What will you gobblegobblegobble this Thanksgiving?

Mac--

Your salad sounds both festive and low fat. Wonderful.

I stare in pleased disbelief at Ul's dinner menu. Omygoodness, I'm going to have to study that harder.

I am worried, my cousins don't answer. There should be at least a dozen people there. Either the phone is tucked away or someone is sick...

I am expecting to be with them all in late december, so I am not so pained by not being there except for this tiny bit of worry.

Me, I'm having home made (not by me) garlic fettucine with olive oil, more garlic, chopped italian parsley and sauteed walnut bits, tossed with parmigiano reggiano that a friend brought when visiting lately. My big question is whether to squeeze a lemon over all of that, or add chili flakes to the saute.

Ok, I know this is not the usual TG dish, but I did lead up to it with a Vegetarian thanksgiving thread on a2k once. I'm not vegetarian but my guests were that year.

I'll probably do a small turkey this weekend, have two new recipes to try and have to decide between them. In the meantime, I've been cleaning my basement (hurling whole bits of my work life and old tax records) and fooling around on a quiet a2k, and sort of avoiding a lot of emails from pals. Not that I don't appreciate them, I do, but .. to answer takes various paragraphs. Manana.

Yum mac. That fruit salad does sound good. I was at the grocery this morning amazed at all the beautiful produce available. It's amazing, really.

I should have stuck with such stuff. I'm still so full that I haven't even considered desert.

Walnuts in fettucine? That sounds great! I think I would go with chili flakes but then I put chili flakes (or Tobasco) on everything.

My sister was making some kind of walnut, spinach, bleu cheese salad. I'm going to have to investigate walnuts a bit more.

I've spent the last few weeks hurling bits of my life away. What a great feeling. Now if the ARC would just come haul it away I'd be set.

I too am waiting to hear back from ul about the party she went to. That is an impressive menu.

I did add chili flakes (my hands just go right to that jar)... and it worked. It works with regular pesto (basil and pine nuts and parmigiano, why not parsley and walnuts and parmigiano...). Of course, I've been known to add chili flakes to my turkey dressing...

Mr. Noddy is on a diabetic diet and does not consider chicken, turkey or fish to be festive material

We had pork chops, scalloped oysters, mashed potatoes (I wanted yams, but we'll have yams tomorrow) and lima beans.

My great regret is that turkey provides more leftovers than pork chops.

I don't go shopping on Black Friday. My family tradition is that if no social opportunity interferes, a Good Woman tackles the pre-holiday Deep Cleaning. Having an assortment of leftovers for grazing makes for a festive weekend while Deep Cleaning.

Scalloped oysters? That sounds like something Mr. B would love.

I love yams! I like them just baked like a regular potato. Yams are one of the most underappreciated vegetables around. I eat them all year long.

I don't go shopping on Black Friday.

And I don't clean either!

The one nice thing about having no furniture is that there isn't anything you have to move to clean.

Boomer--

My mother cleaned twice a year--shortly after Thanksgiving and before Easter. I am my mother's daughter, but I do try to move the furniture at least three times every year.

Those summer cobwebs gotta go.

I do vacuum the center of the floor on New Year's Eve.

Congratulations on Mo's first First Class Family Holiday.

Hold your dominion.

My mom is one of those kind of insane clean people. She lives with my sister who puts Howard Hughes to shame.

While I don't live in squalor my house is known to be untidy in a center of the floor vaccuumed sort of way.

Funny thing -- when mom comes to visit she seems to enjoy the lack of cleaning stress around here.

Or maybe it's just valium or something!

Apostate!

Last night's party was as every year a feast. The dining room was decorated with huge cornucopias, baked out of bread dow, and filled with fresh fruit of all kinds, sunflowers and each buffet table was crowned by a roasted cold turkey. The breast meat had been carved out, the cavity was filled with butter and sealed off with thinly sliced and glaced pineapple.
The crayfish cocktail was rather good- it depended on the ripeness of the grapefruit. Some were too tangy.
The turkeys were juicy and tender, the gravy excellent.
After the coffee we all were pleasantly "stuffed".

Going out was fun, but the best Thanksgiving dinner we had here were when American friends stayed here and we all were cooking after hunting for the right ingredients. Sweet potatoes with marshmallows- my son still dreams of this.

The cheese thingies were great. We decided to call them cheese coasters.

Everything was good, but the stuffing was a little dry. Next year, more liquid of some sort (this year, I used chicken stock, just not enough).

Oh and it was a record-breaking fast turkey.

Taken from freezer to fridge Monday night.
Taken out of fridge Wednesday morning.
Noon Thursday, oven set to broil (hottest of the hot).
Put together turkey and interior stuff. I heated up the interior stuff in the microwave.
Put turkey onto bed of carrots and celery, rather than a rack.
Stuffed the things in there (garlic cloves, 2 haves of a seeded lemon with the skin zested off, some celery and carrots (this was not the stuffing, this was to put something in the cavity so that it would stay moist).
Brushed melted margarine all over turkey. Sprinkled kosher salt and ground black pepper on skin, a little thrown into cavity.
Turned oven down to 400. Put turkey in at about 12:30.
Turned oven down to 350 at 1 PM. Made biscuits and cheese in oven, so the oven was opened and closed a few times.
Turned turkey around (the oven wasn't heating evenly on both sides), basted with water and closed oven door, at 1:30 PM.
1:30 - 2:30 - made corn, taters, asparagus on stove top, stuffing in microwave.
2:30 PM - turkey was checked with meat thermometer (I thought I was going to baste it). Turns out, the breast was 165 F and the legs were 180. Took out turkey, covered with dish towel that had been soaked in cold water. Was entertained by steam rising off turkey.
Put food into serving vessels (the table had already been set). Washed some small things so that they'd be out of the way.
4:30 PM - ate dinner (could have eaten an hour earlier, we just didn't want to eat quite so early).
7:30 PM - collapsed in turkey coma.

No explosions. However, the hamster casserole went uneaten. Dang, now what am I gonna do with the slow learners?

We had a fast turkey, too. Fast-ish, anyway. We go through this every year, (and with 4 different stoves so far, each with their own idiosyncracies), eventually I'll figure it out.

I usually follow the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook's directions for turkey. They said that a 12-16 pounder (we had a 13.7-pounder) would take 4-5 hours at 325 degrees, with 45 minutes tacked on if it's stuffed. (It was.)

So, that's about 5 hours and 15 minutes, total. Fine.

But we bought the turkey from Trader Joe's, and it had directions on it -- for a 12-14 pounder, 325 degree oven, stuffed, 3 hours. Hmmm. A wee bit of difference there.

The discrepancy could perhaps be explained by the fact that BH&G said the turkey was done when it was 180-185 degrees, TJ's when it was 170-175 degrees.

Whaaaa...?

Just to add some fun, BH&G said to smear it with butter, put tinfoil over it, and remove tinfoil for the last 45 minutes. TJ's said to put water and/or broth in the bottom, and leave uncovered UNTIL the last 45 minutes or so (after it turns golden).

This is already getting longer than the subject warrants, so I'll skip some of the trial and error and say that I ended up charting a middle course, being stymied by early high thermometer readings, and ending up declaring it done the minute anything went to 180. (I HATE dry overcooked turkey.) Turned out fine! Whew.

I do it closer to the BH&G way. Oil up the turkey, foil tent the sucker, remove the tent when temp reaches 170, remove turkey when temp reaches 180. Haven't ever done an actual stuffed turkey, though. I plan to test that at some point.

T came up with the idea of Thanksgiving in July, where we invite over friends for a big turkey feast... I think we'll do it.

Well, the turkey's been in the smoker about 6 hours now ... the smoker's in the garage to shield it from the wind, which is whipping around pretty good right now. Once in a while, a good whiff of the aroma gets into the house; added to the perfume from the pie-baking currently under way, its drool city. Got grandkids harrassing The Puppies and The Ponies, and a flock of niece and nephew types have appropriated the big TV, gaming away with incredible intensity. They brought their own gaming console, knowing Unca/Grampa timber doesn't have one, and believing Unca/Grampa timber's dumb 'ol 'puters ain't got any games either ("But, then, why do you have 'em? Whadda you use 'em for? What good are they?"):wink:

The shrimp ring thing worked out OK after all, somebody brought a huge one, and its there on the table w/ the cheese & crackers and all that. Mrs Timber is out 'til later this afternoon, a surprise guest she knows nothing about is here - its gonna be great to see her reaction when she gets home and makes the discovery.


Well, back to the fray ... lots to do yet, and from the sound of things, I should prolly go rescue one of The Puppies ... he's more or less OK w/the idea, but he really doesn't appreciate it much when they try to ride him. Besides ... not in the house! You're gonna break something!

We had a fine time at a friend's house in the country...and I mean COUNTRY!
The deep-fried turkey was fabulous as was the smoked turkey and smoked ham he prepard.

The broccoli and green bean casseroles were good too. I brought a sweet potato casserole which was well received and my KFC cole slaw disappared fast.

Not much was left after 25 adults and kids were through.

AND we took 2 plates home. Good times.

On the day after Thanksgiving, my leftover scalloped oysters are still delicious.

Will you give us a recipe, Noddy?

Ummm yes, Noddy, share the recipe!

Cheese coasters sound like something I'd like. Ingredients: cheese. I love cheese!

Mr. B did our turkey and it seems like it cooked faster than we anticipated. Perhaps there was some kind of quick cook genetic mutation in the turkeys.

Oh timber that sounds wonderful and fun and doubly delicious.

Your comment about Granpa timber's dumb old computer made me stop in my tracks.

I wonder what a lot of kids would think about what their parents have commited to print on these pages!

Do you think they'd be surprised?

Oh yeah. Anyone over 30 couldn't possibly know anything about sex or music or computers or cheese.

Sounds like everyone had a fabulous time. I love the idea of Thanksgiving in July (why not?), could be cooked late or in the very early AM so as to avoid a too-too-hot kitchen.

Quick cook genetic mutation indeed.

Cheese coasters for everyone!

Evolved Oyster:

The original recipe comes from Irma Rombauer's Joy of Cooking.
My mother cooked her holiday meals at least four hundred miles inland and by the time I watched her preparation of the Ancestral Recipe, she measured by the size of her dishes rather than by standard cups.

I've adapted the recipe to my own casserole sizes.

Two days before cooking, pull a loaf of good Italian bread into sort-of-cube pieces and allow to get good and stale.

On the holiday:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the bread with melted butter. I add a bit of celery and onion, but this is what I do.

Put half the bread mixture in the bottom of your favorite casserole.

Arrange a layer of oysters on top of the bread.

Add a generous squirt of catsup to a cup of cream or condensed milk and pour this over the oyster layer.

Top with the remaining bread mixture. If any bread is left over, put it out for the birds.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.