat method of Barbara Kafka. I'm not a baster, and Alton Brown recently confirmed that it doesn't do squat except drop your oven temp.

I've never done this before. I'm a vegetarian and I've never cooked any poultry and now I'm making a turkey. What do I do!? If said turkey is purchased today do I just leave it out to thaw starting now. This is going to be a disaster. HELP.

It's going to be fine!!! Deep breaths! You can try leaving it in the fridge to thaw starting now - not advised to just leave it out. (I will admit to leaving out with no ill effects, also submerging in warm water in a panic.)

JtM - You could do some kind of dry rub? Or, just roast as is.

E - you just need a simple, easy method. here is a really simple recipe to roast a turkey. I've only done it once but it worked for me. (Make sure you have a thermometer)

http://www.chow.com/recipes/29040-basic-roasted-turkey

Uhh guess I'm going thermometer shopping tonight!

But thank you for the advice and link! :)

<3 good luck!

Thermometer's pretty U&K for meat cooking of all kinds. I got a digital one from a restaurant supply store that was ~$10 and works for making cheese and candy as well as meat.

Definitely get the thermometer, the rest is way easier than our moms/dads tried to make it out. Turkey is by far easier than mashed potatoes, green beans, pie, etc.

Is your turkey frozen? Not a problem if it is! Just pop it in the fridge and it will be fine for roastin on Thursday. Whether it is frozen or not at this point, a brine is U&K and also super easy. Just google Alton Brown Turkey Brining and you will be fine so long as you have salt, sugar, and water at your disposal.

TBH turkey itself is my least anticipated part of T'day; it is the stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pie that really float my boat. I could easily be a vegetarian at T'day and be perfectly fine (except for the gravy part). As for stuffing, I recently learned that Hillary Clinton and I yearn for the same Pepperidge Farm stuffing that we both grew up with:

http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?recipeID=60428

we have a thermapen, they are great but a little $$
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003P601S2

I am putting together a menu now. I may have more questions tomorrow! So far I have turkey, brussels sproouts with parm and pine nuts, and mashed potatoes on the list. There will be more but I also don't want to kill myself. I am totally buying the pies. Can't even deal with having to make dessert too.

Oth ppl supposed to bring dessert iirc?

Nobody else is coming just the guests who are visiting but they've offered to buy the desserts so that works for me.

Yeah keep yr sides simple, and try wherever you can to make or prep as much as you can ahead of time so you can breathe easier on the day.

Make lists, use timers. I usually have two or three different timers going at once, all measuring different things.

be sure to take the giblets out of the bird!

I would recommend reading a simple primer about general meat prep safety as well.

the CDC exists for a reason, after all
http://www.cdc.gov/features/turkeytime/

True dat--but I pull birds at a max of 155 in the thigh. They easily get to safe zone upon resting, and any more than 165 is getting you into profoundly overcooked territory.

thank you all -- I am considering doing the butter under the skin thing and just go HAM on sage thyme rosemary in the cavity + black pepper, like a chicken

I'll be right over

tonight:

assemble strata for breakfast
mash potatoes
make pumpkin pie

losses so far:
dropped (1) egg on the ground
spilled custard out of the side of the strata on its way into the fridge

i feel a milk shortage coming on, hope the convenience store is open tomorrow

zucchini casserole assemblage this afternoon, pumpkin pie tomorrow morn

zuch recipe calls for two (2) onions
I only have 2 left for the week
1 onion it is

rip egg (xpost)

pumpkin pie in the oven :D

every year, my plea is the same: my kingdom for a bigger kitchen. or one that doesn't ramp up to 'temperature of the sun' whenever I turn on the oven. :(

all that's left is sweet potato/apple gratin

I think this is the most relaxed I've been before thanksgiving yet! Changing up my pumpkin pie recipe to a simpler one really made a big difference in my timetable.

strata - in the oven (bacon, gruyere, some super stale bread)

still left:
butter rolls (i make these 1x a year only on thanksgiving but they are soooooooo good)
garlic herb butter (this is easy obvs)
oh and lunch and turkey + sauteed green beans with almonds and orange zest (green bean casserole is not edible imo)

lunch = crackers + cheese (4 kinds) + baby lettuce salad with pears, bacon, gorgonzola, and some kind of spiced nuts that i'm not sure i even have) + fancy beer

i guess i must enjoy spending all day cooking because i do this every year. i hope i can find the cheesecloth.

i haven't even started thinking about the turkey yet
breakfast and lunch are cooked, eaten, and cleaned up after

i think i hate the idea of eating everything at once, so i just spread it out as much as possible so it's a FULL DAY OF COOKINGEATINGDRINKING.

sweet potato/apple gratin in the oven which means my work here is done.

next: feasting :D

fridge full of leftover pie

best
thing
ever

PUMPKIN PIE FOR BREAKFAST

^

i made a bourbon maple whipped cream for the pumpkin pie. mr veg said it was strong enough that you could get drunk off a whole pie worth :D

bourbon goooooood

Thanksgiving leftovers will conclude today with a turkey/cranberry sauce/deshi chutney naanwich.

One of the weirder things I made with leftovers were these little potato pancakes with
mashed potatoes
1 egg
dal palak that i bought on the monday before thanksgiving to last me through the days leading up to Thurs

in other words, mashed potatoes + old leftovers, and it was really really good. not very appetizing to look at, unfortunately, but rather tasty considering the circumstances.

apparently i like to talk about leftovers.

it's that time again!

i refuse to make a boring turkey because that is not what i want to eat so i am making gumbo instead and it will be spicy and delicious. also making trad butter rolls, pumpkin pie, something with pears, and something with lavender because that's what i do every year. i have not shopped and have no timetable.

i have decided to make 3 pies and leave the sides and meat to my inlaws.

pumpkin pie
cheescake
peanut butter pie

my timetable is to see if Katz's Deli is open

We will be on the road in Texas for T'day and will likely seek out brisket in lieu of turkey.

Saw a recipe this morning for fried dressing balls with cranberry dipping sauce.

whaaaaat omg

i am going to my friend's house to watch football and smoke weed and eat a ham. no turkey.

Took the pork roast out of the freezer.

Good morning!

Yams roasted yesterday. Chicken this year as the main protein. Sides of brussel sprouts, cranberries, yams, dinner rolls. Cheesecake for dessert.

Made cherry pie yesterday, today it’s gumbo* butter rolls w herb butter, lightly sautéed green beans then pie w ice cream for dessert. Cooking for 4.

* I’ve done this for about 15 years bc it’s easy to procure ingreds, I’d never make a dark roux on a normal day, and it’s the only thing my dad ever cooked and he passed away in May. It’ll maybe taste different today.

<3 sounds delicious

cheesecake made last night
mr veg smoking turkey breast on bbq
i’ll make sides later: braised brussel sprouts w cream; roasted cauliflower w smoked paprika; and green beans w lemon & parsley
they’re all pretty easy-do

we got a super fancy takeout meal, gonna start heating things up around 3 pm

Spiced Nuts
Marinated Olives
Onion Dip, Smoked Trout Roe & Housemade Chips
Brie & Quince Turnovers

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast & Confit Leg
turkey gravy & cranberry orange chutney

Mashed Potatoes

Wild Mushroom & Leek Stuffing
chanterelles & thyme

Green Beans
onion soubise & crispy shallots

Roasted Fall Vegetables
spicy maple & rosemary

Chicory Salad
beets, apple, hazelnut vinaigrette

Pumpkin Pie
chantilly cream

just the two of us, for the first time I can remember

wow that sounds amazing

yours sounds great too! mmm smoked turkey

my faaaaaavorite

The turkey went in the oven at 1pm; should be ready and resting at 4:30. At that point I start the potatoes (peeled and in water on the stove top) and put the fish (for my sister) in the oven. The asparagus is also ready for a quick steaming.

My guests are scheduled to arrive around 4pm; my mother's stuffing goes into the oven to warm up.

Officially everything is planned for 5pm, but my guests have not been fussy in the past. And a good thing; while I've done this before, so much of this has to be done at the last minute.