Cruciferous and delicious. We sautee or roast a lot of brussel sprouts. Lately, though, Kara has been on a big chopped salad kick. With a healthy amount of wasabi, chef’s kiss.
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Yeah, I don’t know why she gets those terms mixed up all the time. I’m used to it.
A couple of times a year I’ll go to Costco and buy a huge turkey-sized pork shoulder which I bring home and process into stuff. I make pate, Italian sausage, chorizo, and set aside some 2-pound chunks for pulled pork for the two of us. I dry rub the chunks and let them sit for a day or so, then smoke them in the green egg. At 250, it takes about 5 hours.
I did that today, and tonight the cat went nuts for the pulled pork. I suspect it was the turmeric I added to the dry rub. I will say that she never went nuts for my tofu scrambles.
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What’s your italian sausage seasoning mix? I don’t have a set recipe with measurements and stuff, just make it up every time.
This morning I was reminded how good leftover fried chicken, biscuits and gravy are for breakfast. Then around noon I was reminded how nice naps are.
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Put the Turkey on the smoker at 7am. Have a ham ready for the oven in a couple of hours. My sister is handling the fixin’s: Yams, Dressing, Brussel Sprouts, Dinner Rolls… and something else. My 89 year old Mom is in charge of the pies, or more specifically, directing my sister and I on how to properly make, Pecan, Cherry, Apple, and Pumpkin, pies. 93 year old Dad keeps asking when the Cowboy’s game is on.
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I do the Thanksgiving cooking, and have a set series of recipes I keep going back to every year. Except for the turkey. Every year the turkey is different because I’ve never really settled on a recipe I like. This year I dry-brined and butterflied it and it’s roasting on the green egg.
And the green beans. Does anybody really like green beans? Is there a good recipe?
I start on the Sunday before with the cranberry sauce and shopping. I enjoy it, the organization, the concentration on tasks, the relatively quiet time to myself to think about family and friends. Yesterday I cooked all day, from early morning until late at night, then I started back this morning. I finished listening to Lord Jim, I listened to A Christmas Carol, and caught up on all the episodes of Austin City Limits that I recorded but never watched. Today I’ll put on the Christmas playlist.
This morning I opened a couple of bottles of 2009 Don Melchior cabs that I splurged on when a local grocery store closed. Of course I had to taste them.
I always screw something up, or forget to serve something and find it in the refrigerator when we’re putting away leftovers. I don’t make the pies, but I do make dinner rolls. Every year I think that this is the year I’ll master pie dough.
Hope your day is blessed and happy. If not we’ve got plenty of food and you’re welcome here. Happy Thanksgiving!
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We are “in between homes” due to a house fire earlier in the year. We usually host Thanksgiving, and I too enjoy the planning and cooking and wine sampling. This year, though, we made reservations for Thanksgiving dinner at The Annie and invited family members to make reservations of their own. We’re picking up a basic traditional Thanksgiving spread from Luby’s for “leftovers.” I’m already planning the menu for next year, but I’m going to enjoy outsourcing the experience for now.
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Happy Thanksgiving all.
My son and d.i.l. bought their first house earlier this year and asked to host.
As a parent, it was a very proud moment.
So, the wife and I are not cooking or hosting for the first time ever. We have been instructed to not bring anything.
Unfortunately, they are vegan and I have no idea what to expect. Sometimes, with family, you must take the good with the bad.
Fortunately my local grocery store has an annual promotion where if, from mid November until the day before Thanksgiving, you spend $100 (excluding alcohol and non-food) you get a free turkey. I have a 20lb and an 18lb bird in the freezer.
My plan is to thaw one and cook it next weekend and probably do the other one for Easter.
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Godspeed
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Vegan thanksgiving? Shit, I thought the house fire was going to be the most harrowing thing in this thread today.
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We are missing out on our normal thanksgiving dinner with family, staying in town and house/pet-sitting for some friends who just had a baby yesterday. So we’re ordering dinner from Aga’s. It’s gonna be great.
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I like green beans just fine, sauté them with olive oil and a shitload of garlic and that’s about it. I’m fixin to do that very thing here before too long.
We get invited to stop by a Thanksgiving celebration that’s attended by plenty of vegans and I’ll just say that last year I sampled a vegan mac and cheese that was fucking amazing. So you never know.
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Yeah I would guess that most vegans hosting or contributing to a Thanksgiving dinner would put their best foot forward and serve up something pretty darn good.
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I put the turkey on the smoker at 9:00 and it’s done. Mrs Hawk is complaining it’s done too early, which apparently she saw coming because I always overestimate the cook time. Allegedly. I keep telling her it’s fine to let the turkey rest for an hour or so. She’s still not happy about it.
As for green beans, I fry up some bacon and simmer the beans in the bacon fat and some chicken stock. I like my beans tender, so…that’s just how I roll.
Mrs Hawk makes a damn fine pumpkin pie. We also have crockpot mashed potatoes. And rolls that I get frozen from Hartz, let rise, then bake.
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the spatchcocked turkey took less than two hours. I guess it needed to rest too.
On a very positive note, I got a “Happy Thanksgiving” text from my middle son.
(For those keeping track, he’s the one who works for Activision/Blizzard on Diablo 4 and lives in upstate New York)
(The vegan is the new lawyer)
He says a turkey is too much for just he and his wife, so they have a brisket in the smoker.
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I spatchcocked mine too (15 lb bird), smoked at 275 and figured about 3.5-4 hours. I was wrong. As per usual, apparently.
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My mom does green bean bundles that are green beans wrapped with a slice of bacon and some other veggies.
They’re great.
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The ‘20 Turley Ueberroth is in the decanter now, awaiting the maple-brined, applewood-smoked pork loin (I find turkey like childbirth, it takes 5-10 years for the last one to fade enough that you’re willing to try it again). Scalloped potatoes, an Indian-style sweet potato, green beans with hazelnuts and dates (first time, if they’re good I’ll let you know), and Parker House rolls round out the lineup. And an apple-cranberry pie. For the two of us; we’ll probably burst.
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Chez Dithers is Mrs Dithers and me watching football and not doing much else. The (grown up and married) girls are going to their Dad’s house so were having a down day–some kind of wine, cocktails later this evening and i think ttiki masala for supper…Noice.
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