Normally, Thanksgiving is just another day, as far as I'm concerned.
On the other hand, several of us bought stuff in order to put together Thanksgiving dinners for local families in need. So I was in the supermarket last night to pick up a turkey. (I'm not a fan of turkey myself; I prefer chicken.)
As it happened, I noticed that there were several frozen ducks next to the frozen turkeys. It's been years since I last had duck, so on a whim, I picked one up for myself.
It's in my refrigerator right now, defrosting. So it looks like I'll have roast duck on Thanksgiving. I have some potatoes, too, and some milk in the fridge, so I may whip up some mashed potatoes to go along with the duck.
That reminds me; I'd better stop at the store on the way home and pick up some fruit.
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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
I was going to partly or entirely blow it off because it's just me and Matlock mostly, but then I figured we'd probably regret it later if I didn't do it
It's just us two, too, so I was like that, but then thank god we got an invite somewhere else. One of my professors apparently has a huge party for people with no plans or far from home on the holiday. I don't mean to be prejudiced and all, but he and his wife and daughter are Iranian, so I am preemptively assuming the food is going to be phenomenal. I'm really looking forward to it!
Leftovers are really my thing, though. I like the regular stuff on Thanksgiving and all, but my favorite is leftovers, so I would be p. sad if I missed that part. Like, I make way more yams and cranberry relish than anyone would reasonably eat because they're slated for yam and turkey curry and cranberry cakes later.
I used to host those Orphansgivings, too. Those can be the funnest.
Leg of lamb and roasted vegetables for us. I like to cook, I just don't like thanksgiving food. Even disguised as left overs. I'm probably turing my kid into someone who loves that stuff now. Crap. Maybe I should have a big ol' stress fest.
We are going to my bro's house. He had an inspired idea. He is deep frying a turkey, under the close supervision of a cousin who is a chef. A second fryer station is set up for ... fair food. Yep we are going to deep fry everything that is not nailed down. It should be great!
We will had updates and photos for y'all soon. Just wanted to pop in and say we are grateful for you guys and
This Thanksborting I decided to make the Green Bean Casserole. But I didn't kicken out and use the recipe from the back of a Campbell's can. No, fair , I wanted something different, something special. Besides, the last time I tried the canned recipe it came out more soupy than a hearty more togethery GBC should be. This time I tried Pioneer Woman's recipe. I can tell I already mucked it because I don't have the requisite amount of green beans. But that's okay. It's in the final bake portion right now.
Inherent within this post is Bort's first roux. (That's a roux in that recipe, right? I am not good with cook, how did I get here.)
Well, I think just cooked a minute or two does not a roux make (roux is only butter and flour, IIRC). This is good old white sauce, or as the fancies like to call it, béchamel. Add other stuff to make different sauces (in this case, cheese sauce).
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, Nap times over, get back to cleaning up. We had a nice family dinner, turkey and everything, 22 people in the house, but the kids wouldn't sit at the kiddie table so some were in the kitchen. Noisy and lots of good food.
Well, I think just cooked a minute or two does not a roux make (roux is only butter and flour, IIRC). This is good old white sauce, or as the fancies like to call it, béchamel. Add other stuff to make different sauces (in this case, cheese sauce).
Still, cooked fat and flour is roux...
Burn the land
and boil the seas
you can't take
the roux from me
My parents made their usual glorious spread. The turkey was particularly exceptional this year with lovely moist bewbs and everything. I contributed those pan caramelized brussels sprouts with parmesan I've posted before as well just generally helping out as needed.
Weird thing about the pumpkin pies. This is the first time my mom has made them from scratch rather than using canned pie filling, and even though they tasted perfect and delicious, they had these strange white globule looking things on the surface. Can they have been butter separating? It seems unlikely because the butter was melted before she mixed it in with the pumpkin, and the white globules were visible as soon as the pies came out of the oven which butter would not be, would it?
Anyways it was all great. I want to hear about Ensign Steve's Iranian TG. Was there some awesome Persian food in with the usual suspects?
I will now make my final report on the Green Beans of Bort. They were delicious despite the horrible mistakes I made. Here are the lessons I learnt: Proportions are everthing. If you half one ingredient you should half the others. In my excitement to get to cooking I forgotted that I only had half the beans necessary. So, it came out really saucy. The other lesson learnt is to make sure you read everything correctly. When the recipe calls for 1/8th teaspoon of cayenne, please be sure you don't accidentally mistranspose it for the 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt. So, it was a very saucy, very spicy green bort casserole.
I got a really sweet grease burn on my left arm, which actually merges with my extant grater injury in the same spot. I am thinking about maybe going and getting a tattoo artist to trace it.
Everything came out pretty well, except that I didn't have brown sugar, so I substituted white sugar and molasses, but I didn't mix it up very thoroughly for the apple pie, so it's a little odd. The pumpkin pie was reportedly good (I don't like pumpkin pie, so I have to trust what people tell me). No white globs or anything, but also there's no butter in my filling, so maybe that's it.
I made way too much cranberry relish because I make extra for cakes, but seriously, I'm going to have to make like 40 cakes or something. I'm going to have to get some disposable tins and give a bunch away, I think.
My first attempt at stuffed pistolettes was AWESOME. I used locally caught crab claw meat because I didn't want to spend a whole day getting the meat out of mudbugs.
The boil was successful, but a pound of shrimp per person was way too much, as everyone but me and mom would probably have known LOL
Anyways it was all great. I want to hear about Ensign Steve's Iranian TG. Was there some awesome Persian food in with the usual suspects?
Oh, man. It turns out I am totally racist. Don't get me wrong, it was a great party and the spread was totes delicious and warmed my heart and tummy despite being so far from home. But it was a totally catered, store-boughten affair. Not a single ethnic or homemade thing.
Mrs. ShottleBop was sick, as was our eldest daughter, so our two sons and I cooked dinner, and my son-in-law and two grandchildren came over to eat. It was my first turkey; I Googled simple recipes and came up with this: "How to Cook a Turkey: The Simplest, Easiest Method". So that's what I did (although I added a little wine to the cavity before sticking the turkey in the oven). One son made buttermilk biscuits and cranberry sauce (for which he made a trip to BevMo for some particularly spicy ginger beer); another made scalloped potatoes and the stuffing (bread crumbs, Aidell's habanero and pepperjack cheese chicken sausage, celery--he, too, made a special trip to the store, to buy fresh parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme). Only the pies were store-bought. Everything turned out very nicely.
Cranberry Salad Recipe, courtesy of my sister-in-law
Coarsely chop one bag of fresh cranberries in a blender.
Stir in one cup of sugar and place crabnerries in a colander over a bowl and allow to drain overnight.
Then:
Add one small can of pineapple tidbits (drained)
one cup or so of halved red grapes
one or two red apples, chopped. If skin is nice I do not peel.
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, or more, to taste.
Fold in one or two large dollops of fresh whipped cream and chill.
It makes a very refreshing drink for the cook if you reserve the cranberry juice and pineapple juice and then add a little seltzer water.
That's it. I sometimes use pistachios because I love them and the color contrast is nice, but I have walnuts so I'll probably use them this year.
Bumping this ancient thread because I love this recipe and look it up every year instead of writing Janet's Sister-In-Law's Cranberry Salad down on a recipe card.
Re: Thanksgiving menus
Thanksgiving I guess... poutine and pumpkin pie 
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