T-giving '25

done and dusted

The day has come and gone as has the company and we are getting perilously close to holiday posts so I’d better get this Thanksgiving dispatch off toot sweet.

This year we were six - Izzy’s college chum Camille and Peter’s girlfriend Maria joined us so we adjusted to include more vegetarian and lactose-free alternatives to our usual animal-focused menu and you know what? They were DELICIOUS and could even make it into the regular rotation!

Take that, animal fats.

Anyway, I have no pictures of the company and few of the food but here’s the menu.¹

Pre-dinner snacks and cocktails:

• Cacio e Pepe Gougères, except you probably shouldn’t do them in the food processor and I did use a fifth egg so they are really just Ballymaloe with a heckin’ lot of pepper and cheese

• Chicken Radishes - Eric Kim from Korean American, make more than you think you need.

• pickled scapes from somewhere on the interwebs

• Hapi Snax because it’s not cocktails without them!

• Sweet ’n Juicys which is really David Lebovitz’ cranberry shrub cocktail but is named the SnJ after Peter’s pronouncement as a wee toddler that cranberry sauce is sweet and juicy.²

The Meal Itself:

• Samin Nosrat’s buttermilk-brined turkey - last year’s notes said dry, trust the thermometer so this year I trusted the thermometer. Also, this is why you got a giant sink so you can spatchcock your turkey in it, and then get the cooler in there in order to fill your garment bag with all the buttermilk.

• Eric Kim’s dressing (v, df) + make-ahead gravy + Fannie Farmer cran (v, df)

• Mushroom Wellington (v, df) - Was it a lot of work? Yes. Was it worth it? Also yes. Should you make your own puff pastry? Also also yes but don’t sweat it because if you do it isn’t technically df but you can use Pepperidge Farm for the full df.

• cider glazed brussels sprouts (v, df)

• mashed potatoes w/ gruyère and fried shallots (v but most def not df) - again with the notes from last year: reheat, don’t overheat, and you will be rewarded.

• goguma jorim sweet potatoes (v, df) - a Korean prep that involves roasting chunks of sweet potato and then tossing them in a dressing of rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, gochugaru, scallions, salt.

• roasted onions and pears (v, df) - roast ‘em early in the day then room temp or into the oven for a few to warm.

• scalloped oysters

• slug o’ bourbon apple pie (v, and df like the wellington)

• chocolate-pecan tart (v and df-ish) - by the time we get around to this it is all I can do to whip some cream so the delicious bourbon-spiked cream almost never appears

• Spaghetti Pie (v and so not df) - technically not part of dinner because it went to the CRI rower’s potluck that morning but it might make the regular rotation for potlucks because potlucks always need more savory and it was damn good.³

I mean, that’s a feast!

How It Happens:

I keep a running note in the Notes app, where my life seems to live these days. When it is time to start planning I copy the text into a new note, and make adjustments, etc for the current year. New items are bolded. Items not being offered this year are [bracketed]. Cooking/serving dishes are CAPPED. Hyperlinks make their way occasionally.

Mostly what I love about the Notes app is the checklist format, where little circles go in front of things on a list, and when you have done that thing, you just click in the circle and a checkmark appears and the item drops to the bottom of the list. SO SATISFYING. So there are lists of groceries to buy on the pre-shops, then daily tasks from the weekend before to the day of, a list of cooking times and temps for everything that has to go in the ovens, and a timeline and temps for the ovens. And notes notes notes of what worked in the past, what not to forget for next year, what to absolutely drop for next year, and so on.

That is way more than you need to know about how the magic happens (spoiler alert: it is not magic) and I didn’t take a ton of pics so you’ll just have to trust me when I offer some observations and awards.

Snax, etc. Everyone thinks pre-dinner snacks are important to warm up the feasting muscles and pique the appetite as only pickled bits can and that is true but actually if you have snacks for that hour before dinner when everyone is milling around in the kitchen, the humans can help to keep the dog from jumping up to the counter every five seconds to see what’s cooking. Teamwork makes the dream work! And it’s not like it’s a lot. We all need more shrub in our lives, amiright? And gougéres are basically air with some cheese and egg wrapped around it so practically nothing. Bring on the bird!

so much to keep track of

Honestly, the turkey was the MVP this year. I’ve come to the realization that I really only like turkey when it is roasted or in a sandwich or with a tonnato treatment so you can keep your chili and your meatloaf. But I REALLY like turkey when it is roasted and this brined and spatchcocked version is terrific.

bird and brine in the fabulous sink

Dressing, well, that remains a work in progress as I’ve yet to really settle on a perfect one. This year’s was fine but too poultry-seasoning forward and that didn’t go so well cold. It needed gravy the next day which was good because there was so. much. gravy. Pro tip: don’t make three quarts next year despite the interwebs’ exhortations that you cannot have too much gravy because you know what? You can, and if you do, you end up feeding last year’s frozen gravy that you found in the depths of the freezer to the dog as his Thanksgiving treat. But do make more cran sauce than you think you need because a turkey and mayo sando the next day is just not the same without it.

the stock, the gravy, the freezer prep

Of the non-turkey and turkey-adjacent items, Rookie of the Year goes to the Wellington. Intensely savory and super-rich, not to mention gorgeous, that gal just blew in and stole the show. I mean, look at her!

The sprouts were the runner-up for ROTY and along with the not-very-Thanksgivingy-but-rather-refreshing sweet potatoes were the only things that were completely gone 24 hours later which says a lot.⁴

This year’s - heck, every year’s - Heritage Award goes to Fannie Farmer’s scalloped oysters. This is just a can of oysters with buttery cracker and bread crumbs and some cream and oyster liquor, baked. I always enjoy them all by myself, but on your behalf, Mom.

As for dessert, the chocolate-pecan tart is thrilled to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. Congratulations, Hall-of-Famer chocolate-pecan tart!

Cooking recovery is solitary for me. I am physically and mentally spent after this feast, despite the fact that I love love love cooking it and possibly as much, planning it. The provisioning I could take or leave this year but maybe that’s just the knee talking. It takes a while to flush the event and the prep out of my system though and it turns out that doing things like putting a loaf of bread in the oven and making a dinner with only the dog and NPR for company are just the ticket.

channeling Mom with the pearls and the dog sleeping under the table

1. Sadly gone are the days of the greatest Thanksgiving menu ever and I’m not talking about the actual food.

2. Observing and commenting at a very young age totally tracks for that one.

3. Spag Pie and cheery rowers

4. if you have friends over for a leftover feast the next day, you will not have many leftovers after that but you will have had a very nice time