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First of all, happy Thanksgiving, y'all. Here in Europe it's just another working day, but Yanks usually celebrate on the weekend.

Every year my American friend Jonell invites a bunch of people to her house in Chartres for a big Thanksgiving meal on Saturday night, leftovers eaten for lunch the following day. That was last weekend. This year I'm also hosting my own TG dinner, next Sunday.

So, roast stuffed turkey, cranberry sauce, vegetables, sweet potato pie. That's my menu in a nutshell. I have yet to decide on precisely which vegetables and how to prepare them. I'm thinking green beans, mashed potatoes... and more.

But two of the guests are vegetarian so I have to have some major vegetable dish for them. I'm thinking something rice-based.

To drink, red wine. What else, in France? Probably a Loire valley wine of some sort. And maybe a Mont d'Or cheese afterwards.

I'm open to suggestions!

Also, about stuffing: from what I read on the web, it appears that many Americans, in their paranoid psychosis about salmonella, are too frightened to actually STUFF the turkey. They prepare "stuffing" that is never stuffed, only baked separately. Do you stuff stuffing? Surely it doesn't taste as good without soaking up some turkey fat. I have always eaten stuffing that has been stuffed and have not fallen ill yet.

Meanwhile, read Thug Kitchen on stuffing. And then bookmark it.

I live in America, Tom.

My son got salmonella on a school trip - from a bird as it turns out...

And while most of us are indeed either paranoid, psychotic or both (I resemble that remark), one doesn't have to be either to be really really careful with Turkey. Sadly, one reason is the wretched conditions in American factory farms, another is the very nature of poultry manufacture.

Washing a turkey in a kitchen sink is, I understand, to be carefully avoided because of the great likelihood of cross contaminating anything else which touches your sink until it's carefully disinfected.

It's heat which kills bacteria. So cooking beats washing. Cook the living daylights out of it in fact.

Check out the stats on food-borne illnesses in the US. I'm guessing France is somewhat different.

Your TG meal sounds terrific! I'm drooling... I'll check out Thug kitchen...

Gobble-Tov!



DB

Prime rib, jumbo shrimp, garlic mash potatoes, asparagus. Everything was awesome.

For dessert, a kind of goat cheese and apricot pizza type thing my brother made.

David Beckett wrote:And while most of us are indeed either paranoid, psychotic or both (I resemble that remark), one doesn't have to be either to be really really careful with Turkey. Sadly, one reason is the wretched conditions in American factory farms, another is the very nature of poultry manufacture. [...]

Check out the stats on food-borne illnesses in the US. I'm guessing France is somewhat different.

David, you're probably right. In addition I'm getting a nice, non-factory-farmed fresh turkey rather than a pale, frozen, factory mutant. So since everyone is giving thanks left and right, I'll give thanks for that!

Super simple and lovely. Turkey - roasted to perfection and turkey gravy - stuffing, mashed potatoes, jellied and mashed cranberries, brussel sprouts roasted in olive oil with rosemary (easiest and yummiest vegetable), candied yams, caesar salad, rolls, pumpkin pie and chocolate explosion cake from Whole Foods (white cheesecake on the bottom, layer of chocolate mousse, layer of chocolate cake, then covered in chocolate).

It was a super nice Thanksgiving. Happy holidays to you all.

Tom if it is not too late, stuff your turkey with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Iirc Clint did that once and the image has never left me. For wine a peppery st joseph usually complements poultry quite well. Every thing else makes my mouth water.

Douglas, I'm pretty sure that Clint cooked a "Turducken" more than once, actually.

Here's what one semi-boneless version looks like from Dean & Deluca in NYC ... a $100.00 delight.



No one is absolutely sure when and where Turducken originated, but one thing is indisputable: it's a true gastronomical experience. Our authentic, third-generation recipe, Cajun-style Turducken is a semi-boneless turkey filled with boneless duck, boneless chicken and stuffing made from ground pork sausage and Cajun-style cornbread.

After cooking Thanksgiving dinner, or a portion of it, for family get-togethers for many decades, it's somewhat odd to be served this special meal in a restaurant. Patti & I enjoyed a lovely, traditional Thanksgiving dinner (plus Kalua Pork) yesterday afternoon at Duke's Restaurant on Kalapaki Bay in Kauai. What was non-traditional was the spectacular view, as seen below.

We spoke with each of our 3 children last night and shared the day's activities and menus.

We thought of you, too, Valerie.

well, Ron and Patti, I was actually thinking about both of you as well!! wouldn't have minded joining you at Duke's if I hadn't been "thrilled to the kishkies" to be at a dinner table with H and W, plus a few others. can you guess? this was mos def a time when the food was very secondary! BUT I didn't have the view you guys had but the company was like "royalty" to me!! xoxo

Thanks, Rita! I'm glad that others are enjoying the results of my new camera.

We empathize with your temps, believe me. We've made the mistake of looking at Anchorage weather online while away. It's in the single digits right now.

Well, Duke's can't compete with that royalty, Valerie. It only took me seconds to "guess" who your dinner companions were. Glad that you had such a fine Thanksgiving.