Thanksgiving – The Dinner Itself
The Turkey Dictator weighs in…
The final menu went as follows:
In the end, 17 people showed up, last-minute place cards were made, and there was much rejoicing. Yay. The night before, Rob’s sister made tablecloths from the leftover material they had from when they made his 18 foot wide Venetian blind. The red covered tables looked very festive and holiday-like.
Some of our friends brought some dishes that Rob and I asked them to make. In the process of this whole ordeal, I’ve obtained a new nickname – the Turkey Dictator. I suppose I barked out orders right and left, but my simple justification for it is that I delegate well. That’s management for ya.
Cooking began the night before. I made the apple-cranberry pie and a few of us worked on the pumpkin soufflé, which turned out to be my absolute favorite thing on the menu. I am making that again really soon!
I showed up at Rob’s apartment the next morning around 8:30 with coffee and donuts in tow. We immediately started cooking getting the easy things out of the way first.
The cranberry sauce was a cinch. The very first one Rob’s ever liked and the one that requires very little prep. We blended the cranberries, sugar, lemon zest and some scotch in his super powerful blender and stuffed the ready-made concoction into the fridge. I immediately started upon the mushroom soup, because I wanted to make sure it had hours to develop the flavor.
Once the soup was on and happily simmering, I turned my attention to the turkey. I’ve already waxed dramatic on the virtues of a kosher turkey. I have, however, forgot to mention that the turkey, no matter if you go kosher, organic, free-range, or all of the above, needs to be fresh. As in never previously frozen. And yes, it is worth paying 3-4 times the cost of the affordable Butterball. I kid you know. This is worth it. Every bite.
After rubbing the turkey with butter in places I should and shouldn’t (I felt like I was violating the bird) and placing the herbs inside the cavity, I made sure the turkey rested comfortably inside the roasting rack that was places inside the roasting pan. The turkey, weighing in at 22lbs was not an easy bird to transport back and forth. I added a few ingredients to the bottom of the pan and followed Alton Brown’s turkey-preparation instructions. Once I blasted the turkey with a lot of heat to brown the skin and made its breast plate armor, I stuck the thermometer inside its breast (the thickest part), pulled the cord out of the oven, adjusted the temperature and never looked back.
Until the timer for temperature went off, that is.
I did not baste a single time. Not once. And you know what? Several people came up to me to tell me this was by far the best, tastiest turkey they’ve ever had. My boyfriend, who is a dark meat aficionado, confessed that for the first time in his life, he had a hard time deciding between the white meat and the dark meat. Everything was moist, juicy and flavorful. I was pretty amazed – and not at my own cooking – but at the fact that by simply getting a quality turkey and following a what has got to be the easiest turkey preparation instructions, I wound up with a winning recipe.
So while the turkey was roasting and I was forgetting all about it, because I didn’t have to remember to baste, Rob and I got to focus on other dishes, like the stuffing and roasted fennel with haricots verts. And while I hate everything fennel, I had to oblige and accommodate those who actually are crazy enough to like this rather untasty vegetable.
In the end, the dinner went without a hitch. People stuffed themselves into a stupid oblivion and were lightly groaning by the evening’s end. I would have gladly partied til dawn were it not for having to report to work the next day.
I’ve recipes to give out. A few are family treasures and some were developed by me in a painstaking fashion. If you want them, drop a comment in here and I’ll give them to you. The mushroom soup, for instance, is a family-old recipe which I’ll share. The exact flavoring for the turkey is coming in the next entry. It’s long rather.
Here are a few easy ones: cranberry sauce and the apple-celery salad.
