Thursday, November 20, 2008
T-(for Turkey)-minus 7 days and counting
Me: Pecan smoke, Weber kettle grill, indirect heat.
Y'all?
--ER
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If I had my way - Chinese takeout. Oh, wait, no that's Christmas. You know how those Jews are.
Um - turkey, Mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls and green beans. Mathman can make pumpkin pie.
Mr. Phentermine will keep me from overindulging, I trust.
Um - turkey, Mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls and green beans. Mathman can make pumpkin pie.
Mr. Phentermine will keep me from overindulging, I trust.
# posted by 
: 3:02 PM
: 3:02 PM
We'll likely be at my in-laws' for Thanksgiving. Nothin' like Thanksgiving on the farm.
I've considered having Thanksgiving here, since my bride is deep into her eighth month of pregnancy. But it'd probably be easier on her to endure the 20-minute drive than to host a houseful.
Still, much to be thankful for this holiday season. Four days after giving thanks, we shall introduce our little girl to the world. What a blessing.
I've considered having Thanksgiving here, since my bride is deep into her eighth month of pregnancy. But it'd probably be easier on her to endure the 20-minute drive than to host a houseful.
Still, much to be thankful for this holiday season. Four days after giving thanks, we shall introduce our little girl to the world. What a blessing.
I'm pretty excited. We're having my 'rents, and oldest brother and sister-out-law, and my two nephews over. Very big crowd for our tiny abode. We've had the 'rents over for T-Day before, but this is the first time for the whole-family-shindig. (Alas, my middle brother & his offspring live way down near the Mouse House and won't be able to make it up. I have, you'll be happy to know, volunteered to eat their share, in honor of them. It's for the children.)
Anyway, the cooking is not my bailiwick, but I assume that the turkey (a huge free-range bird from some local farm nearby which was, I'm sure, given comfy chairs and only the very finest in imported feeds, the occasional martini or pint of ale, depending on it's preference, and travel scrabble to play to keep it occupied) will be brined overnight (key to a great bird, BTW), then drained, and roasted hot and quick for 30 minutes to get the skin crispy, then low and slow (with a bunch of aromatics inside) to get it done. (People do it the other way, slow then hot, and it doesn't work, you bring all the juice to the outside in the slow roast, then boil it away trying to get the skin crispy.)
Then there will also be dressing (you probably call it stuffing, we don't because it isn't. If it isn't stuffed in it, it isn't stuffing, and you really shouldn't stuff it in it anyway because it wrecks the bird, so just do it outside and call it dressing), gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted squash, roasted asparagus w/ lemon and parmesan, homemade rolls, corn, etc., etc., etc. It really is nearly embarrassing how much food there will be, but since it's for the children, it's OK. There will be desserts too. No idea what, but I'm praying to the Gods of Thanksgiving that There. Will. Be. Pecan Pie!!
My one contribution to all this is to perform a flawless dissection of the avian carcass ... one of the only skills remaining from my biology classes of days gone by.
Oh, and cranberries. I get to do the cranberries, which require Vernors ginger ale, which you may have never heard of, so I doubt you've ever had a properly cooked cranberry. Too bad. I shall eat your share. That too is for the children.
But mostly my job is to eat the food and say that it was good. And then do dishes.
Umm... gee ... can't tell that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, eh? :)
Anyway, the cooking is not my bailiwick, but I assume that the turkey (a huge free-range bird from some local farm nearby which was, I'm sure, given comfy chairs and only the very finest in imported feeds, the occasional martini or pint of ale, depending on it's preference, and travel scrabble to play to keep it occupied) will be brined overnight (key to a great bird, BTW), then drained, and roasted hot and quick for 30 minutes to get the skin crispy, then low and slow (with a bunch of aromatics inside) to get it done. (People do it the other way, slow then hot, and it doesn't work, you bring all the juice to the outside in the slow roast, then boil it away trying to get the skin crispy.)
Then there will also be dressing (you probably call it stuffing, we don't because it isn't. If it isn't stuffed in it, it isn't stuffing, and you really shouldn't stuff it in it anyway because it wrecks the bird, so just do it outside and call it dressing), gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted squash, roasted asparagus w/ lemon and parmesan, homemade rolls, corn, etc., etc., etc. It really is nearly embarrassing how much food there will be, but since it's for the children, it's OK. There will be desserts too. No idea what, but I'm praying to the Gods of Thanksgiving that There. Will. Be. Pecan Pie!!
My one contribution to all this is to perform a flawless dissection of the avian carcass ... one of the only skills remaining from my biology classes of days gone by.
Oh, and cranberries. I get to do the cranberries, which require Vernors ginger ale, which you may have never heard of, so I doubt you've ever had a properly cooked cranberry. Too bad. I shall eat your share. That too is for the children.
But mostly my job is to eat the food and say that it was good. And then do dishes.
Umm... gee ... can't tell that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, eh? :)
13 x 14.68 = 190.84 minutes.
About 3 hours. Plus or minus.
I put in soaked pecan chips at the beginning, and at every hour.
About 3 hours. Plus or minus.
I put in soaked pecan chips at the beginning, and at every hour.
Alan: What a tale. I'll wish I was there. For the children, of course. :-)
I'm a mousemeat man myself. (I've always called mincemeat that, since I was a young'un; don't know why.) Gotta have it. Without it, it's just another meal.
I'm a mousemeat man myself. (I've always called mincemeat that, since I was a young'un; don't know why.) Gotta have it. Without it, it's just another meal.
Driving to Texas to the Younger Daughter's; no clue yet what's going to be on the menu other than multiple forms of pie.
Pie, like beer, may be proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (Except apple pie, which I don't like because if God wanted apples mushy he would have made them that way initially.)
But berry pies, pecan pies, various custard pies (including punkin), chocolate, lemon meringue, etc., etc., etc. Anyway ... Yum!
Didja know that pie, in its current form really owes very little to either English meat pies or French pastry? (The dough is completely different) It's basically an American invention, and fruit pies in particular were primarily eaten for breakfast in colonial America.
Eat Pie for Breakfast! It's what the Founding Fathers would have wanted.
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But berry pies, pecan pies, various custard pies (including punkin), chocolate, lemon meringue, etc., etc., etc. Anyway ... Yum!
Didja know that pie, in its current form really owes very little to either English meat pies or French pastry? (The dough is completely different) It's basically an American invention, and fruit pies in particular were primarily eaten for breakfast in colonial America.
Eat Pie for Breakfast! It's what the Founding Fathers would have wanted.
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