quiet1

I've done a stuffing that was ok and could be made vegetarian, but I just winged it. Sauté the usual suspects (onion, celery, small amount of carrot because my mom hates carrot in her stuffing but I insist it rounds out the flavor so we compromise by me chopping it up tiny and not using a lot - I like the onion and celery to be a little bigger so it gives texture contrast in the finished dish) in a decent amount of butter, add your preferred seasonings - I usually do sage, tiny bit of thyme, bay leaf, salt, generous fresh black pepper - and mix, then off the heat add in your bread - we can get small cubes of stale bread here that work great and are usually a variety of bread types which helps add flavor - and try to get it coated as much as possible in the butter. Put back on the heat just for a short time, stirring often, to get some of the bread cubes a bit cooked. Dump into your baking dish then add a GOOD stock (I used chicken but you could use vegetable, but it has to be tasty to start with since the whole thing is relatively bland and a bad stock will overwhelm it) to near the top of your dish. Leave the bread to soak for about 5 min, smoothing down into the dish as needed, then bake covered for ~30 min (it's pretty forgiving, I just stick it in and leave it while I do other stuff) Remove covering and dot a little fresh butter on top and bake ~15 min? More to get the top crispy and let it dry out a little so it isn't too soggy. I think it depends what you want stuffing/dressing for, though - on our table for this kind of meal it's almost a mashed potato alternative in that it's carb-heavy and not super strongly flavored so it is a good foil for the meat and gravy. We don't actually care for super fancy stuffing with lots of surprising stuff in it. (As you may have guessed from the carrot inclusion issue. ) Think Stove-top stuffing but not quite so dried out and gross. It's not meant to be the star of the show. (Though gross stuffing can totally ruin a plate.) On the subject of other side dishes - I'm wondering about doing something fairly hearty with mushrooms. I have no idea what, but if we had a fairly substantial mushroom dish along with the turkey then the mushroom whatever could act as more of a main dish for those that are not turkey fans? (Luckily, they are all mushroom fans.) Any ideas for a relatively hearty mushroom something that wouldn't seem weird on a thanksgiving table? Something more interesting than just a bowl of sautéed mushrooms. And bonus points if it can be prepared in advance and reheated to serve. The other protein I was pondering was fish - something that is kind of regionally appropriate, like I think trout? But I have basically no fish cooking or eating experience so I don't know if a trout recipe could work with the typical thanksgiving flavor profile so it wouldn't seem too weird to have sharing a table with other traditional stuff.

Asking here has given me a lot of points to consider for things where I have preferences but wouldn't have realized I had a preference so might have overlooked it and ended up with something that drives me nuts. It's a big purchase so I'm kind of stressed out by it because I want to make sure I don't do anything I'll REALLY regret, you know? I need to go google sealed vs open burners because I don't feel like I understand the difference. And yeah, I had one of those double-sided things. I used the grill side once. Meh. Not worth it. The griddle side is good for some things though. And it does actually work as a warming plate if you have some burners to stick it over - in the UK I had a 5 burner Smeg range and for bigger meals I'd sometimes be using 3 burners and have the griddle on 2 and heated to a nice warm temp so I could put stuff there to hold it. Since it's nice and solid and flat often I could get more dishes and pots on it securely than I could on just the grates of the burners, plus it spread out the heat.

This has actually given me an idea for a Christmas 'gift' in honor of our new dog. Sometimes failures are inspiration in disguise?

I'm convinced if I had an integrated griddle I'd never use it because I'd be afraid of having to clean it. It'd just get used as a French-top-esque simmer plate thing occasionally. A few companies make griddles designed to replace the normal burner grate, though, over a pair of burners. I kind of like that idea - I've used the cast iron kind you set on top of the grates and it didn't feel as stable as I think one designed to sit properly on the stove should be. So that is in my list to inspect. I'm trying to right now think what I could do for a second oven if I got a 36" with just the one large oven. Most of the time I only need one, but for holidays and special occasions a second oven for side dishes and the like is quite handy. I'm trying to decide if a countertop one of some type would be large enough to do the trick. (You can get two ovens in a limited number of ranges at 40", but the second oven is tiny most times, or an odd shape.)

I totally want to know the secret. That's such a fun concept.

That beet salad is so intriguing.

'The problem with the current oven is it doesn't seem to be off by the same amount consistently. And there is only so much $ we want to put into fixing something we want to replace anyway. So right now I just don't do anything terribly finicky about exact temperature and keep an oven thermometer in it. But it is annoying. (We suspect the electronics are going. No idea how old it is but it looks well loved enough to reasonably be having problems now.) I'm trying to think which fancy features I'd actually use versus which sound cool but would never get touched. Like some have a rotisserie which sounds fun, but would I ever use it? (Plus I'm not the only one in the house who cooks, so some other people do get a little bit of an opinion. But only a little.)

Yeah, the 4 burner pinch is where I am. I think I'd rather 6 proper burners, although in the face of an exceptional sale I might consider 4 and a griddle if the griddle could be used as a sort of simmer plate/French top as needed. But I am sick and tired of shifting pots around to try to get everything to fit and have enough power. For kicks last night I was ogling one of the French brands that lets you do 6 gas burners plus option of your choice, so six plus two induction sounded fun. (I like gas but there are specific tasks I prefer induction for.) However it's a weeeeee tiny tiny bit outside of our budget. By a few thousand.

'Our kitchen isn't huge but I could squeeze in a 48" if I was willing to give up the counter space. But it does sound huge. I usually cook more than one meal at a time to maximize time when I feel up to cooking, but 6 burners seems like plenty. I'd just really like two ovens and there isn't room to stick an extra wall oven in anywhere. (I don't want to go cooktop/range too and separate ovens because that's way more work and hassle to install and we can't redo the whole kitchen right now.) Budget is enough it isn't a huge limiting factor unless we did decide to look at something built-in that would require more cabinet work. (I mean, not sky's the limit but we're treating this as an investment in sanity, so there are enough options within the budget range that I still have plenty of choices for standalone range.) The point about electronics is interesting. I hadn't considered that. Although some models definitely have enough 'features' that I start wondering if it's meant to be for cooking or an extra home computer. ("It bakes bread AND does your taxes!" :D) I am wondering how many BTUs I actually need. I should try to figure out what our current stove is to start with I suppose. (It came with the house and the identification info on the control panel got rubbed off at some point along the way, and getting at the plate that has model number etc. is annoying.) How much difference does gas v electric oven make these days? I've never cooked with a good gas oven (current one is gas but the temp control is all wonky so I do not want to judge all gas ovens by it.) I do a variety of roasting and baking so it's not like there's one particular thing I want an oven to excel at. I don't think the electric is run to the kitchen ATM for a dual fuel model, but the box in the basement should be able to have it added and there's good access for running the cable, so it shouldn't be a major major expense to add.

1/8" thick total?

I noticed the same when I was looking for cocktail glasses for a gift last year - they seem to tend towards HUGE right now. As I don't really drink to get drunk, I'd prefer smaller so the drink still looks 'right' in the glass even if it isn't a huge amount of alcohol. Plus, half the fun is trying new stuff - I can always make up a second drink if I really liked something enough to want more.

Thought I'd try starting a new topic as I don't think what I'm wondering is particularly specifically covered by an existing topic. Anyway - how did/do you figure out what you need and want when upgrading your stove or range? I'm trying to figure it out right now and it's so easy to be tempted by the Shiny, and I know you can go and poke at things a little in showrooms but that's hardly the same as actually cooking for any length of time. Did you just pick whatever would fit in the space you had? Did you work out how many ovens and burners/elements you wanted in some way? Then there's the ever popular gas/electric oven, gas/electric/induction, self-cleaning or not, etc. Just curious how other people work through these questions. I need to figure out what I want so we can upgrade. (I'm sure I want more burner space than we currently have - 4 on a 30" that doesn't fit a big pan with anything else, basically. But I do have room for a 36" or possibly even a 48" - although 48" just sounds HUGE. I'd do 36" and a spare oven somewhere if I could figure out where I could stick a wall oven, but our kitchen just doesn't have the space.)

You should really get commission. I need to actually read these all now.

Took it. Also, hello Reading person! I went to Reading a while back when they still had a Cybernetics department. Intelligent Systems degree. I do miss it.

I was thinking exactly the same. I'm not a sweet potato fan but those that are aren't huge dessert people so a less sweet sweet potato casserole will probably go over quite well. Still pondering our turkey alternative though. Ham isn't popular here either. (I know I live with weirdos. :D)

And no mass panic? Impressive.

I was wondering about dried also - our freezer tends to get a bit crammed so if we can have shelf stable things that's good. Although I usually think of freezing sliced mushrooms, not duxelles. I like that idea. The trick will be to do it when no one else is home so some of it actually gets to the freezer. (My SO will just eat cooked mushrooms right from the fridge as a snack. Maybe with some rice if there is any in the rice cooker.)

Don't eat mushrooms fairies live in seems a reasonable idea to hang on to. Although I am not brave enough to go mushrooming at all. on the subject - what mushrooms should we have in-house for last minute dishes? I know porcini dries well, are there any others that are easy to rehydrate and whip up into something tasty like an omelette or pasta?

Same. I'd like to eat more since it is a good lean protein, but gack.

'We don't have amazon fresh yet. It would be so helpful as grocery shopping really wears me out.

In our house it goes "omg I hate thus whatever." *brief period researching replacements* *realize how much cost/fuss/mess it would be* *put brochures/info nicely filed on the bookshelf for an undetermined 'later'* Repeat every time some element gets crazy making. Our cabinets are ~1950ish wood with oddly used space and stupidly shallow drawers. Occasionally a burst of frustration coincides with a sale, which is how we ended up with a Bosch dishwasher (home show sale older model, still loads better than what we had) and a Miele fridge (also home show, floor demo model timed nicely with a work bonus.) So we have a not-very-modern kitchen with higher end appliances. They are less annoying though. We lose WAY less food to the leftover gods now than with the side-by-side monstrosity it replaced. (Side by side is downstairs being overflow freezer and keeping drinks cold until it dies.)

I think that tends to make it worse. Ex-steel towns at least like to brag about "we made the steel for Cool Thing." We've run into a variety of interesting claims on road trips, I usually don't stress about accuracy and figure whatever helps people feel better about where they live. Do they have a Mushroom Festival? It rather seems like they should.

I think I just found my perfect stove. But it'd be a chunk of the cost of our current house so it feels a bit silly.

Really? Do you have their grocery service?

Guessing based on general PA experience, but it seems most likely there isn't much going on to be proud of other than mushroom creation, so they inflate their importance a little to try for some tourist dollars and so the place feels more interesting to live. There's plenty of small towns in PA like that, especially if they previously lost some other big industry like steel or coal.