Entries from The Amateur Gourmet tagged with 'Thanksgiving'
A Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving
In case you haven't noticed, food blogs, food magazines, food networks and the like love Thanksgiving. They love it because, for once, the nation is intent on cooking dinner. For 364 days out of the year, that's mostly not the case--what with fast food and frozen dinners and all the other instant options at our fingertips. But Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is something you've gotta cook. That is, unless you're me....
My Thanksgiving Plate 2008
For those of you desperate to see my Thanksgiving plate, here she is in all her glory. We were at a fancy buffet in Boca Raton and most parties agreed that as fancy as a Thanksgiving buffet might be, it's still not quite as good as a home-cooked meal--it just doesn't taste like Thanksgiving. That said: I enjoyed the Brussels sprouts and the cornbread stuffing and sweet potatoes mashed with lots of butter and served in a tiny pumpkin. The turkey was a bit dry but that was saved by copious amounts of cranberry sauce, my favorite Thanksgiving condiment (I'm not a huge fan of gravy.) Thoughts turned to Regina Schrambling's funny Slate column about Thanksgiving when it became clear that all the Thanksgiving classics on the buffet--the butternut squash soup, the stuffing, the turkey, the mashed sweet potatoes--were the only dishes people wanted; the less conventional stuff (a wild mushroom casserole with Parmesan, for example) went untouched. It's a good Thanksgiving lesson: give the people what they want. And thus ends all Thanksgiving coverage on the blog for 2008. Hope yours was a happy day stuffed with stuffing and not too much indigestion. I bet those of you who read lots of food blogs are glad that Thanksgiving's over--what a relief to stop talking turkey. Onward and upward, as they say: comforting cold weather food awaits....
Have A Happy Thanksgiving
Either you're prepping your turkeys or you're prepping your stomachs or you're prepping your turkey stomachs (Thanksgiving offal!), but no matter what you're prepping: I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. Don't forget to share your Thanksgiving pictures in The A.G. Photo Pool. Even if you don't, though, happy cooking and, more importantly: happy eating. [Note: The turkey you see above is the turkey I cooked last year and it was a huge hit. The secrets? I brined it in apple cider and cooked at at a very low 275. For all the info, click here. It's not too late to brine!]...
Improvised Stuffing
The plan was to roast a chicken the way I normally roast chicken (which is to say, the best way in the world!) on a cold winter's night in November. And then, flipping through the channels, I stopped on the Food Network (surprise, surprise) and there was Rachael Ray making a stuffing. Normally, I wouldn't care to watch Rachael Ray make a stuffing but there she was chopping apples and onions and celery and I thought to myself: "I have apples and onions and celery." Then she tore up pumpkin muffins and added the vegetable mixture and put it in a pan with some chicken stock and baked it. I thought: "I don't have pumpkin muffins, but I do have bread and a pan." So I decided to improvise some stuffing to go with the chicken....
A Thanksgiving Confession (with Two Recipe Suggestions)
One week from today is Thanksgiving, and it's time to tell you the truth: I'm not cooking dinner this year! No, after cooking last year (see here) and the year before (see here) I'm giving myself a break this year, and enjoying time with my family instead. So there will be no frantic posting, no group therapy, no live video feeds from dinner at our house. But fear not; the funny thing about Thanksgiving is that a good Thanksgiving menu is still a good Thanksgiving menu from one year to the next. Which means that the PDF file I made last year, with all the recipes and detailed instructions and a game plan for getting it done (starting on Sunday), could still work for you--click here to check that out....
Thanksgiving Wrap-Up
Are you sick of Thanksgiving yet? You should be! For the past few weeks, every website, every magazine, every food guru has been espousing the merits of dressing vs. stuffing, cajoling you to make your own cranberry sauce and badgering you to brine your turkey. Now that the big day is over, Thanksgiving Talk is as welcome as deconstructing the sex you just had: "I liked it when you put your right hand on my left shoulder." Not fun. So, for the sake of knowing when to quit, I'm going to keep my Thanksgiving wrap-up short....
Live Thanksgiving Broadcast #2
[Note: After posting this, I figure you may want some explanation as to who everyone is: are you ready? First you'll see my mom and dad, then you'll see the Johnson family--that's my brother's girlfriend Tali's family--her father, Craig, her sister Mia and poking around there my grandmother (my mom's mom); in the next room you'll see my Aunt Ellen who is my mom's brother Mark's wife, then Gila, Tali's mom, then Matt, my cousin (Mark & Ellen's son), Craig, my better half (who has the same full name as Tali's dad!), then my grandfather and my uncle Mark who, if you paid attention, you'll remember is my mom's brother. Phew!] {Note 2: In the video I say, "The turkey carving video I posted" but I didn't post that: A.G. Intern Kathryn did that. Thanks Kathryn!]...
Live Thanksgiving Broadcast #1
Thanksgiving; 12:29 PM. (Recorded at 11:33)...
Turkey Talk with Dan Barber
Check out my Salon interview with Dan Barber about Thanksgiving and turkey and how you can "fuckin' blow it out: high heat all the way." Am I doing that? No, I'm a wimp. Plus, our oven only goes up to 450....
Thanksgiving Status Report
I'm not sure what I'm more stressed about: cooking this dinner for sixteen people or writing this post! There's a lot to talk about so I'm just going to shoot this out like an email and hope for the best... are you ready? Here we go......
Improvised Wild Rice Dressing by Justin The Intern
Our interns are plugging away at recipes for your Thanksgiving benefit. Next up is Justin, a computer guru with restaurant experience, who offers up his recipe for "Wild Rice Dressing." He actually didn't take a picture of the end product, but here's a picture I stole off the internet... Pictures make the website pretty. During the week, when I'm cooking for myself, I like to try wild food experiments, improvising as I go along. When I started doing this a year ago the night would often end with me eating Chinese. I have a better success rate now and the following recipe is one that was good enough to write down. Keep in mind that I am not a baker and all measurements and times have some wiggle room since I never actually measure ingredients or time. When I was learning to cook in a restaurant kitchen I would always ask how long something took. "Until it's done" was the only response I'd ever get....
The Amateur Gourmet's Thanksgiving Game Plan
Attached you will find a PDF file that'll either inspire great terror or great awe. It's a massive document, with all the recipes broken down over the days I'm home to cook. My only fear, right now, is too much sweet stuff: I may need to add mashed potatoes. But, alas, it is 1:06 AM and I must pack for my flight tomorrow. Will I survive this year's Thanksgiving? Will I crumble and fail? Tune in next week as I blog the whole experience.... until then, have a great weekend! [Note: you'll see on the menu I say I'm doing Alton's brined turkey, but at the last minute I switched to a cider brined turkey from Epicurious. Feel free to discuss.] View The Thanksgiving Game Plan PDF...
Zen and the Art of Sausage and Polenta Stuffing by Elizabeth The Intern
Our interns are cooking up a storm this Thanksgiving, all for your benefit. Earlier this week we had Kathryn's Cauliflower Gratin and now, on the other end of the spectrum, we have Elizabeth with her Sausage and Polenta Stuffing. Please don't judge her for her mistakes: remember, I built my fortune on incompetence! Without further ado, I present to you Elizabeth the Intern. Two years ago I cohosted a Thanksgiving dinner. Most of the food turned out well, but one dish was by far the best, a sausage and polenta stuffing we had adapted from Gourmet’s 2005 Thanksgiving issue. I did not make the stuffing that year. Today I tried to make the stuffing. I will say I’ve had better ideas....
Thanksgiving Recipe Testing: Pear & Beet Salad, Freezable Biscuits, and Pumpkin Mousse Parfait
This year, I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner for sixteen people. Let me say that again. This year, I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner for sixteen people. Pardon my French, but holy s**t what the f**k am I thinking? Sorry for cursing (do you say cursing or cussing? I say cursing) but this is a bit scary. Last year was the first time I ever cooked a Thanksgiving dinner (remember?) and this year the guests have TRIPLED. It's as if I wrote a book on food or something and all of a sudden people expect me to know what I'm doing. Hello! Did you read the title? Amateur Gourmet... not Competent Gourmet. Not "Cooks For 16 People" Gourmet. Ok, ok, so it's not all that bad. I leave for Florida on Saturday (this dinner will take place in Boca Raton, where my parents live) and I have five whole days to get things ready before the big night on Thursday. I'm already coordinating a game plan, a carefully scheduled program that I plan to follow to the letter in order to get things done ahead of time. When I finish it, I'll post it as a PDF to the site: it'll have a full menu and all the recipes typed out. My strategy is to do as much ahead as possible so that the only thing I'll have to do on Thursday is cook the turkey, heat up the soup and side dishes and prepare a salad. In anticipation of all this, I've started testing recipes here in Brooklyn to see how they'll fare next week. Tonight I share with you my conclusions and seek your feedback on my plan thus far....
A Healthy Thanksgiving Dish by Kathryn The Intern [Cauliflower Gratin]
Recently, reader Amy from Madison, WI wrote me the following in an e-mail: It's November, and the rest of the month revolves around just one meal: Thanksgiving. But I have a quandry. Every year, I try to contribute something that is NOT fat laden and IS full of veggies and anything else good-for-you . .and my steamed broccoli with lemon zest or roasted asparagus gets rather sadly overlooked for the (classic, and admittedly tasty, though completely devoid of nutrients!) green bean casserole. Can you and my fellow readers help suggest something that will be enjoyed by all and will not leave me feeling bloated and guilty at the end of the meal? Since I, myself, plan to use half a ton of butter in the Thanksgiving dinner I'm going to cook (and I'm cooking for 16 people! more on that later) I decided to send this question to our brand new interns to see who was up to the task. Intern Kathryn (who's soon to attend the French Culinary Institute in New York) leapt at the opportunity and here's her happy, healthy Thanksgiving solution....
