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Win a Free Organic D'Artagnan Turkey
Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust?! Thank you Bon Appétit!
Cook the Book: 'Gourmet Today'
My mom put together a collection of recipes of hers for a bridal shower gift. My mom was a caterer for many years, many of which I did all of the food prep work for, but actually never cooked. I was the shoe maker's kid running around without shoes on - I even burned canned corn one time. It was pathetic. Now I consider myself to be a good cook, all thanks to my mom's bible of family recipes.
Cook the Book: 'Dishing Up Vermont'
OHIO! We do love our chocolate covered buckeyes!
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Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
My mother-in-law had an extra turkey breast that she wanted to have for dinner on Thanksgiving, but her new house' oven wasn't large enough to fit the 25 pound turkey she already had plus the extra smaller breast she purchased. Naturally, I got talked into making the extra bird, even though I was just starting to get my footing as a cook.
Since we had earlier dinner plans at my grandfather's, I planned to make the turkey at his home. With the help of my aunt, we did all the normal procedures for baking the turkey breast, except I was consumed with making sure it was basted with enough butter. Well, I put so much on, that the oven smelled as though it had lobster instead of poultry in it! The bird because lovingly known as the "lobster turkey" for the rest of the holiday.
Win a Free Organic D'Artagnan Turkey
Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust?! Thank you Bon Appétit!
Cook the Book: 'Gourmet Today'
My mom put together a collection of recipes of hers for a bridal shower gift. My mom was a caterer for many years, many of which I did all of the food prep work for, but actually never cooked. I was the shoe maker's kid running around without shoes on - I even burned canned corn one time. It was pathetic. Now I consider myself to be a good cook, all thanks to my mom's bible of family recipes.
Cook the Book: 'Dishing Up Vermont'
OHIO! We do love our chocolate covered buckeyes!
'Top Chef,' Season 6: The Premiere
"Amber from Season 4 of House came to mind."
LOL I knew I'd seen this personality type in one of my tv dramas somewhere!
Cook the Book: 'What We Eat When We Eat Alone'
alas, i married a picky eater: all meal components must be separate from one another. therefore, when I eat alone, I make a pasta toss - either chicken or sausage, whole wheat egg noodles and a bunch of fresh veggies.
Cook the Book: Easy Gluten-Free Baking
my mom's triple berry cassata cake with whipped cream frosting. I'm weak in the knees just thinking about it.
Cook the Book: '100 Best Vegetarian Recipes'
veggie burgers on whole wheat buns!
Any Bring-From-Home Snack Ideas?
I've overtaken one drawer in the office fridge that I always keep stocked with fresh fruits and veggies. In addition, my bottom desk drawer holds several varieties of granola/power bars, plus some whole grain Goldfish crackers. I could feed an office staff of five for a week if we every ended up trapped on the third floor of our office building!
Watch It with Us: 'The Next Food Network Star,' Episode 6
@Adam Kuban: let's cook for a pilot and flight attendant in an airport (only they couldn't get Continental to sponsor this show), then let's stay up all night to feed a bunch of drunk partying fools in Miami. What's next: Michael and Debbie secretly making out on a couch?!
Watch It with Us: 'The Next Food Network Star,' Episode 6
UGH I feel like this entire episode is a Top Chef rip off.
This Week in 'New York Times' Food News
I know this is classified under "Serious Eats NY", but I'd like to suggest a food related article from the Real Estate section from today:
An Enclave of Entertainment in Cleveland
By KEITH SCHNEIDER
Published: July 7, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/realestate/commercial/08fourth.html?em
Any Clevelander knows the importance of the growth of the East 4th area, especially to the restaurant community. Wanted to share it with all you...
Cook the Book: 'Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes'
My new favorite burger to make at home consists of ground turkey with dijon mustard, chopped fresh basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Melt some soft cheese towards the end of the grilling process and serve on an english muffin.
...but still, you can't beat a good breakfast burger - who knew a fried egg could make a burger SO GOOD...
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
I have lots of favorite memories, with both sides of my family and all, but my favorite year was the one recently when I ordered a pre-fab turkey meal (I do add homemade sides, I can't fight with a turkey), we won a turkey in some contest and my mom's cousin smoked one for us. Yum! I'm a carnivore and it was good!
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
Don't really have a story...just love the opportunity to show off cooking a tasty bird. This year was apple-brined and smoked. Oh. My. Goodness.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
My father bought a smoker when I was in high school. He smoked everything on it: potatoes, chicken, sausage and the like.
Nothing was that great. I was out of town for a couple of weeks, and my family invited my boyfriend over for dinner. I'm not entirely sure why, but nonetheless he accepted. That night, smoked potatoes were on the menu. They developed a rubber-like quality such that when my boyfriend attempted to spear one it shot across the table like a bouncy ball. We are no longer together.
Despite this smoker set-back, come Thanksgiving, my father decided to smoke the turkey. We set the smoker to a low temperature and put a thermometer in the bird itself. Lo and behold one hour later, the turkey read 180 degrees. (Note: I will not allow my bird to be cooked to this temperature now, but I have since gained greater authority in the kitchen.) The skin was nicely darkened. It didn't appear to be burned or overcooked, so we allowed it to rest whilst cooking the rest of the meal.
It was only when cutting into the turkey that the issue appeared. It was like the Griswald family turkey, complete with tufts of smoke. My father went back out to the smoker, befuddled that the bird could be "done" so quickly. He noticed that the temperature was at over 500 degrees. Apparently, he had neglected to open the valve at the top to allow smoke and heat to escape. We quite literally "flash smoked" a turkey.
Please, don't try this at home. It only ends in heartache.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
This year, after cooking for 2 days in preparation for our family feast, my son "the chef"helped me out and made dessert at his restaurant and brought it home on Wednesday eve. He made a red pear tart with shortbread pastry TO DIE FOR, and the most perfect pumpkin pie that I have ever tasted in my life. I knew he was my favorite child, LOL! Our dinner was wonderful and our dessert was divine.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
when i was in japan, my boyfriend and me baked a turkey in a portable oven the size of a microwave
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
I am Canadian.... But as a child I actually faked sick on The Thursday, American Thanksgiving. Don't ask me how I knew, but I knew the cartoons were on that day. I can't believe I am say this but having cartoons on a day that wasn't Saturday was a gift.
Of Course kids can see cartoons day and night but this was special for me.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
I love baking but I failed at making pumpkin pie one time. The pumpkin filling for some reason decided to ooze out of the shell in the oven. Thankfully I had put a baking sheet and a folded sheet of foil underneath! It was really ugly but tasted pretty good anyway!
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
On my first Thanksgiving I over cooked the turkey trying to make sure it was done. Needless to say it was very dry. Then I saw Alton Brown and his brined turkey and tried that, it was great. The next year I did it again but this time it was too salty. This year I found out why. You never brine a Butterball turkey. The self basting of the Butterball turkey is accomplished by injecting it with a salt brine. This year I slow cooked a 14 pounder for four hours at 300 degrees and it was perfect. Live and learn!!!!
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
I cooked an entire dish all by myself for the first time one thanksgiving- green bean casserole with french's fried onions
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
Last Thanksgiving was one of my favorites, although I initially expected it to be boring and lonely. I was away at college, and due to a multitude of tests the following week, I decided to forego the trip home in favor of studying. I mentioned this fact to one my coworkers, on whom I happened to have a huge crush. Sure enough, a day later, he called me and invited me to Thanksgiving dinner at his house. All of his friends and family were out of town, so he was also going to be by himself.
I arrived at his house and was greeted with the most delicious aroma you could ever imagine. It turned out that he was an amazing cook. He made a smoked turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, a green bean dish, and pecan pie. All of it was made from scratch - I saw the dirty dishes in the sink to prove it. It was the most delicious Thanksgiving meal I had ever eaten. (My mom's not much of a cook.)
After dinner and a few glasses of wine, we were watching TV, when he pretty much out of nowhere told me that he liked me. We've been going out ever since, and today is our 1-year anniversary. It's been a tough year for the both of us, as he moved 8000 miles away shortly after we started dating. We're both happy that we've made things work.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
My husband and I decided to start dating on Thanksgiving, so it will always be a special day to me.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
My friends and I started the tradition of having an "orphan Thanksgiving" for all of those in our circle who can't be with their families on the day. Everyone brings their own side dish of choice, so you always end up with a wide variety of flavors....everything from squash casserole to spicy rice to grape salad. Yummy!
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
As long as my parents were alive my family went to their house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was always great fun; a full day of cooking, watching the parade on tv, telling great stories, having good wine, sneaking bits of turkey in the kitchen as my father carved it. Such delightful memories. One year my kids (37 and 39 now with families of their own) who were 14 and 16 at the time were seated across the table from each other. I was seated next to my daughter, with my son directly opposite her. There was a big table surrouned by family, filled with wonderful food, loud with sounds of laughter and stories. Suddenly my 14 year old son stops smiling and looks horrified. Only my daughter and I had noticed. His hand goes up to his mouth, where he discretely removes some offending morsel. We quietly looked quizically at him and he reached slowly under the table, as did my daughter. Their hands met and he places the item into her hand. She brings her hand up to her lap and opens it and we look down discretely, only to discover bandaid that had been on my mother's finger earlier in the kitchen as she was making the dressing. To all of our credit, no one screamed. We all quietly stopped eating the dressing.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
Going over to my uncles where his wife was trying to cook a turkey for the first time. She put it in the oven still frozen and upside-down - no turkey was to be had that night....
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
Well it's not a very exiting story, but my favorite thanksgiving memory is rolling up those crescent rolls from the tube with my mom back when I was little. Those things are so good!
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
Back in my very early 20's.... My friend's mother was in the hospital, so she and I were going to cook Thanksgiving dinner for all the family and friends...
We did the dips & apps... the veggie side dishes.... turkey in the oven looking wonderful... things are all coming together at the right time and we are doing a great job!
Then somehow the rolls catch on fire while I am making the gravy... I think I have completely repressed the memory of how that happened??? All I remember is the fear that the curtains would catch next and the kitchen was going to go up.....
So there is this whole slapstick routine with the flaming rolls, the water, the smoke & steam and the floating ash... Finally we get back to business. I whip up some bisquick drop biscuits to fill the gap left by the rolls and we get dinner on the table...
It wasn't really until after everyone had plated up and put the gravy boat to work that we realized the skillet had been uncovered during our little diversion and a lot of ash had floated into the gravy.... mmmm mmmm mmm, creamy ash gravy.... a family favorite to this day....
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
The first year I knew my husband, he was a dedicated vegetarian. As soon as Thanksgiving came along and the possibility of not being able to have turkey occurred to him, he decided poultry was acceptable food.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
One Thanksgiving I did my best mise-en-place thing, loading up my kitchen counter with all the stuff I'd need to make pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, the can of pumpkin got shoved behind my cookbook stand, and the pumpkin never got included in the pie. I thought the mixture seemed a bit light in color, but all those spices cover a multitude of sins. We discovered the problem during clean up.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
In our family, the "cookers" don't have to do the cleaning....so one year my son volunteered to peel the potatoes- and thought that offset the 2 days we spent cooking, thusly no longer having to clean. Ha!
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
my first thanksgiving away from home, i decided the day before to throw together a full feast with my two university roommates (neither of whom can cook). it had all the fixings - a 12lb turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing... everything turned out amazing and the turkey lasted less than 48 hours before we had eaten every last scrap
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
Last year I got to spend thanksgiving with my dad. It was his last. Love you dad.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
Bob Evans once sold my brother the plastic display pie instead of a real pie-and non of us realized it until we tried to cut into it! They were very happy when he called back and returned it for a real pie-apparently the fake pies are very expensive!
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
the year I was in london and ate a turkey sandwich from starbucks for my thanksgiving dinner :(
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
the first time that I was allowed to sit at the adults table for thanksgiving with the extended family, I ended up between my great-grandpa, who couldn't hear, and my uncle, who got really loud when he had a drink or two. This ended up with my uncle trying to talk to me, and my great grandpa asking "WHAT" every time I tried to answer. I shut up after about 2 minutes.
Cook the Book: 'Good Eats: The Early Years'
After a painful Thanksgiving with my inlaws I decided that I would make our own family dinner. It turned out great until it was time for desert. The dog had decided she had enough of us ignoring her and jumped onto the table. Pies and whipped cream went everywhere. It was the first and last time our dog ever got on our table.
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My mother-in-law had an extra turkey breast that she wanted to have for dinner on Thanksgiving, but her new house' oven wasn't large enough to fit the 25 pound turkey she already had plus the extra smaller breast she purchased. Naturally, I got talked into making the extra bird, even though I was just starting to get my footing as a cook.
Since we had earlier dinner plans at my grandfather's, I planned to make the turkey at his home. With the help of my aunt, we did all the normal procedures for baking the turkey breast, except I was consumed with making sure it was basted with enough butter. Well, I put so much on, that the oven smelled as though it had lobster instead of poultry in it! The bird because lovingly known as the "lobster turkey" for the rest of the holiday.