Thankful for Leftovers

Liz and the turkey arrived on Wednesday morning as scheduled along with 3 pounds of fresh cranberries. We're talking the real deal cranberries from Cape Cod. She had ice packs in the bottom and the turkey was double-bagged. Continental Airlines had information on their website pertaining to transporting poultry. Who knew? So it was no big deal - the ticket counter person asked what was in the cooler, she said 'a turkey' and that was that. Off it went on the conveyor.

The brining went well. We used a recipe that required 2 cups of Kosher salt and 1 cup of brown sugar per gallon of water. It took a little over 3 gallons to cover the turkey so we are talking lots of salt and sugar. Then there was the question of what container to use. A 5 gal. plastic bucket would be too narrow, not letting the brine move freely around the entire turkey. Do we take the shelves out of the downstairs refrigerator to contain the bucket? Alas, the same cooler that Liz brought the turkey in would work best. Since it was very cold outside, we put the cooler on the screened porch with the lid open. Next issue - the turkey floated to the top of the brine. To keep it submerged we put 2 large pieces of firewood on top of the folded plastic bags and said goodnight to the bird.

                                             Liz made two cranberry sauces.

In the morning I made the traditional bread stuffing to go inside the turkey and my favorite artichoke, sausage and parmesan cheese stuffing using sourdough bread from Anne's bakery as a side dish.

 

Anne made our first course of French Onion Soup - not too heavy -  topped with Blackbird French baguette toasts and grated Gruyere.

 There was sweet potato gratin and roasted brussels sprouts with red onions, mashed potatoes, green beans with onions, mushroom and giblet gravies, cranberry sauces and sweet bread.

 

And then......dessert. Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Pies.  Anne's friend, Julia, brought amazing Hungarian pastries filled with apricot, nut and prune fillings, but we ate them all before I thought of taking a picture.

I must say that, as the cook, I enjoyed Friday's leftovers much more. Not that there was anything wrong with Thanksgiving - I loved it - but Friday was quiet and I savored every bite.