I retired long ago after an eternity on the road as a meandering wastrel. Then met my wife, a biotech scientist. So for the last many years I’ve done all the weekday cooking. I do “food”; she does Cuisine on weekends.
A week before Thanksgiving, her company gives every employee a 22-lb turkey. My tradition is to shove it in the oven on Wednesday, plus make a gallon of gravy from home-made chicken broth. SHE always says it’s delicious. (We also do lotza vegetables, stuffing, cranberry sauce – The Woiks.)
I discovered that you can put a completely frozen turkey in the oven and it’s comes out (a long time later) looking and tasting great. But I usually smear the almost-thawed one with some oil and herbs. No fuss, no worries. Besides, it’s the company that counts, even if just one.
PS – A Lowland Scotsman went to visit his cousin, a Highland Scotsman. They had porridge for breakfast and porridge for lunch. When they had porridge for supper, the Lowland Scotsman asked, “Do you never tire of porridge?” His cousin replied, “How can ye tire of food?”

I have some frozen salmon fillets to cook for tomorrow – it’s a treat for me!
My brother makes pies for his T-day. (Last year it was five for the entire weekend.) I’ve heard that they have mints after dinner and turn the wrappers into teeny airplanes, trying to land them in the overhead light.

My sister is visiting from Ohio, and I have three friends joining us tomorrow for dinner.

The turkey is brining in the refrigerator (14lbs, not too big). I use an oven bag, and I used rough-chopped celery/carrots/onions in the bottom of the bag, instead of a rack, to support the turkey. I toss some into the cavity, along with fresh sage/thyme/rosemary (also in the bottom of the cooking bag).

Purple sweet potatoes (new organic brand I saw at the supermarket), I make them like savory like mashed potatoes with heavy whipping cream and butter.
Green beans plain, because everything else is so rich.

While I’m fine-chopping celery/carrots/onion for the dressing, I’ll be making fresh turkey stock from the neck, wing tips, and tail. I use the fresh stock, a stick of butter to saute the celery/carrots/onion, and then Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix and put it all into the slow cooker.

I’ll use the cooking bag to collect all the juices and drippings, separate the rendered fat and use it to make roux, then use the drippings any extra stock to make gravy.

Got a can of cranberry sauce for my sister (she likes it, doesn’t like anything with the berries themselves).
Not sure about my friend’s 92 year old mother wanting purple sweet potatoes, so making some fresh mashed potatoes for her.

Got a couple of good Napa wines I’ll be opening. Probably should have gotten a bottle or two of Nouveau Beaujolais (I love how it pairs with turkey) but not sure I want to go out shopping today.

Friends are bringing the ginormous Costco pumpkin pie, and I’ll make fresh whipped cream to top it.
And now, I need to do some yardwork.

Great Deep-Fried Leeks
(Apologies in advance for the length. Rayne, please just delete if too long.)

Leek preparation
1. Take a leek. (Couldn’t resist, but promise to only have one more leek joke at most throughout rest of recipe.)
2. Cut leek into strips about 2 inches long by one eight to one quarter of an inch wide (14 mg by .07 hectares for non-Americans). Mostly just the white part of the leek.
3. Wash and dry leeks if you are female. If male, they’ll be clean enough.
4. Leeks need to be dry before you put them in the batter, or else the batter will slide off, and you’ll just have fried batter. Fried batter isn’t bad, the leeks are basically just a vehicle for eating fried batter (“Hey, I’m eating vegetables here.”)

Batter preparation
1. OK, this depends on how many leek things you want to make. The fundamental idea is to make a batter that is about the consistency of pancake batter, or batter you would coat fish with to fry, or maybe just a bit thinner than that. Let’s assume you want to make one leek’s worth of leeks.
2. So, I start with flour, maybe ½ to ¾ of a cup, which I put into a cake baking dish, because it’ll give you room to smush the leeks around and get them well coated.
3. To the flour I add a teaspoon of baking powder because I saw a guy on TV do this once. Not sure what it does.
4. Now, I add cayenne pepper or chili powder, that really hot finely powdered red stuff (not paprika, these are not Hungarian leeks). About a teaspoon or so, but be careful as this stuff is really hot, and can be added with the salt at the end if they aren’t hot enough already.
5. Now I add a big pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. That’s it for the dry ingredients. Mix that up real good and then wash your hands before you accidentally put your finger in your eye which will burn like a mother if you do.
6. So now you need something to make it a batter instead of a blush. Eggs could work here or maybe milk, but I find beer works even better. Add it as you mix to get the right consistency. I used about a half bottle, which left a half bottle to drink. This is a distinct advantage over the egg approach.
7. I let it sit for a little bit and it thickens up some and looks good.

Cooking.
1. This is the hard part. If you are making these with somebody else, I’d let them do this part.
2. You have to get a big heavy pan and put about a half inch of oil in it, and then get it pretty hot. How hot? Hot enough that when you put just a snudge of batter in it, it starts frying up and bubbling immediately. Slow bubbles is not hot enough and if it jumps out of the pan and sticks to your nose, that might be a bit too hot. If you actually have a deep fryer, this would be a good time to use it, or a wok.
3. OK, now while the oil is heating up, you have to get the leek sticks coated in the batter. There is no pretty way to do this. I put about half of them in the batter and mix them up pretty well.
4. You are now ready to cook. Ideally, you would pick up one stick and slide it into the oil, and then repeat the process until your 401k kicks in. But if you have any neurons that still fire, you’ll be bored to tears after about three sticks. So pick up a bunch of them and put them in, but not all at once, or else you’ll have a leek fritter instead of individual leeks (which might not be bad). You kind of have to separate as best you can as you put them in.
5. So now you have maybe 20-40 of these puppies bubbling away and your fingers are full of batter. Go wash them real quick.
6. Welcome back. Now, when do you take the leeks out? Well, when they are done. I find that I like them best when they are kind of on the darker side and the leek fairly well cooked. As hinted at above, the leek part is just kind of a rationalization for crispy fried spicy hot dough. So, it will take a couple minutes here. Watch them, flip them around so they cook on both sides. When they start to get a little past golden brown, take them out and drain them. You should shake them as you are lifting them out of the pan to get some oil off. I use tongs to do this. If you have a big honker stir fry wire spoon thing, that would work well.
7. Drain them on a metal rack where oil can drip off. If you don’t have one, use paper towels; that’s what I do. Try to get as much oil off as possible, because if you don’t, it will seep in and they lose a bit of the crispiness.
8. The last step is to salt them. Now, if the batter is making the spiciness just what you want, then just a bit of salt will set them up proper. I use a bit more than just a bit, and I taste them about 12-15 times to make sure they’re right. If they don’t have enough kick, make a mixture of salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, and dust them with that.
9. They don’t have to be served hot. They are great kind of like chips with other appetizers or on top of something that is otherwise a bit boring. I don’t know what to serve them in because they have never lasted past the paper towel stage at my house.

Thank you to you all for sharing!
Like you, Rayne, we are empty nesters this year, and although we had planned to go ultra simple simple, we decided to go traditional turkey at the last minute, ha! After being used to 10-20 people, it’s very interesting to have just us two.
With a vegetarian daughter and carnivore son it’s always been a complicated affair, but this year just the basics. Daughter lives nearby but is doing a Friendsgiving – I’ll see her on Friday for my bday. My son doesn’t want to fly down since he hates flying but we’ll see him for Christmas and in all likelihood he’ll have his credits to graduate college, fingers crossed. He’ll be alone for the holiday, hoping he finds a friend or at least good food – first time we haven’t ‘bent over backwards’ to get him included so he is on my mind.

Your rolls are gorgeous, Rayne! Thank you thank you for starting this thread:)))
Peterr, thanks for the idea of mangos into the cranberries, I was wondering what to do with these ripe mangoes! And your grilling technique sounds perfect, my husband often does similar but this year, turkey will be roasted in the oven, stuffed. With our 32-year wedding anniversary last Saturday, now Thanksgiving, and my birthday on Friday it’s definitely a full week! I’m considering asking for gnocchi from repurposed mashed potatoes for my bday dinner.

All of the great ideas here on how people cook and what is special makes me want to have it all!
Happy Thanksgiving to all, it has made my holiday richer to hear what everybody is up to!!

our family is convening at house of one of our children, where some really excellent chefs reside. some relatives are arriving from the mainland.
am making Brussels sprouts with roasted pecans and a pie, probably apple, to bring. also cranberry chutney and two quarts of bright green cream of nettle soup.
am hoping to steer clear of all the family minefields and to behave with decorum throughout.
best wishes to all here, including that bmaz would encounter the pumpkin pie that would make him change his mind.

A year ago I decided to bake my first cake for my wife’s birthday, which was a few days ago. Did a little research to come up with a from scratch recipe that uses only honey instead of refined sugar, and organic whole grain flour. First time it came out fairly dense, like a lighter carrot cake, but still very good. This year I tweaked the recipe some to open up the crumb. Maybe not replicable due to unique sour dough starter nurtured for years at 6900 ft. elevation. The starter was initiated with kefir whey and flour about 5 years ago. It gets fed every week with organic whole grain rye and wheat, and kept at 125% (baker’s measure) hydration. I usually use the excess sour dough starter for bread or waffles.

The cake makes a nice desert and lasts quite long. Even freezes well.

Recipe for Sourdough Chocolate Birthday Cake
Yields 2 each 8” diameter layers

Ingredients

Cake
• 227 g sourdough starter (25 g Whole Rye Flour; 75 g Whole Wheat Flour; 125 g Water)
• 227 g Kefir (mature or fresh)
• 240 g Organic Whole Wheat Flour
• 362 g New Mexico Honey (297 g Fructose/Glucose; 65 g Water)
• 170 g Butter (1-1/2 sticks)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 g salt (1 teaspoon)
• 75 g 85% cocoa Chocolate Bar (64 g. cocoa; 11 g Fat & Sugar) or 64 g cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 liquid ounce Espresso (1 shot; 45 g Water)
• 6 eggs (approximately 360 g)
• Whites of 2 eggs (maybe 60 g ?)

Filling Between Layers
• 48 g 85% cocoa Chocolate Bar (41 g cocoa; 7 g Fat & Sugar) or 41 g cocoa powder
• 150 g pitted fresh or frozen Cherries
• 150 g Pecan halves
• 30 g New Mexico Vaquero Chile flakes or other low to medium capsaicin fruity flavored chile (hot chile would overpower all the subtle flavors)
• Smidgen of Kefir or Cherry Liqueur or Cherry Juice as necessary for a pasty slightly chunky consistency

Icing
• 150 g New Mexico Honey (123 g Fructose/Glucose; 27 g Water)
• 150 g (1 stick + 3 tablespoons) room temperature Butter
• 41 g Kefir
• 1-1/2 liquid ounces Espresso (1 shot; 45 g Water)

Drizzle
• 19 g 85% cocoa Chocolate Bar (16 g cocoa; 3 g Fat & Sugar) or 16 g cocoa powder
• 14 g Kefir
• 10.5 g New Mexico Honey (9 g Fructose/Glucose; 1.5 g Water)

Instructions
Cake
1. Combine the starter, kefir, and flour in a large mixing bowl. Cover and rest at room temperature for 2 hours.
2. For the whole eggs, separate egg yolks and whites. Add the 2 egg whites to the separated whites. Beat whites until stiff peaks form.
3. In a separate bowl, put together the cake ingredients, honey, butter, vanilla, salt, 85% cocoa Chocolate Bar, and 1 shot of espresso. Place into proof oven until all ingredients melt, then beat together.
4. Add the 6 egg yolks to the separate bowl one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Gently combine the chocolate mixture with the starter/kefir/flour mixture, stirring till smooth.
6. Very gently fold stiff peak whites into mixture until evenly incorporated.
7. Cut out parchment paper to line the bottom of 2 – 8” diameter cake pans. Butter sides and parchment of pans.
8. Gently pour the batter into the 2 prepared pans.
9. Allow batter to rise in the pans. This could take quite a bit of time, maybe an overnight in the refrigerator. If put in the refrigerator, upon removal allow batter to come to room temperature, maybe in a proof oven. Once batter is to the top of the pans (or volume approximately doubled) proceed to Step 10.
10. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
11. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
12. Remove the pans from the oven and set on a rack to cool. Remove cake from the pans when cool.
Filling
1. Strain cherry juice from cherries; use for thinning if desired. In a food processor, blend filling cherries until smooth. Break or chop the chocolate bar into smaller pieces (½ inch squares or so). Add the chocolate, pecans, and chile flakes to the food processor and pulse to a coarse uniform texture. Heat mixture over low heat in a sauce pan to melt the chocolate. Add kefir or cherry liqueur or cherry juice as necessary to achieve a pasty slightly chunky consistency. Spread mixture on one of the cake layers, then put the other on top.
Icing
2. In a small sauce pan melt the icing butter, add the icing honey, kefir and 1 shot of espresso. Bring the mixture just to a boil.
3. Allow icing to cool (in refrigerator is ok) and spread over the cake when desired consistency is achieved – pasty, not too hard.
Drizzle
1. Combine the drizzle 85% Chocolate, kefir, and honey in a small sauce pan. Heat over low heat until the chocolate softens, then stir off heat until smooth. Put into a warm measuring cup with pour spout for drizzling. Drizzling vessel should be hot enough to hold comfortably without burning but still keep drizzle pourable.
2. Drizzle the chocolate mixture over the icing. Use your imagination for an interesting drizzle pattern.

For those of you who can’t stand the marshmallow topped war crime that is often served on this day, might I suggest the silver palate sweet potato puree? Sweet but not too sweet. I loved it as a kid, it wasn’t until I made it as adult that I understood why… there is a… non-zero amount of butter involved.

https://app.ckbk.com/recipe/thes35650c05s012r005/sweet-potato-and-carrot-puree