Thanksgiving 2015....One thing old, one thing new

[Norm Matthews]

I looked up the recipe and it was from King Arthur Flour. The pie recipe was attributed to:  Credit for this pie belongs to Alison Kave and her book First Prize Pies. Her special recipe adds three types of ginger to a pecan pie filling — with a splash of quality sipping bourbon, too.

 

The recipe from the David Lebovitz site also gives her credit for the recipe.

[SylviaLovegren]

Nobody wants to share their special sweet potato recipe?  I need help!

[Norm Matthews]

Nobody wants to share their special sweet potato recipe?  I need help!

My nephew's wife always brings this one to our dinner. I PMed you some others that I saw on line and considered making if she wasn't going to bring this one.

Sweet Potato Souffle

 

 

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1 Cup Sugar (I thought this was excessive so I only used 1/2 cup. Next time I may omit this completely or substitute

                          1-2 T. apple juice)

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 stick margarine or butter, melted

1/2 C milk

1tsp vanilla

 

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased baking dish.

 

Topping:

1/3 stick margarine or butter, melted

1 C brown sugar

1 C chopped nuts

1/3 C flour

 

Melt butter. Mix together flour and sugar, add melted butter and chopped nuts. Pour over the sweet potato mixture. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

 

 

Rebecca Moore

[Norm Matthews]

Heidih,  I also noticed that both King Arthur and David Levowitz suggested adding some chocolate to the pie filling. King Arthur specifically said 2 oz. bittersweet chunks added to the filling. 

[blue_dolphin]

Nobody wants to share their special sweet potato recipe?  I need help!

 

I've been making the recipe for Nikki's sweet potatoes from 101 cookbooks for years now.  Dead easy and always a hit.  Not too sweet, just a tablespoon of maple syrup. 

Coconut milk makes them creamy and they are topped with unsweetened coconut and macadamia nuts.  I've sometimes used other nuts instead. 

[gfweb]

Nobody wants to share their special sweet potato recipe?  I need help!

 

I mash boiled yams with some cream till smooth.

 

Add a little allspice eg three big yams would get maybe 1/2 tsp

 

1/2 cap of liquid smoke ...more if you like it

 

Sugar and salt to taste

 

 

Makes a savory, not too sweet mashed yams.

[gulfporter]

After I boil my sweet potatoes, I smash them with gobs of butter, then add chunks of caramelized apples, caramelized onions and a good bit of chilpotle in adobo sauce.  May not be traditional, but neither are we.

[blue_dolphin]

I like the idea of the liquid smoke (gfweb) and chipotle (gulfporter) additions!

[cakewalk]

Don't know if it will go with your TG feast, but this is one of my favorite sweet potato recipies, been making it for a long time. I think it was someone on eGullet that first made mention of it many moons ago:

 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/lime-cilantro-sweet-potatoes-109459

[gfweb]

I like the idea of the liquid smoke (gfweb) and chipotle (gulfporter) additions!

 

I have added chipotle to the smoked yams with good effect

[kayb]

Nobody wants to share their special sweet potato recipe?  I need help!

Let me add mine: it's a favorite I've made for years. 

 

Boil 5 or 6 sizeable sweet potatoes (you're aiming for 4-6 cups of mashed sweet potatoes) in the jackets until tender; when they're cool enough to handle, peel and mash with 1/2 stick softened butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Spread in bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

 

For streusel topping: Mix 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and 1 cup pecan pieces in a bowl. Melt 1/2 stick of butter and pour over. Mix to make a crumbly mixture. Scatter on top of sweet potatoes.

 

Bake 40-45 minutes at 350, or thereabouts; they're forgiving,and can share the oven with most anything at any temp. Just make sure not to let the streusel burn.

 

I see no reason you couldn't add a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, et. al. to the potatoes or the topping. My family prefers the sweet potato flavor to stand out, so that's what we do.

Edited November 17, 2015 by kayb (log)

[SylviaLovegren]

Don't know if it will go with your TG feast, but this is one of my favorite sweet potato recipies, been making it for a long time. I think it was someone on eGullet that first made mention of it many moons ago:

 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/lime-cilantro-sweet-potatoes-109459

 

This sounds really delicious.  Not traditional enough for me for T-Day but will be making it otherwise, for sure!

[SylviaLovegren]

Thanks everyone for their ideas and recipes!   We love sweet potatoes, so we will be trying lots of different recipes in the next few months.  

[JAZ]

I like mashed sweet potatoes with finely minced fresh rosemary and parmigiano cheese, or with a pinch each of allspice and cayenne.

[hummingbirdkiss]

traditional for us as a family are Santa Fe style "Christmas" enchiladas half red half green chile 

we have had them on our table with the turkey for 35 years and counting 

 

new I am making rainbow challah per my little grandson who thinks that having it just on Easter is not enough he wants to start making it on Thanksgiving and Easter so that is "new" 

[huiray]

Old: No sweet potato anything, no pumpkin anything, no turkey anything.

New: Maybe another meat prep other than the duck, or lamb etc I've done in the past - I'm thinking about a nice batch of Kari Kapitan.

[hummingbirdkiss]

OH i wanted to add but cannot edit …  this is the ONE meal a year I get back for my investment in my son's college education ….so I PUT A LOT OF PRESSURE on him (intentionally  and fairly I think )  to preform his best and wow that boy can cook! So I really do look forward to this as a meal I do NOT prepare anymore but get to enjoy full on  …and I do very little the enchiladas are in the freezer already waiting to be baked ….

 

 

mother brag over ….I love that I can say I am going to my son's for the holiday ..it is hard to explain to anyone who does not know us how deeply amazing it is 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all ! 

[blue_dolphin]

hummingbird kiss, that last post brought tears to my eyes!  Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, too!  

 

Last night, I received my Thanksgiving assignment - pies!  Not my forte but at least I don't need to worry about keeping things hot when sit-down time is delayed by hours!  

 

Old:  Pumpkin-pecan layered pie modified from this recipe in Southern Living.  A layer of pecan pie type filling on the bottom and a creamy pumpkin layer on top.  

New:  Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie

 

My lime tree is loaded so I may make some sort of lime dessert as well.  Or maybe just a bottle of my lime-cello - my favorite dessert after a heavy meal, a little glass of something tasty to sip!  

[Alex]

Nobody wants to share their special sweet potato recipe?  I need help!

 

Mashed/smashed, with butter, maple syrup, and flamed bourbon. Additional spices optional.

[hummingbirdkiss]

 Sylvialovegren  slice them up after half cooking them  and use Alex's combo of butter maple syrup and bourbon toss them together ..then put lots of butter salt and pepper …it all works bake until bubbly and beautiful 

 

bourbon maple and butter are the bomb with sweet potatoes I can not think of a better combo i Have added pineapple juice and it is even better

[Darienne]

Our entire Thanksgiving is new in one sense:  celebrating the American Thanksgiving in Ontario.  We've had American Thanksgiving in the States before, but never in Canada...where we have already celebrated our Canadian Thanksgiving with the traditional turkey, stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, mashed potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, peas, artisan bread, and I can't recall the dessert.

So why another celebration?  Well, our Canadian Thanksgiving invitees, South African emigres, never showed up...Annette fell ill...and now they are coming for American Thanksgiving...mostly because Annette works full time and hates cooking and has her 99-year old Father, Carl, living with her which is increasingly more exhausting and difficult.  And yes, of course, Carl is coming.  He loves to come to the farm and still eats like a farmhand and is as skinny as ever...if not more so.  He is amazing.  (Might add...so are the two Border Colllies coming who terrorize our huge brutes each time. )

 

And so the menu is old:  the above, nothing unusual, and the dessert is my go-to simple one-egg lemon cheese pie tarted up with a chocolate ganache on top. 

We were just going to serve a regular meal...lasagna, Moussaka, Bobotie (thanks John) or something...but Annette was so forlorn and insistent about the turkey, that I gave in and said: fine, turkey it is. 

I think I'll make some more of the wonderful Apple Cider Salted Caramels (Smitten Kitchen) with added walnuts and dipped in chocolate.  That will make our guests ecstatic.   Us too.

 

ps.  I am NOT crazy about turkey and now we have to have it again during the Christmas week when our friends (above) come for their Christmas dinner.  

Edited November 24, 2015 by Darienne (log)

[Toliver]

...ps.  I am NOT crazy about turkey and now we have to have it again during the Christmas week when our friends (above) come for their Christmas dinner.  

That's nice of you to make turkey and fixin's for the American-Thanksgiving-in-Canada dinner. 

As for the Christmas guests and making turkey yet again for them, I'd suggest buying a turkey breast from Costco for the Christmas guests and sending the leftovers home with them, if possible. The Costco turkey breast is fully cooked so you can just slice it and serve or follow the instructions on heating it. Then you can have your lasagna, the guests can have their turkey and everyone will be happy.

[Darienne]

Not that we are feeding the down and out, but I do always send home the leftovers with these folks.  And strangely enough, a friend told me just yesterday about the turkey breasts from Costco.   And the best part of the turkey to me is the dark meat...and I don't know about our friends.  So thanks for the idea...but it ain't gonna fly.

[divalasvegas]

Old: roast turkey with all the usual suspects--mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, regular bread stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, etc.

New: For the first time will be dry brining the turkey. Checked out this website:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-dry-brine-a-turkey-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-212426

While I found the advice given to be helpful, I was left with a few unanswered questions. Hope to get some answers here.

--He/she/they suggest rubbing the salt mixture under the skin of the legs in addition to that of the breast meat. Can this be done on a whole turkey without spatchcocking?

--Do I need to rinse away the salt before roasting?

--Lastly for now, it's suggested that you need to salt the inside as well but I always stuff my turkey and am afraid that even if I adjust the salt in the stuffing it still might make the stuffing too salty. So can I just skip salting the inside or will this cause the turkey to not brine?

Thanks for any and all advice.

[Lisa Shock]

You can get under the skin of the legs if you are really careful and just gently keep going after loosening the skin from the breast area. Start at the top, the widest area of the breast, and gently slip your hand under the skin. As you move down, a gentle upward motion above the thigh should get you in the leg area. This works with chickens, too.

 

Generally, one does not rinse off the salt. If the outer skin is wet, pat it dry or let it air dry in the fridge.

 

Turkeys are so big and thick, seasoning the cavity is really a good idea. Stuffing the bird, not so much. If you insist upon it, you could wipe out the cavity with a moist paper towel just prior to stuffing.

 

That said, stuffing the bird generally winds up with people overcooking the meat in an effort to get the stuffing warm. Plus, there are food safety issues to worry about if the stuffing does not get up to temp. You'll knock about an hour off your cooking time by not stuffing. You can replicate the flavor by making stock with the neck right now (note to future readers, today is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving) and using that as your liquid along with a generous amount of melted or browned butter. You can also make a lot more stuffing in a pan than would ever fit in the cavity.

 

Also note, if you don't use that neck this year, freeze it (if your bird was fresh) and save it for making stock next year a couple of days before the holiday, or, roast it and make stock and freeze the stock. At the very least maybe roast it then freeze for later stock making.

 

Good luck!