Chowhound is a weekly column about what’s trending in Detroit food culture. Tips: [email protected].
Here’s the greatest advice I’m convinced any Thanksgiving meal maker can give or take: Don’t get too creative. This holiday’s centerpiece dinner — above and beyond all others — is all about tradition. Everyone’s expecting and looking forward to the ole’ family recipes. Nothing less — or more, for that matter — will do.
I get it. You’re a culinary creative and there’s this retro-chic Figgy Pudding deconstruction from DaringGourmet.com that you’re dying to do and blow everyone’s mind with. Don’t bother. Chances are, your efforts could go largely unappreciated as everyone gravitates to those exact same pies with spray whipped cream that your kin have been gorging on orgiastically for generations. Spare yourself the soul-sucking deflation of no one diving into your new dish. Thanksgiving just probably isn’t the day for it.
On the other hand, if there’s any room for improvement in that timeless hit parade of November third Thursday trimmings, maybe turn your attentions to that corrugated can-molded cranberry sauce still clinging to relevancy on this calendar occasion. From the sucking sound that echoes its quality as it exits the tin, to the slightly metallic taste we detect but sentimentally dismiss along with a slick, cheap jelly texture, this ceremonially trite cherry on top of our year’s most glaring example of holiday-excused gluttony is something I did away with years ago, replacing it with something one can slap together from four ingredients in 15 minutes. If you’re interested:
Easy cranberry sauce
1 16 oz. bag of whole cranberries (softened in simmering water). They’ll start to plump and pop when they’re soft enough.
1 16-18 oz. jar of orange marmalade (I buy Kroger brand).
2 tablespoons sugar (or honey) to soften the tartness of cranberries.
1 teaspoon ground cloves (the signature flavor profiler for cranberry sauce).
Adjust sugar/honey and/or clove content to taste if needed. Note: A little clove goes a long way. Refrigerate at least overnight. Can be prepared up to five days in advance. The pectin in the marmalade is sufficient to firm up this recipe into a jam-textured compote. It’s spoon-able, and makes a great spread for those leftover turkey sandwiches later.
And here’s a second meal suggestion for your surplus white and dark meat, along with those mashed potatoes we tend to make too much of. All you’ll need to add is another easy, three-component recipe that compliments Thanksgiving leftovers beautifully (and your future presentations of roasted poultry or fish: cod, walleye, perch, catfish, etc.):
Roasted turkey with bacon and leek broth
1. Split one large leek lengthwise from its root end to the border of its fibrous green leaves. Save and freeze leaves for future use if you’re a from-scratch soup or stock-maker. Rinse leeks (sometimes a little soil lodges in their soft, white layers). In a 325-degree oven, roast leeks drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a few dabs of butter until softened (about 15 minutes), then chop (cross cut, ½ inch).
2. Along with roasting stock you’ve set aside from Thanksgiving (about two cups) or store-bought chicken or vegetable broth, combine leeks with 1 cup cooked, chopped bacon (I sprinkle mine with crushed peppercorn or chili flakes). Ladle over turkey atop mashed potatoes and dig in. It’s delicious.
And where those roasting pan juices are concerned: whatever you don’t use to make gravy, refrigerate until the fat and broth separate, then skim off the top fat and freeze the aspic in plastic wrap. It will keep for six months minimum to flavor future soups, stews, sauces, and gravies. Add it to the water while cooking rice, potatoes, polenta, couscous, quinoa, braised greens, etc. It boosts and layers flavor in steamed and boiled foods, some of which are pale in flavor profile to begin with, and others which wash out some during wet cooking.
Secondly, here’s a suggestion that’s sung to many for sure. Rubio’s, a San Diego-based chain of Baja grill-style restaurants, once enlisted me to write a jingle for holiday season street tacos being promoted by the brand post-Thanksgiving, circa 1997. With a choral assist from my childrens’ kindergarten and third grade classmates and their teachers, we rehearsed a Christmas carol-themed advertisement for Rubio’s turkey tacos, which aired on the FOX 10 morning show in the Phoenix TV market. Perchance you’re unfamiliar or have forgotten how the caroling classic “Silver Bells” sounds, take a minute on your phone to look it up and listen before I regale you with these recipe lyrics sang repeatedly for our audience over the course of a live, three-hour, morning news show. Ready? Here goes:
“Turkey Tacos”
Take some turkey,
Corn tortillas,
Add some lettuce and cheese,
Put some salsa on top for more flavor.
They’ve got great crunch,
See your kids munch,
Watch that bird disappear;
No more leftovers until next year!
Rubios, Rubios,
Turkey tacos are a winner.
Make a bunch,
For snacks or lunch,
Make leftovers seem like a treat.
And if you’ll allow me to close with a Thanksgiving wish for all, I’ll also hark back to my boyhood, and the pre-holiday meal ceremony my very Polish-Catholic family practiced prior to sitting down to dinner. With each family member standing at the table armed with a square of Oplatki (think Communion wafer), everyone took a meaningful moment to make their rounds to everyone else and exchange a piece with a heartfelt sentiment or two on the blessings of family and friends, and all we truly had between us to be grateful for. In that same spirit, what I wish you this season are heartwarming and memorable moments with those closest to you, and opportunities taken to tell those precious ones even just a little about all you treasure where they’re concerned.
Now, go ahead. Break bread. Raise a glass. Make merry. Hug things out; being mindful of moments we’re given in finite measure to share with those dear to us. Happy Thanksgiving.
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