We've eaten a lot of turkey over the years, so much so that it's not an exciting meal even on Thanksgiving. In lean years we'd buy frozen turkeys after Christmas, when the price would hit annual lows, and store twelve or fourteen of them in our big freezer. That works out to about one a month, and turkeys take a while to eat, so at this point I'm not generally fired up to have turkey ever at all.
So I'm going to try something very different this year. Here's a French fellow explaining the concept with a chicken, but it'll work on a turkey too.
With an interesting stuffing and some decent spices, that might make for something a little less dull than another roast turkey.
I guess I'm not a gourmand. It's a minute into the video, and it's already more work than it's worth.
ReplyDeleteI do most of the cooking in our house, and it's mostly batch-cooking burrito/taco meat. My wife cooks chopped bacon--bacon bits made from the real thing--for her snacks and for me to add to the meat for individual burritos.
And that's it. We haven't gotten tired of that yet.
We used to make our own bread (raisin bread when I did it), but when we discovered my wife had a problem with grains, that stopped.
Eric Hines
It’s another product of the leaner years. After a while, I’d have done quite a lot to avoid eating the same thing again and again. How nice to learn that a few extra minutes of preparation, and a small investment in cheap bulk spices, allows you to have delicious and interesting food even on a budget.
ReplyDeleteIt’s even healthy, comparatively.
A 'French fellow"--Jacques Pepin! He's our hero.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know him from Adam, but he manifestly knows what he’s about.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mP38NGImsc&t=3s
ReplyDeleteThe Young TUrks interview MW.
This is the first time I have seen C on the Left, without my political filters. I expected to want to punch his face in, once again, but that didn't happen. Given one comment there, this is relatively strange for C Young Turk to act like this.
Love Pepin's unfussy recipes. He even got me eating Irish buckshot (what my Scots grandfather called green peas), but only if they're in his chicken stew. He has a recipe for green beans in a cream/shallot/Dijon sauce that is to die for. Usually I don't like sauces on veggies - kind of like gilding the lily - but his are so good I'm willing to try them.
ReplyDeletePork, dried beans/peas, and whole chicken fryers were our budget foods. Of course, that was before it got all huffity-puffity and became "the other white meat".
I'm planning to make that tonight!
ReplyDeleteFor non-turkey Thanksgiving, I make lasagna - something I picked up in NJ although there it's usually an add-on rather than a substitution. It can be made ahead, and with garlic bread and a green salad, it's quite a feast. Traditional desserts, of course. It can be Thanksgiving without turkey but not without pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
ReplyDeleteI'm terribly fond of a traditional turkey, and turkey leftovers, but lasagna is the food of the dogs. I can be seduced away from turkey by lasagna any day.
ReplyDeleteWe only get turkey twice a year, so it is still a holiday treat. Sort of like a glazed ham. Or lamb at Easter.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1
pumpkin pie with whipped cream
ReplyDeleteWhipped cream made in real time from real whipping cream, I hope, and not sprayed on from a can.
Real whipped cream is something that is worth the work.
Eric Hines
Not much work, either, max 3 minutes with an electric mixer. And that way you can control the level of sweetness you prefer.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the middle of preparing green beans a la Jacques Pepin, while Greg grills some chicken on his new birthday grill.
Of course, real whipped cream made from real whipping cream. I use an electric mixer but once upon a time our family dinners always included a lovely family friend whose great joy it was to offer everyone whipped cream from her whipped cream charger - or, as she called it, her "bomb". She had a blast (no pun intended) with it and so did everyone else at the table.
ReplyDeleteAs for sweetness, I prefer my whipped cream with no sugar. Half the yumminess is the contrast between the sweet pumpkin pie and the neutral cream. Or between the coffee sweetened with Kahlua and ditto.
I agree, the contrast is the thing. I do sweeten it, but just barely.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Pepin green beans are to die for. The dressing is just mixed, not cooked, and all it is is 1/4 cup cream, 2 T Dijon mustard, 2 T minced shallot, 1 t each salt and pepper, couldn't be easier. Stir it into cooked green beans.
No fried onions on the green beans!?! Heretic! ;)
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1 (the only green-bean-casserole fan in the family)
I love green bean casserole.
ReplyDeleteTex! I'm so psych'd that you like that recipe too! :)
ReplyDeleteIt got the seal of approval from both of us.
ReplyDeleteSo, Irish buckshot = green peas? I love it! I mean, the name. I hate green peas. They are much better used as buckshot in a blunderbuss than for food.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try that green bean recipe, Tex. That looks good.
This is neat. I'll have to try it on a couple of chickens before I decide to risk it on the Thanksgiving Turkey. Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteMy wife makes enchiladas with the leftover turkey, and ooohh, they're good. I tell her she must love me every time she makes them.
Watching Pepin is fantastic. A craftsman- and he's happy to share with you all the little things- where to place your fingers just so to perform this specific task. So much better instruction than most tv chefs.
Ooh, enchiladas, those sound good. We usually do turkey tetrazzini, sandwiches, and soup.
ReplyDelete