Katie Meadow

I use 1.25 cups Bob's medium grind cornmeal to .75 cup AP flour. 2 cups total, like you do. I have never soaked cornmeal first. I love the texture as is. No idea about the buttermilk question.

@liuzhou I hope there's no margarine in it.

I can't tell you much, I'm not sure a recipe ever existed. The chestnuts are a major pain and we prepped them a day ahead. Make crosses on the flat side (use a very sharp pointy knife and take care not to cut off your fingers), throw in boiling water for 15 minutes. Grab with a towel before each is cool and peel off the husk. The rest is basic: sauté onion and celery in a stick or two of butter. Add a forklift of dry croutons. At some point add lot of salt and pepper, and a blizzard of fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, then a couple or three cubed tart apples. Oh, my quantities are for stuffing a large turkey plus roasting a panful of dressing separately for the vegetarians. The fresh herbs were like the song says;. It was the only way I could remember which ones to put in. Memory tells me needed to add just a bit of moisture to it. My husband and I abandoned stuffing and dressing years ago when we realized we were the most enthusiastic about it anyway. Always be simplifying. It was pretty good, though, with gravy.

I always thought starch was the point. At least for my in-laws, TG has been a communal affair: During peak years, when there were three teenage boys at the table, it seemed like there was nothing BUT starch. Mashed potatoes, (which resembled warm cement or simply pavement, depending upon which teenage boy made them), baked yams, chestnut bread stuffing, a wild rice casserole, sliced bread and five pies. And, since at least half the table were vegetarians, always a veg entree that typically relied on pasta and cheese. Yes, there might be stringbeans and salad put together haphazardly. When my FIL was alive he was responsible for a weird cranberry jello salad that he made dutifully from the same 1950's Sunset Magazine recipe year after year. It was a godawful logroll of canned and powdered products, so I always made a fresh cranberry relish. Sometime during the late 20th century my MIL ceded the job of turkey and stuffing to my husband and me. Clockwork now. During the past decade the testosterone has dropped due to some timely and untimely demises and the fact that the boys are scattered about the country, my daughter and her family stay in Atlanta, and my niece has often been the only young person. This year she and her partner have invited two friends, so there will be four energized twenty-somethings. I'm told the friends like to cook, so fingers crossed for some good surprises. I've now ceded the turkey entirely to my husband (I can't overstate the benefits of marrying a younger man!) and now my only job (praise be) is my mother's raw cranberry and orange relish which I can't even eat anymore. And yes, the recipe came straight off the the old Ocean Spray package.

It does.

Do you really mean 80 months? That's more than six years. Personally, I'd toss it and spring for a fresh bag.

And Ill just add, for no good reason at all, that when I was in the hospital for five or six days last February the food was the absolutely worst I have ever encountered, and I had no desire to post anything to anyone from that sick bed.

Belated condolences. You used to mention her all the time. Then you stopped posting for a long while, and when you came back you did not mention Sweetie any more. So I wondered. So sorry to have this confirmed. Every time I notice a new post on the Hospital Food topic my heart skips a beat . But I remind myself that if a patient has enough energy to whine about the hospital food that can be a good sign.

Yeah, when hell freezes over I'll make a dobos torte. I'm not a baker. My aspirations don't reach much farther than a loaf of quick bread. or a basic apple cake. My husband is the flour and water guy, but he doesn't really do sweets. He makes a great rustic round, a white sandwich bread, brioche bread, biscuits and pizza. At this point in my life what little cooking energy I possess goes into actual food.

Today we had my favorite pre-TG meal: turkey necks in brodo. We make a turkey every year for the holiday. It used to be a major project my husband and I would make together. Elaborate and time consuming. He makes it now, but pretty simple, no drama like in the old days. His gravy is fantastic. We used to just make stock for the gravy with the neck, the day of. I really don't care for turkey meat but broth made from a roast turkey carcass is my Kryptonite; it brings me to my knees. Now, a week or so before the holiday I buy some wings and necks and roast them, them put them in a stockpot to make enough broth to freeze for the gravy plus a couple of extra quarts. We splurged for dinner and were happily up to our necks in broth. I make a bigger batch with the carcass after TG. Sometimes my neighbor gives me his carcass, so I have a double batch! I've given him a quart of stock afterwards, but I'm always worried he's going to like it so much he'll start making his own, but thank god he hasn't caught my addiction. He just wants the meat. Good for him!

@Smithy, you had me at dobos torte. I grew up in NY a half block from the best bakery on earth. The owner was Lithuanian I believe, but he made the most perfect dobos torte. It was my mother's favorite pastry. Mmmm, that hard caramel topping......

So sorry to hear this. Best wishes to you and Ed, and fingers crossed he can continue to cook for you. Since breaking my hip earlier this year I don't like standing still next to the stove. Our solution is that I do a lot of chopping and prep work sitting at the kitchen table. Then I tell my husband what to do with it all. He's doing quite well, but when I ask him to describe the cooking temp, he has no ability to distinguish between a low simmer and a high boil. He just says, "It's bubbling," So at that point I have walk over to the stove and check it out. Perceiving the Liquid level in the pot is also problematic, even if I say "2 inches above the beans." The learning curve, when it comes to cooking, seems to get slower with age, or maybe it's just him. This doesn't not apply to bread and biscuits, of which he is a wizard and I know zero.

Me? I would make lime marmalade. And maybe instead of lemons you could preserve limes with salt? I haven't seen that done, but why wouldn't it be good for something? What about a lime pickle if you like Indian dahl or curries?

I agree that a good lasagne is an excellent entree for TG. We've had many of them for veg entree's alongside the requisite turkey, some good, some awful, depending who volunteered. With your Italian holiday dinner may I suggest a red checked tablecloth and a nice chianti?.Affogato for dessert, or Amalfi lemon cake?

I've been having TG with my husband's family since before we were married. Some forty-plus years? Good God, I'm old. The group varied from 16 people more or less when there were grandparents and several grandkids and dwindled to two couples in the worst pandemic years. At least half the family are vegetarians, so there was always a veg entree. My MIL and my husband are dedicated turkey traditionalists. My husband now makes the turkey, even if he's the only one eating it. I'm only in it for carcass, otherwise I would happily have a vegetarian TG and would be thrilled to have a non-traditional meal of any kind, so I'm definitely in favor of switching things up, however it suits the cook. If turkey broth wasn't addictive I would say the hell with turkey. And I never put turkey in my soup. Twice cooked turkey is even worse than once cooked. As I've probably said before (remember me? I'm old) the secret to good turkey pot pie is chicken.