bleachboy

Congratulations, Yetti! I, too, hosted my first Thanksgiving yesterday, for fourteen. Turkey brined and deepfried turned out succulent, although it was not my first time to deep fry a turkey. However, the event in general was so successful that my wife and I have been declared the new annual Thanksgiving spot! The family was getting too big to all fit into my grandmother-in-law's house. Everybody brought a couple of dishes, so I won't even begin to try to list them all -- I only got to try about 1/3 of them. There were at least 30 dishes available, including turkey and ham, three types of stuffing, two types of potatoes, fried fish, fried onion rings, corn fritters, etc. About the only constant was the rolls.

The beer batter I use is indeed freakin' awesome (I have never served anything fried in it without getting raves) and it does contain an egg. Here's the recipe I am gonna be using this, in fact, on Thansgiving Day to do fried cod and onion rings -- no sense wasting all that hot oil from the turkey frying!

Jason, Wow, that looks great! Two great tastes that taste great together. I'm currently using Thanksgiving as an excuse to try learning to make perfect cornbread without looking at the recipe. Once I get that down, I'm gonna try additions like yours.

I have a Bamix that my wonderful wife bought me last year. I use it frequently, and so does she. Any kind of emulsified sauce (mayo, hollandaise, vinaigrette, etc) is a breeze and during the colder months I use it a LOT for pureeing soups. It's great because if you are making a bean soup or something where you want it mostly pureed but you still want a few chunks, you just pulse it until it's just how you want it, and you can do it all in the original pot. My wife recently also used it to grind spices (to make spice blends) and reported good results. That requires a little spice grinder attachment thing, which was included with my Bamix. And the best part is... they are REALLY easy to clean. Clean it right after use, and it takes about 8 seconds. Enjoy your new toy! I'm sure you'll love it!

I did order one of the (shrimp) stuffed chickens and I agree. It was SUPER delectable. I served it with a simple salad and reheated some frozen chicken jus (from a previous roast chicken) and it was a huge hit with all concerned. Moist and delicious and the stuffing was to die for.

Totally new topic -- I would have created a new topic, but the BBS software wouldn't let me. ChefG: How would you feel about doing a pre-opening night for eGulleters? My wife and I both enjoyed a tour de force at Trio ("He's really cute!" my wife gushed) and we'd definitely make the trip up to Chicago for such an event. I think that eGulleters would be a great way for you to do a practice run. We could slam your kitchen and your wait staff, and perhaps we could have a little round-table style conversation after service was over to discuss the experience. Alinea notepads all around!

Well, I know that the Hardees restaurants out here actually serve very, very good burgers -- Err, maybe "very, very" is a little too strong, but they're definitely the best fast-food burgers going. Like Chris, I've actually tried whatever their biggest burger was in the past -- it may actually have been some incarnation of this Monster Thickburger. It was quite delicious, but so damn heavy that I felt nauseous for about three hours after eating it. Like I mentioned up top, it's probably a great hangover-killer. And also a great people-killer.

Hardees rolls out new "Monster Thickburger" -- 1,400 calories, 107 grams of fat. Sure, it sounds like this burger may be my new hangover cure, but American fast food is really getting ridiculous. I bet a lot of people will buy the Monster Thickburger without realizing just how staggeringly unhealthy it is. My proposal: Fast food places should be required to post simple nutritional information on their menus just other foods. I really don't think just posting it inside in the hallway to the bathroom on a poster in 9-point type informs the consumer properly. Maybe a simple notation like "calories/fat". I sure as hell would think again before ordering if the sign said: MONSTER THICKBURGER $5.49 1400/107

The Taiwan site is a little sketchy, yeah. I do enjoy the broken-English description, though!

Just mentioned it on another thread, but the Mac 'n' Cheese in Cooks Illustrated a few months ago is by far the best I've ever tasted -- my wife agrees, and she's a Mac 'n' Cheese fanatic (in the South, M&C is considered a "vegetable"). You basically just make a bechamel, then stir in one pound sharp cheddar and one pound monterey jack until it melts, then add one pound cooked elbow macaroni and some cayenne pepper and seasonings to taste. It's very convenient, since when I make it I buy the one-pound bags of preshredded Monterey Jack and Sharp Cheddar from the grocery store. Yeah, not very "eGullet" but it works fine. Optional are the buttered breadcrumb topping (and subsequent broiling to crisp), parmesan on top, or any sort of truffle flavoring which is the true apotheosis of this dish. I made some last week with about $20 worth of white truffles and it was freaking unbelievable. Sean Brock at Capitol Grille here in Nashville also uses truffles. Yummmm.

I make the Cook's Illustrated M&C -- you basically just make a Sauce Mornay with one pound each of cheddar and monterey jack. Tonload of truffles optional. I've never found it as good reheated as fresh. However, I like to reheat it on a low burner on the cooktop with additional milk added to counteract evaporation, and this usually yields acceptable results. I am very intrigued, however, with the idea of frying the leftovers.. perhaps in little Rice-Krispie-Treat size bars??

I am intrigued as well! Please do report back! What could me more delicious over the holidays than roast turkey? Why, turkey preserved in four gallons of duck fat, of course!!

Literally, fifi, with every post you write my admiration for you just grows and grows. Try the Frito pie wrapped in a tortilla, burrito style. Try that same Frito pie burrito deep-fried, chimichanga style. *swoon*

Definitely. Krystal's chili cheese pups come with yellow mustard standard as the only condiment. I, however, can't freaking stand yellow mustard -- I don't care what it's being eaten with. So I always get dogs either plain and add my own mustard or with mayo, because I'm a freak. A damn freak.

I eat my words after Googling: SS sheet pan #1 "black steel" sheet pan

I agree with chefpeon ... seems like the best option is to just line your sheet pans with something. Either something disposable or something like silpat (which perfectly fits a half sheet pan), depending on your use. You have clients that are really paranoid about aluminum intake or something? I read somewhere once that you get more aluminum from anti-perspirant than from aluminum cookware, foil, etc... I think the only non-aluminum option would be to buy (expensive) cookie sheets made out of some sort of nonstick material.

Me either. I am frying turkey(s) this year, though. Probably two 10-12 pounders. I'm not gonna let that vat of oil go to waste, though. I'm also planning onion rings, corn fritters, and fried fish (last).

Well, asking the question is fine but to deride a cocktail sauce because it contains Heinz catsup is just plain snobbery. Cocktail sauce is supposed to contain store-bought catsup, IMHO!

I have a dutch oven too, that I bought as a "second" at the Le Creuset outlet, that has a raw cast iron interior -- although I suppose it could be the "matte black" coating metioned before. Not sure how I could tell. I use it as a pot for baked beans exclusively, as it's very attractive that way.

What a thread!! Great photos, viva! I really can't imagine how this cake tastes. Maybe some weekend...

I will! I'm gonna do a trial run this weekend. I ordered extra ingredients for that purpose. It's a holiday, so the trick is going to be to see how much pork fat I can cram into a dressing without overpowering everything or making it too greasy or soggy.

I have discovered the ultimate white truffle "convenience" ingredient. It's white truffle puree from Urbani. Yeah, it's $38 for less than one ounce. But it comes in a convenient anchovy-paste style tube and the listed expiration date is in 2007. I used some to make both truffle butter and some truffled mashed potatoes. Oh. My. God. This stuff blows truffle oil away. Admittedly, yes, truffle oil is much more convenient as a finish on soups and stuff, but if you want a genuine truffle flavor in your mac 'n' cheese, look no further than this stuff! I ordered three extra tubes just so I can be set for truffle urges for the next few years. The ingredients, BTW, are white truffles, milk, and some sort of anti-oxidant (?).

Well, I suppose I've decided. I'm gonna make two dressings this year. One -- for the daring -- will be a cornbread dressing similar to fifi's, but with roux, trinity, andouille sausage, crawfish tails, and "cajun spices". The other will be a fairly plain white bread dressing, possibly the one from How To Cook Everything. I'll probably do them a day ahead, since I've never entertained for 20+ before, and I'm pretty sure I'll be frantic on the day itself. I'm also making pumpkin cheesecake ahead of time. Hopefully the only thing I'll actually have to cook on Thanksgiving is the mashed potatoes. My wife is doing all the vegetarian stuff and everybody else is bringing at least one dish.

Wow. Never checked out a stock photography website before. $99.95 for that? I'm gonna change my profession. (They do look tasty, though! Will have to try this next summer -- I wonder if any trick is necessary to get the bacon to "stick" to the weiner?) EDIT: To add some sort of food-related comment.

Tonight I tried sandwiching mini tater-tots at 450 degrees in between two sheet pans, and weighed down with an iron skillet after about 10 minutes. The goal was to make a giant tater tot pancake. However, what ended up happening was that one side of each tot stuck to the underside of the top sheet pan and the other side stuck to the top side of the bottom sheet pan. After scraping off, however, this was really quite a good hash-brown-like treat!