Photo of the Day: Turducken! For Cats!
If you want to give Fluffy a taste of Thanksgiving, Turducken cat food probably isn't the best way to do it. (Don't worry; the photographer bopuc didn't buy this.)
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Entries from Serious Eats tagged with 'Thanksgiving'
Reminder: Stop Eating Thanksgiving Leftovers
Serious Eats public service announcement of the day: if you still have leftovers from Thanksgiving, it's probably a good idea to throw them out. Dangerous bacteria could be lurking in your tupperware!
Last Minute Thanksgiving Tips From Serious Eaters
If you don't have time to make your own stuffing, check out the winners of our store-bought stuffing mix showdown.
Don't know what wine to pair with the big meal? Dr. Vino's Thanksgiving wine recommendations.
In case of emergency: holiday helplines.
If you are gravy-challenged, Serious Eaters' have lots of advice.
How to keep everything hot while you carve your turkey.
Advice for the day after: Freezing leftover turkey, what to do with leftover turkey
Holiday Helplines
For last minute help and advice preparing your Thanksgiving feast, there are a number of helplines set-up to answer your questions. Or, ask your fellow Serious Eaters!
Butterball Turkey Talk Line
Phone: 800-288-8372
Website: butterball.com
Cooking advice 9 a.m.-9 p.m. EST today; 7 a.m.-7 p.m. EST Thanksgiving day.
USDA Meat and Poultry Hot Line
Phone: 888-674-6854 or 800-256-7072 for hearing impaired
Website: fsis.usda.gov
Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. EST today and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. EST Thanksgiving day.
Empire Kosher Poultry Consumer Hotline
Phone: 800-367-4734
Website:www.empirekosher.com
King Arthur Flour Co.'s Baker's Hotline
Phone: 802-649-3717
Website: www.kingarthurflour.com
or e-mail questions to bakers@kingarthurflour.com
Cooking with Kids: Cornish Pasties
"Giving your children the right amount of the heart-healthy oils is just as important as keeping them from eating lard." —Missy Chase Lapine, from 'The Sneaky Chef'
That's funny, because in preparation for Thanksgiving, I just sent my wife and daughter to pick up some leaf lard. We buy our lard from a local farm, Skagit River Ranch. It's certified organic and, if you care about this sort of thing, loaded with the exact same monounsaturated fat found in Lapine's beloved olive and canola oils. More important, Skagit's lard is of superb quality, elevates every food it touches, and is essential to the centerpiece of our Thanksgiving table: Cornish pasties.
Why pasties? My wife, Laurie, traces her roots to Penzance, Cornwall—known for its pirates and pasties. And pasties are very much in the spirit of Thanksgiving: comforting, starchy, nap-inducing.
What's the Most Environmentally Friendly Turkey?
Is a locally grown turkey best for the environment? How about organic? Slate tries to determine which kind of turkey is least harmful to the environment. Maybe you'd be better off replacing the turkey with a chicken.
How to Carve a Turkey
These days there are more online videos demonstrating how to carve a turkey than you can shake a stick at. I got to know the San Francisco Chronicle's Olivia Wu a bit when I attended Taste3 earlier this year, so I'm favorably biased toward her demonstration (above) of how to properly check the temperature of your turkey, and two different carving techniques. Wu's technique is similar to what today's New York Times calls the butcher's method.
Perfect Gravy
Martha Stewart's six troubleshooting tips for perfect gravy.
Produce Pete on Thanksgiving
"You can use a purple-topped turnip in a pinch, but under no circumstances should you ever use a yellow rutabaga." Video.
Who's the Alpha Cook in Your Thanksgiving Kitchen?
Although I'm usually the alpha cook in our kitchen, the battle for kitchen hegemony in our house on Thanksgiving can get a little dicey. Are we the exception or the rule on Turkey Day? Does everyone have issues with kitchen control on Thanksgiving? Serious Eaters want to know.
Let me set the scene for you. Usually my wonderful wife, Vicky, happily lets me take control of the cooking. She doesn't care about food as much as I do, and I have ceded control to her on virtually every other aspect of our home life.
On Thanksgiving this year at our house we are going to be thirteen. Every one of those thirteen with the exception of our son and me are my wife's birth family. So because the guest list is comprised of her family, Vicky decided a few years ago she wanted a power-sharing arrangement in our Thanksgiving kitchen. Our first negotiations were freighted affairs, complete with raised voices and hurt feelings, probably not dissimilar to what is going on in Pakistan with Bhutto and Musharraf.
Grocery Ninja: Curry in a Hurry
The Grocery Ninja leaves no aisle unexplored, no jar unopened, no produce untasted. Creep along with her below, and read her past market missions here.
There have been "countdown to Thanksgiving" notices everywhere for the past month, so it's safe to say anyone planning on hosting a gathering would have handled all the logistics by now—ordering the turkey, coordinating the sides, outsourcing the labor, etc. But what about the procrastinators among us? The ones who have left everything just this side of too late and are quickly realizing that a clean kitchen and peace of mind are what we would truly be thankful for?
It may be too late to order the organic, pasture-raised heirloom turkey, but it's not too late to dig out (beg, borrow, or steal) the biggest pot in your kitchen and get some curry going.
Is White Meat Healthier Than Dark Meat?
Not really. An ounce of white meat has four fewer calories than the same amount of dark meat, but dark meat has more nutrients. There was no mention of the hidden health benefits of crisp turkey skin.
Thanksgiving Is for Cheeseballs
OK, so you read my post last week about crafting an American cheese plate for Thanksgiving, and you said to yourself, "I would love to eat that, but my family won't touch it unless it comes wrapped in individual plastic sheets." Well then maybe it's time to go plan B and make a bacon-covered artisanal cheeseball. This has got to be literally the cheesiest appetizer you could possibly serve to your guests, and yet how could anyone complain about something that combines cheese and bacon?
What Should Replace Roast Turkey as the National Thanksgiving Dish?
In 1981 Calvin Trillin wrote a hilarious piece for the New Yorker openly campaigning for spaghetti carbonara to replace roast turkey as our national Thanksgiving dish. In 1995 he wrote a follow-up to that story suggesting that a case for deep-fried turkey could be made. Neither campaign managed to gain much traction, but I must admit that as I dragged my 16-pound turkey home from my local supermarket last night (the bus never came, so I ended up walking half a mile with that damned bird), I started thinking about alternatives that would be easier on my back and balky hamstring.
New Yorkers might make a case for brisket or pot roast with potato latkes, which is what we serve the Levine family for Hanukkah. But that is a fairly radical suggestion—not as radical as Trillin's spaghetti carbonara, but fairly extreme all the same. Plus, brisket and latkes might give Thanksgiving a regional and religious skew the rest of the country might not find so appealing.
So I have a better idea, one I believe the whole country could get behind.
A Modern Woman's Thanksgiving
Editor's note: While we were planning our Thanksgiving coverage, Serious Eats community member Karen Resta happened to email and offered the following essay on what the day means to her. It's a nice take on Thanksgiving as approached by three generations of American women. —Adam
I am a modern American woman and my Thanksgiving foods reflect that. The Thanksgiving foods of my mother and grandmother were also reflective of their own ways of being modern women of their times, though for each of them the approach to Thanksgiving was fearsome—for time spent in the kitchen was not pleasurable in any way either one could find.
My Grandmother's Kitchen
There was no turkey on my grandmother's Thanksgiving table regardless of the annual hype about the bird's vital importance for the day in the attractive pictures sketched in women's magazines and in the "women's pages" of the newspapers (where all news about food could be found). Instead, there was a fresh ham, glazed with brown sugar and mustard, crackling still intact—because hams were easier to procure and easier to cook. There were browned Maine cull potatoes from the neighbor's farm up the road, home-canned beans from the garden, and cornbread, which forgave a less-than-perfect baker more easily than yeast rolls would.
What is the Right Combination of Pies? My Annual Thanksgiving Pie Crisis
It happens every year. I get paralyzed by Thanksgiving pie indecision. I find it very difficult to figure out the right combination of pies to serve at our Thanksgiving meal. How do Serious Eaters everywhere solve this problem? Remember I don't bake, and neither does any member of my wife's family. But as you might have noticed, I have more than a passing interest in finding excellent pie, either in New York or via mail-order.
There are 16 people coming over to our house, and nary a baker in the bunch. I don't hold their lack of baking prowess or interest against them. How could I, given that I don't bake pies myself. They're all caring, considerate, generously spirited people, so they're willing to order, buy, and pick up pies anywhere I ask them to go. But they do want to get their marching orders from me, and that's where my pie quandary comes in. It's early Monday morning as I write this, about 77 hours before the big meal, or perhaps I should call it the big (pie) game.
This is where I'm at, pie-wise:
Jive Turkey Hat
If you are skilled with knitting needles, you might want to get to work this weekend on your own Jive Turkey Hat, the perfect accessory for your Thanksgiving celebration.
The Truth About Thanksgiving
Eating turkey won't make you sleepy—that's just you being tired. Snopes addresses other Thanksgiving beliefs.
Does Anyone Really Love Pumpkin Pie?
How many of us actually sit down for our Thanksgiving feast and think, "Man, I can't wait to get through the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and mashed potatoes, so I can dig into that piece of pumpkin pie that's sure to be coming"?
How do I love pie? Let me count the ways. I love an apple pie, all cinnamony with firm apples in a a flaky crust. I love cherry pie made with Michigan cherries if it's not too sweet and too goopy. I love streusel-topped crumb pies because, well, they invariably taste really good unless the streusel-to-fruit ratio is out of whack. Key lime pie, like the really good, not very jiggly ones they make at Steve's in Red Hook, Brooklyn, bring it on, no questions asked. Lemon chess, apple-cranberry, banana cream, coconut cream, coconut custard, lemon chiffon, pecan (as long as the pecan-to-sweet-jellied-goop balance is respected), I love them all.
But pumpkin pie is not a similar object of my affection. I have never been able to fully get behind pumpkin pie. It's not just me, is it? Serious Eaters, I need you to 'fess up here. We've all been merely tolerating the pumpkin pies that have been put in front of us at Thanksgiving forever. Maybe it's time to put an end to the Great Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie Sham.
How Do Freezer-to-Oven Turkeys Stack Up?
YumSugar finds out after freezer-to-oven turkey manufacturer Jennie-O sends the blog one to try out: "Fast forward several hours and I was cutting into a succulent and juicy turkey. The skin was a little on the salty side, but the flavor was classic and not overpowering. It was also tender and juicy on the inside."
Turkey Talk With Barbara Fairchild of 'Bon Appétit'
"In summer we test recipes. When it's about a hundred degrees out, we're eating turkey, gravy, stuffing, and sweet potatoes."
Bon Appétit editor in chief Barbara Fairchild is an American success story. She started at the magazine in 1978 as an editorial assistant and worked her way up to her current job 22 years later. I spoke to her a few days ago about the magazine's Thanksgiving issue. What did I learn? Don't mess with her octogenarian mother's pumpkin pie, which is still as good as pumpkin pie gets.
So what happens at Bon Appétit when you start thinking about Thanksgiving coverage?
It all starts right after the last Thanksgiving. We talk about a year ahead of time. In summer we test recipes. When it's about a hundred degrees out, we're eating turkey, gravy, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. But you know what? Everyone still comes running, because people love Thanksgiving food any time of year. No one ever complains.
So where did you end up this year?
We returned to the basic format, dish by dish, chapter by chapter. I think it's the easiest way for readers to put together their own dinners. If we present recipes people can really use, we'll have done our job.
What are her favorites from this year's magazine? Keep reading.
Turkey Talk with 'Gourmet' Magazine's Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl has become the first rock star food writer. I know, because when I walk down the street with her, people ask her for autographs. From her stints as a restaurant critic, first for the Los Angeles Times and then for the New York Times (where she became famous for her elaborate disguises to elude recognition in restaurants), she created the story-based, narrative-driven restaurant review. Now from her perch as the editor in chief of Gourmet, certainly the best known of the food glossies, she has succeeded in making a formerly stodgy magazine utterly contemporary without losing its gravitas and relevance. We caught up with her on the phone a few days ago to talk turkey. We found out there's hell to pay if you bring a dish to her Thanksgiving. And she couldn't disagree more with Christopher Kimball about how to approach turkey day.
Find out what Ruth Reichl is cooking at her Thanksgiving after the jump.
Grocery Ninja: Smells Like Home
The Grocery Ninja leaves no aisle unexplored, no jar unopened, no produce untasted. Creep along with her below, and read her past market missions here.
My family travels several months out of the year, and it is unusual for all of us to be in the same place at the same time. While we travel light, the one item we always have space for is a bottle of my mom’s hae bee hiam or chili shrimp paste. It doesn’t look like much, and it doesn’t even sound like much, but when you arrive in a foreign country and the weather’s cold, the stores are closed, and you’re just not up to greasy take-out…this stuff is ambrosia over plain white rice.
Essentially a meal of just a condiment on carbs, I’ve had concerned housemates insist on my “eating properly." But I’ve turned down expensed sashimi dinners just because I knew I had a bottle of this in the fridge and was craving a taste of home. Made from a pounded and dry-fried concoction of dried baby shrimp, chili, candlenuts, shallots, belacan (fermented shrimp paste), and a touch of sugar, it’s considered the ultimate condiment—priceless because it’s tedious to prepare, chockful of shrimp, and completely reliant on the cook’s experience and “aggak” (estimation) skills to achieve the perfect balance of sweetness, savory-ness, briney pungence, and blistering heat.
Ed Levine's Semi-Serious, Semi-Homemade Thanksgiving
Alice Waters, I'm afraid that when it comes to Thanksgiving, you're going to have to give me a pass. Because when it comes to Thanksgiving I'm much more Sandra Lee than Alice Waters. Yes, that's right, I'm the Thanksgiving Semi-Homemade King. I often don't brine my turkey, my stuffing starts with Pepperidge Farm cubed cornbread stuffing, my fantastic whipped sweet potatoes with maple syrup and dried cranberries begin life in a can, I purchase my gravy, I am going to take Chris Kimball's advice and make the cranberry sauce recipe on the back of the frozen cranberry bag, adding a half-teaspoon of salt, I do make George Germon and Johanne Killeen's crazy good mashed potatoes from their book Cucina Simpatica
So that's it, Alice. I put it right out on the (blog) table for everyone to see. I don't feel guilty about this in the least. Should I? I feel like a guy that's stepped into some kind of bizarre 12 step program for people who are addicted to semi-homemade Thanksgiving preparations:
"Hello, my name is Ed Levine, and I am a semi-homemadeoholic."
Let me explain, Serious Eaters, and when I'm finished perhaps you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, or at the very least you won't sneer.
'Pie Project' Helping Those in Need on Thanksgiving
In the rush to plan menus, shop for provisions, and cook the turkey, we often forget that there are Americans for whom Thanksgiving really isn't all that much different from any other day.
When Serious Eater maggiesara checked with a food pantry near her to see what they'd be serving the homeless on Turkey Day, she found little in the way of traditional Thanksgiving fare:
The usual Thursday breakfast [at the Central Synagogue soup kitchen] is beef stew, and when I asked, I was told that they were not going to be doing anything different for Thanksgiving. It saddened me to think that the Synagogue's guests were going to be left out of the national feast. I mean, stew is good, but it ain't Thanksgiving. So I've offered to make pie. It then occurred to me that some of the New Yorkers who read Serious Eats might like to get involved in the "Pie Project."
And so, after checking with the Synagogue's staff as to logistics, maggiesara put out the call in the Serious Eats Talk section in order to drum up some support from our New York–based community members.
Serious Turkey Talk With Christopher Kimball of 'Cook's Illustrated'
"People have to get over their fixation with green vegetables. Green beans are disgusting. Our meal is all shades of white, brown, and orange."
Christopher Kimball is an unlikely media mogul. He's the founding editor and publisher of Cook's Illustrated, the bespectacled host of America's Test Kitchen on PBS, and the proud owner of many bow ties. We caught up with him a couple days ago on the phone to talk turkey (day) with him. It turns out that, among other things, the man hates green beans, and he's not afraid to admit it.
How do you approach Thanksgiving at Cook's Illustrated?
How we approach Thanksgiving goes to the heart of our philosophy. Today, most people's repertoire in the kitchen is unlimited. (Once upon a time people knew how to make 100 dishes, at most.) As a result, nobody ever gets good at anything, because they don't do anything twice. In our magazine, we keep doing the same thing over and over again. So in our Thanksgiving issue we stay focused on the things people want to make: turkey, mashed potatoes, pie crust, biscuits.
How is your coverage different from the other food magazines like Gourmet, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine?
The editors at the other food magazines write for their friends and themselves. They feel compelled to do something different every year because they're bored. People want mainstream American cooking, and that's what we give them.
What does Chris Kimball serve at his own Thanksgiving? Keep reading.
What Does Thanksgiving Mean to You?
At Serious Eats we've gone Thanksgiving wild. Each of us here in the office—and our contributors scattered far and wide—brings to the Serious Eats table ideas about the foods, recipes, and tips that will help make every Serious Eater's Thanksgiving the best it can be. We then post about them for your reading and cooking pleasure.
In so doing I realize that what we're doing at Serious Eats is what I've been doing at Thanksgiving ever since I was a kid, bringing people together by finding common ground. Finding common ground in any given group of people is really what Thanksgiving is all about, or at the very least it's what Thanksgiving has come to mean for me.
What does finding common ground mean within the context of Thanksgiving? A little family history might explain a lot.
Tip: How to Read Turkey Labels
Ed wrote earlier this morning:
"There seems to be more and more choices every year, and I don't know about you, but I think there's a conspiracy afoot to befuddle and confuse us with these choices.
Just consider what we are confronted with: fresh, frozen, frozen basted, free-range, free-roaming, all-natural, heritage fresh, heritage frozen, organic, wild, kosher fresh, kosher frozen. It's mind-boggling."
To help you navigate your way through the turkeys, we've put together a brief guide to reading turkey labels.
The Best Turkey: What's Your Favorite?
This is the time of the year when turkey buying panic sets in for those of us obsessed with finding the best-tasting (responsibly raised if possible) turkey to roast. There seems to be more and more choices every year, and I don't know about you, but I think there's a conspiracy afoot to befuddle and confuse us with these choices.
Just consider what we are confronted with: fresh, frozen, frozen basted, free-range, free-roaming, all-natural, heritage fresh, heritage frozen, organic, wild, kosher fresh, kosher frozen. It's mind-boggling.
Maybe that's why one year I switched to an all-pie Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't have to choose one pie. I just bought a dozen pies of every variety imaginable, including a turkey pot pie. I thought it was genius, but my wonderful mother-in-law (and my wife) could not wrap her traditionalist head around it. She thought it was too radical. So I learned the hard way that you can't mess with your mother-in-law's expectations when it comes to holiday foods.
My favorite turkey to date has been the Eberly Farms organic bird, raised in Pennsylvania in apparently humane fashion. A couple of years ago I had great success brining an Eberly Farms turkey on a friend's penthouse roof. Of course it was incredibly windy the night before Thanksgiving that year, so I was worried that my brining turkey was going to fly off the roof of the building and kill someone 15 floors below. Now that would have given fresh-killed turkey a whole new meaning. How did I choose the Eberly Farms organic turkey? I read a 1996 New York Times turkey taste test article.
But 1996 predated the resurrection of heritage turkeys, so I thought it might be helpful to all the Serious Eaters out there to gather a flock of experts to weigh in on this weightiest of all Thanksgiving issues.
I spoke to Chris Kimball, the man who has built a media empire (think Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen) tasting, testing, and telling us what the best is. In the November-December issue of Cook's Illustrated Chris and his merrily opinionated band of testers tasted eight turkeys, though not the Eberly Farms organic bird.
10 Steps to Getting a Thanksgiving Invitation
Or, 'How to Glom on to Someone Else's Feast'
Turkey Day is a mere 16 days away and counting. If you already know where you're eating this year, this is optional reading. If you're unsure of your Thanksgiving plans at this relatively late date, the clock is ticking—loudly.
Keep reading, and I'll tell you how to get yourself invited to someone else's Thanksgiving feast.
I am a master Thanksgiving invitation garnerer. I speak from experience. I lost my parents when I was a teenager, so I had to develop this expertise early on or face a lifetime of Swanson Hungry Man turkey dinners. Knowing how difficult Thanksgiving can be for the uninvited, my wife and I make sure any strays we know are invited to our admittedly fat-laden but oh-so-delicious repast.
So here's a 10-step moocher's guide to getting invited to Thanksgiving dinner, practically guaranteed to land you at least one invitation you'd actually accept.
Grocery Ninja: A United Nations Thanksgiving
The Grocery Ninja leaves no aisle unexplored, no jar unopened, no produce untasted. Creep along with her below, and read her past market missions here.
I was asked to write about an "ethnic Thanksgiving" and I've been thinking about it all week. But there already are plenty of wonderful ethnic-American floggers waxing gustatory over what's on their (way more cohesive) menu. So I thought I'd share with you a little bit of my world: that of the international student.
Since we hail from all manner of ethnicities, we call our gathering the "United Nations Thanksgiving," and it's a night where we all bring a plate (a common newbie gaffe: to figure the host must be running low on crockery and helpfully show up with a stack of empty dishes).
We try to stick to the concept of "traditional Thanksgiving foods," so there will be turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams, corn, and pumpkin pie. Except, because most of us call home and ask mom how to cook it, we end up with particularly unique renditions of these Thanksgiving stalwarts.
With so many vegetarians in the group, it's an unspoken agreement that the stuffing be meat-free. So we will have Indian biryani, Malaysian nasi ulam, Middle Eastern megadarra, Bhutanese red rice salad, and, as promised by the cute new grad student from Italy, his grandma's "kick-ass" panzanella.
In Design: Easy Embellishments for your Thanksgiving Table
Lidded eggplant teacups can be perfectly repurposed to serve soup—while also keeping it warm.
In the midst of planning and executing a Thanksgiving feast, few of us have the time or even the space for elaborate table decorations. And with a meal that tends to consist of so many textures, colors, shapes, and sizes, there’s little need for extensive embellishment, anyway—usually just a few small flourishes are all it takes to elevate the most basic table setting to the occasion.
Here are three of my favorite time- and space-friendly picks for adding detail and dimension to this year’s Thanksgiving table.
What's Your Favorite Thanksgiving Food?
It's November 1, so now I can start obsessing in earnest about Thanksgiving without everyone thinking I'm a complete nut job. To me Thanksgiving is all about the stuffing and the pie. But maybe not everyone feels the way I do, so I've decided to let Serious Eaters weigh in on this extremely important topic.
Perhaps some of you love turkey or its crisp skin. Others may live for the moment they bite into the sweet potatoes (with or without marshmallows) or the mashed potatoes enriched with loads of butter and heavy cream. Maybe, just maybe, to some folks, Thanksgiving is all about the green beans or the brussels sprouts or some other green or other-colored vegetable.
For my wife turkey day is all about the broccoli puree with creme fraiche she makes from the Silver Palate
Let me make the case for both stuffing and pie before you cast your vote.
'How Moist Was My Turkey'
About the author: Adam Roberts is The Amateur Gourmet. His book, The Amateur Gourmet, will be published by Bantam/Dell in summer 2007.
What's your favorite Thanksgiving food?
I really want to know. As most of you probably know, mine is pie. But I recognize that others may feel differently.
In a nod to my friends at Eater, I am establishing a morning line on which food will be voted ELE readers' favorite:
Pie: 2-1
Stuffing: 3-1
Mashed Potatoes: 3-1
Turkey and Gravy: 5-1
Cranberry Sauce: 8-1
Sweet Potatoes: 10-1
Green Vegetables: 500-1
So vote for one of the following:
Turkey and Gravy:
Stuffing: Stuffing runs a close second to pie for me. What's not to like about stuffing? What other food can so easily contain bread, butter, and sausage in every bite?
Cranberry Sauce or Cranberry Conserve to fancy-pants Foodies
Sweet Potatoes: I make mine with maple syrup and loads of butter and heavy cream.
Mashed Potatoes: I make the Al Forno mashed potatoes courtesy of George Germon and Johanne Killeen in Providence, RI.
Green vegetables: Am I influencing the vote by not having a picture of a green vegetable? You decide. I know it's hard to believe, but some people look forward to the green vegetables served at Thanksgiving as an antidote to all the other fat-laden deliciousness served. Personally I think the only way to rescue green vegetables is with bacon, sausage or other pork products.
Pie: Really, is there anything better on this earth than a great piece of pie?
The Last Chance to Win Your Thanksgiving Pies
Sunday Nov. 19th is the last day to enter the Thanksgiving pie contest. To win two superb pies of your choice just tell me in 100 words or less what your all pie Thanksgiving menu would consist of and why. On Monday I will announce the winner and figure out the logistics of delivering the pies. The other pie winners (for correctly identifying the two pie quotes) will also be notified then.
Remember, both New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers can enter the contest. New Yorkers will receive two pies from either Two Little Red Hens or Yura & Company. Serious pie lovers in other cities will receive pies from either their favorite local pie baker or from Grand Traverse Pie Company, the best mail-order pie baker I have found.
Now for a few slices of Thanksgiving pie info:
Megnut continues to have a great week with her Thanksgiving meal media round-up.
The Amateur Gourmet weighs in with a typically idiosycratic and amusing Thanksgiving menu post.
Kudos to Melissa Clark for an absolutely first-rate, entertaining, and informative piece on pie crust in Wednesday's New York Times. The story was a soulful, Steingartenesque tour de force, with the Thanksgiving story lead of the century: "A few years ago I achieved perfection in a pie crust and it smelled like pig."
On Monday I am going to post an edited version of Karen Barker's brilliant mini-treatise on pie and pie crusts, taken from her indispensable book, Sweet Stuff: Karen Barker's American Desserts.
As I've said before Karen makes the best pies I've ever tasted.
