Thanksgiving post-mortems, anybody?

[Tab]

In my case, t-day went off decently well. Prep the night before was disrupted because my birthday was a few days earlier and my mother gave me four fresh Muscovy duck breasts which had to be cooked, and the only practical night was Wednesday, so I went over on Thursday morning, hauling all pots and pans in order to make Thanksgiving that particular day. The only thing I ended up doing the night before was simply peeling the acorn squash, which is a PITA to peel.

I did things in reverse, sort of. I cut up a mirepoix of carrots, celery, and onions, and carved the back out of the turkey (I was going to spatchcock it), took the back, wings, and neck, salt and pepper and thyme, and browned them in the pot (mistakenly typed "browned them in pot" which would have led a whole new dimension to the dinner along with butter and some oil, eventually drained them, made a roux, added some broth and water and flour and it actually tasted like gravy. (more to come -add dripping from turkey later).

After that, started the stuffing in a slow cooker; using Bell stuffing mix with some regular stuffing bread, thyme, and broth, celery and a little onion. On high for 40-ish minutes, then on low. Major benefit - didn't take up oven space.

Turkey laid down spatchcocked with homemade butter + thyme under and over skin (skin was great!) on top of more rough-chopped mirepoix, some broth, salt and pepper, cooked up decenly (90 mins?) 13 lb turkey.

Finally acorn squash browned in oil and some butter in skillet pan, then covered with sugar and cinnamon and finished in the oven then removed and mashed.

Gravy mixed with drippings from actual turkey cooking and re-strained.

Not a textbook example, not perfect, but came out damned well. My mother supplemented with apple crisp for dessert, my son with biscoff blossom cookies (first time) and we forgot the salad, but all in all, not bad...

[LeftofObama]

1. I made an apple and a peach pie wednesday night.

Stupid, stupid me, instead of making my own pie crust I cut a couple of corners and bought Pillsbury all ready made pie crusts. The last time I used them they looked and tasted great, so I figured I'd just do the same thing again. Well, I don't know what they've done to their pie crusts, but they were the thinnest, most brittle, disgusting things I've ever seen. The tops split open and both of my pies ended up looking like some kid tried to bake for the first time!

I have half a notion to email Pillsbury and ask them WTF happened to their pie crusts over the years, but I don't want to waste the energy on them that it would take to type the email. From now on I will make my own crusts that way I'll know it's being done right!

[Tab]

2. There's no dishonor in using a pre-made pie crust

It may or may not work, but you have so much other stuff to deal with. Shame on Pillsbury for having a crappy product. Good on you for saving your energy for a worthwhile target.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. One of our better meals - cooking much of the meal the prior day helped. summary -

Turkey (an 11.5 lb Whole Foods fresh bird) came out fine - cooked the previous day, then cut off and heated for the dinner - excellent flavor, decent texture (a bit dry on the white meat) - legs/dark meat great.

Stuffing (bread stuffing seasoned with sauteed onion, sweet pepper and celery, some hot pepper flakes and turkey sausage, and plenty of Bells seasoning) was one of my best.

Home made spiced cranberry sauce - easy and superb

Mashed potatoes, carrots vichy, peas - all fine, the carrots were a bit firmer than I would like.

Our guest brought a green bean casserole - my daughter loved it, my wife and I nibbled a bit but...nope. Not our thing (even made with fresh green beans).

Dessert - Pecan Pie - just great (I make the crust using a Boston Globe cookbook recipe, filling using a Joy of Cooking recipe) - topped with Trader Joe vanilla Soy Creamy ice cream.

Wines - a nice Prosecco to start, well aged German Reislings (1991, 1992) for dinner - the dinner made the wings sing (or vice versa!)

[Aerows]

4. Turkey was okay

wasn't baked crispy on the outside like I like it, green beans, fantastic, stuffing, could have been better, but still good, mashed potatoes with half-and-half, fan-freaking-tastic.

Next year, the turkey goes in a bag, and the stuffing gets extra celery, thyme and mushrooms.

The gravy needed garlic.

[Sentath]

5. Well, if anyone remembers the last thread we got our marching orders.

Deviled Eggs and Sweet Potatoes.

The eggs were prepared simply, boiled, split, and stuffed with yolk, mayo, mustard, and dill relish mixture.

We have been able to buy Really Good sweet potatoes this year, so we oven roasted 8. Where we poked them they bled syrup that caramelized and foamed on the pan. This was allowed to cool into candy and shattered back into the chunkily mashed potatoes. Seasoned them with Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Coriander, a stick of butter (unsalted) and a good fat teaspoon of salt. Topped with about a cup of broken pecans and baked. retopped with marshmallows and baked until crisp.

Little Brother and wife were happy enough to let us take Ice Cream duty off their hands, as we have more freezer space.

And, being us, we had to overkill a little. A 5 cup fruit salad, a salad of apples and toasted almonds and celery in a sour cream dressing, and a dish of sausage dressing.

A good time was had by all.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

6. I wrote in a thread in another DU forum that I had made butterscotch pots de crème

Using a recipe that I took from Ted Allen's In My Kitchen, and I put the recipe there. One woman (thank you, IrishAyes) suggested that I post it here. (Note: This recipe serves 8, but since there were only three of us at home yesterday, I cut the recipe in half. It works just as well). Ted says that the people you serve it to will inhale it. He's right.

3 cups heavy cream
3 (2-inch) strips lemon zest
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
¾ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons Scotch whiskey
6 large egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Put the heavy cream, lemon zest, vanilla bean and seeds, and cardamom in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, remove pan from the heat, and set aside to steep.

In another saucepan, heat the butter and brow n sugar over medium heat until the mixture starts to bubble. Stir in the Scotch, and cook until the whiskey has evaporated, about 1 minute.

Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl and add a little bit of the butter and brown sugar mixture, whisking to temper the yolks. Add more, bit by bit, and whisk until it has all been incorporated. Strain the cream mixture into the bowl and whisk to combine.

Put 8 (4-ounce) ramekins in a large roasting pan, leaving space between them. Fill the ramekins all the way up with the cream mixture. Pour hot tap water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the ramekins. Cover with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the foil, and bake until they are just set, about 35 minutes.

Carefully remove the pots de crème from the oven -- watch for sloshing, as that water is obviously very hot -- and let them cool in the roasting pan for at least 40 minutes. When the pots de crème are cool, wrap each one in plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve. You can make these the previous day and they keep very well in the fridge overnight.

I made a bit of Chantilly cream (whipped cream with a bit of sugar and vanilla) to put on top of each serving.

[Tab]

7. I wonder

3 cups heavy cream
3 (2-inch) strips lemon zest
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
¾ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons Scotch whiskey
6 large egg yolks

What's not to inhale?

[Freddie]

8. Sad reminder

Made all the usual stuff and everybody ate like piggies but I noticed while cleaning up that not one person took any sweet potatoes (not fond of them myself). Turns out that the only one in the family who ever ate them was Mom--who passed away in May.

[Aerows]

9. :( Sorry to hear that Freddie.

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving, despite missing your mother.

[pinto]

10. Full.

Family, friends and quite a meal.

[fizzgig]

11. it turned out well enough

food tasted good but the green bean soup turned out liquidy and we wound up with a franken gravy that was too salty. when i say it was too salty for us, that means it would have been inedible for some.

[Tab]

20. I secretly always buy 2 cans of store-bought gravy to keep on standby

Just in case I fuck up the real one (which has happened before).

[Le Taz Hot]

12. Had the full array of the usual Thanksgiving fare

Turkey
Ham
Cornbread and Sausage dressing
Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy from drippings
Relish Tray
3 different types of veggies
Cranberry Sauce which, for some reason, turned out runny this year
Deviled Eggs

Wednesday I made the pies:
Butternut Squash Pie (better than Pumpkin and much cheaper)
Chocolate Pie
Minced Meat Pie
Peach Pie (made from white peaches I canned this summer)

There were only five of us this year but everyone ate until they were stuffed. I bought some Styrofoam take-out containers so everyone could take some home and eat leftovers as we will be doing for the next couple of days.

[Tab]

14. All that between 5 people?

Mine was less, and it was for four people. Even then there were plenty of leftovers, and that's not counting any ham-we-didn't-make, pies-we-didn't-make and whatever else. Sounds like you went all out.

[Le Taz Hot]

15. I break down the

ham, turkey and dressing into small ziplock containers and I freeze those and take them out as needed. I'm going to be taking the turkey carcass out today and make and can turkey stock. The ham and bone I'll use for split pea soup and/or beans. The turkey I'll use for turkey and dumplings, turkey pot pies and turkey noodle soup.

The veggies are gone as is the chocolate pie (always the first to go). The minced meat, peach and butternut squash pies are all about half finished but I'm expecting company today so I'm guessing that will put a serious dent in all three.

It is a lot of food but by Sunday evening it will all be either eaten or frozen for later use.

[NJCher]

13. I toast to all you cooks with stamina

These menus and various dishes sound so good.

My TG dinner turned into TG weekend dinner. In other words, I only made the first course on TG.

I'm making up the rest over the weekend. Everyone in my house is OK with it, as unconventionality reigns here. I personally do not think that should be tolerated on Thanksgiving, but I was the cook and I ran out of steam.

So we had sweet potato soup with candied pecans and bleu-cheese stuffed dates wrapped in turkey bacon on Thanksgiving.

On Friday Resident Gourmand took pity on me and the bird was roasted and served with asparagus. Custard pie with banana chocolate ice cream for dessert.

Beaujolais nouveau!

Saturday I'll make the Brussels sprouts and the stuffing to go with the bird.

By Sunday, I'll have made everything I intended and then it will be Monday and time to go back to work.

I still enjoyed every minute of it and may do this again next year. What I liked is that it allowed for light dining but still we had the traditional fare.


Cher

[Phentex]

16. We had one of our best turkeys ever...

I had gathered rosemary, thyme and sage from the last of the herb garden and placed that in the cavity along with half an apple, onion, and garlic. I used Alton Brown's method of roasting at 500 degrees for thirty minutes, then reducing the heat to 350 to finish. I placed foil on the breast after the initial browning. My oven didn't quite get to 500 even though it claimed it was there. We pulled it at a temp of 161 and it was damn perfect. Moist with a subtle flavor of the herbs and a beautiful skin. The gravy was fantastic!

It was a pretty calm event. I did a lot of prep and then had dishes warming while we waited out the bird. My neighbor had given me a recipe for a sweet potato and apple dish that turned out very nice. We all like sweet potatoes but aren't crazy about the usual methods so it was nice to find something different that everyone seemed to enjoy.

[Nay]

19. I did the Alton Brown thing, too, after reading it here. Got rave reviews on

the turkey! All the other stuff came out fine as well, and I baked the pies, etc., 2 days ahead of time. It was a great Thanksgiving!

[msanthrope]

17. I made proscuitto out of duck breast, worked very well. I also made sausage stuffing, with more

sausage than bread. My brother fried the turkey, delish.

My brother's mother in law insists on making that disgusting green-bean-soup-onion dish.....blergh....

[grasswire]

18. one problem with extended family + everybody brings part of the dinner...

.....is the problem of quality control. So we had great grandma's mashed potatoes that were undercooked but mashed anyway (producing little firm bits), and runny. And we had less than flavorful gravy. And we had way too many similar vegetable dishes. But hey, we had little kids who loved the mashed potatoes, and lots of pie.