Thanksgiving chefs post game wrapup.

As always, I love to cook thanksgiving and I love to eat it, but not on the same day. Too hectic, then too much rush to eat.

This year, my turkey got done a whole 2 hours early! Scramble to get other sides sped up and try to get 2 guests to arrive early. Not the best.

Pumpkin pies were a solid B, not as good as the test recipe from last week.
Turkey was an A- in a wet brine.
Kielbasa cornbread stuffing was an A
Roasted sweet potatoes could have been an A but they went from caramelized to char while waiting: C
Gravy was a C- thin and a touch too salty.

I wasn't the main chef, but I did bake the apple pie. It turned out beautifully this time around, and was very tasty too. I tried something new I'd read somewhere and used 3 different types of apples, which turned out really well. Definitely recommend it!

I made rolls and helped with some of the side dishes, which worked out quite well since our turkey was also done early. Rolls were slightly overcooked; first time I've ever made them, usually I just do loaves, but they were still good. Everything else came out fine, no major incidents.

I got the carcass so I can make stock out of it. I'll easily have enough for turkey soup and something I want to try, turkey chilli.

Our Thanksgiving was great!


The turkey was definitely one of the best ones I've made; it was really good. I even liked it, which was nice. I can't say for sure it was the dry-brining that did it, but it was quite good, a really nice texture and flavor, and not dry at all, with a great crispy skin and meat that almost fell off the bone. I will definitely dry-brine again next year.

We also had:

green bean casserole
corn
homemade rolls
sweet potato casserole
a VAT of mashed potatoes
stuffing
cranberry sauce

and of course pumpkin pie


I'd misplaced the recipe I was going to use for the sweet potato casserole (I've never made one before) so I basically just improvised one; I used about 2 lbs. of sweet potatoes, boiled, and added a cup of white sugar, a cup of dark brown sugar, a couple of Tbsp of maple syrup, a 1/2 tsp or so of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and a 1/4 tsp or so of rosemary and sage to give it a bit of savoriness. I mashed that up well and put it into a pie dish. Then I topped it with mini marshmallows and baked it at about 350 for twenty minutes or so until the marshmallows were melted and the potatoes were hot through.

It ended up being a bit more liquidy than I wanted, but everyone loved it.


We invited our Scottish neighbor over, which was a lot of fun. She'd never had a Thanksgiving dinner before, and was really excited about it and loved it, which is always great. That's one thing I do really enjoy about Thanksgiving over here (well, that and the fact that everything is open so if I've forgotten anything or need to get something else, it's easy): sharing a real Thanksgiving dinner with people who've never had one.

It was a triumph of mega-proportions. We did the smoked turkey and the limoncello cake. Our friends made the sides - mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, roasted Brussels sprouts with olive oil, capers and walnuts, green beans, beer batter bread, and cranberry relish. We also brought 'Brave' to watch and it kept the turkey coma at bay. All in all... a wonderful day.

I made all the sides. Cranberry sauce--I add orange juice, orange marmalade, a little cinnamon and nutmeg, and a glug of red wine. Roasted carrots glazed with a maple-mustard thing. Stuffing, made with potato bread, yellow onions, Granny Smith apples, celery, and chestnuts. Smashed potatoes with roasted garlic, a little butter, and buttermilk. Mmmm.

The sides have sucked for the past couple of years, and once I diagnosed the problem--a relative whomping stiff doses of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter into everything--I tried the 'It's time to let us wait on you' line. It worked nicely.