Katie Meadow

I checked out the Paul P. recipe mentioned above. I can see how the sweet potato filling part would be thick--there's virtually no liquid in it and only one whole egg for the double recipe. Interesting. It's really approaching a vegetable pie. Which I like.

It's my favorite snack. And sometimes it's lunch. There are several brands of organic popcorn sold in many markets. If you have a farmers' market you might check to see if the farms that sell corn in the summer also sell their popcorn. That's where I get it. I make it just the same, the old-fashioned way, just a layer of oil (I never tried olive--I use corn oil), a layer of popcorn, and pop. My husband thinks I should be shaking the pot, but I find all the popcorn pops by just leaving it alone: the lighter weight popped corn piles up and the unpopped stays in the oil until it pops. I eat it with nothin' but gray salt. Delicious. It might be interesting to try different salts.

I wouldn't worry about it. If you are dedicating the old grinder to nuts and spices, wipe it out and start grinding. The coffee residue will be overpowered by the spices in no time. Unless you need rice flour, I say don't waste the rice. Question: has anyone used the Cuisinart nut and spice grinder? It was highly recommended by some magazine recently (I think Fine Cooking, but I'm not sure) and retails for $39. My husband bakes bread and likes to grind small amounts of whole grain such as millet, wheat berries, etc. We have a very very old coffee grinder for which replacement blades are not available and I don't want to use it for anything but coffee. (Yes, I'm very attached to it!) I'm thinking of getting him this Cuisinart grinder for a gift. Worth it, at twice the price of a second coffee grinder?

Oh, stop me now, before I go on and on. I can't stand pumpkin pie but I adore sweet potato pie! When it's simple it's best, and that vegetable quality comes through. I have tried several recipes, but the one I like best is the easiest and least complicated. It's from Martha Stewart's early book Pies and Tarts. I will be making it Wednesday night. Here it is, in the original version. I have tweaked it as indicated to reduce the cholesterol level and it always come out great. I also don't like it very spicy, but it sounds like you do. Martha doesn't use ginger, but that might be a good addition. 5-7 sweet potatoes, depending on size. For a 9 inch pie I find that 2 cups cooked pot. is about right. 3 eggs, lightly beaten (sometimes I only use 2, and no problem) 1/2 c sugar (I cut back a little on this) 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 3/4 tsp cinnamon (too much for me, I cut it in half) 1/2 tsp allspice (I use half this) 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp grated lemon zest 1 1/2 cups light cream (I use a combo of whole milk and half'n'half) 4 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled Roast the potatoes in the oven. I puncture with a fork, and put them on foil on a cookie sheet. Takes a while, til they are very soft--at least an hour at 350. Cool, scrape out the potato, mash, and measure 2 cups, or even a bit more. Make whatever pie crust you like. My husband does this part and I haven't a clue about it. I believe he uses approx half butter half crisco. He rolls it out, puts it in the pie dish and keeps that in the fridge til it's ready to fill. Put the sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Put the eggs, sugar, spices, salt, lemon rind and cream in another bowl and whisk til combined. Pour this into the sweet potatoes and stir til thoroughly combined. Add the melted butter and mix well. Pour into the pie crust and bake 45 to 50 minutes or until filling is set and a knife to the center comes out clean. Cool before slicing.

I'm sorry to report that my market is now carrying the boxes! However, there are still some bags as well. I wonder it they are doing a test to see if anyone prefers the boxes, or if they are simply using their bag stock up and switching over to the boxes. I sure don't like the boxes. I like to see how dark the bake is. I can't believe how dependent I am on these crackers. Calipoutine, at $3 a package I would grab 'em, past the date or not. Paul, I don't care what else you do, just keep on makin' the original, the fennel and the onion. 3 new spicy flavors at once? Don't spread yourself too thin!

This discussion is hysterical. Cake was originally designed as a way of getting rid of sugar in such a fashion that it was able to support one or more candles. A beautiful cake is an art project and I am the first to admit that I love to admire a fanciful work behind the glass. I am totally in awe of people who can create something so lovely. But after it's cut it's a letdown for me. I have no interest in eating cake. Sweet potato pie: unique in this world. Carmelized rustic tarte tatin: transporting. Peach pie, key lime, blueberry...of course it goes without saying there are lousy pies, but that's not what we're talkin' about here. My idea of heaven: hiking out to the lagoon the day after Thanksgiving and packing a big piece of my SIL's pecan pie for lunch. Now there's a pie that travels well.

Cut one fresh cranberry in half and it doesn't seem juicy. Put a bag of fresh cranberries and some sugar in the cuisinart and process. It will get juicy. Put in one orange and it will get even better. I totally get the cranberry conflict. I grew up on fresh cranberries; simple as possible and very very tart. My mother basically followed the direx on the package: one bag fresh berries, one orange, cut up, and white cane sugar to taste (uses plenty!). Process til you like the consistency, put in a bowl. Add sugar as necessary, add chopped walnuts if you like. It seems to get more tart as it sits so I usually have to add more sugar before serving. It keeps well, so you can make it ahead. I love it and make it every year and bring it to Thanksgiving with my husband's family. When I got married I acquired a father-in-law whose ONLY contribution to dinner is cranberry mold. He pulls out a Sunset magazine from the late 50's and makes a complicated concoction that uses canned sweetened berries, gelatin, celery, nuts and god-knows what else. Then he tops it when served with sour cream. It's awful! But that's me, and grew up on minimalist fresh tart cranberries. But all his grown-up kids and his little grand-kids love it and it wouldn't be Thanksgiving dinner without it. My daughter, my husband and one of my SILs would kill me if I didn't make mine. But everyone except me eats both and everyone is pretty happy having two kinds of cranberries. So I say there's plenty of room in this world for nostalgic old-fashioned molds and for something made with fresh. And Andiesenji, thank you for that bit of cranberry history. Very good!

I have ordered the white stone-ground grits from hoppinjohns.com and find them very good. I believe the price is better than Anson Mills and the shipping price gets better when you place a bigger order. Hoppinjohns claim they grind to order. It sometimes takes about two weeks.

Sub cognac for the madeira and add a small amount of hard boiled egg and that would be my dad's chopped chicken liver.

Well, yes, I believe you are slightly insane. Wouldn't something a bit more traditional and far easier be more familiar to your family? How about a big round fresh turkey stuffed with good dry bread, onions and celery sauteed in butter with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (like the song says), roasted in the oven or, if you are adventurous, perhaps outdoors in some kind of kettle, basted with buttery juices and turkey fat until the skin is golden mahogany, crispy and glistening and the meat is tender on the bone. It will look pretty as a picture and then you open it up and out falls perfect stuffing, delicate and aromatic, just moist enough from the drippings inside. It's a thanksgiving turkey. It's good! You could have a savory bread pudding, which sounds very interesting, on the side as well. And you could make a souffle for breakfast, unless, like my family, you prefer leftover pie.

Lidia's mother's Chicken and Potatoes from Lidia's Family Table. Great recipe (needs only a little tweaking.) The potatoes alone are worth the price of admission with their gooey carmelized onion pan scrapings. While my husband is busy swooning over the chicken I quietly put away most of the potatoes.

How does the shrimp stock figure in to the shrimp 'n' grits? In the grits or in a sauce for the shrimp? When I make shrimp 'n' grits I don't use any stock. My grits are cooked with water first and then some milk, and I grill or quick-saute my shrimp with some spicy seasoning. I top the grits with a fresh tomato salsa and then just scatter on the shrimp. Truth to tell, I'm so happy with grits and hot sauce I don't care if I have any shrimp.

This cake is simply beautiful. I love this thread. For me it is a vicarious thrill: I rarely bake and don't even have much of a sweet-tooth, but so admire those who do. Lovely.

Thanks to all for excellent ideas. Johnny, your pix look wonderful. I think some simple type of chowder is in my near future, and an etouffee not long after. The annual November pre-Thanksgiving "anti-poultry" campaign in my house is gearing up.

Paul, I'm not big on eating before dinner when it comes to the Thanksgiving feast. There's just far too much food! My husband's family doesn't care for variety or adventurous eating as much as they care for quantity, but after 28 consecutive Thanksgivings with these people I have finally made inroads in my attempt to limit the hors d's to the very basics. My FIL, given the slightest opportunity, will be inclined to bring out a massive "pupu platter," as he calls it. The kids all fill up on the stuff and then get antsy and are ready to leave the table five minutes after the meal is served. Really annoying! It's getting better, now they are older and now that we have limited the pre-meal stuff. I agree: go light! A selection of olives and some marcona almonds maybe? Nice with martinis if that's what you do, and fine with wine, which is what we usually drink before dinner. I think people appreciate a really lovely cruditee plate with vegetables, especially if you can find some beautiful French radishes, exotic skinny carrots, kohlrabi, endive and serve it with aioli. If more protein isn't a turn-off, my idea of decadent but not heavy would be oysters on ice, served with nothin' but lemon wedges. Wouldn't be a bad fit with your menu! But for that you want an extra pair of talented hands in the kitchen and it's pretty much of a mess. We do oysters before dinner the next night when the meal consists of leftovers and there aren't 12 people jockeying for counter space. Your menu sounds delicious. What is French farm-style stuffing?

Mon Dieu! Any menu that includes chex mix, pigs in a blankie, corn, morels, duck demi-glace and celeriac puree gets my vote for most multi-generational French-American Thanksgiving ever. But do go the extra mile and make your own chex mix! Or farm out the job to a relative if they promise to use butter and not margarine.

Sometimes I make a stock from shrimp shells. I use it to steam shrimp for one particular dish, but I haven't used it for anything else. I made 3 cups of very flavorful stock today. The shrimps were pretty hefty size, wild from Mexico. I've discovered that the thicker shells from bigger shrimp actually make a more robust stock. I do have Jasper White's 50 Chowders, but the only recipe I ever make from it is his fabulous Manhattan Clam Chowder. (Yup, I'm a Manhattan girl and my mother brought me up to never eat Boston.) So anyway, I followed his instructions for salting and cooling it down quickly and stuck it in the freezer, since these particular shrimp have a different destiny. Jasper has only one recipe that uses shrimp stock, and that would be Shrimp Chowder. More half & half goes into this recipe than I use in a year. What other ideas can you come up with for shrimp stock? Does it combine well with fish stock for a fish soup?

Everything I know about Turducken could fit into, well, a very small bird. Actually everything I know about it comes from a rather hilarious essay by Jeffrey Steingarten in which he details his first attempt in a cramped NY kitchen. I don't remember if/what he may have said about the history. Is it a southern thing? Just curious--I'm not about to tackle it; I'm fine with one cavity and one bird. But it would be kind of amazing to see one served.

Unlike sauteing, the difference isn't a matter of experience.

How did I ever get this old without having a nervous breakdown over the word "saute?" If I had to question the meaning or worry about the distinction between "saute over a low flame," "saute gently," "pan-fry" or "toss in a shallow pan with butter" every time I read a recipe I would blow my head off.

The 5.5 round is the busiest pot in my house. If I wanted one soup or stew pot, and wasn't cooking for more than two or three people most of the time, that's the one. Now that it's usually just me and my husband, that pot holds enough for generous leftovers. I have a sentimental fondness for that old flame color.

Thanks for the Teeli filter link, Richard. That's my basket. I have had two generations of them: one was very annoying because it had a solid plastic bottom and the leaves didn't rinse out easily. My next one--and it's perfect--has a mesh bottom same as the sides and cleaning it out is a breeze. It fits on a single cup or on my thermos. With it's tidy little lid it can be set aside in a cup awaiting a second infusion without looking tacky!

I like loose tea leaves when I am at home. Clearly teabags are convenient if you are in an office situation. If you like unusual teas, though, they may not be available in bags. And you can't beat the price of loose tea. Lately I have seen "make-your-own" teabags. Seems like that would be a great option. Those dopey spoons with a hinge are too annoying, and so are those mesh balls. I love my teapot that came with a basket insert for the loose tea, and I also have another mesh insert with a top that fits right into my thermos if I want to take it with me. So if your filtering method is cumbersome or a drag to clean you probably won't be happy with loose tea leaves. Many years ago my MIL gave me a modernist glass teapot--beautiful looking, very thin glass. I think it was made in Germany, but I can't remember. It had a glass cylinder insert with little holes in it. However, tea leaves got stuck in the little holes and it was a major pain to clean. Form should follow function! I have no idea what I did with it. It could have been one of those things I was sort of relieved to have broken, since I felt obliged to use it--it was so good looking.

I want to like grass-fed beef for all the obvious reasons--health, ecology and morality. It does have good flavor, but it also seems to vary a lot; sometimes I think it's good, other times, not so. My understanding is that true grass-fed beef is finished on either hay or grass, depending upon the time of year. It stands to reason that whatever kind of grass or hay the cattle eats results in a lot of variation in grass-fed beef. Niman Ranch, before it was sold, used to produce pretty good grass-fed grain-finished beef. I don't what they do now. Frequently even expensive butchers don't seem to know exactly where their beef comes from, or how it is finished if you press them. Not only does the meat itself vary a lot, but my experience is that it takes some practice to cook it. Anyone have suggestion about how to optimize the juicy factor?

Is there life after oysters? What do you do with that knife, Mike?