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Not All Home Cooks Get It Perfect

5K views 54 replies 13 participants last post by  ordo 
#1 ·
… but we sure try!

Thanksgiving dinner has eluded me, I stress each year.


The turkey I think I've nailed.

I follow Ted Allen's lead.


The stuffing, well, I make it now in a casserole with a "cheat recipe"

that is wonderful with some added sauteed Portuguese Sausage, at

least my family loves it.


The sides aren't all that bad.


And dessert, well, that's a hit or miss, it just depends.

Listen, not everyone is a Professional Chef with loads

of chutzpah, but we're all here to help one another,

whether it's in a restaurant or at home, right?
 
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#3 ·
K-Girl!  :)

See you're trying to do it all at once.  In the Midwest we have years and years of experience with this day.  Believe it or not, the same dishes are made each year, and if someone decides to do something different they better make the traditional family dish as well.  Like sweet potato casserole.  It is made one way and one way only, with the sweet potatoes baked, peeled, then layered up in a dish with marshmallows, brown sugar, and butter.  Thanksgiving is not complete without this dish.

So you can see how it goes right?  Each person in the family brings something, and if the normal person can't make the sweet potatoes, that job falls upon someone else, AND THAT PERSON BETTER MAKE IT RIGHT! :)

We have had lots of practice one dish at a time.   :)
 
#4 ·
Great ideas, only wish that someone ELSE in our family cooked /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif

It's all me

I do make somethings ahead of time, but by-in-large, I stress it, alot!


Just the other day, I made a dish that I must have made

100 times, Garlic Mochiko Chicken

Oops! Burnt and not edible...

Not all home cooks get it perfect
 
#5 · (Edited)
If you're doing your turkey disassembled, you should do the breast over a mound of stuffing. Having the turkey juices drip through the stuffing does make it better. And it will cook plenty fast in this disassembled state. Jacques and Julia do it this way, with the stuffing directly on the sheet pan for maximum heat transfer and crustiness.

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/77580/turkey-preparation#post_443030 has two videos of the process and a link to the recipe at the Washington Post.
 
#7 ·
This is the first year where I will actually be cooking a family style Thanksgiving dinner. Watching panic in my family on Thanksgiving day throughout my childhood is something I don't want to do. Luckily after working in restaurants you realize how much you can do the day, or even two, before turkey day. My entire menu is going to be done the day before and the only thing I will have to do is cook the spatchcocked turkey, bake hot items(stuffing, pies, etc.) and then reheat gravies. That's it. The rest, salads, snacks, etc. will be done way before family arrives the day before.
 
#8 ·
This is the first year where I will actually be cooking a family style Thanksgiving dinner. Watching panic in my family on Thanksgiving day throughout my childhood is something I don't want to do. Luckily after working in restaurants you realize how much you can do the day, or even two, before turkey day. My entire menu is going to be done the day before and the only thing I will have to do is cook the spatchcocked turkey, bake hot items(stuffing, pies, etc.) and then reheat gravies. That's it. The rest, salads, snacks, etc. will be done way before family arrives the day before.
Howdaya do @helloitslucas ?

Was your GF able to join you?

I'd love to see any photos that you may have taken on T-Day,

even though technically you're no longer just a Home Cook /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif
 
#9 ·
Don't even start with me over our Thanksgiving dinner. My brother-in-law came into my kitchen, where he was supposed to he helping me, and just plain took it over. He ruined the turkey parts by first under-cooking them (they were in foil pans on the grill), then when they weren't going to be ready on time, he took them out of the pans and stuck them on the grates, turned up the burners and burned them. As I had brined the parts, they were then overly-salty and, to my palate, inedible. Others didn't think so, but I was devastated. I won't go into the rest of it, but several other things were overcooked or not prepared as I wanted them.

In the end, it was his Thanksgiving dinner, not mine, but made in my kitchen.
 
#10 ·
Don't even start with me over our Thanksgiving dinner. My brother-in-law came into my kitchen, where he was supposed to he helping me, and just plain took it over. He ruined the turkey parts by first under-cooking them (they were in foil pans on the grill), then when they weren't going to be ready on time, he took them out of the pans and stuck them on the grates, turned up the burners and burned them. As I had brined the parts, they were then overly-salty and, to my palate, inedible. Others didn't think so, but I was devastated. I won't go into the rest of it, but several other things were overcooked or not prepared as I wanted them.

In the end, it was his Thanksgiving dinner, not mine, but made in my kitchen.
Oh gosh. I guess for the sake of peace you didn't tell him to F off? ;)
 
#11 ·
#12 ·
No pictures but I took a 9 pound turkey, stuffed herb butter under the skin over the breasts then while it browned at 425 I mixed the stuffing. Crunch stuffing bread cubes(plain) about halfway for a mix of crumbs and cubes for texture, add an egg per bag(I made 2 bags), seasoning to taste, then add turkey broth I make ahead from whatever cheap parts I can find, necks and backs etc. Add just enough broth to not have any dry crumb and it just sticks together. I then put this in the roaster around the turkey but none in the cavity and back into the oven at 325 with it covered loosely. Baste the turkey and stuffing with extra broth and whatever pan juices you have every hour. If it looks to wet uncover it more, I turn the lid on the roaster sideways. When the stuffing reaches 165 and the turkey is done let it rest 1/2 hour then slice.

Now that I typed all that I am hungry... time for a turkey sandwich!
 
#13 ·
Don't even start with me over our Thanksgiving dinner. My brother-in-law came into my kitchen, where he was supposed to he helping me, and just plain took it over. He ruined the turkey parts by first under-cooking them (they were in foil pans on the grill), then when they weren't going to be ready on time, he took them out of the pans and stuck them on the grates, turned up the burners and burned them. As I had brined the parts, they were then overly-salty and, to my palate, inedible. Others didn't think so, but I was devastated. I won't go into the rest of it, but several other things were overcooked or not prepared as I wanted them.

In the end, it was his Thanksgiving dinner, not mine, but made in my kitchen.
I feel you @Mezzaluna we went to my Mother's and I just gave in (Mom asked me to be the hostess) and let everyone else do whatever they felt they needed to do :shrug:

I brought a bunch of goodies for my Mother and somehow they all disappeared without her getting very much of them,

fortunately, I hide some things for her and her only /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

I made a family favorite casserole stuffing, doubled the recipe, and it was GONE!
 
#14 ·
His wife would have attacked me and made a scene. Everything's about her, of course. With my 90-year-old MIL there and the rest of the family in a fragile peace, I had to hold my fire. At the right moment he'll hear from me.

K-girl, it sounds as if you have a delicate balance in your family as well. So many of us do! Maybe next year we'll travel for Thanksgiving and it'll be so much more relaxing.
 
#15 ·
I made a HUGE pot of Hawaiian Portuguese Bean soup a few weeks back,

and put all of the containers into the deep freeze...

well,

I wasn't thinking I suppose and had added diced russet potatoes and

cooked elbow macaroni to the pot prior to freezing it.

I defrosted a container for lunch the day before Thanksgiving for an

ease-breezy-no-fuss-I'm-busy-right-now kinda day...

Ummm

suffice to say, it was very off


the potatoes turned to mush and the pasta was so soggy,

but we soldiered through our bowls
 
#18 ·
#21 ·
Boy, did I mess this up
You certainly did mess this up, k~girl. In fact I believe those cookies are SO messed up it would be a shame to present them to anyone in your close circle of family and friends. I know I wouldn't. But I have a proposition for you. Just because I'm your friend. Put them all in a package, and send that package to my house. I'll dispose of them. One less thing for you to worry about in this stressful holiday season. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif
 
#22 ·

It seems as though I 'm not the only goof-ball who BLEW

this recipe...

@French Fries I appreciate your very kind offer,

but DH has made quite the dent in that batch, saying,

"they're not so bad" ... I put them into the `fridge for a few,

that solidified the candies ... still I think those will stay here,

and the other FIVE different types of cookies will be as gifts.

(Vanishing Oatmeal Cookie Bars with cranberries, Land-O-Lakes Jumbo

Chewy Chocolate Chip, Hershey's Very Chocolate Chocolate Cookies,

Spritz cookies, The Perfect Ginger Bread People, oh AND

My Great Grandmother's Ginger Bread loaves)

I have these cute bakery boxes with the matching ribbons to

bind it, can't wait to go visiting with the neighbors and sharing.
 
#23 ·
We had neighbors over for some Holiday Cheer.

I had bought a few frozen 'finger foods' at Trader Joe's

to have on hand just in case ...


I'm at least grateful that I had the foresight to line the tray

with some tinfoil!

Most of the cheese just oozed out!

Disappointing
 
#24 ·
I have to laugh hysterically at this. I once made sponge cake.. nailed it. Ended up being some sort of egg cake cracker and I had to throw the baking pan away. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

There's actually a whole forum devoted to the "Nailed It" concept over on reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/nailedit

One of my favorites /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif

 
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