A couple of years ago I suggested that we might, just might, not have mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. The food lover in me thought it might be interesting to try a new take on potatoes and branch out a little. I almost had to go into witness protection to avoid the wrath of my family. Mashed potatoes are apparently sacred.

All kidding aside, I learned an important lesson that had I thought about it I would have already known: the food traditions associated with Thanksgiving are almost as important as the food itself. Generally, this is one time of year most people don’t want to be surprised. They aren’t particularly interested in having their notions or their taste buds challenged. And, as a hostess, my role is to make them happy and comfortable, so I’ll give them what they want.

After some further investigation, I have discovered that my family is amenable to some variation on the Thanksgiving menu as long as the base traditions aren’t in jeopardy. Among our Thanksgiving crew I can experiment with turkey preparations as long as I stick with a traditional turkey – they aren’t quite ready for a heritage bird yet. Also, they’ll tolerate new and interesting stuffing preparations as long as Granny’s traditional cornbread dressing is there to keep us all honest. And most interestingly, they are open to new and interesting vegetables and starches as long as green beans and mashed potatoes make their requisite appearance. This year I’ll be adding an sourdough, apple, and chorizo stuffing option as well as a butternut squash and poblano gratin to the menu as the “new and different” dish (made with Hatch Chiles of course). Butternut squash is familiar enough that people won’t look too askance at this new offering on the table, and who knows, it might even become a new family favorite.

If like me you have the opportunity or desire to mix up your Thanksgiving table a bit, but want to stick with a few traditional flavors, this recipe for butternut squash risotto might be the perfect place to start. With a flavor and texture similar to sweet potatoes, the squash won’t be totally out of place on the menu. Risotto isn’t a typical American Thanksgiving dish though, so it will be fun and just unexpected enough to make people sit up and take notice. And if you’re worried about the fact that risotto requires so much attention and last minute preparation, never fear! I share the secret to make-ahead risotto in the “Recipe for Success” section at the end of the recipe.

So go ahead, branch out this Thanksgiving!

Recipe: Butternut Squash Risotto

Details

• Difficulty: Moderate
  
• Serves: 4 (can be easily doubled or tripled)
  
• Prep Time: 30 min
  
• Cook Time: 25 min
  

Ingredients

• 1 quart low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 4 slices of bacon, cut into thin strips
• ½ c. diced red onion
• 1 c. chopped butternut squash (1/4 in. pieces)
• 1 ½ cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice (Carnaroli recommended)
• 1 c. white wine
• ¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
• Kosher or sea salt to taste

Garnish (Optional)

• 4 sage leaves, chiffonaded
• ½ c. chopped, toasted walnuts
• Shaved parmesan cheese
• Drizzle of high-quality olive oil

Instructions

1. Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
2. Cook the bacon over medium-high heat in a separate medium sauce pan until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and reserve for garnish. Pour off all but 3 Tbsp. of the bacon fat.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the red onion. Cook until it is soft but not browned, about 5-7 minutes.
4. Add the butternut squash to the pan and sauté for 2 minutes.
5. Stir in the rice and cook until it is well-coated with the bacon fat and begins to turn translucent, about 1-2 minutes.
6. Add the wine and simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 3-5 minutes.
7. Add about 1 cup of the warm broth to the rice and stir regularly until the liquid is absorbed, about 3-5 minutes. You’ll know the liquid is absorbed when you run your spoon through the rice and liquid doesn’t immediately fill the bottom of the pan. Repeat, adding broth 1 cup at a time, until the rice is al dente (cooked through but still firm), about 18-22 minutes. While you don’t have to stir the rice the entire time, you shouldn’t leave the rice unattended for more than a minute or two and do stir the rice frequently.
8. When the risotto is done sample it and add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Ladle the risotto into a serving bowl and finish with the bacon and any of the other recommended garnishes.

Recipe for Success

• To make this dish wholly vegetarian use vegetable broth, skip the bacon, and substitute 3 Tbsp. olive oil for the bacon fat.
• The time of day, the humidity in your area, and the specific type of rice you buy will all contribute to how long it takes your risotto to finish cooking and how much stock you need. You may not use all of your stock, or you may need to heat a little water in a tea kettle or in the microwave if you run out of stock and still need a little more liquid. The key is to start tasting the risotto at the 18 minute mark and keep adding liquid a little at a time until it is done.
• Use a crisp white wine or even sparkling wine for this recipe. Avoid overly oaky wines or sweet wines as they will not fit well with the flavor profiles of the other ingredients. You can also leave the wine out entirely and substitute additional broth.
• You can make this risotto ahead and finish it just before you serve dinner. Cook the rice until almost al dente but not quite done, about 16 minutes. The rice should still have a firm bite when you taste it. Spoon the risotto from the sauce pan onto a rimmed baking sheet and spread it evenly over the sheet. Put the baking sheet into the refrigerator immediately so the rice can cool quickly. When the rice is cool, cover with plastic wrap. About 15 minutes before serving, heat about 2 cups of broth in a sauce pan, return the risotto to a separate sauce pan, add a ladle of broth and continue cooking as per step 7 until the risotto is done.

Homemade roasted pumpkin - perfect for pies, muffins, and more

About three years ago I had my first pumpkin pie made from freshly roasted pumpkin and my inner pumpkin pie lover hasn’t been the same since. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin soup, or just about any other pumpkin recipe have a deeper, richer, and more complex pumpkin flavor when made with homemade pumpkin puree . They are just…well…more pumpkinier.

But seriously, like most other whole foods, pumpkin you cook at home is far superior to what you can buy pre-made in a can. For all of the reasons you would choose to make any other food from scratch, you will want to make your own pumpkin puree. The flavor will be better and you’ll know exactly how it’s handled and cooked.

Even better, making your own pumpkin puree is almost as easy as making a trip to the store to buy it in the can. While it’s somewhat messier, it’s really quite fun to gut and roast a pumpkin. Think of it as pumpkin carving for foodies. Even better, you can roast a whole bushel of pumpkins – okay, maybe a few less than a bushel depending on the size of your oven – and then freeze your puree for several months to use throughout the fall and winter cooking seasons. And if you’re dreading gutting a huge pumpkin like the one you use for the Halloween Jack-o-Lantern, I’m happy to report that smaller pie pumpkins, also known as sugar pumpkins, are what you’ll need for cooking, so you can wrangle them easily on your kitchen counter. You’ll need to put a little oomph into splitting them in half, but with a sharp and sturdy chef’s knife and a little arm strength you can have several pumpkins cleaved in half in no time flat. They have fewer seeds so you’ll have them cleaned before you can say “Peter, Peter pumpkin eater.” Really, there’s just no good excuse to not roast your own pumpkin.

I’d love to be able to tell you that one sugar pumpkin yields a specific number of cups of puree, but of course mother nature isn’t that neat and orderly. The other day I got five cups of puree from three pumpkins, but last year I got seven cups of puree from three pumpkins that didn’t look much bigger than the ones I bought this year. Given how nicely the puree freezes though, you can roast an extra pumpkin and freeze the rest for later.

Recipe: Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
  
• Makes: Varies based on size of pumpkins but expect 1 ½ – 2 cups of puree from each pumpkin
  
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
  
• Cook Time: 45-60 minutes based on the size of the pumpkins
  

Ingredients

• 1 pie pumpkin (also known as a sugar pumpkin)
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
3. Cut the pumpkin in half with a sharp and strong chef’s knife. Scoop out the seeds and loose fibers.
4. Place the pumpkin halves on the baking sheet cut side up and drizzle with the oil. Use your fingers or a pastry brush to spread the oil evenly over the pumpkin flesh.
5. Roast the pumpkins for 45- 60 minutes (or a little longer for bigger pumpkins). The pumpkin is done when a fork slides easily in and out of the side of the pumpkin. If you get any resistance leave the pumpkins in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. You’ll need to be able to mash the pumpkin easily with a fork.
6. Remove the pumpkins from the oven and let rest until cool enough to handle, about 15-20 minutes.
7. Peel the pumpkin skin away from the pumpkin flesh and discard.
8. Place the peeled pumpkin in a medium mixing bowl. Use a fork to break up the larger pieces of pumpkin flesh and then stir to a smooth consistency with a wooden spoon. You can also puree it in a blender if you’d like with a little water mixed in for a slightly thinner puree, but the by-hand method works just as well.
9. Refrigerate until ready to use and freeze leftovers.

Recipe for Success

• Trust me when I say you don’t want to skip on lining the rimmed baking sheet with foil. Pumpkins have a lot of natural sugar in them and you’ll find yourself scrubbing at your pan (or buying a new one) if you don’t protect it with some foil.
• Don’t worry if you can’t get all of the strings out of the center cavity of the pumpkin. After the pumpkins cook you can easily scrape them out and discard them.
• As you start to peel the pumpkin it will come apart in chunks. This is perfectly okay because you’re going to be mashing it all together anyway.

Thanksgiving is just two days away. Are you ready? You’ll be fine – trust me. Remember, Thanksgiving is all about friends and family, the food is just a catalyst for the gathering. As you gird up to face the coming three days, I thought it might be useful to share some of my tried-and-true tools for surviving any big cooking expedition.

Make a Plan

Even if you aren’t a planner, a meal with so many different dishes that don’t necessarily complement one another can benefit from even a few notes jotted down. Heck, use the back of an envelope you were going to recycle anyway. Think through when you need to assemble each dish and set it to cook so you know in what order you need to do what. You’ll also see any cooking time or oven temperature conflicts before they happen so you can adjust as necessary. Don’t forget to include these oft overlooked activities:

• Pre-heat the oven(s). Plan at least 30 minutes for any oven to come up to temperature.
• Let the turkey rest. Remember, it should sit out for at least 30 minutes after cooking so the juices can redistribute. This is a great time to finish up any side dishes or bread that need the oven.
• Set out serving dishes and setting the table. This is a great activity for the day or evening before the big day. I forget everything within about 5 seconds, so I label each serving dish with a post-it note to remember why I got it out in the first place, but I need every bit of help I can get. Oh, and don’t forget the serving utensils.
• Make time to relax, shower, and dress. If you look harried when your guests arrive they may feel like a burden instead of a welcome guest. You’ll also feel better if you give yourself some down-time before the final sprint to finish prepping.
• Pre-prep ingredients for last-minute dishes. If you are making gravy or mashed potatoes right before you serve dinner, get everything measured, chopped, and ready so they come together quickly.
• Warm any dishes your guests are bringing. If folks need oven or stovetop heat to finish their dishes, you’ll want to plan for that so you’re not hogging these precious resources.
• Have a bite to eat early in the day. You’ll be no good to anyone if you pass out from low blood sugar just before you carve the turkey. Yes, I know you’ll be consuming you weight in turkey and carbs later that day, but you’ll be busy until then, so be sure to take in a little fuel to keep your engine running strong.

Gear Up

I’m an Alton Brown devotee, so I’m not a big believer in having many single-tasking specialty tools around for Thanksgiving dinner preparation. The tools I use for this meal are the same I’d use for any other. However, before the cooking frenzy begins, I always check to be sure these three in specific are in good working order:

• Instant-read meat thermometer. A turkey is a curious beast. Different parts are at temperature at different times, so the safest way to be sure your bird is ready to go is to take its temperature at the deepest part of the thigh away from the bone. Ideally it will be 165 degrees when you pull it from the oven because its temperature will rise a few degrees while it rests. A meat thermometer is the best tool for this job. Be sure to calibrate yours according to its package directions sometime before Thanksgiving so you can trust its measurements.
• Sharp knives. Thanksgiving sides involve a lot of chopping, so at least on good sharp knife is a must to not only reduce your prep time but to keep you safe. A dull knife is a disaster waiting to happen. Be sure your knives are super-sharp and ready to go before you start all of that prep work.
• A big work bowl. Often you’ll have 8 or more guests at Thanksgiving so you’ll be working with bigger batches of everything. A good size work bowl is a blessing because it keep messes to a minimum. If you don’t have a decent size bowl, a quick trip to your favorite big-box store like Target will solve your problem. Don’t feel like you have to spend a ton of money, a good metal bowl should cost less than $20 and it will pay for itself in spades year-after-year.

Ask for Help

Thanksgiving is the penultimate communal meal. You don’t have to go it alone. Ask friends and family to bring a dish, or, at the very least ask a couple of them to help you out in the kitchen in the final 30 minutes. They can stir, plate, garnish, or even hold your wine glass. To make things go more smoothly, consider how they can best help you ahead of time so you’re ready to give instructions when they arrive. If you’re as crazy as I am, you could even make each person their own little task list – but that’s only if you’re my kind of weird.

Enjoy the Ride

Above all, have fun with your guests. If the turkey is a little dry or the stuffing a little wet, they won’t remember. They will remember that you put your time into preparing a great meal for them and that’s what really matters. So cut yourself some slack!

A Recap of my Thanksgiving Posts

This holiday season I’ve tried to focus on the big picture rather than recipes so you’re armed with the knowledge you need to create a menu that fits your tastes and needs. Here are my posts coolcted for quick reference:

• Turkey Buying 101
• Thanksgiving Sides Made Easy
• Choosing the Right Wine

I hope you find these helpful and I’d love to know what I can do to make the Winter holidays easier as well.

When You’re Tired of Turkey

By Friday afternoon I’m so over turkey and sides I don’t know what to do with myself. If you find yourself in the same spot, here are some recipes to give your tastebuds a completely different experience:

• Pepita-Crusted Trout with Citrus and Avocado Salsa
• Braised Short Ribs and Blue Cheese Polenta
• Chorizo Mussels
• Broccoli and Sausage Sauté

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a wonderful, energizing, fulfilling holiday. Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.

The first weekend that Michael spends with the Tuohy’s is Thanksgiving weekend. The family’s Thanksgiving tradition is to eat a turkey dinner that Leigh Anne buys instead of cooks. In one particularly funny scene, Sean Tuohy says “Kids, thank your mother for picking up Thanksgiving dinner”. The family’s usual tradition is to sit in the living room watching football on not one, but two TVs while they enjoy dinner. The family is a Southern football-lovin’ family, so this suits them just fine. Michael, who has never had a reliable source of anything in his life, much less a family Thanksgiving dinner, goes into the formal dining room to eat. While the movie doesn’t say it explicitly, you get the feeling that eating Thanksgiving around a family table is something he’s longed for his entire life. Leigh Anne sees Michael at the table alone, turns off the TV (much to the chagrin of the family), and herds them into the dining room to eat around the table. They all join hands, say grace, and (unknowingly) start their journey toward becoming a family that includes Michael.

Yup, I was a big fat mess right around then.

Thanksgiving Doesn’t Have to be About Cooking

As I reflected on the movie this morning and that scene in particular, I realized that it’s an important reminder of what Thanksgiving is all about: feeding our souls. Sure, the food is good and there’s usually a lot of it, but we join around a table to give thanks for the lives we have and the friends and family with whom we share those lives. When I wrote the other day about Thanksgiving wine, I postulated that the wine really takes a back seat to the food. I want to postulate now that cooking can take a back seat to the meal. It’s not about how many hours you spend in the kitchen trying to get dinner just right, it’s about the hours you spend with your family around the table, in the living room, and yes, in front of the TV watching football, that are really the heart and soul of Thanksgiving.

I cook for Thanksgiving (and really for just about any other occasion) because the act of cooking and feeding others feeds my soul as much, as if not more, as the food. Cooking brings me sheer joy not only because it is my best creative outlet, but because I’m being of service to those that are the most important to me. There’s nothing more satisfying than to see people around my table enjoying themselves, each other, and a meal. At Thanksgiving, the communal act of cooking further connects me to my roots and my extended family. When I’m making dressing I think of my grandmother. My mother and daughter are, as I write this, in the kitchen making pies galore, a tradition I hope to continue with my grandchildren one day. For me, the planning and execution of such a huge meal is exhilarating and so very, very satisfying.

I am however not necessarily normal.

What’s Most Important to You?

For many, Thanksgiving is a big stressor. A typical thanksgiving menu is tricky to pull off because the oven is occupied by the turkey for most of the day yet sides like dressing and roasted vegetables need extended oven time as well. Most traditional sides need to be served piping hot all at the same time, and the typical Thanksgiving menu is not small so there are many dishes competing for your attention. Thanksgiving is as much of an exercise in planning as it is cooking and because we only have one meal like it a year, it’s not like we’re well-practiced at putting together such a beast of menu. I’ve watched friends’ anxiety levels rise rapidly as Thanksgiving approaches, and by the time they get dinner on the table, they are so mentally and physically worn out that they can’t enjoy the meal or the company. And that just plain ol’ defeats the purpose of Thanksgiving.

I think Leigh Anne was on to something – she had an inherent understanding of what her family needed most at Thanksgiving and a home-cooked meal wasn’t on the list. Michael’s first Thanksgiving with the Tuohy’s wasn’t diminished one bit because it wasn’t made in their kitchen. All that mattered that Thursday was that he was with family. Leigh Anne didn’t need to feed her soul by hand-making her family’s dinner, she fed it by bringing them together and, on that Thanksgiving, extending their family circle to include Michael. She understood her priorities and served them in her own way, without apology. I’d recommend that you do the same.

For many of us, the satisfaction of cooking Thanksgiving is a priority. However, f the thought of preparing Thanksgiving dinner is just more than you even want to consider, or if you’re stressed out already on this Monday about how you’ll get dinner on the table this Thursday, consider taking a page out of Leigh Anne’s playbook and ordering your Thanksgiving dinner pre-made. Remember, it’s not about how the food gets to the table, it’s about the friends and family that gather round the table.

Austin Foodie Bits: Thanksgiving Edition

For my friends living in Austin, you still have time to order a pre-made Thanksgiving dinner. You’ll need to get on the ball and order today or early tomorrow, but there’s still time. I’ve investigated two options and trust that they will serve you well:

• Central Market offers complete turkey dinners for any size group. Their menu includes oven-roasted turkey, gravy, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry-orange sauce, and brioche rolls. Pies and other dessert are available as add-ons, and if you have other things you’d like to purchase such as cheese and crackers for appetizers or bottles of wine, they will gladly bundle it all together so you can pick everything up in one easy trip. They provide re-heating directions for all of the food so it’s an almost foolproof meal. Dinner for 4-6 is $99.99 and dinner for 6-8 is $129.99. Order by Monday, November 23 to get dinner for Thanksgiving Day.
• Whole Foods offers a basic turkey dinner that includes mashed potatoes, gravy, relish and rolls. You can then add on a la carte side dishes like herb or cornbread stuffing, Brussels sprouts, potatoe cakes, and more. A basic dinner for 4 is $59.99 and for $6-8 is $79.99. You can also upgrade your turkey to smoke or organic at an additional cost. Whole Foods doesn’t fully cook their turkey, so you have to finish it off in your own oven and then reheat the sides. Even so, the heavy lifting is done for you so this is still a pretty easy approach to Thanksgiving dinner.

I’ve had long talks with the folks at both Central Market and Whole Foods and I’m confident that they can work with you to plan a Thanksgiving meal that will fit your needs. I would recommend getting on the phone with them today though.

The Last Word

No matter who makes your Thanksgiving dinner, I hope that you have a heart-warming, soul-satisfying day with your friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.

The Thanksgiving Food and Wine Conundrum

As turkey day looms there’s an uptick in Thanksgiving wine advice from magazines, blogs, and wine merchants. Most talk about the difficulty of finding a wine that works well with so many different dishes. Others focus on how to pair wine with the turkey, because, well, it’s the star of the show. Even so, just about every article I read ends with a list of this year’s recommended wines and leaves me to my own devices when it’s time to make the “red or white”, or more specifically “pinot or Riesling” decision.

As part of my quest to dig a bit deeper into answers to the most oft-asked holiday questions, I once again connected with an expert from my local Central Market to get the scoop on finding the right wine for my Thanksgiving table. Just as Howard Miller educated me on all aspects of turkey buying, Paul Schunder gave me much food for thought on the subject of Thanksgiving wine selection. Paul has been with Central Market for many years and for several of those he was the Chef de Cuisine of the Central Market cooking school. He taught me much of what I know about cooking and entertaining and gave me an amazing foundation of knowledge on which to build this very blog. He also spent a couple of years in the wine department, working with shoppers every day to match wine with their food and budgets. His combined experience made him the perfect person to help me understand the ins and outs of Thanksgiving wine.

Thanksgiving Dinner: Not Your Typical Dinner Party

While I expected our Thanksgiving wine conversation to start with a discussion of varietals and blends, we started (as we should have) with the food and the people. Paul’s take on Thanksgiving dinner is that it’s not like any other dinner party you throw because in many situations:

• You have limited control over the menu. There are all kinds of expectation (aka baggage) that comes with Thanksgiving meal. Unless you’re lucky enough to have complete authority over the menu, you’re often stuck with family favorites like green bean casserole and cornbread stuffing. You simply don’t have the luxury of crafting a menu with specific wine pairings in mind.
• You have limited control over the guest list. Unlike a dinner party where you can choose your guests based on their pallets and wine preferences, Thanksgiving is all about friends and family (and their quirks and pickiness) that you might not otherwise mix at the same dinner party. This adds a new level of complexity when it comes time to select wine for such a diverse set of preferences and wine appreciation.
• There are a lot of sweet tastes at the table. From sweet potatoes to cranberry sauces, marshmallows to glazes, there’s a lot of sugar on the Thanksgiving table that simply doesn’t pair well with many wines. Going back to the first item on this list, it’s not like you can just ditch these sweet dishes from the menu so you’re stuck with them.

Given all of this, the first rule of Thanksgiving wine selection is to remember you’re not operating within the status quo and to give yourself a break.

Thanksgiving Dinner Simply Isn’t About the Wine

As much as we want to have good wine pairings with Thanksgiving dinner, the plain and simple reality is that, for most of us, wine takes a back seat to the food and family at Thanksgiving. If you can keep the role wine plays in the dinner in perspective, you’ll be able to free yourself to focus less on the wine and more on the food. Similarly, you’ll probably find that your guests’ expectations for the wine at Thanksgiving aren’t the same as they might be in other dining situations. They aren’t there for the wine, they are there for family connection and tradition first, and then food, with wine coming in a distant third.

Stress Free Wine Selection

Hopefully, freeing yourself from the expectation of making the perfect pairing takes you a long way toward a more relaxed Thanksgiving wine-selection expedition. To further simplify the process, Paul offers this advice:

• Find out what you can about your guest’s wine preferences. Does Aunt Judy only drink oaky Chardonnay from Napa? Does cousin John only like zinfandel? The more you know about their pallets and proclivities the easier it will be to hone in on specific varietals or styles.
• Buy 2 of each color: red and white. Choose a light/dry white as well as an oaky Chardonnay to cover the white spectrum. Next, select two light and easily quaffable reds like a Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, or Shiraz. If your menu is extra-laden with sweet flavors, Zin and Shiraz are particularly your friends. Avoid big fat reds though because they will simply overwhelm everything else at the table.
• Consider starting the meal with some bubbles. I’m a big fan of sparkling wine because it’s so light and also happens to be a pallet cleanser. Serve it with appetizers as a fun and cheerful way to start off the day. Don’t feel like you have to buy expensive champagne either, an American sparkler or even a French Blanc de Blanc will do just fine.
• Skip wine with dessert and serve (spiked) coffee. One of the rules of pairing wines with sweets is that the wine should be sweeter than your dessert otherwise it will taste sour. Considering the typical Thanksgiving dessert spread – pumpkin pie, mincemeat pie, pie, pie, and more pie – you’ll have to pick up some pretty sweet dessert wines to compete. These aren’t often the favorites of many folks, and they are often pricy, so just skip them all together.
• Break out the good stuff later. If you do have friends and family who enjoy a really great wine and you happen to have one around, enjoy it with them a few hours after Thanksgiving so it can really be appreciated. It won’t be competing with anything and you’ll be able to truly savor it.

Seek Help

You don’t have to figure this out alone. Your local wine shop gurus are more than happy to help you find the right wines in your price range – and if they aren’t, find another wine shop. While they will most likely point you toward “Thanksgiving-friendly” wines like Pinot Noir and Rieslings, you can help direct them a bit more by providing them with a few pertinent facts:

• Any details on your guests’ wine preferences or dislikes that you may have.
• Your budget and the number of bottles you think you’ll need.
• Wines you’ve served in the past that have gone over well or been utter failures.
• The flavor theme you might have going on for your dinner (Southwestern, Italian, etc).
• How many different styles of each color of wine you’d like (red and white).
• If you’d like to branch out a bit and try a new blend or varietal that still fits the general characteristics of a quaffable wine that won’t overwhelm the food or your guests. You’ll never know what interesting wine you might get to taste.

Some Suggestions to Get You Started

In the tradition of any good Thanksgiving wine post, I’ll close with a collection of Paul’s recommendations for Thanksgiving wines. He has great taste, so I guarantee you won’t go wrong with any of these.

• Whites
  • Girard Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, USA. $10.99
  • Chalk Hill Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, USA. $42.99
• Reds
  • Cartlidge & Brown Pinot Noir, California, USA. $14.99
  • Ramsay Merlot, Napa Valley, USA. $16.99
  • Graziano Zinfandel, Mendocino, USA. $17.99
  • Les Jamelles (all varietals), France. $9.95
• Bubbles
  • Duval-Leroy Brut Champagne, France. $43.99
  • Gruet Blanc de Noirs, New Mexico, USA. $13.75 (my recommendation)

All of the prices listed here are the current retail cost for these wines at our Austin, Texas Central Market. Prices will vary by region and retailer, but these are a good guide for what to expect.

And finally, here are a couple of other lists of Thanksgiving-friendly wines from sources I trust:

• Epicurious Top 5 Turkey Friendly Wines
• Saveur Thanksgiving Wines Under $20

Happy turkey and toasting.

As I started thinking about tactics for making the day more manageable, I found myself focusing on the sides. Short of choosing a different cooking vessel for your turkey (grill, smoker, fryer, etc), side dishes offer the most opportunity to mix up your preparation techniques to make the day more manageable. Along the way, I came up with five tactics to find side dishes that won’t be competing with the turkey for oven space during day. As I was thinking of sharing my tactics here, I realized examples would be useful, so I hunted down a collection of recipes that represent these tactics, which you can of course use as is, or use as a guide for your own menu planning. Of course, if you have two ovens, you have a little more leeway, but even so, unless every dish cooks at the same temperature, I think you’ll find that these tactics will be helpful even if you have the luxury of extra oven space.

Do you have a favorite tactic or recipe to make Thanksgiving menu planning and cooking easier? Please share in the comments.

Remember the Turkey Has to Rest for 30 Minutes

When I was putting my Turkey Buying 101 post together, the expert I interviewed stressed several times that letting a turkey rest for at least 30 minutes after cooking and before eating is critical to serving a tasty turkey. While it does mean your whole kitchen has to smell like turkey for an extra 30 minutes before you can east, it also means that you have 30 minutes of oven time to use to finish, reheat, or even wholesale cook a side. While many vegetables and stuffing recipes call for up to 60 minutes of oven time, if you look for recipes that cook in 30 minutes or so or that are of the make-ahead and re-heat variety, you can make the most of this precious time.

• Baked Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan Cheese – Change your guests’ minds about Brussels sprouts with some good cheese.
• Wild-Mushroom Bundles – Make the bundles the day before and heat them in the already hot oven for 20 minutes.
• Herb Stuffing Muffins – Individual stuffings cook more quickly than a big batch. Toss these in the oven as soon as the turkey comes out and they’ll be ready to serve at the same time.
• Roasted Potatoes with Bacon, Cheese, and Parsley – Do most of the work on these cheesy potatoes ahead of time and finish them in 15 minutes.
• Yukon Gold and Fennel Puree with Rosemary Butter – A quick turn in the microwave reheats these make-ahead potatoes.

Make the Most of Your Stovetop

Your stovetop has several burners, use them! You can do a lot more on the top of the stove than mash potatoes or steam vegetables so look for recipes that spend all or most of their cooking time on the stove top to take advantage of every heat source you have to work with in your kitchen.

• Steamed Carrots with Garlic-Ginger Butter – This healthy side comes together quickly and isn’t too heavy.
• Corn and Parsnip Cakes – An unexpected side that combines the flavors of fall with a new take on a cornbread.
• Sautéed Green Beans and Pears – A new twist on a savory-sweet combination you usually find in peas and carrots.
• Glazed Red Pearl Onions – Make these the day before and quickly reheat them on the stove top.
• Savory Couscous – Not your typical Thanksgiving side but a fun one that cooks quickly and has infinite variations.
• Wild Rice and Mushroom Stuffing – Move stuffing from the oven to the stovetop to free-up precious oven space.
• German-Style Fried Potatoes – Do most of the work on your potatoes the day before Thanksgiving and finish them quickly on the stove just before dinner.
• Squashed Rosemary Potatoes – A quick and easy stove-top take on potatoes.

Use Your Slow Cooker

Many favorite Thanksgiving sides are long cooking, making them perfect candidates for your slow cooker. The recipes I’ve found are really templates for your own versions of them, so start with these as a base and customize them to fit your personal taste. To find other slow cooker versions of your favorite sides, simply Google “slow cooker side” and you’ll find more options than you can shake a stick at.

• Slow Cooked Au Gratin Potatoes – A possible replacement for the standard mashed potato. Change up the cheese to compliment your meal or use your favorite.
• Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese – A kid-friendly side that adults love too. Take it up a notch with more sophisticated cheese or a bit of truffle oil.
• Slow Cooker Candied Yams – A traditional favorite becomes fix-it and forget-it.
• Stuffing from the Slow Cooker – Skip the bird and the oven and cook your stuffing in the crock pot.

Consider a Salad

While a plain tossed salad doesn’t seem appropriate for a Thanksgiving table, an interesting and next-level salad absolutely does. Many salads can be made ahead or require no cooking at all, and they can bring a lighter option to what is a traditionally heavy meal. Look for salads that feature fall ingredients and more substantial dressings.

• Pear Lettuce Salad with Maple Dijon Vinaigrette – The maple vinaigrette gives this a fall feel and the pears compliment other Thanksgiving flavors.’
• Celery Root Salad – A new take on celery that’s also make-ahead.
• Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil, and Goat Cheese Salad – Replace your favorite yam or squash recipe with this salad for a lighter take on a side.

Find More Sides

Finally, as you are recipe hunting for sides that fit these tactics, you’ll find these sites most helpful.

• Epicurious Thanksgiving recipe collection
• My Recipes Thanksgiving section
• Simply Recipes Thanksgiving recipes
• Rachel Ray Thanksgiving Central
• Fine Cooking Mostly Make Ahead Thanksgiving
• Food Network Thanksgiving

It’s Not Just About Price-per-Pound Anymore

With the proliferation of organic food, the renewed focus on shopping locally and sustainably, and the rejuvenation of all sorts of heirloom species – from tomatoes to turkeys – buying a turkey isn’t quite as simple as it used to be. Terms like “organic”, “free range”, “all natural”, and “heritage” complicate matters greatly. A massive difference in price across the spectrum from frozen turkey to fresh heirloom doesn’t help matters much either. While it’s really fantastic that we have so many choices, for a family trying to find the perfect bird that fits their priorities and their budget, things can get just a little hairy, or should I say feathery?

In an attempt to figure this all out, I asked Central Market for help and boy did they ever deliver. They connected me with Howard Miller, a man who knows more about turkey and groceries in general that I thought possible. He’s been working in markets for his entire career and can tell you in what order people typically shop for Thanksgiving groceries (canned and boxed goods first, then turkey, then fresh veggies), how the size of a family’s refrigerator and the room a turkey takes up in it drives the entire Thanksgiving plan, which shoppers are ready to move up to the next level in turkey quality, and much more. He’s a veritable font of turkey knowledge. Thanks to his generosity in time and information, I can say that I feel like I can confidently shop for a turkey.

Howard taught me that turkey buying comes down to three key decisions:

1. Traditional or heritage?
2. Fresh or frozen?
3. All natural or organic (or neither)?

Beyond those decision points are some other characteristics to consider as well, including:

• Free range
• Pre-cooked
• Local source

The bottom line is, the turkey you buy is directly related to your personal priorities around (but not limited to):

• Budget
• Expectations of friends and family
• A desire to support local and sustainable farming
• A desire to avoid artificial ingredients, antibiotics, and hormones
• A preference for organic products
• A preference for humanely-raised food

Once you have a good handle on what’s important to you and how turkey characteristics related to your prefences, the rest is easy (I promise).

Traditional Turkey or Heritage Turkey

You probably won’t be surprised to know that the turkey we all think of as “traditional”, isn’t the same turkey the pilgrims would have come across when they first took up residence here in the new world. The turkey we see on glossy magazine covers and expect to carve at our Thanksgiving table has been bread to support our love of white meat. These big-breasted turkeys couldn’t fly if their lives depended on it.

Heritage turkeys are old old old school birds. They can (and do) fly, which means their proportion of dark meat to white meat is much different than a traditional turkey. They also tend to be smaller and have a more distinct, earthy flavor. In some ways, heritage turkeys are to traditional turkeys as ducks are to chicken. Heritage turkeys exist because a group of dedicated farmers are committed to bringing back these nearly extinct breeds so they aren’t lost forever. As you might expect, it’s more expensive and time consuming to raise a heritage turkey, and there are fewer sources for these turkeys than traditional turkeys. A heritage turkey is really a completely different type of taste experience, and it’s important to know that before you choose to pick this path. If you want to know more about heritage turkey and the revival of these older breeds, a quick Google search will give you plenty to read.

Note: if you elect to go with a heritage turkey you can pretty much skip the rest of this blog post. You’ll want to spend your time looking for a local provider who has available turkeys (Google “heritage turkey” and your city/region). Not all heritage turkeys are organic, so if that’s important to you be sure to look for the label. Even so, the devotion required to raise this type of breed pretty much guarantees they will be all natural and free-range. For my Austin and Central Texas readers, you’ll be happy to know you can get a Mary’s heritage turkey at Central Market or from Alexander Family Farm in Del Valle. Wherever you are, I’d recommend you order your heritage turkey sooner rather than later.

Fresh or Frozen

I’ll say right now that a frozen turkey isn’t a bad thing at all. Many of us grew up on them and had great Thanksgivings. The two biggest benefits to frozen turkey are:

• Substantial price-per-pound savings as compared to fresh (frozen can be ½ the price of fresh).
• The ability to secure your turkey a week or two before Thanksgiving and avoid the craziness of stores that week, assuming you have the necessary freezer space.

However, if you choose a frozen turkey, it’s very important that you thaw your turkey the right way to not only ensure that it tastes good, but that it’s safe. A big frozen bird takes a while to defrost, and ideally you should slowly thaw the turkey in the refrigerator because it has the most consistent temperature of any place in your house. You’ll keep the bacteria at bay, but it can take up to 6 days for 20 lb. turkey to thaw, so you’ll have to be ready to give up fridge space for a while. You can also thaw it in cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes or so, for a faster thaw, but it will still take 10-12 hours for a 20 lb. turkey to thaw this way.

As the name implies, a fresh turkey has never been frozen. The USDA regulates fresh turkeys and requires that a turkey labeled as such has never been stored below 26 degrees. Because this is technically below freezing, ice crystals may form on your turkey. While a fresh turkey will be more expensive than a frozen one, you can probably expect to pay less than $2 per pound, which is a great deal given the price of other proteins these days. If you’re looking to take your turkey up a notch from frozen, a fresh turkey might be the next step.

Because your refrigerator can’t maintain the same low-but-not-freezing temperature that a grocery store’s can, you should wait to pick up your fresh turkey as close to cooking as possible to keep it in good condition. If you are planning on a fresh turkey, I’d recommend ordering it from your local market and setting a pick-up time on Tuesday or Wednesday so you’re guaranteed a turkey. You don’t want to show up at your market on Wednesday afternoon to discover that your only option is a frozen turkey you’ll have to babysit in cold water all night to be ready to cook the next day.

All Natural or Organic

We’re rightly concerned these days about the environment in which our food is raised and how it impacts us as consumers of the food. The labels all natural and organic can help you select a turkey that fits well with your family’s food priorities. Both of these designations are regulated by the government, which makes it a bit easier to select a turkey without knowing the intimate details of its upbringing. An all natural turkey should have the following characteristics, as per the USDA:

“A product containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed (a process which does not fundamentally alter the raw product) may be labeled natural. The label must explain the use of the term natural (such as – no added colorings or artificial ingredients; minimally processed.)”

Howard’s take on all natural is that it’s all about the turkey’s diet and what doesn’t happen to the turkey. It’s sort of funny that turkey that costs more has had less done to it (this is even more true with organic), but that’s a subject for another post.

While all natural turkey may have been frozen, and the package must say so if it has been, many all natural turkeys are fresh. It is possible to get a fresh turkey that isn’t labeled as all natural but that is free of hormones (required by US law) and antibiotics. In that case, the turkey may have flavor enhancers injected into them for additional flavoring. In general, I’d look for the “all natural” label to be on the safe side.

For many of us, going all natural is an important step in putting turkey we feel good about on our family’s table. However, if you want to go one step further, you can purchase a USDA Certified Organic turkey. For a turkey to have this label, its entire environment from feed to yard to processing must adhere to government standards. Organic turkeys bring with them all of the goodness that other organic foods do. By the very nature of organic farming, organic turkeys are going to be all natural, and then some. As with the all natural turkeys, most organic turkeys are fresh but you may be able to find a frozen one if you look around.

Other Considerations

After you get through making your three big decisions, there are some other turkey characteristics you might want to consider:

• Is the turkey free range? Free range turkey is turkey that doesn’t spend its life in a pen so it’s done more than just eat and get fat. This is a more natural environment for the turkey and more humane. A quick Google search revealed that there is much debate over the health benefits of free range farming, and because I’m not at all equipped to contribute to the debate, this post won’t begin to tackle it. This is another characteristic of your turkey that, from my perspective, is completely related to your priorities for yourself and your family. If it’s important to you that your turkey be raised with access to open ground, then look for a turkey with a free range label. Many organic and all natural turkeys are also free range because raising birds in this way is consistent with the farming practices that lead to those designations. Do remember though, that free range doesn’t mean all natural or organic, so look for those labels in addition to the phrase free range.
• Is the turkey pre-cooked? You can buy your turkey already cooked and ready to re-heat. If you want to skip cooking the turkey yourself you can buy an already cooked turkey that you either warm up or serve at room temperature. For example, Central Market has Greenberg Smoked Turkeys and Butterball makes a frozen, fully cooked turkey. If you choose to go down this path, remember that this is an additional consideration beyond the turkey’s starting state of all natural or organic.
• Buying from local and sustainable sources. If it is important to you to shop locally, you’ll want to spend some time researching turkey farms in your area that raise birds that are consistent with your priorities. As you talk to these farmers or read their web sites, you’ll still be answering the same important questions about traditional or heritage, fresh or frozen, and all natural or organic. You may have to pay a little more to one of these farmers than you would your local grocery store, but if you can afford it, it’s a great investment in our future as well as a tasty turkey.

How Much Turkey Should I Buy?

Really the answer to this is based entirely on how much leftover turkey you want to have. Some of us love eating turkey for days, other of us, not so much. A good rule of thumb when you calculate turkey per person is to plan for 1 lb. per person. Some other words of advice from Howard on the subject are:

• If you are going to be feeding a huge crowd, you might buy two 12 pound turkeys instead of one 24 pound turkey to make cooking easier (if you have the oven space). You could also roast one yourself and purchase a smoked turkey for a different flavor profile and to save on oven space.
• If your guests really like white meat, buy a smaller whole turkey and supplement that with a turkey breast.
• Skip the whole turkey entirely and buy turkey parts (breasts, legs, etc) and roast them separately to avoid having to deal with the entire bird.

Buying the Turkey Is Just the Beginning

At the end of my conversation with Howard, he reminded me that buying the turkey is just one piece of the Thanksgiving puzzle. More often than not, people can mess up a perfectly good turkey by handling and cooking it improperly. The Epicurious Turkey Primer is a great place to start if you want to be sure you can do your carefully selected turkey justice.

My Family’s Thanksgiving Turkey

After all of this, you may be wondering what kind of turkey will be on my Thanksgiving table this year. We’ve chosen a 14lb. fresh all natural, free range traditional turkey. While we aren’t going organic, all natural and free range farming are important to us. I’ll also be feeding a group of people who aren’t ready to see their traditional turkey replaced with a heritage bird (just yet) – they revolted when I suggested swapping out mashed potatoes for another potato preparation. We’ve ordered the turkey from the butcher and are picking it up on Wednesday morning. I’m not sure how we’re cooking it yet – I’m figuring that out once this post goes live.

Learn more about turkey

Early this fall, my company’s resident baker brought in a wonderful loaf of pumpkin bread in an attempt to fatten up our staff. I was of course more than happy to partake of her bread, seeing as I love pumpkin in wholly unwholesome ways. I immediately asked for the recipe, assuming that as the bread was a quick bread the recipe would be devoid of yeast and therefore a strong candidate for something I could bake without totally screwing it up.

Note: I’m determined to conquer my fear of baking. I’ve purchased Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, joined a Google Group, and will be producing loaves of bread very soon. I plan to blog along the way, so look for future posts on how I’m becoming a (hopefully) decent baker. Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog post…

It turns out that Katie’s excellent bread was according to a Food Network recipe. As I reviewed the recipe, I noticed the that it has close to 100 comments and a range of ratings covering the whole spectrum from 1 star to 5. Reading the responses I discovered that the basic recipe seems to be flawed, at least in cooking time, and that it might be too sweet. In general, it seemed that results with the recipe were all over the map. I probably spent an hour reading the comments and thinking about how to assimilate them into my attempt. Along the way, the content geek in my realized that one of the reasons I love recipes stored electronically with tools for reviews and comments is because it allows everyone to contribute to and take advantage of the shared experience of making the recipe. We make the recipe better and improve our own cooking skills along the way. Group wisdom rocks!

I’m very happy with my pumpkin bread, and I’m sure there’s a chance I wouldn’t be if I’d gone right along with the recipe and not stopped to tap the wisdom of the crowd. As much as this is my adaptation of the recipe, it’s absolutely a product of the group of cooks who made it before me and took the time to comment. They validated my ideas about substitutions of applesauce for part of the oil and whole wheat flour for the AP flour. They recommended reducing the sugar and warned that the spices as written might lead to a bland bread. Finally, they helped me not panic when my bread was far from done in 40 minutes.

I can honestly say that this recipe is a shared creation. I hope you enjoy the resulting recipe and share your modifications with me in the comments.

Recipe: Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from Pumpkin Bread by Cathy Lowe.

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Makes: 2 loaves, 12 slices each
• Prep Time: 40 min
• Cook Time: 60 min
• Weight Watchers Points: 4/slice

Ingredients

• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1.5 c. granulated sugar
• 4 oz. apple sauce
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 15oz. can pumpkin puree
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 2.5 c. AP flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (1.5 tsp if not fresh)
• 1.5 tsp. ground allspice
• 1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon (recommend Saigon)
• 3/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 2/3 c. water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spray 2 9×5 loaf pans with flour baking spray (such as Baker’s Joy).
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and granulated sugar; break up any clumps of brown sugar.
4. Stir in the apple sauce and vegetable oil.
5. Stir in the eggs and pumpkin.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients (wheat flour through cloves).
7. Stir the dry ingredients and water into the wet ingredients in alternating batches, starting and ending with flour.
8. Divide the batter between prepared pans. There should be 1 – 1.5 inches of space left at the top of the pans for the loaves to expand.
9. Set pans on a foil-lined baking sheet and place in oven.
10. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
11. Remove the loaf pans from the oven and let the loaves rest in the pans on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
12. Turn the loaves out of their pans and let cool completely on the rack.

Recipe for Success

• This recipe will work in just about any shape pan, from the loaf pans I used to a bunt pan or even mini-loaf pans and muffin tins. You’ll have to adjust the cooking time depending on the size of your pan. For mini-loaf pans and muffin tins I would start checking for doneness at 25-30 minutes. A whole loaf baked in a bunt pan may take upwards of 75 minutes, but I would still start checking around 50 minutes just in case.
• The recipe reviewers offered a whole host of suggestions for mix-ins: chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, and dried cranberries just to name a few. I took one of their suggestions and topped one of my loaves with roasted pumpkin seeds which not only makes for a pretty presentation but adds a lovely crunch to the loaf’s crust. For those of you counting Weight Watcher’s Points out there, remember that adding mix-ins will increase the points per slice.
• If your loaves are starting to look overly-brown at about 40 or 50 minutes in the oven, cover them loosely with aluminum foil.

Learn more about pumpkin