It could be your aunt’s tongue pickles, a prayer before everyone sits down, or a bowl of fresh nuts for the kids to crack open. Maybe it’s going out to eat or volunteering at a community dinner? Nothing wrong with that! My specialty has become addressing a monstrous farm-grown turkey, pasture-raised next to the house and finished on apples from a local orchard. I’ve roasted it, deep-fried it, brined it, stuffed it, and for the past two years I have been smoking it.
It’s 4:00 in the morning, and I’ve been up since 3:00 a.m. to get the cook fire going. I’m not the only one up early because of the extraordinary size of their bird, but I’m one of the few using natural wood charcoal as fuel, and I have to let the acrid white smoke burn off until it runs clear out the little chimney before I can start.
The turkey is a Broad-breasted Bronze Tom that weighs 40 ½ pounds. My husband Dan removed the legs and wings, and trimmed the back from the remaining breast section so the bird would fit in the smoker in two successive turns. It took 5 ½ hours for the 23-pound breast to finish; I put the legs and wings on at 10:00 a.m., just before the early guests started to arrive.
Smoking meat is an art, so the bird can run late sometimes – but I never worry if my guests are enjoying themselves while the food cooks. I expect that the pleasure of good company and good spirits will abound because in the end, the food is always worth the wait.
Nearly everyone on both sides of our family brought a dish or three. We served up mash and gravy, sweet tater casserole, squash casserole, turnip casserole, green bean casserole, pickled beets, broccoli salad, venison stew (which my brother-in-law Denis made), Mom’s stuffing, my mother-in-law’s stuffing, cranberries, spanakopita, deviled eggs, two kinds of rolls, a smattering of appetizers and 50-odd pounds of assorted desserts. I’ve probably left something off the list because there was a shortage of seating space in the adult section where the buffet was displayed, and I sat with the other ‘last-in-liners’ in the kiddie room at the far end of the house. By the time I went for seconds, the desserts were already laid out.
My favorite Thanksgiving dish is one of my mother’s specialties. It’s a stand-alone stuffing made from finely mashed potatoes and McKenzie breakfast sausage. It could only be made more perfect if it had a layer of crispy bacon and cheddar cheese on top. (I’ve given away too many of the family secrets, already).
Thanksgiving in America is all about food and family – and ultimately for we hostesses and cooks – for inspiring the next generation to keep doing that thing that we do.
