Thanksgiving prep-blog

[melkor]

I thought it'd be interesting to keep a blog of our thanksgiving prep this time around. We (ms melkor and I) are having thanksgiving at our place again this year. Since we moved to California a few years ago, my relatives have been flying out to have thanksgiving with us here. The original plan for this year was to fly east and visit ms melkor's family, but my 87 year old grandmother has agreed to come out, so here we are - putting together another feast.

At the moment we've got our menu most of the way planned out, we've done a little bit of prep work. The duck confit is resting under a layer of fat in the fridge and there is some beef stock on the stove at the moment. Otherwise all things are left to do.

The plan is to start off with a few a bottle of prosecco or champagne and some canapes while people are showing up and we are finishing up in the kitchen. The only canape we've decided on so far is a puff pastry cup filled with smoked salmon mouse, we'll top them with a little creme fresh and some fresh chives. We still need to sort out other finger foods, some goat cheese something or other - I'm thinking maybe small squares of phillo folded like a cannoli with an herb and goat cheese mixture piped in, I'm not sure if the phillo cannoli thing will work so if we decide to try it I'll do a test batch sometime this week.

After the canapes we'll serve a salad with greens and shredded duck confit, we need to sort out what greens and what dressing we'll use. We'll drink more champagne with the salad.

Soup will follow - small crocks of onion soup. An acme bread crouton, and some melted cheese. Wine hasn't been determined yet.

For our main course, a willybird turkey, brined, briefly hickory smoked, then roasted. Potatoes roasted in duck fat, stuffing, creamed spinach, glazed carrots, a sweet potato casserole, cranberry compote, gravy, and some foccacia. We'll serve a riesling and an as yet unknown red. With two glasses per person we can avoid the sweet/savory conflict for wine pairings by having a wine for each half of the plate. It's not ideal, but it's better than the complaints we'd get for skipping the sweet potatoes.

Dessert always starts out being a reasonable list, but as we always add to it at the last minute. So far it's a pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and a linzer torte. A bottle of 95 phelps eisrebe to drink with it.

We'll finish up with coffee, biscotti, and some assorted chocolates.

The beef stock is almost done and we ordered our turkey today. In the next few days I need to go pick up a few more bottles of the riesling we are serving. I'll update this as we go.

[melkor]

So the beef stock is in the freezer, it came out better than it usually does. I threw in some chunks of tri-tip that were in the freezer from 100 years ago, they seem to have given it a much beefier taste.

Last years sweet potato casserole was too sweet, the nut topping and the sugar in the potato mixture ended up being much sweeter than I was looking for. So last night we made a test batch with a modified recipe. The sweet potatoes were tossed into the smoker after we were done cooking dinner in it - they were left there overnight. The end result is pretty good, a nice light smokiness fits in really well with the other flavors. This batch had no sugar added to the potatoes, next time we'll toss in a little brown sugar.

Still no progress deciding on the 2nd canape, and we haven't given any thought to the confit salad yet. But otherwise things are going well.

[SethG]

For a moment, I wished that I'd thought of this idea first, Melkor. But after reading your first posts, I see that your Thanksgiving dinner is going to be a good deal more interesting than mine. Keep posting!

[Carolyn Tillie]

So, Melkor, what time should we show up?????

Actually, I have to cook for my sister, her husband, and two of their friends (you met one of them at my place...).

Sadly, for me, any foray into any type of gourmet is distinctly frowned upon with this crowd, much to my chagrin. My sister INSISTS on Green Bean Casserole (and she is the only one that eats it) and Cranberry Sauce from a can (ugh.)

As my new winery has a hundred-year-old chestnut tree providing me tons of fresh chestnuts, I suggested a chestnut stuffing which Sis poo-poo'd. The whole thing is getting very distressing from that standpoint.

My only salvation is the wine - I have tons and will be quite plastered enough to get through the day...

[melkor]

My family is easy to work with. They eat pretty much anything we put in front of them. Greenbean casserole is out, but I've got no idea what the cranberry mess will end up as. My brother is the only one who really likes it, so he just makes it when he gets here - he's far too good in the kitchen to use the can. A year or two ago we tried the chestnut stuffing thing, got them from the farmers market, stuffed the turkey, did the whole thing - they were a huge pain in the ass and they didn't taste like much of anything. We'll have to have a post-thanksgiving get together to trade leftovers.

[Squeat Mungry]

melkor, I seem to have misplaced the directions to your house! Say 4:00ish for the prosecco?

Seriously, sounds like you're going to have quite the feast! Thanks for the blog.

Squeat

[melkor]

Squeat, the Prosecco starts around 7am when we start cooking, it'll be long gone by 4pm

We've got to get some of our produce on Saturday at the ferry market in SF. The turkey needs to be picked up Monday, that may be a challenge since I'm considering going out to tahoe to ski on Monday. The first of the family shows up Tuesday night, the rest on Wednesday. Hopefully canon will get my digital camera repaired and sent back in time to take some pics for this blog.

This afternoon I'll go down to the wine shop (premier cru in emeryville) and pick up a few more bottles of the riesling were serving.

[cbel964]

This year, I'm making a FRESH turkey. I'm very excited.

I'm just wondering, is the prep anydifferent from cooking a frozen bird?

[guajolote]

This year, I'm making a FRESH turkey. I'm very excited.

I'm just wondering, is the prep anydifferent from cooking a frozen bird?

you don't have to thaw it

[melkor]

This year, I'm making a FRESH turkey.  I'm very excited.

I'm just wondering, is the prep anydifferent from cooking a frozen bird?

you don't have to thaw it

It's also unlikely to come with a pop-up timer. Otherwise, it's more or less the same process.

[Carolyn Tillie]

We'll have to have a post-thanksgiving get together to trade leftovers.

I like the idea of a get-together - but I seriously doubt you will want any of our leftovers (based on last year's <ahem> feast).

[cbel964]

[you don't have to thaw it

[melkor]

[you don't have to thaw it

haha!

I may also try and roast my potatoes in duck fat.

What is the general consensus on stuffing; in the bird or not....

[melkor]

So having gone on an adventure to the SF produce market last night. We may have a few adjustments to the menu. I think we'll swap out one of our desserts with a meyer lemon something or other. Maybe add some meyer zest to the biscotti. The onion soup will get a bunch of shallots added to it. Any ideas on what to do with the several pounds of dill left after making 6 gallons of pickles?

[Carolyn Tillie]

  Any ideas on what to do with the several pounds of dill left after making 6 gallons of pickles?

How about a dill-based pesto that you could then freeze up in little cubes which could be used later in various styles of soup?

Edited November 21, 2003 by Carolyn Tillie (log)

[fifi]

I can tell you what NOT to do with the dill. In whatever form in the freezer, DO NOT store it in plastic, cubes in bags or plastic containers. Dill flavored ice cream anyone? The voice of bitter... I mean dill flavored... experience.

I put it in small mason jars. I like the short, wide mouth 4 oz. ones. If you whiz the dill (or any other herbs for that matter) with olive or a neutral oil, you can spoon out what you need straight from the freezer.

Wednesday will be cornbread dressing day. It is a real project and is actually better rewarmed the next day.

I have discovered a source for really good tamales. Even though the nephew will be frying a couple of turkeys (you can't go to all of that trouble for just one) we are toying with the idea of stuffing one with tamales and roasting it. We did this several years ago basis an article by Jean Andrews (the pepper lady) and it was really good. (Well... Good for a turkey.)

[fifi]

I can tell Thanksgiving is starting. I snagged some chicken thighs and a really big chicken on sale. I am now cranking up the big, shiney, new ChefMate stockpot for a really smashing batch of chicken stock. I am following the eGCI excellent method. For me, that means the following departures from my usual technique. I will be using more mire poix than I have in the past. I will steal the breast meat from the whole chicken when it is properly poached. (Thanks for that one Fat Guy! Sheer brilliance.) I will also save the chicken fat for later use.

The only thing that I am altering is I am adding a little technique of "sweating" the chicken (in this case, the thighs only because that fit in the pot for this technique) before I add the mire poix, the water, and the whole chicken. Cook's Illustrated says this is really sensational. We shall see.

I will keep about 6 or 8 cups of stock for the cornbread dressing. The rest I will reduce down to glace. I can use some of that to finish some green beans or brussel sprouts maybe. (We are still working on the menu.)

The house is starting to smell good! I just wish it were cold outside. It is in the high 70s.

[foodpsycho]

before I add the mire poix, the water, and the whole chicken. Cook's Illustrated says this is really sensational. We shall see.

Do you actually mean a cooked mire poix, fine dice of carrot celery and onion sweated in butter, or do you just mean pieces of raw onion, carrot and celery?

[fifi]

I mean the big chunks. Maybe I misread the lesson. Maybe mire poix is not the right term since it is not finely diced. I don't know. Anyway, I mean onion, celery and carrot in a roughly 2:1:1 ratio, added raw, not sauted.

All I know is that I have now put the veggies and the whole chicken in, I am starting to skim, and it smells heavenly.

[fifi]

If you haven't clicked on melkor's link about the market, do so. What a trip!

What have you done with 52 pounds of freakin' cucumbers?

[melkor]

If you haven't clicked on melkor's link about the market, do so. What a trip!

What have you done with 52 pounds of freakin' cucumbers?

We made fourty-four freakin' quarts of pickels.

[melkor]

Thanksgiving is coming along. After the wholesale produce adventure we've got our shopping list down quite a bit. We're heading down to the farmers market at the SF ferry building in a little while. We need to get some salad greens, pears, onions, potatoes, carrots, cellery, sweet potatoes, cranberries, apples, bread, eggs, and creme fresh. Aside from that list we need to pick up the bird on Monday or Tuesday and then we are set to go.

I think we'll try a few different preps for the smoked salmon mousse tonight.

[melkor]

We finished up our shopping today, we've got everything but the bird. We made the smoked salmon mousse this morning, since I couldn't find a reasonable looking recipe we just made one up. The biscotti are also made, as are some chocolates. There was some leftover tempered chocolate after making peanutbutter filled chocolate cups so some of the biscotti are now coated on one side. This batch of chocolates is far better than my previous attempts. Hopefully the camera will come back from Canon sometime soon and I'll be able to take some digital pictures. Tomorrow I need to roast some coffee and I'm not sure what else.

[bloviatrix]

Last night I learned that our Thanksgiving plans have been cancelled due to family emergency. This means I'm cooking Thanksgiving, but we're doing it at my in-laws (our apartment is in no shape for company currently). I informed my mother-in-law she's responsible for the turkey, but I'm doing everything else.

There will be six of us - my parents, my in-laws, and the two of us. This should be interesting.

[Carolyn Tillie]

And I was told last night that my brother-in-law invited three 'orphans' from his work (which is okay with me) and to alleviate any extra work for me, bought four store-made pumpkin pies.

Now I'm thinking - if he bought the pies on Saturday (knowing how bad they already are), won't they be that much worse on Thursday?!?!?!