Well, here it is Thanksgiving eve, and I hope you have
everything in place, your menu settled, wines selected, and prepped anything
you can. We are kind of scaling back
this year, and are hosting some dear friends, who have had a tough year, so we
both leaned on each other during various medical stuff which we won’t dwell on. That’s one of the things that we will be
thankful for.
So in order to avoid the customary carnival of cooking, I am
trying something different (“and now for something completely different’). In years past we’ve done most of the myriad
ways to change a fowl into something more than, well, just another turkey. Turn it every which way in the oven with
temps up, temps down, foil on, foil off, bagged, deconstructed, and so on. Two techniques we have never attempted: deep
frying , or spatchcocked. You can knock
yourself out and well, for the most part you get turkey (I’m sure some will
have varying opinions).
As most people know, I get many, many food magazines, of
course at Thanksgiving the poor editors are faced with producing something “different”
than the last decade’s worth. Most are
devoid of anything really new.
Same with the newspapers who have to run a Food Section
devoted to the holiday. In the Washington
post edition, there was an interesting article about the stupid Turducken
concept written by a butcher who begrudgingly prepares a few.
Anyway (yes we will talk about food!) somehow I get an
inordinate amount of food catalogues, Dean and Deluca, various steak houses,
and so forth. One that kind of caught my
eye was one from New Braunfels Smokehouse in Texas. They featured several versions of (smoked)
fowl for the day, of course Turkey, but also Pheasant, Quail, Chicken, Game Hens and so
on. Being smoked the are completely
cooked which was attractive to me. Of
course, I wondered about (sorry) sodium content and send them a “contact us”
email. I almost immediately got a reply
from Susan, answering my questions which resulted in a nice
e-conversation. Anyway, I thought “well,
why not”? And so our Thanksgiving entrée
arrived last week
And with a bit of effort, found a home nestled in the freezer drawer
Showing somebody your freezer drawer is kind of like revealing
your underwear drawer. Revealing things like Ben and Jerry’s; a
hamburger bun(?); some foil wrapped items that have probably been there for
years of which I have no idea what they contain; some frozen peas of unknown
vintage (which are probably furry); and joined by Mr. Turkey!
The smokehouse folks say it can be served as
is at room temp or warmed in the oven (wrapped in foil). Other sides include guest supplied mashed
potatoes, and a salad. Conscious of my
dietary regimen, she found a recipe for mashed potatoes that uses “Nutritional
Yeast” which the feeder never heard of. Although
it sounded yucky, a quick google search revealed:
"Nutritional yeast is sold as flakes, granules or powder and can be found in the spice section or bulk bins of health food stores. Nutritional yeast is a versatile food that works with nearly any type of diet or eating style. ... Summary Nutritional yeast is a vegan food product with a cheesy, nutty or savory flavor"
Be interesting to see how it turns out. For my small part (besides the smoked bird) I am
contributing an appetizer offering of my favorite Pimento Cheese spread recipe
I show this not so much so you can duplicate it, more to
remind you to make notes every time you make it, as shown on my ragged
copy. This year I cut back some of the
cayenne, used more cheese and less Duke’s and I think it looked better than
last year. We’ll see
3945
MFO is making Mince and Pumpkin (the ONLY good use of the
thing) pies.
The Fun pages:
If any of you STL natives still see this, does this mean anything
to you?
When we still lived in Clayton (MO), every Saturday I would make
a short trek down Clayton Road to Lake Forest Bakery, and purchase one of those delicacies. At that time, they were famous for the dish...Was kind of a neighborhood gathering, pretty
much the same people, and all the ladies behind the counter mostly knew you by
name. Although Lake Forest is long gone, it's nice to see the tradition carries on
Nice to see STL in a national food publication for something besides Baby Back Ribs
What’s wrong with this picture?
People serious about food and wine should pick it out right
away. These folks are amateurs. Food and Wine magazine should know better..
The Editorial Page
On a whim, I looked back at my Thanksgiving posting from
2011. Nothing changes! Excerpts:
Preparations varied
from hacking up the bird (Julia Child’s Turkey – Updated), to the flipping this
side and that, hot oven, cold oven, grilling, and yes, deep frying (along with
a string of warnings) , brining, rubbings, marinating, this and that. And as I always work in someplace, you can do
what you want to a turkey, the end product is, yes, still a turkey. And to be fair (as I always am..) there are
also suggestions for ham, standing rib roasts, lamb, and pork (we’re having a
loin – from WAG meats)
Sides of course can
rescue the bland protein, and there are a million recipes.. how about Triple
Cheese Curried Cauliflower Gratin?
Straight from the pilgrims..
Wines are all over the
place, once again driving me to the old DWTHYL theory, if you like a particular
wine, drink it for goodness sake.
But the real message is as true today as it was seven years
ago (and before that):
And before you go, I
have to remind you that it is not the food that is the objective, it is the
gathering of your family and loved ones, friends, and people that mean
something to you. Whether here or far
from home doing things that keep us safe, or those that have gone before are
here in spirit and memory. THAT is the
meaning of special days. Food of course
can make it so enjoyable, but the love that is shared is more important. To borrow a phrase from my other column: It isn’t the drumstick that is important it
is who is holding it…
DFD is nice, but for God’s sake:
NMMJ
