Thanksgiving Tips

I hereby interrupt my discussion on pies for a couple of Thanksgiving Tips for those of you putting on the feast.

1. The Turkey
For a moist turkey, the dry brine method used for chicken has worked for me. Russ Parsons, the food writer I learned this from, has upped the ante in this year's thanksgiving column and is now suggesting grilling the whole turkey after the dry brine is done.  Damn, I miss California.

2. The Turkey, part 2
So, if you're going the traditional route and find yourself reading a recipe that says something like "boil all the giblets except the liver" or "be sure to clean the gristle out of the gizzard" and can't figure out which of the blobby things in the creepy giblet bag is which, here's a picture (not for the squeamish).  This writer also offers a tip on where to find the missing giblets.

3. The Sides
My other favorite food writer, Mark Bittman aka "The Minimalist" has re-run his article on a number of thanksgiving sides that don't compete for oven space.  (Annoyingly the NY Times sometimes requires signing in, but it is free).  His recipe writing style makes everything seem achievable.  If you're trying to lighten up the Thanksgiving fare, he also has an article on raw vegetable sides that are appropriately thanksgivingish.

4. Cooking for a Crowd
There's no doubt this can be a high pressure situation.  I tend to cook thanksgiving dinner in foreign countries or only invite people not born in the U.S. - that way there are less expectations and you can pretty much do what you want and say it's the traditional way of doing things.  If you're not in this fortunate situation, ask people to bring a dish.  Seriously.  While the turkey, stuffing, and gravy can all be an intertwined mess, there's no reason family members and friends can't bring cranberry sauce or any of the other side dishes.  If you don't want the person to cook, have them bring rolls or wine.  Many people feel that if they're hosting they should do everything, but really, do you like showing up to people's homes empty handed?  If you do, it's about time you hosted, so suck it up.

5. Cooking for Vegetarians
A vegetarian friend wrote this article. The basic gist of it is when in doubt, ask the guest about her dietary restrictions to make sure you know what she can or cannot eat.  On the other hand, don't make vegetarianism the topic of the thanksgiving table since no one really wants an inquisition on their diet, especially at the holidays.

6. Cooking for Vegetarians when you've already added animal products to nearly everything
Another friend recently posted this article on pumpkin stuffed with "everything good" and pictures of her first few tries.  While the original recipe is not vegan or even vegetarian, it easily could be and looks very cool.  The idea is this, take a pumpkin or pumpkin shaped squash, cut the top out like you would for a jack-o-lantern, and after seeding it, proceed to stuff it with tasty things like a stuffing, cheese, rice, herbs, whatever, and then bake it till the squash is cooked through.  Gorgeous and plenty of room for creativity.  I've tried it with rice and its works just fine.  If you guest is vegan, you might want to explore cream substitutions like coconut milk or vegetable broth, but I'm sure you'll come up with something tastier than tofurky.

That's it - Happy Thanksgiving to All.

More pies next time.