That does indeed sound delish. I am making the key lime pie for Thursday with a gingersnap crust. I love ginger in desserts.
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I forgot to mention; I use a little less sugar. I just made 3 batches for a friend. God does my house smell great! My daughter wants some too but Iāll have to buy more cranberries tomorrow.
That mousse looks so good!
I dry brined my 16 pound + turkey today! Here it is on not-my-counter next to the much more popular hardo bread
Anyone want to chime on the pros and cons of butter or oil on roasted turkey skin? Iāve read the water in butter makes skin more tasty but less crisp.
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I found the F&W recipe you quoted quite appealing, and printed it out. Iām not doing cranberry sauce this year, but the idea of it on a bagel with cream cheese will prompt me to make when the holidays are behind us.
Same! Something a little sharp after a rich but bland meal really does it for me 
Itās easy, light and tasty. The first year I made it instead of pumpkin pie, everyone was like, āYeah, this is what we want from now on.ā
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Itās so easy, so delicious. Iāve made it so many times that this year I didnāt even need to pull out the recipe, know it by heart. (Why do we say āby heartā and not āby headā? Just 5 ingredients not counting the black pepper at the end.
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In my experience this is true, and in fact, the butter doesnāt even really contribute much to the flavor of the skin. The milk solids in butter can help contribute to browning, but turkey skin browns pretty well on its own in any case, particularly if there was a little sugar in its brine. I like to let turkey air dry for a day in the fridge uncovered, then rub with just a little neutral oil and salt - this gives me reliably crispy skin. In fact, I roasted my stock turkeyās legs for DH tonight and did exactly that, with excellent results.
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I just found out my friend is not coming. So Iām headed to a great shindig.
Jessie who I do alot of work for . Real estate broker. Will be providing wonderful food and drinks. Also a great cook . Vegetarian and traditional.
Starting off with pomegranate martinis .
Iāll be bringing Belvedere and lemons . She will be using the lemons in the future for lemon drops.
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Ok, you guys inspired me, doing Thanksgiving #2 at our Canadian house this week!!
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Slow day at work (from home) so Iām getting a jumpstart on prep. My stuffing is the most labor intensive dish because I make the bread from scratch (did that over the weekend), plus there are a ton of vegetables that have to be prepped and pre-cooked, sausage to cook, etc. Getting all of that done ahead means all I have to do day of is dump the bowl of cooked stuff into the bowl of dry bread, add stock, herbs and seasonings, then bake. So, fennel, mushrooms and shallots are roasting in duck fat as we speak!
I also made pie crust and olive cheese balls (green olives wrapped in cheddar dough). Technically an appetizer but so good with mimosas that we usually have them for breakfast while we watch the parade!
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My 16+ pound turkey is 70 cm/27.5 inches around and 42cm/16.5 inches from top to bottom.
Largest un- MacGyverāed pan and rack is 43 cm/17 inches Ć30 cm/12 inches
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Today is Tuesday ā¦ my daughter decided to go to Costco to get one of the (small) Fresh Butterball turkeys for .99 lb. Line was too long to get into lot at SSF so she went to the Airport one, bad too. Anyway, no turkeys AT ALL left. This was just going to be cooked for sandwiches so not a great loss.
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Iāve just saved this recipeā¦looks very good, especially with the crumbled gingersnaps!
The only thing it didnāt say was how many servings the original recipe makes.
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A LOT. 8-10, maybe more. The k Oy reason I donāt halve it is it uses a can of pumpkin
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The hummus has been made ~5 lbs
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There are just amazing recipes and food combos on this thread! I have now got lots of ideas, not for Thanksgiving day itself, but for the 1-2 times a month I really put in extra effort in the kitchen. Thanks, everyone.
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Well, I have started the cooking today.
We are driving a few hours tomorrow to a vacation place. This army (4 humans 2 dogs) marches on its stomach, so we (mostly me) are planning and precooking and carrying 4 days of provisions.
The Thanksgiving feast:
Appetizers:
- Quail eggs Nargisi koftas (desi Scotch eggs) with a vegetarian masala coating (Morningstar crumbles, potatoes, usual spices, egg dip and breadcrumbs). I will preboil the eggs and premake the stuffing tomorrow morning, transport, and assemble and fry on the day of.
- Various crackers from Whole Foods with TJ zhoug, tomato/basil hummus, and vegan harissa cheese dip. These will also serve as dips for the Nargisi koftas.
Main:
- A cross between the Tiktok pasta and this recipe from NYTimes:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019916-pearl-couscous-with-creamy-feta-and-chickpeas
Our add-ins include chickpeas, spinach, artichokes, tomatoes, onions, and then feta cheese on top. - Roasted brussels sprouts and carrots on the side
Desserts:
- Brigadeiros. I looked at a few recipes, and the main variation was in the quantity of cocoa powder and butter to one 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk. I went with the 4 tbsp cocoa and 2 tbsp butter. I added vanilla and a 1/2 tsp of instant coffee. These came out rather well. So easy to make, I will likely try them again, maybe the coconut variation for Deepavali 2023.
- Key Lime Pie. I mostly went with the Smitten Kitchen recipe. Thanks @Miss_belle and @saregama for the helpful links. I am not yet sure how this has turned out.
It did not get off to a good start. I used TJ Triple Ginger Thins (going by weight) instead of graham cracker crumbs. However there must have been some butter or something in those cookies because after I added the butter called for in the SK recipe and baked the crust, it had mostly melted and slumped to the floor of the pie tin. Or maybe it was because I put the pie tin on a baking sheet because I didnāt trust the flimsy disposable tin and that did something to the heat?
I squawked and flapped around the kitchen a bit, then used the steel cup to press the hot crust back into shape. When it cooled it firmed up OK but I am still nervous about it, since it baked again with the filling, though I didnāt use the baking sheet again.
I made the filling mostly per the SK recipe. In the comments she said we could use 2 whole eggs instead of just yolks to yield a denser filling so I went with that. I also added 1 small tub full fat Greek Yogurt to the filling, in the suggestion of a different recipe. I added bottled Key Lime juice plus regular lime juice and zest. The filling tasted OK before baking. Hopefully it all works fine on Thanksgiving, and doesnāt taste eggy (which the use of egg whites might lead to).
We are hauling quite some kitchen gear - knife, tiny wok for frying the koftas, kitchen towels, baking dishes and trays, spices and stock, oh lawd. The kitchen there has most of the basics but we will need more than that and definitely a good knife.
Then we are hauling food for the other meals / other days: frozen parathas, yogurt, pasta and its vegetables and cheese, breakfast coffee, tea, sugar, milks ā¦ and on and on. Snacks for the road (Masala chips, namak paras).
Lots of things to drink: a bottle of wine, 2-3 bottles of seltzer, and some juice.
Dog food, meds for every one of us, and all our clothes and jackets and gear oof! Just a 4 day expedition and it feels like we are packing and transporting half the house.
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Have you ever seen the George Carlin rant about having to pack all his STUFF to go on vacation to Hawaii? Maybe itās on You Tube. God, I miss him.
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