Rebecca’s Thoughts

Thanksgiving is about tradition. That’s what excites us: remembering the holidays past, the excess, the gluttony, the uncles passed out in front of the football game with their belts hanging limply across their laps. We think of glossy brown turkeys and pillowy stuffing, but how much of those memories are real and how much are they products of time and idealization? When you get right down to it, how much does anyone really love Thanksgiving food?

These days, what I love best about the Thanksgiving meal is coming up with ways to combine tradition with innovation. Ever tried a Peking-style turkey, the big bird treated like a duck so the skin comes out thin and crispy and orange-brown? What about a big heap of mussels, roasted in the oven and then doused in brown butter, garlic, and some hot red peppers as an hors d’ouevre? Or, perhaps best of all, forego the heavy and often overcooked vegetable casseroles entirely; instead, toss together a warm winter vegetable salad of roasted squash, parsnip and potato with arugula, toasted pine nuts or pumpkin seeds, and some dried cranberries. Maybe a little goat cheese couldn’t hurt, either.

Whether you decide to go creative or stay traditional this year, keep copious amounts of these three items on hand:

1. chicken stock - basting the turkey, rehydrating a dry stuffing, making gravy, making soup;
2. butter - you need TONS of this. rub under the turkey’s skin, put in nearly everything;
3. fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, and garlic - cover up any burned bits on anything, intense flavor-booster for everything from Aunt Betty’s wan boiled green beans to even the fluffiest mashed potatoes.

No matter what, have a fantastic Thanksgiving and enjoy your holidays!

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Max’s Thoughts

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to overeat, overindulge - stuff yourself, if you will. And speaking of stuffing, it is often the most disappointing dish for me. I know a lot of people rag on the turkey, but I kind of expect that to be bland and dry - it’s a big piece of meat with parts that don’t cook evenly. Stuffing usually falls short for two reasons: too dry or too bland. Cooking it inside the bird helps the with the first issue, but synchronizing the doneness of the turkey with the stuffing can be an iffy proposition. And the standard bread stuffing without the benefit of those bird juices comes up short in the flavor department. Normally I rectify this by adding lots of flavor and moisture enhancers like sausage and corn bread to my stuffing.

So this year, when I saw Molly Wizenberg’s recipe for the squash bread pudding, I thought it would make a great sorta-stuffing replacement experiment. And I have to say it worked wonderfully. While I would certainly recommend this recipe for a side or vegetarian main (which is the recipe’s original intention), I thought it successfully replaced stuffing because it had the textural balance of a perfectly cooked stuffing: crunchy on top and moist/creamy on the inside. The flavors were really simple, but I actually found that comforting. Thanksgiving is all about big flavors: tart cranberry relish, intensely sweet sweet potatoes - so it was nice to have this rich, dense bread pudding to balance it. Also, since it can be baked ahead and then broiled minutes before serving, it is a fantastic dish to limit the stress that every cook feels on T-day.     As for the rest of the meal, though it may seem sacrilegious, I actually didn’t miss the dark meat on the turkey. The bird cooked evenly, and the skin was so buttery and the meat so moist that it was completely fulfilling on its own. The chipotle cranberry sauce was a resounding hit, much better than even anticipated, with the smokiness being a great counterpoint to those big, rich flavors. And for those of you who may be predisposed to dislike brussels sprouts, I encourage you to try this variation. They are crisp, tender and, come on, there’s bacon in it!
No matter if you’re having a large party, or small, with friends, family or both, eating in or dining out, we here at Working Class Foodies hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!