BeatriceB

I'm not surprised Blue Apron is failing -- I keep looking at the menus, and there's never more than two meals on offer that I can/want to eat. (Vegetables, including broccoli and kale, in the cabbage family make me very sick, and they're almost omnipresent. Cheap, I suppose.) FreshDirect also offers meal kits, but at ludicrous prices. They have a faux Hamburger Helper kit for $40 for four servings. Get a pound of hamburger and an actual box of Helper and serve four for $10. ETA: What I find odd is that these "kits" are just shopping with a huge surcharge. The produce isn't even washed, let alone chopped. I don't really get it.

Yes, the recent NYT "most popular" Thanksgiving sides were downright depressing and completely unhelpful. Katie Meadow, I agree that smoked fish works well as an app, but wouldn't work well on the table with the turkey and sides. We sometimes had smoked salmon with capers and lemon (and a little buttered thin dark bread) as a app, and that worked well without killing the appetite. Also yeah, I never see the need for bread, rolls, etc. what with the stuffing (my family's tradition is a sausage/dried white bread/herb stuffing) and the mashed potatoes (which I generally skip now that I'm on my own and unwell, so I have a very small appetite), but some folks (my Mom, for instance) think dinner, no matter what it is, requires bread of some kind. As for a vegetarian dressing/stuffing, I'm no vegetarian but there are many recipes out there for bread stuffings with lots of herbs, mushrooms, sometimes chestnuts and so on that can be made with vegetable stock. Maybe it just doesn't work as well with cornbread?

Growing up, after my parents got divorced, Dad did Thanksgiving, though I did the pies after a few years (I started out working on my crust when I was 12 or so (ack! cardboard!), and by the time I was 14-15, it was really good). Ours was very traditional and simple: If Dad's girlfriend was coming, we had an appetizer of smoked salmon with capers and lemon, because he wanted it to be "fancier" Then the roasted turkey with: Sausage stuffing (made according to the recipe on the back of the Jones package with Pepperidge Farm herbed stuffing bread) Turkey jus, never an actual roux-based gravy, made by deglazing the roasting pan with white wine and adding chicken stock, reduce Mashed potatoes, made by me, because I always complained that Dad started them too late and they weren't done enough; peeled and chunked russets mashed with hot milk, seasoned with S&P and nutmeg and finished with butter Green peas (frozen) Green salad, which no one but Dad actually ate The pies, apple and pumpkin, with optional ice cream In more recent years, I've added creamed pearl onions with browned bread crumbs on top, and Brussels sprouts instead of the peas. After 1994, when there was a huge upheaval in my family, I spent Thanksgivings with my best friend's family in Nashville, who had a surprisingly similar menu, perhaps because my friend's mother was from Boston. BUT they had the delicious creamed onions, so that's become part of my own tradition now. ETA: Oops, forgot to mention the necessary (for color and acidity) cranberry sauce! Dad just used the recipe on the back of the Ocean Spray bag, but it was an annual, and hilarious, battle because for some reason he was determined to make it set up in a mold, but it never unmolded right. Every year, I'd say "Dad, just put it in a bowl -- it's just as good," but no, the mold drama had to happen!

Wow, another amazing account/pictorial of another amazing cuisine! You were in my old stomping grounds for a while -- it made me so envious, in a nice, nostalgic way My father used to own an apartment (along with two of his friends/colleagues who also went to Paris frequently for work) around the corner from Poilane and a short walk from the Bon Marche food hall, which had great prepared food for take-out. I also miss all the game meats available at the boucheries there. No one was using the apartment one summer, so I spent about 6 weeks there on my own, and cooked up squab, quail, and other things from the boucherie just for myself, as well as versions of my favorite simple things I'd eaten in the brasseries and cafes I favored at lunchtime, many of which I enjoy now. I still love sandwiches made the French way the best -- baguette (though it seems you cannot get a baguette that truly resembles a French baguette here), butter, just a slice or two of ham and Alpine cheese, and a touch of Dijon.

I don't remember Circus Peanuts, but yes! homemade popcorn balls were so great. I loved Chunkies, too, as well as the mini Snickers, Baby Ruths, Reeses and so on... BUT my mother would sneak in during the night and take whatever delicious chocolate confections we had left to eat herself, and then try to gaslight us in the morning by saying we ate them all ourselves and forgotten (yes, she was a pretty awful mother in some ways). All that was left were boring things like SweetTarts, Red Vines, etc. and the really bad things mentioned above. I was a bit of a hoarder even at that early age, and had always taken a little inventory of my stash before bed so I knew she was lying.

Ugh, one more for the candy corn and Necco wafers! I also hated Dixie Sticks, which were paper tubes filled with (I think) pretty much just colored sugar with a little fake fruit flavor. ETA: Googled and just realized that they are called Pixy Sticks, not Dixie. Ah, getting old.

I don't like to leave braising meat in the oven that long because it ends up overcooked, and I find that unless I stir it, add liquid, etc., it tends to scorch. Also my oven is an ancient gas oven, and it makes me nervous to leave it on when I'm not home for any appreciable length of time.

I'm such a goof, I thought they were real! And thought that it was weird to sell macarons, etc. next to those icky old tools! Will I never learn?! I have been enjoying this account of Belgian restaurants and chocolate purveyors very much, especially the meal at the Belgian Pigeon House. As AnnaN said, beyond jealous!

I really don't like to be a contrarian, especially in this knowledgeable company, but I like my slow cooker (though I've never tried cannabutter ). Mine has an anodized aluminum insert, rather than ceramic, so you can brown meat and so forth on the stove first. I think the key (for me) is that I use it as a kind of time-shifter, rather than a time-saver. I brown the meat, cook the mirepoix, deglaze the pot, etc. just as I would for an oven braise. It is useful when I can't be available for those 3 hours or so that an oven braise needs. I put the slow cooker on low and walk away for 6-8 hours. When it is done, I remove the solids, strain the liquid, and then reduce it on the stove, as the slow cooker doesn't evaporate liquids the way an oven braise does. This results in a stew, ropa vieja, whatever floats your boat, that seems to me just as good as the braised item. It doesn't cut down on labor, but it does allow you to adapt it to your schedule.

Hello heidih! Your dog is gorgeous -- I had a black lab who would look like that after a really good run in the park. Anyway, I pretty much require a boiled egg in composed salads, I think because it's in some of my favorite classics and merges so well with the dressing. I love Cobb Salad, which is from your part of the country, Salade Nicoise, Chef's Salad and so on. I make my own riffs on these but I find the egg indispensable!

Thanks for the article, heidih! It was fascinating.

Kasia, I love the way you write and describe the season and the recipe Though I would add fluffy comforters for the bed and big comfy sweaters to the list of autumnal joys for me

Wow, robirdstx, your fridge and food storage is immaculate! When I get delivery, I just put it in the fridge in the containers it came in, all higgelty piggelty, and then have to figure out what's what when I want some. Just beautiful!

Oh, my, AnnT, that pork loin looks so delicious. I want it for dinner tonight!

Wow, kayb, you have really experienced all that woods, fields, and water have to offer! I envy you, even the not-so-nice possum (we had one that lived in our suburban garage when I was a kid) and coon (which knocked over our garbage cans on a regular basis). I think my only taste of wild meat was when I had a long-distance BF, who lived in Southwestern Louisiana. Oh, such good food there! I do make good gumbo now, because I craved it so after spending time there, with LOTS of help from the fabulous old gumbo thread here and a little from John Besh's My New Orleans. Anyway, we went to his grandfather's "camp" (to my surprise, actually a very nice rustic house located by a swamp) for Thanksgiving, and the main course was some ducks his grandfather had shot himself. I think they were braised, and there was rice "dressing" to go with them. Lots of other things too, but what I remember is the wonderful duck and dressing, which, thinking about now, probably had the duck liver in it. While my family had many nice Thanksgivings with the traditional turkey, what we called "stuffing" and so on, that was definitely the most memorable Thanksgiving of my life.

Oh, Shelby and Suzilightning, I have the very same problem. It's OK if it's something I'm cooking quickly, like seared meat with a pan sauce, but anything that requires multiple steps (with delicious odors), sauteeing vegetables, browning meat, braising for three hours... I just don't want it anymore that day. Happily, such things are even better the next day :-) Also, I really would like to contribute to this thread, but my meals are not very sophisticated these days (I am still recovering from a severe illness -- not that they are terribly sophisticated anyway) and my "camera" is an ancient phone. So I was very happy to see the warm welcome given to CantCookStillTry!

Oh, yes Kenneth. Farmed squab or quail are too expensive here (also NYC) for me, except for very special treats. (I especially love squab, but ouch! the expense.) The opportunity to eat wild venison, ducks, and doves would be so exciting to me. So different that people there turn up their noses at Shelby's fantastic-looking venison chili.

I just finished this thread from the beginning. Thank you so much for sharing (some of) your life and cooking! I'd love to try all the game -- it looks delicious, as does all your food. I love seeing the dogs in action. I had a black lab who, I think, secretly wished she was a working dog instead of a spoiled city pet. I'd take her up to the mountains and woods from time to time and her eyes would just light up. (I won't get into the time I took her to the beach and she tried to drown herself pursuing a seagull.) Chum is adorable with her own deer-watching chair. Very much looking forward to the next installment.

While I can't disagree with most of the points (funny, too!), I have to say I'd prefer Bourdain in a foxhole too -- he strikes me as someone who'd go totally berserk on the enemy. Then again, he could go nuts and break a truce or something, and, as Shane Torres said, get everyone killed. Is this a new game? Who'd you rather be in a foxhole with -- Channing Tatum or Chris Pine? Kevin Bacon or Kiefer Sutherland? Mario Batali or Bobby Flay...?

ThanksfortheCrepes, I also have way too many cookbooks that I don't use (though, like you, not in the same league as those who have hundreds). I am about to dispose of my copy of "How To Cook Everything," because I find it useless, but parting with any of them is hard.

Hmm, JoNorvelleWalker, I may try Amazon Fresh to compare to FreshDirect, though I've gotten so familiar with the FreshDirect routine, it'll be hard to break! And, no, I don't want any meal kits of any kind ;-) I've noticed more and more Amazon Fresh bags in my building lobby and fewer FreshDirect deliveries, so you may be right about Amazon being preferable.

I've never used one of these services, but I eye them all the time (and have read this whole thread). I live alone and currently have a bit of a hard time getting around, but am lucky to have FreshDirect (which, incidentally, has introduced its own meal kits at ludicrous prices) to bring me groceries, imperfect though they are. Having read this thread, I think these services are best for people who, as has been said, have more money than time, but even more importantly, tend toward the vegetarian or vegan end of the eating spectrum, which involve a lot of ingredients to make a good meal. I am a meat and two veg kind of girl (or meat with salad and bread), and I have food whims in which I don't want what I planned, so I have a sandwich. I think this thread has done me the benefit of realizing that I can just stop considering these services :-)

Oh, yes, I too suffer from allgoneophobia. I don't have any excuse because I live in NYC with all the food sources anyone could want within a few miles or even a few blocks. Mine manifests itself as to the "precious" things that are actually pretty replaceable -- I cling to my imported digestive biscuits like there aren't more on Amazon (but they take so looooong to coooome!), the little jars of reduced chicken stock and things like pork skin and duck fat I keep in the freezer, and special spices (which grow stale). I'm also weird in that I'm obsessive about having a back up for certain foods available at any supermarket. I'm working on this, but, like others, I must have a back-up jar of Hellman's mayonnaise or I get panicky about it. Cornichons, Dijon mustard (Maille, always), at least three kinds of Progresso soup (although I hardly ever eat them), cucumbers (although they usually rot before I get to eating or preserving them), etc. I won't even start on the hoarding of paper or household cleaning products. For me, the cleaning out your freezer topic has been invaluable. The key is to steel yourself ahead of time and then be ABSOLUTELY RUTHLESS. And, with that statement, I finally realize that I've been a wimp about the pork skin. The next time I go into the freezer, it's out!

Hi -- I haven't posted much, having been ill, but I'm trying to participate more! I just wanted to say that this thread has been a huge inspiration for me. I only have a little NYC kitchen and corresponding refrigerator with bottom freezer. I can't show you pictures because the freezer light blew out a while ago and it appears that no replacement is available (even though the fridge is only 6 years old. Grrr.) I had no room for anything in there, and, inspired by this thread, have been cleaning out the freezer with a flashlight (sigh). 90% of it is ancient and inedible and a lot unlabeled, so no nice dinners coming out of there yet! Thank you so much for the inspiration, and I'm very glad this thread is active again!

I could never eat this stuff, partly because it reminds me of an excellent but harrowing book by Margaret Atwood -- Oryx and Crake (which has a sequel, After the Flood, and, I now see, a third book which I must read). In it, there's chicken grown just like that called ChickieNobs. Ewwwwww. There's an awful description of it.