Gobble! Gobble! What’s on Your Menu?

Last year, last Thanksgiving, I decided to cook the turkey from beginning to end.  Usually we buy the turkey and trimmings from Picadilly and all we have to do is warm everything in the oven.  I love to cook.  And I subscribe to several food magazines.   One of the magazines, Food & Wine,  had a recipe for turkey brined in beer, actually Guinness Stout Ale.  I thought to myself, “how bad could that be?”  Plus, the recipe also had bacon.  Now, I had two of my husband’s favorites in one recipe:  beer and bacon!

I’ve cooked chickens over a can of beer and they were wonderful.  My husband loves beer.  My husband loves bacon.  Let’s try it.  I thawed the turkey in the refrigerator.  And the Wednesday morning before T-Day, I got everything out to brine the turkey.  That was when I discovered the turkey was too big for my stock pot.  What was I going to do?  I didn’t have anything big enough to brine the turkey in and whatever I put the turkey in had to go into the refrigerator.

Solution:  13 gallon kitchen trash bags.  This should work as long as I don’t poison anyone from the chemicals in the plastic of the trash bag.  The alcohol of the beer will keep the turkey sterile.  So I got out not one, but two bags and put one bag inside another.  The turkey was huge and I did not want the bag to break.  I put the turkey, Guiness, the water, the salt and all the ingredients in the trash bag to brine.  I, then, put the turkey in my huge paella pan and put everything in the refrigerator in the garage.  At least if something broke, it would not smell up the house.

One of my dear, dear friends who always joins us at Thanksgiving with her husband (we go to their house for Christmas dinner) wanted to make her world famous dressing and gravy.  Yum!  She’s a fabulous cook and picky sometimes, so I did not want to tell her I brined the turkey in the trash bag for fear she would not eat it.  I was worried she would think it was unsanitary even though the beer and the salt should have sterilized the turkey.  And then the roasting of the turkey should have killed any final germs that were lurking.  (Yes, I followed directions and stuck the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the turkey.)

The turkey was wonderful!  Everyone raved about the turkey, how great it tasted and how moist it was.  We have a winner!  I finally told my friend what I did after nine months and she informed me that she does that all the time.  I told her I was brining the turkey again this year in trash bags.  I wasn’t worried because no one died last year from my turkey so we should be OK this Thanksgiving.  Of course, she’s making her fabulous dressing and gravy.  And what would Thanksgiving be without my sweet potato casserole with the praline topping and my much requested chocolate pecan pie.  Can we say, sugar high!

Of course, we’ll have other vittles too…my homemade cranberry sauce plus the store bought with the whole cranberries, roasted brussel sprouts, eggplant casserole, a baked ham and whatever else appears on the table.  Finally, what is Thanksgiving without a good wine to complement the meal?  I’ll go with whatever the liquor store advises.  It seems to change every year.

Best of all, we always have a wonderful assortment of friends and family at the table.  It makes for spirited conversation and a memorable Thanksgiving dinner!

That’s my menu for Thanksgiving.  What’s on your menu?  Let me know!  I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving full of good food, great fellowship and many blessings!