Thanksgiving Menus 2002–2011: The Topic

[paulraphael]

I could not find the recipe for poached roasted Amish turkey. Could someone please direct me to it? Thanks.

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latest version is here. There's nothing especially amish about the recipe ... I just happened to get a turkey from an Amish farm this year. But you could always wear a black hat while roasting.

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Thanks, Paul. I'll invite some Friends over to share.

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Yikes, I forgot to include the poaching half of the recipe. Sorry. It's there now!

[Emily_R]

Just three of us for thanksgiving, so we had...

Roast turkey -- with herbed butter under the skin

Butternut squash gratin (with cubed sourdough, cheddar, and rosemary as the topping, so it functions as a butternut dish and as something like stuffing...)

Braised red cabbage

Shredded brussel sprouts with pecans and dried cranberries

Gravy

And for dessert, chocolate truffles and blueberry raspberry pie...

Today was a delicious turkey noodle soup with homemade egg noodles. Mmmm.

[phong]

There were only four of us this year but I still went overboard. Everything made from scratch.

Sourdough boule

Bacon cheddar cornbread

Curry spiced pinot noir cranberries

Pommes Robuchon

Green bean casserole

Maple glazed sweet potatoes

Giblet gravy

Mushroom thyme gravy

Sage sausage stuffing

Fried turkey

Pumpkin bread pudding made with homemade brioche, maple rum sauce

Pumpkin cake

[bwv544]

this is possibly blasphemous, but oh well...just two of us, and last year:

roast duck

chinese sticky rice "stuffing" (chinese sausage and shiitake mushrooms)

chinese broccoli

green beans with garlic

cranberry sauce

corn pudding

dessert---lots of fruit.

this year was a big crazy eclectic party of, uh, rural texans, and chinese people:

turkey

venison

wild pork

seaweed salad

potato salad

bok choy with bamboo fungus

regular bread stuffing

scallion pancakes

sweet potatoes

cranberry sauce

sesame noodles

"cowboy" beans

a weird salad of raw mung beans, napa cabbage, cucumber, and carrot, but i couldn't find any dressing anywhere...

i like all of those foods.

i just don't think i like all of them at the same time.

as an example, my seaweed salad mixed with my cranberry sauce, and then it was just odd.

[Restorer]

Four of us for the meal I worked on, as usual. This year we changed things up and made dressing from scratch, and didn't stuff the turkey. We had:

Pickle platter with tiny pickles, several types of olives, and pepperoncinis

Shrimp cocktail

14 lb fresh turkey from Trader Joe's, rubbed with butter

Chunky sage dressing with cubed French bread, celery, onions, sausage, mushrooms, and fresh sage

Mashed potatoes

Gravy from drippings and awesome homemade turkey stock

Candied yams (actually closer to recipes found called "Glazed sweet potatoes")

Uncooked cranberry relish: cranberries and apples put through a grinder, sugar added to taste

Frozen biscuits from Trader Joe's

The two items abandoned because the we ran out of time and steam:

Simmered baby carrots with peas

Seared brussels sprouts with bacon

Dessert was a store-bought pumpkin pie. The next day my sister cooked a pumpkin-apple butter pie for Saturday's Thanksgiving gathering, and I made a classic apple pie.

On Saturday, we had our other usual Thankgiving meal at my father's, with 7 people, for which I didn't do any cooking:

21 lb. turkey

Standard boxed stuffing, cooked in the bird

Mashed potatoes

Gravy thickened with corn starch

Simmered carrots

Cooked (microwaved? baked?) sweet potatoes

Cucumber salad: sliced cucumbers, vinegar, sugar, some dried herbs, black pepper, cayenne pepper

Canned cranberry sauce (the chunky kind)

Storebought rolls

For dessert:

My sister's pumpkin-apple butter pie

Standard pumpkin pie (Sara Lee)

Lemon meringue pie (Marie Callender's)

Razzleberry pie (Marie Callender's)

Chocolate liquor bottles

[382]

There were seven and a half of us and as it is Thanksgiving made enough for fifteen. Spread the work load out over the entire week:

Simple cheese plate

NV-NoName Rose Champagne

Brined, barbequed (Weber rotisserie) Turkey

Roasted parsnips

Roasted carrots (red and yellow)

Brussels sprouts with guanciale and walnuts

Mashed potatoes

Cranberry sauce made with fresh and dried cranberries and cognac

Stuffing made with Sullivan Street Bakery bread, pheasant and wild boar sausage, dried fruits and nuts

Shallot gravy

2007 Marcel Lapierre Morgon

2005 Domaine Rene Leclerc Bourgogne

2006 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Cuvée Cot

Chocolate truffles

Apple tart tatin

2006 Julien Frémont Cidre Pays d'Auge "Greniers"

Made the dark turkey stock on Monday night, roasted all of the vegetables, made the cranberry sauce and made the deserts on Wednesday. Up at 6:30 am on Thursday to run the Turkey Trot and had the turkey on the barbeque by 11:00 am. We sat down to eat the main meal at about 4:00 pm. Finished up with a turkey sandwich at about 10:30 pm. Made everything myself save for the dressing. As always, everything for me tastes better the next day.

[SobaAddict70]

We spent T-day at friends' place in downtown Manhattan.

No turkey. I don't think I've had turkey on Thanksgiving for the past ten years. Not going to start anytime soon either.

Smoked herring "pate" and water crackers

Pickled okra

Pistachios and walnuts

Rancho Gordo Mayacoba and Rio Zape beans, posole, and wild rice, plus brown rice and onions caramelized in bacon fat

Sautéed squid (marinated with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes)

Baked delicata squash rings with butter, Rancho Gordo New Mexico chile powder, and maple sugar

Green chard sautéed in duck fat

Spicy mac ‘n’ cheese (1/2 pound of habanero cheddar, 1/4 pound of extra sharp, plus many other cheeses all added to the white sauce base, which began with almost a whole large onion sweated in the butter and seasoned with nutmeg, Old Bay, and dry mustard, and topped with cheese/cheese cracker crumbs)

Sliced avocado and homemade pickled onion

Homemade salsa verde

Salsa roja/pico de gallo of canned and soft-dried tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, garlic, cilantro, fish sauce, rice vinegar

Mixed lettuce, cucumber, grape tomato, red bell pepper salad with olive oil and homemade tarragon vinegar

Sachertorte from Andre’s Hungarian

Chocolate cinnamon ice cream

Almond butter cookies

A couple of Spanish white wines whose vintages escape me

Coffee and tea

Pix on the blog.

Edited December 1, 2008 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[Lapin d'Argent]

Well my giant poach-roasted turkey ended up being just a poached turkey. It took *way* longer than I had expected to poach...the 20lb bird at 170degs required almost 5 hours! And at the very end, I made the mistake of leaving the house for half an hour to take my mother's dog for a walk on the beach, which is right when the stock decided to stop behaving and come to a rolling boil. The result of which was that the skin became very delicate and tore away in critical places, like across the breast.

So we made an executive decision, shed a tear or two, and abandoned the skin. At that point we were hungry and wanted our dinner. But the meat was flavorful and delicious, and nice and moist for a free-range, organic bird.

So would I do it again? Sometimes. The best part is the broth you get...it's fabulous! On Saturday I boiled down some of the broth by about half to concentrate the flavor, stirred in a beaten egg, added some leftover white rice and the juice of a meyer lemon, and we had the most delicious soup I've had in a long time! (Those of you who were listening to NPR on Friday can probably provide the source of the recipe...I forgot which of the 4,000 chefs they interviewed between the morning and evening news for leftover recipes this one came from.)

I would do it again for a smaller turkey, because it's an easy way to get a lot of meat and a really, really good broth without too much fuss. Same reasons you would poach a chicken. And from now on, I only poach in a court bullion made in advance -- it's worth the extra effort in terms of flavor. Thanks Paul for that life-changing experience!

Oh, sorry...the rest of the Thanksgiving menu (there were only three of us):

Poached Turkey

Gravy made with giblet stock and sage (came out great!)

Mixed root vegetable mash (potatoes, celery root, turnip)

Roasted carrots with balsamic vinegar

Brioche rolls

Cranberry sauce

Eggnog Cream Cheese Pie

Next year, I think I'll just brine the bird and roast it normally. Unless of course I decide to try Mark Bittman's splayed roasted method...

[Abra]

My poached and roasted turkey was a crashing success, and it's got to be my new forever method. The salt rub instead of brining works brilliantly. The poach was easy, even if the parts that stuck out of the pan had to wear an undignified little foil hat the whole 90 minutes. The only glitch was that I discovered that the oven here can't go past 450, which meant a longer roasting time, but hey, c'est la France. Pictures and a fuller report are here.

Soup today. Thank you, Paul!

[paulraphael]

Abra, I'm so glad it worked for you!

Lapin, how did you determine that it needed to poach for that long? I would have been inclined to just poach for 1:45 or 2:00, and then just roast for however long it takes.

[emilyr]

A bit late to post, but this is my first time adding photos. Here's my dinner from the Friday after T'Giving for my dad's side of the family.

My mom's famous Butter Horn Rolls. One aunt (who lives in Texas) literally talks about them all year long, but won't eat them except at Thanksgiving.

My aunt makes these homemade noodles in gravy every year. This year she bought the noodles from a group of ladies selling them for a fundraiser.

My dad being goofy.

The whole spread.

A little of the turkey (we brined and roasted it this year) and giblet stuffing (my family likes it really "moist" - I call it paste-like, but it is flavorful).

Sweet potatoes, corn with bacon and basil, and gravy.

Mashed potatoes, my aunt's green bean casserole and cranberry relish.

This year my mom made the rolls and roasted the turkey, I made the brine for the bird and made everything but the noodles and g.b.c. which my aunt did. She also made pecan pie and an apple-pineapple bake.

That was for my dad's side. On Thursday we cooked for my mom's side. Mom did a batch-and-a-half of her rolls (that's 108 rolls - we had maybe 10 leftover) and brined and cooked the turkey. I made a homemade version of g.b.c., gravy, stuffing, and apple-cranberry crisp. One aunt (the one who likes the rolls so much) made homemade cranberry relish, another made sweet potatoes, corn pudding, and a few pies, and my grandmama made mashed potatoes. We were overeager and I forgot to take pictures, but I've been eating leftovers for 6 days.

[Lapin d'Argent]

Lapin, how did you determine that it needed to poach for that long? I would have been inclined to just poach for 1:45 or 2:00, and then just roast for however long it takes.

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I used a thermometer to check the breast meat temperature. I'm sure you're right, but I have this unfortunate history that I think I mentioned with uncooked turkeys on previous occasions, and I guess I was just being a nervous nellie. With most things in the kitchen, I am confident and secure, even when I don't have a clue, but turkeys turn me into a neurotic mess.

However, with a big pot of delicious turkey broth on the stove right now reducing for a second heavenly batch of turkey-lemon-rice-egg soup, I am reconsidering my hasty decision to abandon this method. I don't think I could agree to live without the broth, and I don't think you can get it without poaching the whole turkey.

So, later in the winter, I will have to hunt down another -- SMALLER -- whole turkey, and give it another try.

Paul, I'll revive the other poached-roasted turkey thread, and you can hold my hand, OK?

- Laura

[paulraphael]

I don't see how it would be a problem with a big bird if you have that big pot.

Cooking finishes in the oven, however long it takes ... you can trust this will work, because people roast bigger birds than that entirely in the oven. Barbara Kafka does giant birds at very high temps.

I think my bird was around 120 degrees between the thigh and breast when it came out of the poach. This took 90 minutes for a 14lb+ bird. It took about 45 minutes to come up to 154 degrees, and then it came out and rested for over a half hour.

I'd guess your bigger bird would have done well with closer to 2 hours of poach and 1 hour in the oven.

[Lapin d'Argent]

I don't see how it would be a problem with a big bird if you have that big pot.

Cooking finishes in the oven, however long it takes ... you can trust this will work, because people roast bigger birds than that entirely in the oven. Barbara Kafka does giant birds at very high temps.

I think my bird was around 120 degrees between the thigh and breast when it came out of the poach. This took 90 minutes for a 14lb+ bird. It took about 45 minutes to come up to 154 degrees, and then it came out and rested for over a half hour.

I'd guess your  bigger bird would  have done well with closer to 2 hours of poach and 1 hour in the oven.

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Ah, I misunderstood. Somehow I thought that the bird went into the oven completely cooked, and was in there only briefly to brown the skin.

Now the process is making more sense; thank you Paul for all your help!

- L.

[David Ross]

The Northwest-themed Thanksgiving turned out pretty well.

Below are some photos of the finished dishes along with a few comments-

-Smoked Pacific Turbot, Smoked Sea Scallops, Flying Fish Roe, Olive Oil, Lemon, Radish Sprouts.

The Turbot and Scallops were from Gerard Dominique's Seafood of Woodinville, Washington.

-Apple, Pear, Parsnip Salad with Bleu Cheese, Toasted Hazelnuts and Apple Cider Vinaigrette.

The apples and pears were from Washington, the bleu cheese and hazelnuts from Oregon.

-Roast Turkey with Cranberry-Gooseberry Relish.

Darn turkeys today don't have enough fat. I have a heck of a time getting a good pool of turkey drippings in the roasting pan. Seems like my Mother used to get all kinds of dripping fat out of her turkeys. Makes it hard to get a good gravy going. (That's a whole appled stuffed into the turkey).

I was originally going to add apple cider to the cranberry sauce, but I remembered this huge bag of frozen gooseberries I had in the freezer. I bought them this Summer at Bauman Farms of Salem, Oregon. We should all use more gooseberries-they are tart and fragrant-unlike any other little fruit.

-Brussels Sprouts with Applewood Smoked Bacon and Chestnuts.

I'm not a big fan of chestnuts. I don't think they have much flavor and they tend to get soft during cooking. Next time I'll try a harder nut like a hazelnut, but the chestnuts do seem to say the "Holidays" when they appear on the table.

-Sausage "Dressing" with Currants and Pecans.

I put the word "dressing" in quotes because I don't "stuff" my turkeys. For some reason as a kid I developed a distaste for stuffing that mixed with the inner juices of the turkey.

This dressing was too moist-I put too much stock into it. I'll need to tamper with the recipe again during the holidays-I'll leave out the currants and pecans and I need to chop the celery and onion into bigger pieces. I cut corners to save time and processed the celery and onion in the food processor-bad move because I let the pieces get chopped too finely. When the dressing was cooked, you couldn't taste nice bits of crunchy celery and onion.

-Mashed Potatoes.

I always use huge Washington "Baker's" (Russets) when I make mashed potatoes. I use an old fashioned ricer to mash the potatoes and add lots of butter, milk and cream.

-The Thanksgiving Dinner plate.

-Northwest Cheeses with Fruit and Nut Crostini and Blackberry Honeycomb.

The cheeses came from Oregon and Washington-Crater Lake Bleu (OR), Tillamook Dairy Cheddar (OR), and Trailhead Tomme from Mt. Townsend Creamery (WA). The Biscotti is from Anjou Baker of Cashmere, Washington and the Honeycomb from Bauman Farms of Salem, Oregon.

I love cheese plates at restaurants but had never done one at home. I sure will again-this was the highlight of dinner.

I was skeptical of the honeycomb and wasn't sure how to eat it. Visiting various websites didn't give any definitive answers-so I just slurped the raw honey out of the honeycomb. It was delicious-a bite of soft cheese on a crunchy biscuit then finished with this sweet blackberry honey.

-Mince Pie with Rum Whipped Cream.

The pie was from Cyrus O'Leary's bakery of Spokane. It was very good, but not "traditional" mince pie. Mince pies today are a mix of fruits to satisfy today's softer tastes. The traditional pies were of course called "Mincemeat" because they included meat into the mixture, very often game meat.

For you mince pie aficianados, I'll be sharing a photo of a traditional mince pie later during the Holidays. I have some true mincemeat (with Venison), in the freezer. I made a big batch last year and it's been frozen in booze ever since.

In a couple of weeks I'll bring it out and make a pie.

-Apple Pie with Pumpkin Ice Cream.

I used organic "Pinova" apples from the Yakima Valley area in Central Washington. The Pumpkin Ice Cream is from Tillamook Dairy in Tillamook, Oregon-the same dairy where the cheddar came from.

I had read a piece in The Oregonian newspaper that the Pinova was the top scoring apple in their testing of baking apples. They liked the pure apple taste and the fact that when the apples are sliced they hold their shape during cooking.

I put the newspaper to the test and found them absolutely right-the Pinova's performed beautifully during 50 minutes baking in the crust at 400 degrees. More importantly, they have a delicious apple flavor-not too tart, not too sweet.

I hope you notice the flakiness of the pie crust-it was a big success. I use a mixture of Crisco and butter along with sugar, flour and cake flour. When I add the ice water to soften the dough I sprinkle in about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.

On to Christmas dinner!

[DanM]

Is it too early to start planning for Thanksgiving? I am expecting 18-20 people this year... GULP! Here is the current plan. I need probably 2 more sides. I will have a couple of vegetarian friends, so all of the sides, except for one of the stuffings, will be vegetarian. Desserts are still a work in progress.

Regarding the poached and roasted turkey. Can it be poached the day before and then roasted the day of? The only pot I will have that is big enough will be used to fry turkey #2.

Salad:

Spinach Salad with Bosc Pears, Cranberries Red Onions, and Toasted Hazelnuts

Brussels Sprout Slaw with Mustard Dressing and Maple Glazed Pecans

The Birds

Pecan Smoked Turkey

Poached and Roasted Turkey?

Deep Fried Turkey?

The Sides

Roasted Fingerlings with Red and Yellow Piperade

Wheatberry and Hulled Barley Pilaf

Sweet Potatoes??

Dressing

Sourdough, Fennel and Sweet Sausage Stuffing

Mushroom and Leek Stuffing

Gravy

Pan Gravy

Barbeque Sauce

Relish (I will make these ahead of time and pack in mason jars)

Cranberry, Apple, and Walnut Conserve

Chipotle Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce with Port and Dried Figs

Vegetable Pot Pie for my vegetarian friends.

Dan

Edited October 31, 2009 by DanM (log)

[rooftop1000]

I really like the vegetable pot pie idea, I may be having a tablefull of vegetarians as my daughters guests on Christmas. My thought had been lasagna without meat sauce for them but it is so predictable.

tracey

[Marlene]

This is also a great idea for the vegetarians at the table. I did this one a couple of Christmas' ago for a non meat eater

Egg Noodle, Chard and Fontina Torte

Olive oil as needed (about 1/4 cup)

2 lb Swiss chard, kale, or spinach

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 lb thin egg noodles (fettuccini size)

8 eggs

1 cup whole milk

2/3 cup mascarpone (or cream cheese)

1/2 lb Fontina, in 1/4 inch cubes

Cook the greens of choice in boiling salted water til wilted and tender, transfer to a sieve and cool. Reserve the water to cook the noodles. When greens are cool, squeeze to remove water and chop. Cook onion in olive oil til soft and golden, add chopped garlic and combine. Remove from heat and add chopped greens, salt and pepper.

Cool.

Cook egg noodles in the reserved water, drain and stir in about 1 Tblsp of olive oil to prevent sticking. Cool. Stir in cubed fontina.

Blend the eggs, milk, mascarpone and salt and pepper in a food processor til smooth Combine egg mixture, greens and noodles. Pour into a well-buttered gratin dish or deep pie plate and bake at 350 F for 45-50 min. til tester comes out clean and dish is nicely browned and bubbly.

Can be made a head and reheated. Cover with foil.

[Katie Meadow]

There is still a dedicated and vocal percentage of family members who are veg at our T-giving, and every year a veg entree is made by someone. (I'm excused because we do the turkey.) A veg pot pie sounds delish, but remember, there will be pies for dessert (right?), and not everyone wants to eat pie-crust, then pie crust again. Spinach and artichoke lasagne, eggplant parmesan or rolled cheese enchiladas in blue corn tortillas with red or green chile have always been happily received. I always make a meat-free dressing, and some goes in the turkey, but the rest gets baked in a casserole with a little extra vegetarian broth for a veg side-dish. Your sides sound great. And chipotle cranberries would be nice with enchiladas. So would simple baked yams.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Since moving to New York in 1991, Thanksgiving has always been an improvised meal for us, guests included.

We ruminate about whether to invite guests for a few weeks until the last possible moment, after which it may be too late for any conceivable guests to take a shower and get dressed in time to make it to our place in time for dinner. Sometimes we invite people over, usually foreigners who don't have family in the US who are likely not to have anything else to do, and if they come, that's great, and if they turn out to have another invitation, that's okay too.

Once I have an idea of how many people there will be, I usually go to the Greenmarket or another market, depending on how last minute it is, and buy something that used to have feathers of appropriate size for the number of guests. When it's been just me and my wife, sometimes that means a brace of poussins or squabs or maybe a pheasant. If there are more, it could be a goose, occasionally even a turkey, but a turkey is usually too large, unless we want to be eating turkey for the next two months.

Any other dishes I make are based on the same criteria I use to make anything--what looks good in the market. The less planning the better.

Edited October 31, 2009 by David A. Goldfarb (log)

[DanM]

One detail I did not mention in my other post is that this will be a kosher dinner, so no dairy. This eliminates lasagna and Marlene's pasta dish (which I will steal for another time, thank you!). Per Kate's concern about pie crust and more pie crust. For this dinner I will be making the pot pie a little extravagant by using puff pastry for the crust. Nature's Balance vegan margarine makes a pretty darn good batch of puff pastry. Also, my wife is pregnant, so no alcohol in the dishes either.

Dan

Edited November 1, 2009 by DanM (log)

[kayb]

Yummm....Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday of the year. My menu has evolved over the years, but still includes many of my childhood favorites. This year, I'm cooking it at a friend's house in Philadelphia, so it'll be interesting to see how well I do outside my own kitchen comfort zone.

Roast turkey, perhaps just turkey breast this year as there will be just three of us

Cornbread dressing (Dan, mine is vegetarian but for the chicken stock, and I'd wager you could use vegetable stock)

Giblet gravy

Cranberry salad (fresh cranberries, apples, oranges, pecans, all chopped in the food processor and mixed with a big box of raspberry jello made with half as much water as called for, plus an extra cup of sugar; just gives it a little body, doesn't taste like a congealed salad at all)

Sweet potato casserole with a pecan-brown sugar topping (NO marshmallows, NO pineapple, NO orange juice!)

Homemade mac and cheese

Green bean casserole (the canonical one from my childhood, with golden mushroom soup, pimentos, and french fried onions; only time of the year I buy canned soup)

And probably pecan pie.

The menu expands and contracts depending on who and how many are eating. It'll be somewhat abbreviated this year, as I'm cooking for a small group.

[eldereno]

The menu for Thanksgiving tends to remain pretty traditional around here. My MIL makes corn pudding, my friend makes a sweet potato casserole, my SIL roasts a turkey (so she can be assured of lots of leftovers) and brings pies. This year we have a friend bringing a broccoli casserole, another bringing "something green," and another bringing turkey gravy. I have an electric deep fryer and am thinking about deep frying one small turkey and roasting another. I will also do the potatoes, dressing, and rolls. Thinking about a beet salad and one homemade dessert (the pies my SIL brings will be bought). AND need a starter....probably a crudite platter (need something crunchie with all of these baked items) with a blue cheese dressing.

Ideas for make ahead potatoes and something for a starter would be welcome.

Since there will be primarily pies brought for dessert, I was thinking about this.

Last Thanksgiving, I also made a lot of do ahead things, which was a really good thing because my large oven broke! Had to send friends who lived nearby to their homes to bake things in their ovens and bring back. Worked out okay, I guess. I now have the oven repaired and a new fridge. Hopefully, I am ready!

Edited November 7, 2009 by eldereno (log)

[emilyr]

. . .

Ideas for make ahead potatoes and something for a starter would be welcome.

. . .

I just picked up Cook's Illustrated's Holiday Entertaining issue, and there's a great looking recipe for potato casserole that they specifically designed to make ahead. I think I'm going to try it this year, too.

[santo_grace]

Yummm....Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday of the year. My menu has evolved over the years, but still includes many of my childhood favorites. This year, I'm cooking it at a friend's house in Philadelphia, so it'll be interesting to see how well I do outside my own kitchen comfort zone.

Cranberry salad (fresh cranberries, apples, oranges, pecans, all chopped in the food processor and mixed with a big box of raspberry jello made with half as much water as called for, plus an extra cup of sugar; just gives it a little body, doesn't taste like a congealed salad at all)

I make the same salad without the pecans. Thank goodness for the food processor. As a child, I would watch my mother attach the food grinder to the counter, crank the handle and grind all the ingredients with a bowl positioned on a stool underneath to catch the fruit and juice would run down the front of the counter. It's a nice Thanksgiving memory.