Happy Thanksgiving 
everyone Don’t ! forget to go for a little walk after you meal! 
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Happy Thanksgiving from the other side of the pond! Went out to dinner with younger S’ friend and his GF and then to the Xmas markets for Glühwein. Great evening!
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I’m still a knife person for getting the skin off russet potatoes, though the Oxo peeler was life-changing for being able to make sweet potato fries. For Thanksgiving, I usually microwave the sweet potatoes whole, skin on, and then once cooked, I cut/pull the skin off, throw the inner potatoes in the bowl for mashing and/or cutting into chunks.
I am terrible at making turkey. I am returning to single-temp cooking (325, in this case) rather than some low/hi or hi/low-and-slow disaster that I’ve been doing in recent years. My latest new thing, this year I injected the (previously brined) turkey with a butter/beer/herb mix just before putting into the oven. We shall see. We are very close to moving to rib roast instead, which I typically make for xmas, plus picking up a side of turkey prepared elsewhere for those that like turkey - maybe next year, if my injection experiment fails.
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OK, final menu:
Cheese and fruit plates, assorted beers (alcoholic & nonalcoholic), red & white wines, sparkling cider, sparkling water
Lentil cottage pie, Potato and cabbage stuffed pierogi with sour cream, Paneer kofta
Roast mixed winter vegetables with rosemary & apples
Tropical fruit salad
Pumpkin soup
Garlic naan, Japanese milk bread dinner rolls
Cranberry sauce with warm spices
Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, Boston cream pie, gajar ka halwa (Indian carrot pudding)
Espresso drinks, various hot teas
I am stuffed. There were so many things to try, I almost didn’t miss the turkey.
Almost.
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It is just Mr. B and me. So the menu is going to be simplified:
Teriyaki turkey (we shall see about that soon!)
Spinach gratin
Sweet potatoes
Roasted roots with celeriac, apple, and fennel
Roasted Russian potatoes (the mini kind that is sold at TJ) with herbs
Endive and avocado salad
And we already opened a 2015 Rombauer Eldorado Zin. Took a little engineering to get the cork out but the results are awesome. Too bad it is the last bottle of that vintage in our cellar! We also have a NA sparkling by Lyre to have with dessert.
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Here’s our menu LOL:
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Very nice. We’ll join you next time if the kiddos bail out on us like they did this year 
(although big kid is not working on Saturday and will come with the family here - yay!)
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We had a fabulous thanksgiving dinner at Flemings. Yes , it’s a chain, but it’s a fairly high end one.
The service was terrific. We were not rushed and our waitstaff was just the right amount of attentive.
We went to Flemings last year, and ate everything on our plates. This year, it seemed like we got double what we got last year. We actually DO have leftovers to have tomorrow! That was a big bonus for us.
And no mess for us to clean up. And no meal planning, etc. We did get sort of dressed up for the evening out. One step up from business casual. DH actually wore a tie and sport jacket. It was a nice evening out.
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I made the best turkey ever this year. I’m not one to usually notice, but this was exceptionally good, and my mom and husband couldn’t stop raving about it. Of course, my mom kept asking me where I got it, as if the brand rather than the technique made the difference. It was a store brand 
I spatchcocked (which was easier than I thought it would be, although I think I removed way more than just the spine), dry-brined with salt, and let it sit uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours so the skin would crisp. Before putting it in the oven, I covered it with a (vegan) herb-infused butter-soaked cheesecloth. Started it at 450 for the first 30 minutes, then lowered to 400 until it came to temp. (Or at least that’s what I think I did. I have a fancy convection oven with a probe that I set to roast to 165, so it kind of takes over from there).
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I thought my teriyaki turkey experiment was so-so, but my husband really liked it. And so did all cats! I grilled it instead of roasting in the oven. I am going to save the marinade recipe and make teriyaki chicken that way.
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I was satisfied with my butter injection experiment and also a new (to me) brine recipe. The only issue is that the turkey cooked faster than expected (>15 lbs in under 3 hrs at 325) and it was a bit overdone because I didn’t have the thermometer constantly in. I waited to spot check at 3 hrs lol. Skin was beautiful, no basting. Slightly salty, probably from the combo of brine, injection, and whatever was in the turkey when I bought it at Target. The drippings made awesome gravy.
Tempted to try one of those fresh turkeys at Whole Foods next year. Expensive. Worth it?
(I better write down what I did so I can replicate next year…)
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We used a fresh whole foods turkey one year when the one we’d got from market looks off after defrosting so we tossed it. It was fine but nothing special. We like butterball. We got a small one at costco, $.99/lb for January when both kids are here.
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We did a spatchcocked dry brined turkey on the grill. It was delicious and very juicy so will do this way from now on. The other big hit (and new addition) was a cranberry curd tart. It was very light and not too sweet.
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Teriyaki gives wonderful flavor to meat. I marinate my beef tenderloin in teriyaki and dry onion soup mix and everyone always asks for the recipe. My MIL got it from some cookbook. So flavorful.
how did the turkey turn out?
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Looks fabulous!
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That looks great. I have a 10 pound Turkey I’d like to do this with…
How do you do this?
What dry brine rub did you use?
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I picked up a fresh turkey grown at a local farm, and my SIL smoked it. It turned out really well, although it was done sooner than expected. SIL’s dad joined us for dinner, which was a nice treat.
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We made this soup as an appetizer–everyone had a small cup. It was excellent.
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Grand Marnier was my major liquid. Injected and put under skin, poured into cavities.
Soon I’ll off to the mall. I rarely eat meat. My guest had a hard time carving, even after sharpening the knife.
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