Bree20

It's not so much the recipe as it is in the doing or watching it up close and personal I make it several ways depending on what I am making from turkey to chicken to beef and pork. I sometimes use the roux method and sometimes use the slurry method. Right now I use Wondra and it makes for the best results. For turkey gravy I made a simple turkey stock - I use mirepoix, trukey neck and cover with water and seasoning. I let it simmer until I have a dark broth. I then strain and add a little Wondra until it thickness. Gravies are like bellybuttons - everyone has one and everybodies is better than the next!

Are we related?? I wonder what the guy on Pantry Raid - would do with the things he finds in all of our pantries!!!! Makes we wonder..... any thoughts? I see things in the store and think yes I need that because I am going to try this - and then I forget why I bought it! Or I read a recipe and think I would make that if I only had this in my pantry or I have read something on the things you are SUPPOSE to have for a well stocked pantry. Oh the horror!!! I was Sociology major in college so here is how I reason out the reason I do this - I am a hordered - my father was born in 1931 and food and money were not always around - and his family went without - when he grew up he made sure that his family had all they needed in fact he ended up doing more than o.k. when it came to his childern and grandson - but alas I was his baby girl and I was (am) very spoiled and he would buy me things and tell me to hide them (you know extra pack of gum, six pack of glass bottle cokes, small bottle of saffron, etc.. aka the little horder) even as a grown up he saw I loved to cook and did a pretty good job - so he would encourge me to go for it and to hell with the cost - Granted I hate wasting the things I buy, but it seems right at the time. I know I am setting a bad example here at the house, but then again I have come up with some very cool things when I have not been to the store in a week.

This alot easier said than done

amazon: Art of Eating the website has a cruel collection of enticing snippets that will be sure to drive you to order back issues. ← Thanks - the website was very helpful.

My mom showed me when I was around 24 or so you know the drill married and missing mom's and grandmother's daily food. Same as you with bacon dripping etc.. She also showed me how to do sawmill gravy and red-eye gravy. My mom made the best gravy when she cooked cubed steaks which were a treat in the 70's. Something I craved when I was carrying my son. Never really did well on my own till my second marraige and became a stay at home mom - I practiced over and over again with different types roux before I got it right. Now all is right with the world in our house!

What is ICA? ←

I wish I had your teenagers coming to my house - it would be easier and cheaper to serve a bunch of hungry teenage boys. My son is a food snob (don't know why or how he got that way ) And the rest are just as picky and seem to know there stuff (I blame the world wide web!) I was ill last year and could not get in the kitchen for about a month - (hubby can only cook two things and pretty bad at that) so they family had to eat out for a while - when I was able to get back in the kitchen my son told me that he had been abused and was wasting away to nothing and was this grounds for a lawsuit As for coffee - I would be called Mudd (no pun intended) if I served cheap preground coffee.

What are cheese olives? ←

Art of Eating? Is this a new magazine? Where do you find it? I am in the Atlanta area so book stores and newstands are no problem. Is this a monthly magazine? As for the question which magazine makes a nice gift - I have a scrip for Bon Appetit, Saveur, and Food and Wine. I am not a big fan of Gourmet for some reason, nor do I like the Taste of Home, Cooking Lite, Paula Dean etc.. type magazines. As for Cook's Illustrated never been a big fan, but then I like reading the history and about people like the stories in Saveur. I have been reading Bon Apperit since the 70"s (my mom's scrip) and she started giving me my own when I married in '86 and I have kept ever issue since (much to my husband horror!). I have never been unhappy with this gift.

We used a high quality( made my stainmaster) vinyl flooring. It costs 5.50 square foot. We could have used laminate and it would have been half the cost, but I had concerns about water in the kitchen. I ruled out ceramic tile because I have a tendency to drop things. The vinyl flooring looks great, it actually looks like big ceramic tiles. The KD designed the space and that was the extent of the help. He did actually suggest an edge for the granite, but I didnt like his suggestion. He also wanted to sell me a sink and faucet, but I did my research on GardenWeb and found a great company that does stainless sinks. I also found my faucet thru GW. The KD also tried to talk me into a double sink. The one thing I'm upset about is my fridge. The KD never told me to order a counter depth fridge, so my fridge sticks out a good 11". The sides are black too so I feel like it looks ridiculous. I'm sure most ppl don't notice it, but I hate it!!! If I would have found GW before everything was ordered, I would have avoided that. I probably wouldnt have went with a KD either. ←

CaliPoutine - love the floor and was wondering what type you used - we are planing to redo our kitchen and I have back problems and I am told that certain floors are better for you than others also I am always bare foot ( that will never change) yet I want a nice floor and something that will increase the value of our home. Even though money is always a concern - I am willing to spend a little more than I should since I live in my kitchen - I was also wondering how much help your installer gave you and if there are ant tips you can past on to me. You kitchen looks great - I know you will enjoy it so much. Bree

I'm sure there has been a thread on this topic and if someone could point me in that directin would be great as this is what I am looking for on this topic. I read about the neatness idea of having cocktails and tappas that match one another as in where ever the cocktail was invented aka country or city and the food to match. Since I am a novice (not in drinking - but cooking and drinking) Like pina colas (for example) - do I go sweet or savory - and what type of cocktail book would anyone suggest as I want the cocktails to be done correct and not heavey handed on the spirits - also would like to use fresh ingredients for my drinks. I also would like really great food to match. Any suggestions and help in this direction would be very nice - a few friends and I have decided this might be great for a girls (o.k. woman now that we have hit the over 35 mark) night. We are looking to kick back sip and nibble and laugh, cry and celebrate 20 years of us.

Faine - coming from a southern background (I am five gen. Savannahian now living in Atlanta) and I love oyster dressing - but it is the one thing I have the hardest time making - I think because both my mom and grandmother's was so damn good and yes like you I picked the oysters out when no one was looking. I would love to hear how you made your dressing as I know it is a mental block with me - I can make regular dressing and the cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with the peacan topping and real homemade mac and cheese. I also make my gravy same as you with the neck and this year my little one nawed on the neck till no meat was left. My mom makes here gravy with the rest of the gizzers (misspelled) something I have never cared for, but very southern. Bree

Sorta saw this coming when they moved him to 7:00 time slot and no repeats after 12 midnight central time. To be honest I use to watch him all the time and did learn a lot at first then it seemed that he dumb down his show a bit I often wonder if this was due to his target group or if after a while hearing BAM and clapping for more garlic just got to be too much. I hope he is going to focus on his resturants more now that he will have time. I love his reaturants in New Orleans, but when my family and I were in Orlando we were warned by the locals to stay away and I have not heard anything good about the Atlanta resturant here I could not even tell you if it is still open here.

Growing up we had chili that my mom made and she would put it on simmer and we would eat whenever we were hungry and then clean up after ourselves. When I was older and everyone was home from college it was a different story seems that Wednesday night was the best night to party of the year I would get dressed and leave the house around 7:00 p.m. and return way after dinner time - food was the last thing any of us had on our mine. Now I am a wife and mom and bless my husband's heart he takes everone out to eat expect me (so I can have fun cooking without anyone bothering me). I like this tradition the best.

After so many years of holding my tongue I decided I am now of the age to not really caring (hence on you have had a baby you pretty much rule- ) . I declared the kitchen to be mine and mine alone! DO I go into the workshop and mess around with my husbands saw blade or his tools NO - the same should apply for my kitchen. Here are a few non-nos in my house no one is to touch my knives or any of my pots or pans. (I have bought cheapies for hubby and son to use). I refuse to exlain once more the why several spoons and whisk should not be use on certain pans as I am also not going to tell them for the 11 million time why we use a cutting board. I also have given up explaining that everything does not require the stove top knobs to be set on high when they decide to cook sompething (yes this means from soup to frying an egg). All of my toys (blender, food processor, spice grinder) are off limits - and when my mom visits she knows not to touch anything unless she ask first - granted the same rule applies at her house. (hey maybe that is where I get it) I often wonder though is this a ruse so I will do everything??? Just a thought.

We call these krabby patties (after the food on spongebob squarepants show) it was the only way to get my son to eat them when he was young. I do pretty much the same as jakal10 and I use russet potatoes any other type does not seem to bid as well, but I make mine flat like a hammburger patty and cook with a little peanut oil and serve on a bun with homemade tatar sauce and coleslaw on the side. I do put mine in the frig for about 30 mins or so this seems to help them from coming a part. I have at times due to lack of time and sometimes to going in a different direction used bread crumbs instead of the potatoes and add red and green bell peppers they turn out pretty well.

Darren72 - Thanks for the information - I think I will take a pass on this item - I had never heard or seen anything like it before thanks for the review. Bree

I just received a catalog from Sur La Table today, they have just opened a store here in Atlanta and I guess this was a mass mailing as I have never heard of them before. One of the items I was wondering if anyone here has ever heard, used or has any information on it is called: SensorfreahQ Meat/Poultry Freshness Detector. According to the description a colored lights confirm the freshness of meat and poultry in less than a minute. Ergonomic device uses advanced Qcard senor technology to measure bacteriological activity. I was wondering if this might be a nice tool to have as I buy so many of my meat and poultry at speciality shops and since they are not prewrapped the date on the white package is often one day after I have purchased my product. Can anyone help me determine if this tool would be something a person would use regularly? I was also thinking it might be something my older family members might like since it is hard to read the expire date on some packing. Thanks

I know many people may not like green bean casserole, but it was one of the first things I learned to make when I was young (age 8) . You know the drill I am sure most of us here on this site could not wait to help out for thanksgiving and that was my job. Of course my mom made a point telling everyone I made it so they all said how much they loved it! I wonder how many people here remember the first dish they made for thanksgiving dinner and if like my mom made sure everyone at least put some on their plate! Now mom makes it like you described Pennylane - and it is really good. As for brussel sprouts I am the only one in my house that will eat them, in fact when I was carrying my son I craved them with loads of butter!

Well, being associated with me has never yielded much in the past. Just ask my wife! Considering I heard about him in this thread Tom really does not know me yet. Let's just try to keep him in business. He gets nice scallops, but you have to move quickly. ← It would be great to eat scallops again. My wife will not let me buy them unless I can absolutely verify that they are not skate wing plugs. I understand that skate wing has found its way on to menus and is therefore not as economical as it was. Unless I can see the thin white line where the scallops were attached to the shell I have no proof to the contrary. She also has it stuck in her head that only bay scallops are real scallops. I have not felt like argueing that deep sea scallops are more likely to be the real deal. Edit* Curse you gods of spelling and grammer! ← My husband is that way about bay shrimp! He is in heaven when we are on the West Coast. Getting back to fake and real scallops - The information you wrote RAHiggins1 is interesting. This is going to sound dumb so you guys bare with me. Isn't there a difference in color and texture between real scallops and skate? Also in the thickness between the two? I have only bought scallops up there once and they were pretty good - going to have to track down the web site for the fish market Doodad has been talking abouton this thread.

That is one thing that is hard to find around here is good fresh scallops. I am going to get on map quest (i get lost in a circle) and try to get to Gilf Coast soon, I wish I had time to go before thanksgiving would have loved to make my oysters dressing this year, but it seem like no one had really good looking ones and the price at Whole Foods was crazy. Doodad - should we mention that we heard about his place from you?? Think you might get a kick back? Have a happy Turkey Day!

Baroness - I use to do my mac and cheese early then like you suggested, but then like you also stated it took up so much in my frig. Now I just make it while the turkey is in the oven. I think people forget that not only are you putting things in there for your big thanksgiving meal, but there are other items for the rest of the week that you are cooking. I am cooking not just thursday, but the whole week for my family and with a growing boy in the house there is always food in the frig. I think in my next life I am going to have a ktchen big enough for two frigs!

RAHiggins - Is this the same information that was on the news last week? I wanted to see that, but missed it when it aired. I get almost all of my shrimp from shrimpers that I grew up with in Savannah. Like I told Doodad- I ask about a millon question before I buy any type of seafood up here no matter where I shop. It's a shame that there is not a Russo's like seafood market up here that is so famous in Savannah. The place I think is now 4th generation and their rep is over the top. They do ship up here, but I only use them on special occassion it can be pretty pricey.

I do my pasta the day before and it works fine, as for the potatoes I do sweet potatoes and I just go ahead and make the dish and rewarm it in the oven the next day. I also do my dressing the night before and cook it the next day as well as my cranberry sauce. As for your veggies, you could get away with doing some of them the night before - I grind my veggies for a crust for my turkey (sorta like a salt crust). and I do this the day before and it has carrots in it and they have never browned. I don't see why you couldn't just peel your carrots and the cut them up on thursday. I would not do the potatoes till it is time to cook them, they seem to turn brown so fast and trying something you have never tried before for thanksgiving can sometimes backfire. Onions should be no problem just keep them in the frig till it is time to use them. Every year I make a schedule of what needs to be done on what day and what time so I don't feel scattered. Hope yall have a happy and stress free Turkey Day.