Thanksgiving

[Falconeer]

I'm Italian but I'm trying to quit. Looking to get Canadian/Finnish citizenship as soon as possible. That makes me legit with my claim.

[Sky]

sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top

Why would you ruin sweet potatoes with marshmallows? Ecch. I prepare mine like regular mashed potatoes, but add maple sugar. But we also have sweet potatoes more than one day a year (like at least once a week), so this time of year is great - price drops ftw.

The friend who tried to do chilli for superbowl in 2008 gave up and left the supermarket in tears

What? Meat, tomatoes, onion/pepper/garlic, cumin. You vary beyond that, but you throw those together and you have chili :)

On turkey: I just broached the subject of getting a new (read: decent) stoven to my fiancee, who kinda balked at the price, but you gotta soften her into things...my current stoven sucks, who makes a stove with three small (electric) burners? The oven temps are all over the place, I can cobble together supper but cooking a real meal is out of the question. So I couched it in terms of not being able to host thanksgiving until I get one. Thanksgiving: the holiday where people who otherwise never cook suddenly believe they are chefs and people who cook daily have to pretend it's great...so a brined turkey cooked properly eludes us for a few more years. My step-mother finally gave up this year, they're going to a restaurant, which I have to endure for the first time ever (not counting working at a restaurant on turkey day), so I can spend the day with them.

[Falconeer]

The friend who tried to do chilli for superbowl in 2008 gave up and left the supermarket in tears

What? Meat, tomatoes, onion/pepper/garlic, cumin. You vary beyond that, but you throw those together and you have chili :)

Both girls agree: in the average Italian supermarket, everything is "different" in a frustrating fashion. Meat especially.

[rattran]

Chili just needs almost any meat. If it's tough, chop it smaller and cook it longer. Too fatty? Trim it and do extra draining. It doesn't even need to be beef-like, I've made chili with everything from squirrel to freezer-burned venison to emu successfully.

And a good stove I think is the most important kitchen item, I switched to a gas/electric with 4 burners of varying btus about 18 months ago with 0 regrets. The 4 burner version of THIS The 19k powerburner and little 4.5k simmer burner are great, and the oven hits temp in like 8 minutes and stays there. Glorious compared to my previous all little burners and gag oven temp. I think I paid about $750, but it was well worth it.

[Engels]

The friend who tried to do chilli for superbowl in 2008 gave up and left the supermarket in tears

What? Meat, tomatoes, onion/pepper/garlic, cumin. You vary beyond that, but you throw those together and you have chili :)

Both girls agree: in the average Italian supermarket, everything is "different" in a frustrating fashion. Meat especially.

Ground beef is ground beef. These girls seem to be suffering either from xenophobia or a complete lack of imagination or both.

[Sky]

Ground beef is the least of chili meats. I've used pretty much every kind of meat (except squirrel). Back in the band days, I made an excellent mystery chili that used stuff I got on the cheap from the butcher, beef heart was actually a great ingredient.

On stovens: I was really hoping to avoid something electronic, as I dislike control panels, because they tend to be expensive repairs and real flaky, given my recent foray into washing machines (I bought a mid-level model with all mechanical controls). I'm 99% sure there's a gas line in the wall behind the current electric stoven, so I want to move back to a gas stoven.

And I totally jinxed myself by talking about the stoven, because right after my fiancee left and I went to pull the laundry out of the dryer, the dryer was spitting out an error code that probably means the control panel is shot.  Now I've got two loads of wet laundry and probably another year before I can afford a dryer, meaning another year added to the wait time for a new stoven. Blah. Given that I'm looking for something like rattran posted, I probably won't have a new stoven for about five years :(

[rattran]

I couldn't find anything really nice without a control panel for the oven. It was hard enough finding a gas/electric that didn't have a 5th 'griddle' burner taking up useful space all down the middle of the stove. My second choice was a really nice Bosch with a small simmer burner in the middle of the other 4, but it was $250 more.

[Falconeer]

Yeah, take two Unitedstatesian girls who are usually very good at cooking, look at their inability to cook satisfying American food in Rome! That has to be xenophobia or complete lack of imagination!

Cooking a proper traditional dish is not so much about imagination, is about having the proper stuff. They both managed to cook DELICIOUS meals for me, thanks to their imagination. It just wasn't what they originally had in mind cause it couldn't be done properly, not without visiting a very expensive "import" grocery store which I don't even know around here. Honestly I don't know what was missing for chili, I guess it was the chili pepper itself, powder or whatever, since we certainly have onions and garlic (although they have been deemed "different" too. The onions especially).

I, for one, couldn't cook a satisfying Italian pasta of any kind in the States, in Finland or in Romania and while I might concede on MY lack of imagination, I know for certain that I am not xenophobic. Actually I've been accused often of being the opposite, a true xenophiliac.

All this said, where's Voodoolily? We are talking about food here!

[rattran]

She's busy spawning.

[Yegolev]

Why would you ruin sweet potatoes with marshmallows? Ecch.

I can beat that.  The inlaws put lemon juice in them, as well as top with marshmallows.  I could probably deal with the mallows but lemon juice is badong.

[JWIV]

Why would you ruin sweet potatoes with marshmallows? Ecch.

I can beat that.  The inlaws put lemon juice in them, as well as top with marshmallows.  I could probably deal with the mallows but lemon juice is badong.

We never did the lemon juice, but sweet potatoes with marshmallows was absolutely one of the common holiday side dishes.

[Sky]

Honestly I don't know what was missing for chili, I guess it was the chili pepper itself, powder or whatever, since we certainly have onions and garlic (although they have been deemed "different" too. The onions especially).

I don't use "chili powder" in my chili. You can use a hot paprika or any other dried chili kind of thing. The rest is just dried garlic, cumin, etc. But I'll give that one a pass, as most people don't delve far enough to learn that kind of stuff. Buy me a couple tickets to Rome and I'll make you some chili out of your local markets :) I'm also fairly good at substitution, out of necessity (I spent many years being abjectly poor). Also, if you couldn't find a decent import pasta, why didn't you just whip up a batch? S'easy.

Lemon juice...why? A sweet and sour thing? Also, they're not yams. Small, unrelated peeve.

[Khaldun]

Ancho chili ground is what I prefer for chili. "Powder" is usually that plus cumin, coriander, paprika, maybe some other things. Harder to control for taste, usually lower quality and older.

I actually like sweet potatoes best as part of a mixed roast of cubed winter root vegetables (parsnip, yams, turnips primarily). But they're really versatile, lots of good things you can do with them. Marshmellow topping is not one of those good things.

[Khaldun]

Nothing beats fresh ripe cranberries, and few things are worse than the nuggets of unjoy Ocean Spray has foisted on the nation as cranberries. Even that canned jellied stuff is better than people's attempts at homemade using underripe bitter old berries.

I've made a relish I really like with chopped good fresh cranberries, a bit of fresh squeezed orange juice and orange zest, some sugar, nutmeg, a few other little things. Otherwise I don't want anything "cranberry" within a thousand miles of my turkey day.

[Ingmar]

I, for one, couldn't cook a satisfying Italian pasta of any kind in the States

I'm sure you could do so in some places and not in others. The US varies rather greatly in the availability of 'unusual' ingredients. You can get just about anything you want here in the Bay Area I imagine (assuming its legal), but in Nebraska not so much.

[Falconeer]

Also, if you couldn't find a decent import pasta, why didn't you just whip up a batch? S'easy.

Pasta Barilla is easily found in the States and it's very good. Problem is, you need much more to do a real Amatriciana, a Carbonara or even the simplest Gricia.

Look, in 2010 I won't claim you can't find anything you want in any of the world major cities. Just saying that when you approach the average supermarket of a different country, your cooking enthusiasm is probably going to be curbed unless you are in for experimentation. Lucky me, they were so we are all happy! The tears part was an exaggeration, she was just very very sorry since she promised chili for superbowl and she couldn't do it with stuff available in the closeby, large and absolutely most common and chain supermarket-grocery. I am sure the ingredients were there. She just picked them up, kept looking at them, sighed a few times and then she said she couldn't do it with all the stuff being so different or missing.

[WayAbvPar]

Caught last year's Iron Chef Thanksgiving Throwdown over the weekend. Bobby Flay made a cranberry sauce with jalepenos in it that had me drooling. Thinking about giving it a try, but can't seem to track down a recipe. I can probably fake it though.

[Engels]

Yeah, take two Unitedstatesian girls who are usually very good at cooking, look at their inability to cook satisfying American food in Rome! That has to be xenophobia or complete lack of imagination!

Ok, ok, sorry that I was rude about the two girls. There's only one solution, however; you have to bring them both to F13 and have them defend their cooking honor in person.

[Signe]

What do you mean "bring them to F13"?  Have them bathed and brought to Schild in Texas?

[Yegolev]

It begins.

[WayAbvPar]

What do you mean "bring them to F13"?  Have them bathed and brought to Schild in Texas?

That would certainly give him something to give thanks for.

[Evildrider]

What do you mean "bring them to F13"?  Have them bathed and brought to Schild in Texas?

That would certainly give him something to give thanks for.

I'm sure you could probably do this with two hobos down the street from where he lives, and it would be cheaper!   

[Demetra]

This is an AB recipe that I just made.  I doubled the sugar and maple syrup since it sounded a bit too tart for my family. 
It is excellent.

Tart Cranberry Dipping Sauce

Ingredients
•   1 pound frozen cranberries
•   2 cups orange juice
•   3 cups ginger ale
•   2 tablespoons maple syrup
•   2 tablespoons light brown sugar
•   1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•   1 orange, zested
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan (stainless steel), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally,
for 30 to 45 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half.  Carefully puree with stick blender or blender until smooth. Check for seasoning
and serve in small ramekins.

[Jimbo]

Wow, the more I read about how the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims it is amazing to see how much of an asshats we were to them later.  Deer and waterfowl (so probably duck & goose) are mentioned in a written letter home.  Turkey might have been on it, but it was mentioned more of wild game birds so it could be any number of them, but there wasn't potato, cranberries, pie's, or popcorn.

I'm working again, so we are doing the work place carry-in, not sure what to make, but I'm thinking some dip and bread will be nice (beer bread is awesome with some homemade onion dip).

[Jobu]

I am not from North America, as a few of you probably know, but someone I deeply care for is and she's staying with me in Roma for a while. Happens that she'll be here for thanksgiving too and she proposed to have turkey and all.

My family is split with my Dad being European, and my Mom being American. My sister and I were born in Europe, but we all moved back to the States when we were young and starting doing things with the American half of the family. So our Thanksgiving has turned into a weird mutant beast, you might be able to find something similar and ease some of the weirdness. Your girlfriend might enjoy the twist.

We add various combinations of the food we ate before we moved into the normal mix of turkey and mashed potatos:
crepes
filet/primerib/roasts of some kind. Once we made Lobster Thermidor for shits and giggles
duck or goose
spaetzle (a german egg noodle)
paté
sausages various kinds
Charcuterie like prosciutto and salamis
tons and tons of wine

[schild]

What do you mean "bring them to F13"?  Have them bathed and brought to Schild in Texas?

That would certainly give him something to give thanks for.

I'm sure you could probably do this with two hobos down the street from where he lives, and it would be cheaper!   

More like 8 hobos.

I'll be in San Antonio for Thanksgiving and I have no clue what's going on in here.

[Sky]

Demetra is on a posting streak! 

[Demetra]

Demetra is on a posting streak! 

Thanks, dipping my toes in the cranberry sauce so to speak.

I posted it because while I like home made cranberry sauce, I am the only one at our table who does.  The roomie
will only eat that awful canned stuff and then only on turkey sandwiches with cream cheese.

[Sky]

I discovered cranberry recipes thanks to my fiancee, she and her mother both love them. I've used it as an accent in a few things, but I'll have to work in that dip at some point. I did make a great stuffing a few years ago that features cranberries.

[WayAbvPar]

  The roomie
will only eat that awful canned stuff and then only on turkey sandwiches with cream cheese.

That is a great way to eat the real stuff too! Cream cheese is magical stuff.

[Falconeer]

Turkey, 18 lbs, check.
Potatoes, check.
Cranberry sauce, check.
Empty stomach, check.

I'll keep you posted.

[Yegolev]

Yesterday I made two pumpkin pies, and a lemon pie just for the hell of it since I still had just enough shortening to make another pie crust.  I used a lemon meringue recipe but I'll be subbing whipped cream for meringue.  This morning I made my squash casserole, this time with muenster instead of cheddar, and just before we go over I will whip the cream for the lemon pie.

I enjoy the cooking, and as an added bonus I won't have to eat the typical ass-deserts like sweet-potatoes-with-orange-juice and coconut-cake.  Well, unless everyone else eats my food.

[Khaldun]

Everything's ready short of final assemblies and baking such.

Today's menu:

Barley w/leeks, wild mushrooms and chive butter
Corn bread stuffing (sausage/tomato/corn/scallions soaked in a bit of butter and dark beer)
Fennel puree
Carrot/cabbage salad w/lime and jalapeno dressing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy made w/giblet broth
Turkey

Banana pudding
Pumpkin pie

[WayAbvPar]

 I used a lemon meringue recipe but I'll be subbing whipped cream for meringue.

You are a gentleman among scholars. Screw meringue!

Headed out the door momentarily for the ~2 hour drive to my brother's house in Everson (almost Canada). Of all days, my stomach is not feeling quite up to snuff this morning....arrgh. Took an antacid- hope that takes care of it. If I can't enjoy the feast I shall be very put out.


Happy Thanksgiving, kids.

[JWIV]

we just finnished shucking some oysters.  damn fine start.