The best part of Thanksgiving for me this year was celebrating at home. The last time we were here was 2020, so not having to drive? Great. Cooking a nice, full meal in my own kitchen? The best. It was mostly simple, but I can’t remember the last time I had the chance to make a large scale meal. So here’s what we had and how it was:
- Turkey: I tried to get fancy here, and it didn’t quite pay off. I dry-cured a few thighs and legs for 2 nights over a week ago and poached it all in chicken fat for 5 hours. It hung out in the fridge until today when I warmed it enough to liquify the fat. I threw the turkey under the broiler to crisp up the skin. It was…pretty good—but not so good that I feel like it was worth the trouble. I still have some left and it’s back in the fridge with the cooking fat where it can hang out for up to a few more weeks. We’ll see whether it improves…
- Rolls: I don’t really bake, so I just bought some brioche dinner rolls from Whole Foods. They were pretty good for store-bought rolls and served their purpose of sopping up gravy just fine.
- Cous cous: My kids requested this because they don’t like mashed potatoes (like…seriously…). But it’s quick and easy to make it. I use pearl cous cous, and I toasted it in some of the poaching fat before cooking it in some turkey stock. I only tasted it to make sure it was good. The kids seemed to enjoy it.
- Stuffing: Just a bag of Pepperidge Farm cornbread stuffing. This is mostly because Valerie wants stuffing, but I eat some, too, and leave out the onion/celery. I do add celery seed and dried garlic to get some of that flavor, and I used my fresh turkey stock for the cooking liquid and a little of the turkey’s poaching fat when I baked it in a dish. It’s fine, but mostly it’ll be nice when I use it in turkey hash with the leftovers.
- Cranberry sauce: the jelly stuff in a can. My wife and daughter’s request. My son and I don’t really eat it.
- Gravy: I always forget how dang long it takes for the gravy to thicken up. I try to use just enough flour in my roux, but that means more time on the stove. The fat here was also some of the poaching fat, and of course more stock to add volume. Pretty good, but not my best.
- Mashed potatoes: Necessary, and boy do I still got it. This is probably my wife’s favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner, so I always get her approval before I call them “done”. They were fantastic.
- Brussels sprouts: Accidentally the most successful part of dinner. I can roast some tasty sprouts, but this time I a) tossed them with some of the poaching fat in addition to olive oil, added some lemon zest but, crucially, tossed them with some lemon juice when they came out of the oven. Balanced, roasted just right, and delicious. My wife and I loved them, and maybe some day I’ll get the kids to try them :-P
- Dessert: My wife got a free apple pie from a rep at work, but we’re all pretty wiped out after the meal, so we’re saving it for tomorrow.
Now we’re all loafing in the family room while we digest. Probably gonna fall into a food coma in the next hour or so…