My house smells great! Thanksgiving coming up!

Tonight, I have a pumpkin pie in the oven, and I'm making the crust for fruit pizza tonight after the pie is finished. The turkey has been brining for a day already, and I'm drinking an oatmeal stout.

Bob made a great venison stew in the crockpot for us today, and we just finished dinner.

The rest of our menu includes baked squash, sourdough rye bread, cabbage, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry chutney, pickled beets from the garden, and homemade white wine. For later, oatmeal stout and IPA.

What are YOU having?

House smells great here, too, Yoop. I've made 8 cal-zones(two with traditional Italian meats/cheeses, two with shredded beef/peppers/onions/cheddar, one buffalo chicken and bacon and one veggie), some shredded potatoes in a heavy whipping cream/half and half reduction, some pizza sauce for the cal-zones, and, of course a starter for Friday's brew day:rockin:

Hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving.

Brined turkey, wild rice & sausage stuffing, swiss medley vegetables, epic gravy, crescent rolls, and whatever the friends are bringing. Oh, and some homebrew and homewine.

Yooper said:

What are YOU having?

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It's now up to 35 people (counting kids) in our little two bedroom ranch.
Wife's worried about having enough food, I'm worried about having enough beer.
And yeah, the house smells great!

(surprised so few responses as it's been the discussion topic all day in Tap Room )

AZ_IPA said:

(surprised so few responses as it's been the discussion topic all day in Tap Room )

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I always forget about the Tap Room! I haven't even thought about it lately. I guess since I've gotten "kicked out" of the chat, I forget that we have another play room.

We're having beer and stale pretzels in the Tap Room. And it smells of urinal cakes and cigarette smoke, as always. Happy Thanksgiving.

I just finished up preparing pretty much everything but the turkey so the house smells like a mix of freshly baked bread, stuffing, and deviled eggs. Now my wife is starting to make some chocolate chip cookies.

I am at work so I have no idea what my house smells like.

There, I made an appearance in here. Happy now AZ?

I'm at work....it smells of diesel exhaust. Not Thanksgivingish at all

I'm pleased as punch. I don't have to do any of the cooking for tomorrow for a change.

Lousy football game and boring parade, HO!

Roasted dead bird, cheesy hash brown potatoes, homemade stuffing, cranberries, scalloped corn, squash, sour cream and chive mashed potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie, french silk pie, apple crisp. Oh, yeah, amber ale and Red Baron Bock on tap. And the house smells pretty darned good, too!

marubozo said:

I just finished up preparing pretty much everything but the turkey so the house smells like a mix of freshly baked bread, stuffing, and deviled eggs. Now my wife is starting to make some chocolate chip cookies.

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Deviled eggs? Oh, man, I never even THOUGHT of deviled eggs. I'll be right back!

Yooper said:

Deviled eggs? Oh, man, I never even THOUGHT of deviled eggs. I'll be right back!

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Oh yeah. I think that's my wife's favorite part of thanksgiving. I usually have to make at least a dozen more than we really need because the family storms the kitchen as I'm stuffing them and eats a ton.

Our Thanksgiving will be on Friday, so the house doesn't smell awesome yet. But the menu will be brined turkey, herbed stuffing with roasted veggies, homemade Macaroni Grill bread, mashed tatoes 'n gravy, butternut squash, cranberry chutney, and I'm thinking I may slice up some onions and throw them in the slow cooker for a day for some caramelized onion goodness.
Oh, and a pumpkin pie. Trying out a whole wheat crust this year.

On Turkey day, we're going over a friends to watch the game and eat some ribs. I found a recipe for water chestnuts wrapped in bacon, slathered with a ketchup/brown sugar/Worcestershire sauce topping. I'm so excited to start cooking everything up.

marubozo said:

Oh yeah. I think that's my wife's favorite part of thanksgiving. I usually have to make at least a dozen more than we really need because the family storms the kitchen as I'm stuffing them and eats a ton.

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My eggs are done. We only had 9 I could use, but it's still going to be a nice hors d'oeurves dish. I made them spicy- used dijon mustard, horseradish, a bit of worchestershie, and some habernero pepper sauce. I sprinkled them with a smoked hungarian paprika and put them in the fridge.

Bob and I ate the ugly ones- they are really good! Thanks for the idea.

It's a good thing I have 5 fridges, that's for sure. I have to actually put food in my kegerator tonight!

Kittyfeet said:

On Turkey day, we're going over a friends to watch the game and eat some ribs. I found a recipe for water chestnuts wrapped in bacon, slathered with a ketchup/brown sugar/Worcestershire sauce topping. I'm so excited to start cooking everything up.

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Henry Hill's wife made the same thing when they came up here for a brewday. Hers had soy sauce in them, in addition. We gobbled those up pretty fast! That's a really nice snack to take.

Yooper said:

It's a good thing I have 5 fridges, that's for sure. I have to actually put food in my kegerator tonight!

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Thats where my turkey is.

dataz722 said:

Thats where my turkey is.

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I'm glad somebody else admitted it. That's where mine is as well.

Upstairs fridge is full, beer fridge is full of mostly beer and some pies, and the turkey is in the keezer.

Oh wait, actually my turkey is sitting on the counter for at least 8 hours tonight to come up to room temp. How silly of me to forget.

You think 8 hours will be enough?

dataz722 said:

You think 8 hours will be enough?

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I don't know. I took it out of the wrapper and am leaving it directly exposed to the air hoping that will speed things up.

marubozo said:

Oh wait, actually my turkey is sitting on the counter for at least 8 hours tonight to come up to room temp. How silly of me to forget.

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Bad. Very bad. Just begging for food poisoning.

dataz722 said:

Thats where my turkey is.

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marubozo said:

I'm glad somebody else admitted it. That's where mine is as well.

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Mine's sitting outside - again, I need a reminder to bring it in! It's gonna be single digits tonight; I'd hate to wake up to a re-frozen brined bird!

Can't wait for Thanksgiving

marubozo said:

I don't know. I took it out of the wrapper and am leaving it directly exposed to the air hoping that will speed things up.

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Damn, I should have thought of that. I have had mine sitting out since about 10 this morning but still wrapped. I did let it thaw first for a few days in the fridge though.

Crap. Now my house smells like salmonella

marubozo said:

Crap. Now my house smells like salmonella

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hahahahaha ok, that actually made me laugh.




Yoop feel free to delete all of what we have said. I think we forgot we were "out in public".

If you use enough rub with paprika, you can leave it out for at least 18 hours. At least that's what I've read.

AZ_IPA said:

If you use enough rub with paprika, you can leave it out for at least 18 hours. At least that's what I've read.

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No, it's salt. Rubbing it with salt is the same as a brine and it makes it safe.

marubozo said:

No, it's salt. Rubbing it with salt is the same as a brine and it makes it safe.

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That's right. Alton Brown said that salt is evil to bacteria. Heck, he makes homemade sauerkrat in his pantry. See, salt works!

marubozo said:

No, it's salt. Rubbing it with salt is the same as a brine and it makes it safe.

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And a brine is the same as a cure too.

dataz722 said:

And a brine is the same as a cure too.

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Speaking of that, has anybody tried a turkey ceviche? I mean, couldn't you just soak the bird in some citrus acid? That cures seafood, so it should work for poultry as well.

marubozo said:

Speaking of that, has anybody tried a turkey ceviche? I mean, couldn't you just soak the bird in some citrus acid? That cures seafood, so it should work for poultry as well.

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I did. But rather than use citrus acid, I used acid blend and some DAP from my wine kits. Came out pretty good.

AZ_IPA said:

I did. But rather than use citrus acid, I used acid blend and some DAP from my wine kits. Came out pretty good.

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Should have just used some Starsan. That has a pretty low pH.

marubozo said:

Should have just used some Starsan. That has a pretty low pH.

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It does; but pH isn't the issue with ceviche. It's the nitrogen. Hence the DAP.

I have the bird brining, I'm using the recipe from craftbeer.com the simmering brine smelled amazing! I have a batch of my deviled eggs ready to go, I use the deviled egg recipe from my smoked deviled scotch egg post. I am getting up early tomorrow to bake off a few loaves of bread, make the green bean casserole, toss together a caramel pecan silk cream pie, and just before the turkey finishes up I need to make some mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and heavy cream. the cheesecake is finished and is in the fridge, and the ham was smoked earlier today, just a quick reheat and on the table tomorrow. there is also 5 gallons of ESB, 5 gallons of chocolate mint milk stout, and 5 gallons of APA. the wine rack is full as well.

I have 14 people coming tomorrow, I open my house to those without family, or those who can't be with them. I have a doctor from my wifes work coming, 2 cancer patients from her work who are all alone. a co-worker and her daughter, the family that lives next door who have never experienced Thanksgiving (just moved here from the Czech Republic), and some broke-ass friends who cant afford to fly home to be with family.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving, eat, drink, and drink some more!
Salute!

azscoob said:

I need to make some mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and heavy cream.

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Seriously, that is the key to amazing potatoes. I don't care who you are or how fatty your milk is, but you will not have mashed potatoes as good as those made with heavy cream. Ever. I get so many compliments on my mashed potatoes because I use the real deal cream. Sure, it isn't cheap when you compare it to milk, but you just can't substitute the flavor and richness.

marubozo said:

Seriously, that is the key to amazing potatoes. I don't care who you are or how fatty your milk is, but you will not have mashed potatoes as good as those made with heavy cream. Ever. I get so many compliments on my mashed potatoes because I use the real deal cream. Sure, it isn't cheap when you compare it to milk, but you just can't substitute the flavor and richness.

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I agree bozo - Thanksgiving is not a time to skimp or cut out stuff. Cream, butter, bird juices, etc....all fair game for T-giving.

We can diet later.

AZ_IPA said:

I agree bozo - Thanksgiving is not a time to skimp or cut out stuff. Cream, butter, bird juices, etc....all fair game for T-giving.

We can diet later.

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Exactly. If there's one day to indulge or ruin your diet, this is the one. Sure, you may take in 5,000 calories and enter a food coma while on the couch in front of a football game, but so what? Is there anything better than that? Go wake up at 2am to hustle around the stupid black friday sales if you want to burn a few of those calories.

So, use real butter, use real cream, use all the fat from the drippings to make awesome gravy, and have two pieces of pumpkin pie. You can eat like a rabbit again on Friday.

Yooper said:

I always forget about the Tap Room! I haven't even thought about it lately. I guess since I've gotten "kicked out" of the chat, I forget that we have another play room.

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Yoop, a bunch of old f^rts hang out there. The young'uns are great. Come join once in a while. What's more,Bob might even inject some of his thoughts. Happy Thanksging to you and family...