SethG

Thanks to this thread, I served POM Wonderful mimosas at Thanksgiving. These went over well. However, I thought the juice was a bit overpriced at nearly $4.00 a bottle. And when taken straight, well... there's a reason they're marketing it as a health drink.

I bought three more yesterday.

Okay, Jack, that looks pretty good. Maybe after the chicken I'll have to get some more quinces!

Thanks to all for your advice. I think I will try Suzanne's chicken dish, some night this week. I'm thinking savory quince, not sweet, for some reason. I've now been given yet another book to look for, as well! P.S. We're talking coriander seed, not leaves, right? Thanks again.

Another salad? I've had a hankering for salads after all of the rich food this past week. While leafing through ANWTC I found Bitter Greens with Seasonal Fruits and Roasted Nuts, page 417. Sound good, or is that too much fruit in one meal? It does sound like a little too much fruit. I think I might make this menu tonight, but just steam some broccoli or something. Or I might reheat some of my leftover Thanksgiving squash braised in cider. But that again might be too much apple.

Suzanne, does this resemble Schneider's chicken recipe? I hope not; seems a bit fussy with the stock and the port. Does Schneider call for any other spices? Perhaps some lemon?

I bought a couple quinces this morning out of curiosity. I know people use them in baking, but that's all I know. What do YOU do with them? Are they ever eaten out of hand?

That sounds great. Should we add something green?

Oh, no, you can't get crisp skin that way. I was just asking if you'd tried it since you have so much turkey experience. I've never tried it either, and I'm wondering how people like it.

Tommy, don't you have any more reports for us?

That sounds like it would work, so long as you completely cover the stuffing. Rachel, have you ever tried to cook the turkey in a bag? How did that compare to the breast-down bird?

I just checked out New Way myself! Want to do a meal from it? By the way, I still haven't seen any reviews of the new CIA at home book, but I just purchased it on Amazon, where the affiliated discount sellers are offering absurdly low prices. I have no idea why it's being sold so cheap. The book just came out in September.

Sounds like a great meal, MatthewB. You get extra credit for hosting so soon after Thanksgiving. We're still grazing on leftovers here, but I wish I were joining you. Heather, did you ever report on how your first risotto went?

I did make it, from a recipe in Anthony Dias Blue's Thanksgiving Dinner. I also considered a Julia Child version that (naturally) had some booze in it, but ultimately went with the simpler version.

I've been wanting to try Jules et Jim's eggplant, tomato & zucchini gratin. Not sure I'll cook anything tomorrow, though. We're up to our ears in leftovers at the moment. But while we're on the subject of our next cooking project, I did look through our little book again today, and I was struck (as I am every time) by what a great book it is. It makes no pretense of teaching you the whole repertoire, and this is such an asset. They offer in-depth treatment of a well-chosen batch of recipes. I want to do everything. But mostly: I'd like to try several of the soups, now that you guys have given me the soup bug. Leek and Potato, Onion, Lamb Barley, to name a few. I'd also be interested in more fish-- Jacques' fish-stuffed bread (the picture makes it look sensational) and the snapper recipes. Also the stuffed tomatoes. And the celery root salad; I've never worked with celery root, and I'd like to try to make the tomato rose petals that go with it. And I love steak au poivre, which again comes with a very seductive picture. Anyone want to do any of these?

The biggest hit of the day for me was the gravlax I set out when our guests arrived. I was afraid no one would touch it, and my fears were heightened by the fact that no one in my wife's family (all of whom came to our place in Brooklyn from Jersey) seemed to know what gravlax was! (My mental note to self: New Jersey really is the midwest!) But then everyone loved it. Even my sister-in-law, who claimed not to care for salmon or mustard, kept raving about how good it was and scooping up the mustard/dill sauce. This cranberry swirl cheesecake was also a big hit. I was glad, because it was a total pain in the butt to make.

Thank you, Sam, for resurrecting this thread! The Cope's creamed corn was a big hit at my Thanksgiving dinner. I hope you enjoyed it too.

Just a quick postscript now that Thanksgiving has come and gone. I made neither the Thompson's turkey nor the stuffing for our holiday meal. I went the opposite route, brined a turkey and didn't stuff it at all. I used an Alton Brown recipe which calls for 500 degree browning, followed by 350 with foil over the breast. Couldn't be simpler, and it resulted in a bird with breast meat at 160 and thigh meat at 180. I thought the brining produced very juicy breast meat, and the simple roasting made for a much easier day than a Thompson's turkey would have. However, I really missed the rich complexity and tenderness of the Thompson's turkey dark meat. And I believe that if I solved the problem of the white meat cooking too fast in the Steingarten/Thompson method, I might prefer that white meat as well. As far as the stuffing is concerned, I made two stuffings from Anthony Dias Blue's Thanksgiving Dinner: Sausage crouton and cornbread. Both were very good. But I think the Thompson stuffing, like the meat, has a depth that I missed with these two stuffings today. Is it worth the extra effort? That's a more difficult question. I'll come back to Thompson's turkey again, and then I may have an answer.

Okay, MatthewB, you twisted my arm. Here's what we had: Appetizers: gravlax, with a mustard dill sauce, and little pumpernickel bread. cheese & crackers, olives some dried fruits mimosas, and pomegranate mimosas Turkey: One 15 pound turkey, brined, cooked without the stuffing. I also did it Alton Brown's way, and I was going to use the Waters brine formula, but then I thought: screw that! I am NOT going to go into some store and ask for juniper berries. Alice Waters can take her California cuisine as kiss my New York City ass. I just used salt water, then threw onion, carrot, celery, rosemary and thyme in the cavity. I gotta say, Alton Brown's instructions worked well. The breast reached 160 just as the thigh reached 180. With no turning. Can't ask for better than that. Two stuffings, prepared ahead, and cooked right after I took the turkey out: Sausage-crouton Cornbread Sides: Gravy Delicata squash braised in cider Maple butternut squash puree Garlic, Spinach & rice casserole Green Beans with Shallot Butter Creamed Corn A sweet potato dish my sister-in-law is brought-- very sweet with pecans on top Roasted asparagus Cranberry sauce Pickled red onions with cranberry & chipotle Dessert: Bourbon pecan pie Cranberry swirl cheesecake with cranberry-raspberry compote And my mother brought a pumpkin pie and a blueberry pie. Both were purchased on Tuesday at some deli in south Jersey that my mother says is famous. The pumpkin pie was fine; the blueberry was an atrocity. I made too much food. But everything came out well. Everybody loved the gravlax and the turkey. And that cheesecake that Heather turned me on to. I was rather stressed cooking in the evening after work for the last three days, but then today went without a hitch, pretty much, and I was actually able to socialize for a while in the afternoon. Hope you all had as good a holiday!

I have no smoking tips for you, but I can tell you that you should not brine a duck. The brining process is intended to replace the flavor and moisture of fat. The duck has oodles of fat to spare. I'm right, aren't I, Dave? Good luck with the turkey and duck! I would post my T'giving menu here, but I've been posting it all over the place so I'll refrain.

I actually got my pot cleaned up, too, after soaking it for about 12 hours. The difficulty for me, at least, was that the vinegar bubbled up so much as it reduced. It was hard to tell what was going on beneath the bubbles. I kept removing it from the heat to check, and I know I had liquid down there just a couple minutes before it turned to rock. Last night (Tuesday) was baked ziti, with ricotta and eggplant, again from Lidia's "Italian-American" book. Such simple comfort food, but so satisfying. I'll definitely be looking to buy the book. We also had a salad.

I think your being too hard on them - take a pumpkin pie and dust it with sugar then torch it. Pumpkin pie brulee kicks ass. You have four pies, which could make for some interesting expriments. You could brine two of the pies, then heat all four and see if you can tell the difference. Or you could deep fry them!

We're having nine adults and three young children (the oldest just turned two). I keep going back and forth between thinking I'm making way too much food and thinking I'm not making enough.

I want to add my thanks for your wonderful report on Trio. I was also pleased to see that you put Harold's Chicken Shack in its proper place among all of the places you visited: first among equals!

Okay, so my menu is pretty set, I think. I've posted most of it elsewhere, but here it is: Appetizers: gravlax, with a mustard dill sauce, and little pumpernickel bread. cheese & crackers, olives mimosas, and maybe pomegranate mimosas Turkey: One 16 pound turkey, brined, cooked without the stuffing. I keep waffling about this, but that's it. I've made the decision, I'm done. Two stuffings, cooked alongside, but not in (maybe beneath?), the turkey: Sausage-crouton Cornbread Sides: Gravy Delicata squash braised in cider Garlic, Spinach & rice casserole Green Beans with Shallot Butter Creamed Corn A sweet potato dish my sister-in-law is bringing Roasted asparagus Cranberry sauce Pickled red onions with cranberry & chipotle Other contenders still in the running: mashed potatoes, mashed turnips, glazed carrots Dessert: Pumpkin pie Bourbon pecan pie Cranberry swirl cheesecake with cranberry-raspberry compote My mother and my mother-in-law are bringing wine. God knows what we'll have there. I think I'll pick up some Alsatian Reisling and some Syrah. I was going to get some BN but the review thread on the new BNs has changed my mind.