Thanksgiving Postmortem

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I've been up a few hours this morning stressing the next big food event -- our 25/50 party tomorrow, but for a moment I want to talk about Thanksgiving.

I hope that you had an enjoyable one.

I hope that you were able to truly appreciate your family, or friends, whomever you decided to spend your holiday.

I hope you gave thanks to Our Father who makes all things possible.

About the food: I hope your turkey was moist and tasty. Mine most definitely was. It was also done early, God bless him. And because I roasted it breast side down again, it was perfectly cooked, soooo moist and very tasty. I will never roast a bird right side up again. Ever.

Alright then, good gravy. My mom is in charge of gravy, usually because gravy needs attention, and when you're trying to get eight other dishes on the table, you can't babysit gravy. The gravy was yummy (it always is) due to yummy drippings. I place 14 oz of turkey broth and 14 oz of vegetable broth in the bottom of the pan when the turkey goes in the oven, along with a quartered onion. I stuff the cavity with celery and a quartered onion. I baste the turkey with the broth that the giblets and neck cook in (which starts as salted water but after cooking for several hours it's very rich broth). That all adds up to tasty drippings, and that's gravy! We also use whatever broth is left in the giblets pan. This year I purchased one of these

and I must say it made gravy-making infinitely simpler. The only thing bad about this model (Norpro) is it is glass and feels fairly fragile (thin glass). I would probably get a plastic one if (when) this one breaks. It was simple to get the right ratio of broth to melted fat -- you only need a little of the latter for good gravy. And in case you're wondering, it only takes a minute for the fat to separate. We also add the minced giblets and minced neck meat to the gravy, in case you're wondering. Giblets...mmmm.

Stuffing: Grandma Ruth's stuffing made with chorizo was a huge hit. Huge.  I can see that there maybe a circumstance in the future when I would make it the traditional way, but I don't know that my brother will come to Thanksgiving dinner again if I don't make the Thanksgiving stuffing with chorizo. I also made some homemade bread for the stuffing instead of sandwich bread and that probably contributed to the overall yumminess of the dish. I am reposting the recipe below. It went very well with the Jalapeno Bacon Corn, which was zippy but not overly so. Recipe also below. Sorry, no pics.


Everything else I made was the same as in other years, but it was all good and all went very well together. Yum!

Grandma Ruth's Sausage Stuffing (Kicked-up version)

1 med. onion, finely chopped
6 stalks celery, chopped finely
6 T. butter
1/3 pound fresh chorizo (that was two links for me)
10 twigs fresh parsley, chopped fine
dried bread cubes (see note)
¾ T. poultry seasoning
2 t. salt
¼ t. pepper
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups water (or more to make moist stuffing)

Saute onion and celery in butter until slightly cooked but crispy.
Toss parsley, sausage, bread cubes,
poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.
Combine eggs and water.
Lightly toss with bread mixture.
Stuffs a 13 pound turkey.
Or place in a greased casserole dish
and bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 to 60 minutes until completely done
(see thermometer note above).

NOTE: slowly bake 25 bread slices at 300 degrees F.
until dry and lightly browned, turning once. Slice into 1" cubes.

Jalapeno Bacon Corn
6 slices bacon

3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced finely
3 (1#) bags frozen corn
3 T. butter
salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium high heat until crisp.
Remove the bacon from the pan. Add jalapeno peppers and saute until tender.
Add butter to the pan and melt. Add the corn and cook until corn is hot.
Crumble bacon into corn.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

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