kayb

I'm in awe of that variety of bitters. (I have Angostura and Peychauds). Display them the way it makes you smile. I love the idea of pantry staples as art.

Update 2: Green bean casserole made; two quarts of turkey stock in the freezer, one in the fridge in the event I want to make real gravy tomorrow. Corn thawing (taking that corn a damn long time to thaw) so I can get corn casseroles put together before bed. Note to self: Do NOT try again to make butter cake in anything other than a 9 x 13. Brownie pan (the one with the individual wells) -- nada. Top cooks over, spreads out, nothing left. Mini-loaf-pan, also nada. Same thing, just not as bad. Added to tomorrow's agenda, dash back to Kroger, get conf. sugar and a bag of the real stuff, as I ran out today, come back and make another butter cake the way God and the recipe say to do it. I figure I can snug that in between getting the bird on to roast and letting the rolls proof the first time, and starting to cycle the other things through the oven. I failed to note in the previous post that I discovered a couple from church (our music director and pianist, both of whom have significant health conditions and are staying put) who were not planning to celebrate Thanksgiving. I had called her yesterday to check on her plans, because I wanted to take them some cranberry salad, since they liked it so much last year when I took it to a potluck. She told me her daughter and son-in-law were not coming, and "we'll probably eat bologna sandwiches and watch TV." Oh, no, that won't do. So I am, as I prepare ahead, making up separate aluminum two-portion dishes with all the sides, with instructions on the paper tops as to how long they need to cook, along with desserts and some sliced turkey and some rolls, and will deliver it to them tomorrow so they can finish the sides and eat when they wish. She was sort of resistant, "I hate for you to go to the trouble, I wish there was something I could do to pay you back." My response was, wait and stay healthy until these times are over, then come back to church and bless us with that gorgeous music, and we're even. Pretty much what life is, isn't it? You give, because you have, and you get back, whether you need it or not, but quite honestly, you probably do

Thanksgiving update: Bird is spatchcocked and has been brining in the fridge since last night. Pumpkin pie and cranberry salad made yesterday. Today, made the liquor store run (rose is chilling in the fridge), picked up the dressing and made a last-minute Kroger stop. And got dog food, and had a flat, and ordered two new tires to be put on next week, which I needed anyway. Came home, made the sweet potato casserole, got that in the fridge; cooking the green beans for the green bean casserole the kids want. Will make that casserole and the corn casserole for cooking tomorrow, and make the butter cake. I have a lone persimmon left; am contemplating making a small persimmon custard over a base of crumbled gingersnaps, just because. Don't have to make gravy because the folks who make the dressing inadvertently gave me chicken and dressing, which comes with a pint of gravy. May use the stock I did in the IP from turkey backbone, neck and ribs and make some giblet gravy for me. Will likely make some deviled eggs tonight to be filled tomorrow. Tomorrow all I have to do is roast the turkey, make the rolls, prep the asparagus, and then about 2 p.m., start rotating the casseroles through the oven. Oh, and make the mac and cheese. Friday I'll make curry spread to use on leftover turkey sandwiches, and probably break down the bird to vac-seal and freeze extra meat and make stock of the carcass for the freezer. And that will be all I'll do Friday.

One of my very favorite munchies is dates stuffed with an almond and wrapped in bacon and baked. Also good to put some sort of hard cheese; I've used manchego and aged gouda. It's good with blue, but that gets runny and leaks everywhere.

Yes. 1. The bread pudding at Big John's Shake Shack in Marion, AR. 2. The Hot Fudge Pie at Westy's (aka The North End) in Memphis. 3. The Eggplant Casserole at the Cupboard in Memphis. 4. The biscuits at Bryant's in Memphis.

I have been overruled. There will be mac and cheese, as they demanded it. There will be a corn casserole, as they demanded THAT. There will be asparagus, because I want it, and "that yellow sauce." (A gourmand my youngest child is not.) The eldest requests, instead of pumpkin cheesecake, "a plain pumpkin pie." So I'll do that (last time I did it, I threw the whole damn thing out because nobody ate it, and I don't like it. I may top it with crumbled gingersnaps, just to be stubborn. I also am tasked to make a butter cake, as the guest's grandmother always makes one at Thanksgiving, and she can't go home for Thanksgiving because someone has COVID. No matter. Thanksgiving is about cooking what makes my people happy. It makes me happy to do it.

@liuzhou -- Thanks. Not certain about the first reference; for the second through fourth, calling the event a "barbecue" or referring to a "barbecue" dinner would imply, to me, that barbecue was served. It is entirely possible, particularly in Massachusetts and Brooklyn, that may refer to hamburgers and hot dogs, but to me, it means pork, and, at a stretch, beef. In the last two, I will promise you that while those stands may sell hamburgers, their main product is a beef or pork barbecue (the Florida one would be pork; "American countryside" would depend on where in America that countryside was located). Most barbecue restaurants serve hamburgers; few hamburger stands serve barbecue. To further muddy the water, many barbecue stands down here serve a barbecue burger, which is a burger whose raw meat incorporates barbecue sauce and which is brushed with barbecue sauce while cooking on the flat-top, or a pizza burger, same process but using pizza sauce. I have eaten both, and am fond of neither. Regional food and what one calls it is an endless source of diversity. A callaloo in the Low Country adds black eyed peas and becomes hopping John in Mississippi. A beef schnitzel sandwich is a "cow patty" in Indiana and a chuck wagon steak in Tennessee and a country fried steak in Arkansas and a tenderloin (?) in some other places I've been. Latkes are real doggoned close to hash browns, at least hash browns done well. Me, I'll go in a local place whereever I am and ask the waiter what's good, and order that.

A cookout. See? I would be curious to know what region of the country was used as the standard for that. @munchymom, I promise, you walk into any barbecue joint down here and tell them you want a barbecue, and you'll get a sandwich. If you want the meat on a plate with beans, slaw and fries, you ask for a barbecue plate. They may then ask you if you want a sandwich plate or a pork plate. I would also note that I am glad there is one other person out there who has issues with spilling martinis from a martini glass. And that would be before I've consumed the first one. Agreed on the flavored and odd-colored ones, but as someone who has an aversion to most gins (I finally found one I can drink), I am partial to vodka martinis. But I recognize that if I want one I have to specify vodka as the liquor. Is there another name for vodka shaken with a hint of vermouth and some olive juice, and garnished with an olive on a toothpick?

This is more a regional attribute, but I abhor throwing the word "barbecue" around indiscriminately. "A barbecue" is a sandwich made with pulled smoked pork, preferably with a topping of slaw; it is NOT: (a) an event at which you cook hamburgers and hot dogs on a grill while attired in shorts, black socks and sandals. (b) a sandwich made with smoked chicken, or lamb, or any other sort of meat other than pork or beef, and I will only reluctantly grant beef. (c) in its verb form, the act of cooking anything on a grill unless said grill is set up as a smoker. Ribs slow smoked over a low fire are barbecued ribs (either pork or beef); brisket smoked over a low fire is barbecued brisket; fish smoked over a low fire is smoked...well, you get my drift. In the purest Mid-South form, barbecue (noun) is smoked pulled pork. Period. In all other uses, barbecue(d) is an adjective or a verb.

One of my favorite breakfasts, in my pre-GF days, was warm bran muffins. They required a tablespoon of butter apiece, applied when just out of the pan and burn-your-fingers hot.

I used to cook dinner for 75 every Sunday evening at church with a man who loved garlic more than I did. That congregation was seriously vampire proof.

YouTube is your friend. Bet you can find it there.

It's grey and rainy and the temp is dropping. So, chicken pot pie.

I, too, have one of those Cuisinart ice cream makers I bought from a friend who was getting rid of it. I don't think I've used it in three years. Used it a good deal when I first got it, and then just...didn't. Next would probably be the blender. Rarely get it out unless I get on a smoothie kick. Don't use the Kitchenaid all that much except when I'm baking, which I don't do a lot of any more, but when I do, I'm damn proud I have it. Food processor gets a lot of use, as does the stick blender. I use my IP a good deal in the winter because I make a lot more soups and stews; otherwise, it's mostly beans and stock. I, too, prefer braises in the oven. Most used is the coffeemaker (daily) and the CSO (at least 4-5 times a week). I probably use my vacuum sealer at least twice a month. I don't have an air fryer, and got rid of my slow cooker when I got an IP. Something I used to have and used a good deal, but don't have any more and really don't miss, is an electric skillet.

Talk to me about that potato crust, please.

I still chuckle when I think of making Nina Gluck's eggnog -- walking in the liquor store and dumbfounding the clerk when the 60-ish lady wanted Everclear.

@Smithy, you asked what I planned to do with the persimmons -- they eventually went in a salad with one of the pomegranates. Simple dressing of honey and lime juice. Good over yogurt, good spooned on top of romaine.

Well, you're in the right place. There are some experts in those fields here. (I am not one of them.)

Mine is like the first example.

Bet you could.

I betcha you could use cherry or grape tomatoes from the store and make good ones.

Five adults, one kid (who will eat chicken nuggets). A whole turkey, cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, a green thing (likely asparagus, as we all seem to like it), rolls. Will send some home with the guests, and vac-pack and freeze most of the leftover turkey, freeze the gravy. Oh, and a pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust and caramel sauce.

Agreed. When I could eat regular waffles, these were my go-to.

Thanks, all. I'd bookmarked a kedgeree recipe as a potential. Also some fish cakes that are a combo of poached and smoked salmon. We shall see.

FWIW, I've had luck with very soft bananas mashing them to pulp with a little lemon juice and freezing in a plastic bag. Lemon juice keeps pulp from discoloring. Vac sealed or air expelled via water displacement method.