Turkey talk.. and a little rant

Well, I hope everybody survived thanksgiving both from the personal “get ready” angst and any physical discomfort resulting from ingestion of large amounts of food and accompanying beverages..

In past years (quite a few now) I was in the habit of producing a pre-holiday Feeder about what the different food publications featured for cooking methods, recipes, etc., along with suggested wine (and lately beer) pairings.  Well, I didn’t go back to that practice this year as you can see. 

The only thing I noticed this year was the emphasis on “quick; easiest ever; no fuss; best (arrgh)” and so forth.  In fact, a lot of the magazines emphasized cooking a turkey in pieces so you get the white meat and the dark meat cooked to the correct temperature which is the bugaboo of cooking the whole fowl at once.  That of course is what gave rise to the turn, flip, temp up, temp down stuff that seems to be losing favor.  But, there is still something comforting about seeing a whole golden brown Turkey on a platter, which is used mostly for cover shots..  Nobody seems to feature a roasting pan of pieces on the front of the publication..

Lucky for us, some friends invited us over for dinner, so we were spared any decisions in that direction.  MFO volunteered to do appetizers and desserts.

So we launched a search of several of the magazines for appetizing looking appetizers, with a little eye toward number of ingredients, hours of active time required, etc.  Of course, anything worth doing is worth overdoing, so she ended up with seven (count ‘em seven) dishes and three pies.  To wit:

Spanish Meatballs with tomato-saffron Sauce – Cuisine at Home, Issue 120

Nicole’s Cheddar Crisps – Simple 1-2-3 Appetizers; (Spiral bound notebook)

Oven Fries with Romesco Sauce – “Savory” magazine from Giant

(MFO Modified) Puff Pastries – Based on Cheesy Sesame Phyllo Bites – Bon Appétit, Holiday Issue

Baked Three – Cheese Onion Dip with Chive and Peperoncini; Bon Appétit, Holiday Issue

Cheese Gougères -  Saveur; Issue 186

Salmon Rillettes - Saveur; Issue 186

Apple Pie – Joy of Cooking

Pumpkin Pie – on Libby’s can of filling

Pecan Pie – Joy of Cooking

So lists were made, provisioning trip(s) to Giant, and then days in the kitchen, with occasional expletives here and there..Finally the day arrived and we started off in a celebratory manner with scrambled eggs and pork, some of the crisps and a wake up beverage..

Eventually we gathered together the fruits of MFO’s labors in serving dishes and trays

Loaded them with care into the MOMSTER and went over to our friends where they were presented for all on their lovely newly remodeled kitchen bar

Conversation, grazing, and sipping filled the time until the “Bird” was done.  Fortunately our hostess opted for the brine and bag technique which produced a lovely centerpiece for dinner.

We had a delicious leisurely dinner, under the gaze of their regal Greyhound

Eventually we wended our way back to the digs with enough leftovers provided which provided cocktails and another dinner for us the next night

 Rillettes, Gougères, Puffs, and the Crisps

So ends the 2016 edition of “Thanksgiving” we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.  Now we turn our attention to the annual trek to Missouri (and Kansas!) for Christmas!!

Observation

During our search for recipes I ran across an article entitled “Holiday Cooking is Easier Than You Think” featuring one Melissa Clark, who has a column in the New York Times.  The recipe attached to that piece is one for Mustard and Rosemary Roast Turkey, done with a deconstructed bird.

Accompanying the article is a picture of Melissa “in the kitchen” with her adoring daughter, both with what is usually (respectfully but accurately) referred to as “s**t eating grins” on their face, which I cropped out to spare you.  The caption reveals that she is author of “dozens” of cookbooks.  Okay, that’s a red flag… dozens?  Does any serious cook crank out dozens of cookbooks?  Are there dozens of Paul Bocuse, Patrick O’Connell, Thomas Keller books?  Nope, while hacks like Rachel Ray do.  Cook for profit?  Most likely..  

In addition most of our readers are fairly accomplished in the kitchen.  Have you ever seen worse knife skills than this?   Has she ever been near a kitchen or actually touched a knife?  too busy cranking out that 60th cookbook...

 Ooooo, my hands are going to get sooooo messy!

Okay enough rant.  Off to a new week during which you may have occasion to be

DFD

Late breaking short subjects

Had a stringer report that the old Solomon’s Pier has again opened.  Very Stoney like.   Same damn crab cake.

There seems to be a lot of “construction” activity in the Monterrey spot in San Souci.  Quite a bit of the south side seems affected.  Burlington?

And I'm not even going to comment on the Ohio State game. Didn't turn out the way I wished, but a fantastic game between two excellent teams. And, yes, I begrudgingly think it WAS a first down.  

But I Will comment on the Michigan State game.  What a disaster.  I feel sorry for Mark Dantonio.  How the once mighty have fallen.  And he seems to be dragging Izzo with him..