Turkey Day

Thanksgiving, or Turkey Day as I always call it, is totally my favorite day for cooking. I typically follow the same ritual for every Turkey Day.

The weekend before comes the master planning and inventory. What dishes do we plan to have for Turkey Day? There are a few requirements:

Turkey: Well obviously, we need a turkey. Since it's just J and me, despite my best efforts to invite locals or nearly locals to join us, we try to stick to a smaller bird around 10 lbs. I like to go to Costco to save money, but their smallest turkeys are 16 lbs. I don't think there are any money savings to be had there. We've toyed around with fresh turkeys, but the timing is just too unstable for me. Fresh turkeys should be purchased like the day before Turkey Day. This means you are in danger of being screwed. If there are no more fresh turkeys, you're screwed because there are none. But then it's too late to buy and defrost a frozen turkey! Anyhow, Cooks Illustrated said in their comprehensive review on turkeys that most tasters preferred the frozen birds, and Butterball came out on top for the recommended category since there is little likelihood that I will ever find the highly recommended ones. So that's what we'll get.

Gravy: I try to make gravy from scratch every year and every year I'm disappointed in it so I keep a few dry packets on hand. This year though, I think I have a foodproof recipe that I stole from one of the many cookbooks on my nightstand so hopefully it works out. It starts with browning the giblets, heart, and neck with onions and adding an insane amount of chicken stock for 1/2 hour. Then you start a roux and add the stock and let that simmer for 1/2 hour. Then you let it sit until the bird is done, then you add wine to deglaze the roasting pan, let that get all gooey, then add 1 cup of stock to the pan. Then add it all together and voila! Yeah, chances are still high that I will be making it from that damn package.

Stuffing: Stuffing goes in the bird and our bird's empty cavity is reserved for my mom's rice and chestnut stuffing. You start off with a big pot of rice. If you do not have a rice cooker, seriously, you need to get one. Don't you want perfect rice every time? I don't even know how to make rice in a pot. Anyway. You actually start off with a huge pile of unpeeled chestnuts. Then you put in the little x's in the shell and boil them and spend the next hour of your life swearing as you peel off the shells and little paper insides. You could forego all this hassle, but it is so worth it. Really. Then once all the chestnuts are peeled, you plop those in with the raw rice in the rice cooker and add a wee bit o' oil. Then set to cook. When it's all said and done, stuff it into the bird.

Dressing: We also make dressing. J is Southern so this is a must. I have to admit that I have no qualms making Stove Top Dressing. However, I've kind of gotten used to having dressing from my office so I like a nice moist cornbread dressing and Stove Top != moist. So perhaps I will make cornbread this year and try to make my own dressing. We have a fallback can of Stove Top in the pantry from when Dr. J visted.

Cranberry sauce: I keep a few cans of Ocean Spray cranberry jelly in the pantry at all times. Then I buy two more every Turkey Day like I might possibly consume more than one. We don't. We also donate cranberry jelly to the food bank, I think. Actually, we also buy one of those Community Donation dinners every year. You know, they are like $8 and they have a complete Turkey Day dinner for a needy family. Anyway, I like the ridges in my cranberry jelly. Give me a froo-froo homemade cranberry-orange relish, and I will freak out.

Mashed Potatoes: This goes without saying. We like Yukon Golds with lots of butter and sour cream. The secret to completely awesome mashed potatoes is whipping.

Sweet Potatoes: I like sweet potatoes but I no longer make a casserole with marshmellows on top. It's just too sweet. I take sweet potatoes, boil em, mash em, whip em, and add butter and brown sugar. Done.

Vegetables: I think I will make a green bean casserole this year. J actually really likes it, and I've turned my nose up at it for years now. But I kinda like the homey overcooked green beans with crispity crunchity fake onions on top. We'll see.

Random dish: Every year, J makes a random dish. One year it was succotash. Last year it was creamed corn. This year, the decided-upon-recipe has not yet been revealed.

Pies: Pumpkin, of course. Store bought. Have you ever tried roasting pumpkin yourself? It sucks. End of story.

If you are following, you'll remember that all this food is for TWO PEOPLE. That's right: the table isn't big enough for all the food.

First comes the inventory and shopping the weekend before. This year, I have decided to brine the turkey in the cooler so that we can have the most tender, scrumptious bird ever. Begin turkey defrosting and then brining. Fast forward to the night before.

Decide which Chinese massive cooking effort to undertake. It is always either dumplings or spring rolls and a plan to make at least a hundred of either. Once that's decided, there is a fridge/freezer inventory and a last trip to the market to stock up. I like the ingredients to be fresh. Admittedly, J really hates going to the market this trip. All the crazies are out. This year, it'll probably be spring rolls. We only have 20 left from the Labor Day batch and there is no way that is lasting all winter. I learned this weekend that the Buford Highway Farmers Market is open every day of the year though with reduced hours (til 6pm, I think) on Turkey Day, Xmas, and New Years. Good to know.

Begin the Turkey Day ritual. Get up at a leisurely whatever o'clock. Make coffee. Sit down and reverse plan the cooking based on dinner time. Plan out all dishes. Look up at clock. Realize that chestnut peeling/rice cooking must begin immediately! Freak out. Start chestnut peeling, rice cooking, bird stuffing, get bird in oven. Then begin five hour spring roll-making process. Once spring rolls are done, cook some, eat for lunch, begin all side dishes for dinner.

You know, I think we should peel the chestnuts the night before. Mmmm, I can't wait for Turkey Day!