Norman Rockwell captured the feast part but it's the pre-feast that I love so much. The collective food prep in the kitchen where everyone has a task, no matter what their culinary skills are. Whoever shows up gets to participate in some kind of kitchen work, like mashing the potatoes, carving the turkey, or making the baked corn, all while drinking copious amounts of wine. Even that special person in everyone's family, unable to boil water, gets to participate by stirring the gravy or guarding the turkey after it comes out of the oven.
It's not just making diner. It's creating a feast. A holiday this big requires an equally big centerpiece like a fresh, out of the oven turkey. Yeah, baby! Toss in some candied yams, sweet potato pie, baked corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, cranberry sauce, and some pumpkin pie and you got yourself way more than you expected plus a weeks worth of leftovers after the guests take home what they want.
About this turkey... For the last twenty hours it's been soaking in an onion brine with garlic, ginger, brown sugar, sea salt, pineapple, and three quarters of a bottle of dry vermouth. I'll bast it in beer and finish it off with a butter glaze. I suspect this bird will be my best creation, but I say that every year and 2018 is no exception.
Considering it's 19 degrees outside, keeping the oven going for five hours only doubles the pleasure.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs, Thanksgiving is truly a socialist holiday I can get behind.
Was that Karl or Zeppo Marks? Which one had the horn?
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