The forth Thursday in November is Culinary Nirvana. Chefs spend months thinking about this one day, and how to make it perfectly sublime. We want to Wow! everyone, and make them say "This is the Best meal I have ever had." Sure, not so easy for the Chef, but everyone delights with the creation of the Perfect Thanksgiving Meal...
Well, you gotta haz The Big Bird. Not really the biggest, just big. Turkeys are ambiguous, overbreeded specifically for Thanksgiving. Turkeys probably outnumber humans. I know Chickens do. That is because they are delicious. Om nom nom nom... So there are some very specific, and deliberate things you have to do to "The Big Bird" to make it Thanksgiving savvy. Brine, uh... Salt Water... Very Important! Smoke... Even more Important... Culinary skills are perhaps the apex of importance. To take a raw Turkey to "The Best Thing I have ever ate" takes skills, and not easily acquired skills. I have around three and a half decades invested in what I do...
One of the accolades I enjoy is Gravy. The Turkey concurs... You must make Gravy... My process includes the acquisition of Turkey Fat. It is a quintessential element of Thanksgiving Gravy... Thanksgiving cannot proceed with out it... Traditionally there is Giblet Gravy. Well, over time I think I like Mushroom Gravy better. So this year it is Mushroom Gravy. It still has the Turkey Dripping from baking the Turkey at a low temperature before we smoke it. This year I baked the Turkey at 350F for around an hour, then reduced the temperature to 225F overnight, around 6 hours. This let the Turkey come up to temperature over a long period of time, rendering the fats necessary to make Gravy. Then in the morning I built a Cherry Wood Fire, and smoked the Turkey for around an hour.
Then there is the Stuffing, er, uh, Dressing, also a Thanksgiving Ubiquity... You Must Have Stuffing (Dressing)! It is a unwritten rule... It just haz to be there... If you at the Fanny Farmer Cookbook, specifically at Cornbread Stuffing, there is a 50/50 mix of Bread, and Cornbread. OK, yea, I live in Texas, and we know Cornbread Stuffing... Mix up a batch of Jiffy Cornbread (Denton, Texas), and bake it off. Let it sit for a day, and then dice it up. Get some nice rustic sourdough, and dice it up. Saute some Celery, Onions, and Mushrooms in Butter, then throw in the Breads, some Herbs (Weed), and some Chicken Stock. Load them into a Pan, and bake it off at 350F for 20 minutes. The combination of the Cherry Smoked Turkey, Cornbread Stuffing, and Mushroom Gravy is almost perfect.
The last, perhaps most important thing, is the Cranberries. The perfect Thanksgiving has to have this Sweet Tart addition. This is a contrastural addition to the Thanksgiving Dinner. Everything that we have made before this has been Savory. We need this Sweet Tart contrast to smack your palette to the other end of the spectrum every once in a while. This resets your palette, and when you go back to savory it is really delicious again. It is Umami, but in a Uniquely American Way... Trust The Plan... Patriots are in control... and... Bon Apetit ala Americana...
