bleudauvergne

Every year at Thanksgiving we serve a bacon and creamed chestnut dish. It's very simple. Puree your chestnuts with cream. Add bacon, cover with foil, and and bake at about 400f/200c until it's bubbling and yummy looking. Sometimes we top with grated cheese and let that brown on top. Another thing you can do with them is to pack them in sugar syrup and serve them with ice cream.

I've been in two situations where my French companions strongly protested when a smokers' table began to cloud the atmosphere around it. The first time, in Paris, the man felt compelled to light up despite the non smoking sign and the protest, and it was a difficult situation. The second time, outdoors, the smokers insisted that they be allowed to smoke (there were 6 of them if I remember correctly), and when our food arrived they all thankfully put them out.

Click for Corn Husks for Tamales Thread in which the conversation turned to fats... I'm also thinking about tamales right now. What a strange coincedence.

Both parents deep Southerners transplanted to New York State. We always had chess and pumpkin.

This thread has got me thinking about tripes for dinner tonight. I think cru meant to add to this discussion - btw A hearty welcome to you, cru!

Funny you should mention that. I bring Masa Harina back to France now every time I go back to the States. There's a whole list of things I bring back and things I've found substitutions for. I think the syrop de canne will work for the pie, and although the pie was incredible, I wonder what it would be like with exactly the right kind of bourbon...

Hey thanks guys for the wonderful comments! That pie is a keeper and is destined to be tradition here from now on. Thank you for the wonderul recipe, Sam. We set the table the French way, Dave. Our wedding china and cutlery is French. The markings on the silver are such that you have to set it the French way (tines down) to keep them from showing. It's almost the same anyway, the difference is the orientation of the forks and the dessert and cheese cutlery is placed at the top of the plate. I know exactly what you mean...

Those leftovers look so good, I'm starving!

We ended the meal with a Poire William eau de vie, A gift from Aude which we put in the freezer to chill when she arrived. It was really delicious! So in all, our thanksgiving was really nice, even with the turkey mishap and everything. The bird was tender and juicy. My first thanksgiving abroad, I actually missed it, and cried when a Chinese co-worker wished me a happy Thanksgiving... This year the most important thing was that we had all of my husband's family there, and of course, the pie. One by one, the pies will be saved.

The turkey came out of the oven when the soup was served, and the casseroles went in to heat up, and the rolls were set out over the lightly steaming pot where the pasta had been finished. Before serving the turkey I transferred it to another platter and quickly made the gravy. Everything came out at once, the rolls went in the oven, and the feast began. They really loved it. The turkey, the fixings, etc. After the feast, we brought out the cheese plate with hot rolls and all of our recent loves. Epoisses, Cathare de Chevre, (here is a photo of this cheese that I took at another time:) Abondance, Comte, a lovely vieux Morbier, and star of the plate, a pretty little chevre. Here's a photo of the leftover rolls I took the next day - to see what they looked like - Finally dessert which was a HUGE HIT, and served not with Bourbon, as indicated in the recipe, but a Clairette tradition which married with it beautifully.

Anne and Guillaume arrived and we moved to the table. The first course was the consomme de Poule de Bresse with Truffle Ravioli. Next time I will cut out the ravioli from this dish and just add chopped herbs to the top of the soup, because it was so wonderfully flavorful. The ravioli I felt detracted from the soup, because of a picorino filling, which made it more about picorino than the truffle, which was descernable, but there was a lot going on, and I felt it would be better if it was presented more simply. The first course put everyone at ease. I was not going to force feed them anything unpalatable. This is the first thanksgiving for my husband's parents, his sister and boyfriend, and his cousin from Paris. They'd heard stories, I think, about American Thanksgiving...

Aperetif was simple Champagne Gonet with some herbed and spiced nuts I'd put together for the first time. It was like chex mix without the chex, and a bit too heavy. luckily I had some blinis with various fish toppings in the freezer that I had defrosted just in case, so people didn't load down on those nuts. Two of our guests were to arrive late, and the big quandry at a time like this is whether to serve the aperetif before everyone arrives or not. In France, people sit and wait without taking anything by mouth until the last guest arrives. It's rather torcherous. In America, on the other hand, people are handed drinks the moment they arrive, and bowls of nibbles are placed about for people to snack on throughout the afternoon. I put the nuts down on the table in the middle of the group, as a hint. No one, not one person reached for even one. I decided to get things rolling, and took a nut and popped it in my mouth, and said "Mmmmm!" Still, the group looked at me like I was a bit odd, and continued with the discussion, still not touching the nuts. I finally said that it was an American custom for everyone to get their drink the moment they arrive and the first thing out my my husband's mouth was - "but we gave them tea!". Then my husband's father chimed in with the comment that perhaps we could have something non-alcoholic. No, I insisted, we must take the aperetif now that we know that Anne and Guillaume are going to be late. They will have to miss the aperetif, since our turkey is on a schedule. Everyone reluctantly agreed, and nursed their champagne for as long as they could. With 8 people, we did not finish one bottle of champagne. Hmmm. Not the best start. I had another glass of champagne, and so did Bonnie.

My friend Bonnie, an American friend I've known since the year we arrived here, came from Grenoble for the feast. She has had thanksgiving with us the last 4 years. When she arrived, I'd just set the consomme on to simmer with its egg white and chicken breast filter, (Bonnie arrived later than expected, the trains were on strike), we put the turkey in the oven and set to work on the rolls. Rather easy since I ordered the dough from the bakery. I had ordered 500g. each of pain aux noix (walnut bread), viennoise, and plain baguette. We began rolling them up and plopping one ball of each kind into the muffin tin. My parents-in-law arrived while we were doing this, and it was precisely the perfect moment for them to arrive, because the scene was very industrious. It set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. We got them settled in with some tea in the livingroom and Bonnie and I visited for awhile. My husband's sister who is also in Grenoble called to say they'd be late, and were doing away with the idea of taking the train altogether because with the strike they kept cancelling things last minute, so they'd be arriving by car.

Loic arrived with the Bourbon. Thus the rest of the afternoon (up until the time the turkey went in) was all about this pie. It was really a pleasure to prepare Sam's recipe. I have to say that there is a slight inconsistency in step 2 (cream vs milk - I used cream), and in the final step where butter was in the ingredients but not in the method. But what a wonderful, soothing, entirely joyful experience making this pie was. About the ingredients: working in a foreign country, one has absolutely no choice but to "bricoler". Thus for the Golden Syrup, I was force to use "syrop de canne". For the specific brand of Bourbon, well, we were lucky enough to find anything at all, and ironically it was called "SAMROCK" bourbon. Instead of Belgian chocolate, of course we used French. The eggs weren't extra large, but they did the job. The vanilla I had on hand comes as ground bean in sugar, so I used that during the candy stage. Instead of kosher salt, I used fleur de sel. Don't forget baking paper when proofing the pie shell - doh! My 5 year old blackeyed peas have perhaps seen their last pie shell. I think I was supposed to put some butter in with the sugar syrup for the whole pecan topping (Sam, it's not mentioned in your method - can you clarify that?), and it crystallized, and I think that the "Syrop de Canne" didn't behave the same as golden syrup would have. However I was quite satisfied with the result. This was just before serving it at the table.

SLKinsey completely inspired me this year with his "Derby Style Pecan Tarte" aka pecan pie. My husband usually makes the pies for thanksgiving, but when he saw the recipe and saw my insistence that it be made this year, he quickly found a whole slew of things that needed to be done other than making pie. I agreed that I'd make the crust for him, and sent him off on a hunt for Kentucky Bourbon, which we were not sure would be available. We made a deal. If he finds the Bourbon, I will make the tarte. If not, he'd make a pumpkin pie with the crust I'd made while he was out searching for the bourbon. I also told him to hurry up and listed the timeframe he would have to do the pie in if he didn't show up with the goods. The crust came together like a dream. Although Sam's recipe calls for two types of flour, American All purpose and pastry, I just used the French type 55 which in the end is a cross between the two. I eyeballed the butter, and instead of sour cream, I used creme fraiche epaisse, and used a dollop, which was all I needed. That went into the freezer and I then steamed the veggies and put together the "casseroles" with ingredients I'd prepared already. Creamed chestnuts and bacon, Asparagus with a Comte mornay, Peas and carrots simple (gotta have something vibrant and green), and chopped the veggies for a succotash.

They really did a number on the skin. I have no idea how to keep them from doing this - they systematically do it every year, even when I specifically ask them not to. I suspect that the turkeys arrive from the depot in rather damaged condition because they are subsequently carved up and their parts are sold, never whole. The corn bread had been made in advance and the fixings for the regular stuffing were in place. I use fermented milk from the middle eastern grocery in place of the buttermilk, and this year in a bind because of a lack of corn meal anywhere in the neighborhood, I mixed masa harina and semoule! eeek! But it tasted alright... The turkey was too large for any of our roasting pans (we have not control over the size of the turkey, we simply order and cross our fingers, so I had to go out at the last minute and get some root vegetables to build a support. One year I tried roasting the bird directly on the rack and it burned and smoked us almost out of the house. You have too either use a rack that will suspend it above the surface or build one out of veggies. Just as I was finishing the support, Loic came in with the oysters, and they put me in a better mood at once. They were fresh and delicious and Loic had had them opened at Les Halles. They cost by the dozen less if we don't have the oyster man cut them open, but we had him do it anyway because it's just a pain in the arse wither everything else that's going on. We've decied to only two kinds of stuffing, regular cornbread, and oyster. I sent Loic back out to get more cream for the chantilly. The regular stuffing went into the main cavity of the bird, and then the final problem was what to do with the oyster stuffing, which always goes into the neck. I searched everywhere for the crepine that the supposedly butcher at Les Halles gave me, but didn't find it, so it was back out again to my normal butcher (he won't do turkeys this time of year), to ask him for some crepine. He gave it to me, no charge. He's the greatest butcher, even if I can't take pictures of him. Complete with crown of thorns. Butter and a finish of fleur de sel and that was out of the way.

While at Les Halles, after viewing the hog tied bundle of scraps called our Thanksgiving turkey, I pined over the beautiful festive feast birds and the profusion game. This is what we are going to look for next year, I think.

Hi and thanks for the well wishes. I posted in another thread about the state of the turkey which is now sitting out and waiting for the stuffing. When you are in foreign country, Thanksgiving takes on a whole new meaning, I guess I realized that a long time ago. It has always been a rather important holiday tradition in my mind, ranking up there with Christmas. So when abroad I put pressure on myself to do it justice. Even if I have to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy getting the ingredients, etc. When abroad, one must roll with the punches. So when the butcher at Les Halles showed me the hog tied bundle of parts (ok I exaggerate), it was particularly disturbing. Not because it was anyone's fault, but because, well, to put it bluntly, I think the turkey has more of a symbolic meaning in my mind than just a bird, or even the holiday. Every year I direct a great deal of importance into the turkey, probably because it's almost impossible to find one here in France at this time of year prepped just the way I need it to be. It's my own mind's way of wrapping around the many difficulties I have had integrating here. Every year I start off very calm and cool, thinking this year, now that my French is that much better, I will be able to get them to comply. It never happens. I think after this year I am ready to move on from Turkey to the beautiful game I was passing by in all of the displays at Les Halles. This is my last year with the Turkey.

It looks just amazing, S & K. Looks like you guys had a great dinner!

Well, a whole lot of expats, in fact everyone I know here in France who is celebrating Thanksgiving is doing it tomorrow. Today I have put the finishing touches on my schedule and people have begun arriving in town. A co-worker gave me the number of a farm where you can go and choose your turkey, and I left numerous messages. They finally left me the message that they were unable to take my order, so it's off to Les Halles to pick up the bird, this time, which I have asked the butcher to prepare "like a chicken ready to stuff". I was not in the room when the size was specified, I just took the phone when my husband was struggling to explain to him what we want... I'm off to get my nails done before going home for a nice evening of cooking. I love Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law is sitting in a cafe in centre ville right now waiting for me, ready for the hand off of the pecans. She has a source down in Provence, I don't ask questions. Our meal will be much like other Thanksgivings, but we have to do a little "bricolage" that's French for "handy-work" here and there with ingredients. I am also doing everything I can to pay hommage to the bounty available to us. It'll start with a soup, a consomme de poule de Bresse with truffle raviolis. I picked up the poule on Wednesday from the producer's market. The bird was one year old when she gave her life for the wonderful meal we are about to prepare. I must call in an order my regular butcher for various things. Bye now!

What's the recipe for? All purpose can be substituted in some case for a type 55 but I'd make adjustments if it's a baking recipe using type 45.

Haven't seen anything here yet...

DCMark, I really depends on what you want from your wine. Do you want to build a cellar? Are you interested in being able to rate the wines available to the comon U.S. market for immediate consumption?

I'd like to add for the record that artisan bakeries and patisseries are required to make their own doughs. They do not get their dough from a common factory. It's against the law. Another wonderful tidbit, Bux, about the bars serving croissants in the morning. Yes, I love that. When in Paris, we also get quick coffee at bars in the morning which commonly have baskets of croissants from a neighborhood bakery. One very cold morning in January we went in to a cafe for our morning coffee, and we asked if they had any pain au chcoloat on hand. No, but we'll get some, they replied, and the waiter left the cafe and got two pain au chocolat at the bakery three doors down, without having to wait in the line snaking out the door of the bakery. They cost us a euro each at the cafe. Nice way to avoid having to wait in line when it's cold out.

Thank goodness you survived that. I loved your description of the frozen "dessert", and the hilarious recount of the drinks "and lots of pressure"... Thank's for a chuckle with my morning coffee!