The Meal That Keeps on Giving
Written By Catherine Newman
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Everyone's family has its own preferences and must-haves when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, but this is what we start with in my house:
- Our turkey is heavily rubbed all over and under its skin with kosher salt, then sits in the fridge for a few hours. Into its cavity and scattered around the pan: 1 wedged onion, 1 sliced carrot, 1 sliced celery stalk, celery leaves, thyme, and parsley. Smear all over with butter, then roast at 450 degrees for an hour. Then pour in a cup of water and finish at 375 degrees until done.
- Mashed potatoes are 5 pounds of Yukon golds, peeled and boiled for around 30 minutes in salted water until tender. Mash through a food mill before lubing up with a stick of butter melted in a cup of gently warmed buttermilk. Plenty of salt.
- Sweet potatoes are 5 pounds of large jewel yams, pricked all over and baked at 350 degrees for nearly 2 hours until they collapse. Then they're scraped out of their skins and mashed with an electric mixer and half a stick of butter.
- Gravy is 4 tablespoons of fat from turkey drippings, whisked with 1/4 cup of flour in a small pot. When it's bubbling and thick, I whisk in 4 cups of hot, defatted juice from the pan (I add a bit of canned stock to make the full quart).
- Cranberry is canned, whole-berry sauce, of course.
- Green beans are boiled until tender, then buttered.
- Our salt is always kosher, our butter always lightly salted.
Next page: Don't Toss Those Bones — Make Soup!
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