Text 31461, 67 rader
Skriven 2009-11-27 01:13:08 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
Ärende: Tales of Thanksgiving
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Notwithstanding the pain from my mischievous tooth, I still had a dinner 
to set, with guests arriving for 1500.  It was overcast and drizzling
when I got up at 0600; I let the dog out and lit the smoker so it
could warm up.

The night before, I had made a delicious turkey stock with the neck,
giblets (sans liver, which was NOT IN THE BIRD, damn you Shady Brook
Farms) and wishbone, which I surgically excised from the bird in order
to ease carving later.   I also had removed some of the cavity fat
from the turkey and much of the neck skin, and rendered it for turkey
fat to make stuffing and gravy later.

By 0700, the turkey was in the smoker.  By 0900, I had a big pan of 
stuffing made - the aromatics sauteed in turkey fat, and the finished
product moistened with broth.  Using bird products like that made it
virtually indistinguishable from actual cooked-in-the-carcass stuffing.

At 1300, the bird was out of the smoker and resting and the veggies
went into the oven to roast.  As guests arrived, I mashed the taters
and made the gravy (turkey fat & flour roux, delicious stock, seasoning)
and fetched the veggies to a serving platter, and dinner was on the 
table, as planned, at 1500.

Wine with dinner was Ballet of Angels, a semi-dry white by the Sharpe
Hill Vinyard of Pomfret CT.  Fat and fruity with a lightly acidic
finish, it was a great accompaniment to the turkey and a cheap and
pleasant quaffer, and a pretty good deal at about $8 a bottle.

I had invited a friend of mine, a retiree named Sid who I met when
he was hitchiking one day.  He hasn't got any family in the area, so
we've kind of adopted him.  But he called and said a woman he met at
the bus stop had asked him to her place for dinner and he hoped I didn't
mind if he went there instead.  Heh.  I'll bring him a bunch of
leftovers over the weekend.

And one of my coworkers stopped in on her way home from work.  Though
I had taken the holiday off for a change, others in my department were
not so fortunate.  So I had packed up enough turkey & complete fixings
for her and her family to have a good Thanksgiving dinner without having
to worry about her having to cook after working all day.  I hope
they enjoyed it; I'll see her Monday and find out.

We had a great time.  I count the day as a success despite my
inconvenience.

Tomorrow is the second day of my employer's four-day holiday weekend,
but I'll be working once again, and bringing a can of Campbell's
Alphabet Soup for lunch.  I doubt I'll be able to chew much more than
that.  I'm hoping this thing is going to start to recede under the 
onslaught of my -OL treatment (TylenOL, AmbesOL, AlcohOL) because I'll
be denied the hooch for the better part of tomorrow.

Hope all of your Thanksgivings went as well.




---
http://davescupboard.blogspot.com/ - Dave's Cupboard - Food and 
Restaurant Reviews.

http://bacon-labels.blogspot.com/ - My ongoing art project: an
online gallery of bacon package labels.

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 * Origin: Doc's Place BBS Fido Since 1991 docsplace.tzo.com (1:123/140)