ye post-mortem

Everything appeared on the table a) roughly on-time, b) in the expected form, and c) without losing my shit in any way, shape, form or fashion. Win! This in spite of the oven catching fire at one point (the foil roasting pan I'd got for the 2nd turkey had, it developed, a hole in the bottom, whence escaped some liquid fat. Hilarity ensued). I would also like to seize the opportunity to commend sous-chefs elibalin and jdev, who did lots and lots of chopping and similar tedious, time-consuming chores to help the trains run on time.

I did not stuff either turkey. The one in my normal pan took 2 hours; the other 2:15. (I put them into a 500 deg. oven and turned it down to 350 after ten min.) This brining thing seems to be A Great Goodness, indeed; the turkeys were amazingly juicy and nice. I refrained from salting the skin because blah blah brine blah; but it wasn't actually that salty at all. Oh, and after all my woe and agitas? We didn't even finish the first turkey. Sheesh. Well, LOTS AND LOTS of turkey leftovers makes me happy.

Did the stuffing separately. I still like it better if it's been soaking up turkey yum for hours; I had put some broth in to moisten, but it isn't the same. The TJ's "texas toast" makes a good bread base. Also needed more salt.

I'm happy that gravy is now a familiar and unstressful process for me, at least if I have enough of the correct fat and correct liquids. I'm also relieved that 2c was enough, which I had not thought it would be.

Cranberry sauce: the best I've done yet. Even if I forgot to put it on the table til halfway through the meal.

The mashed potatoes were performed by jdev and were exactly how I like 'em. Much leftovers, which I shall use for Nigella's fishcake recipe today or tomorrow, or possibly make potato pancakes.

Steve ate his ceremonial quarter of the mashed turnip rutabaga and the rest was junked.

The green beans were not a big hit. For full disclosure, they are lightly boiled then tossed with roasted shallots and a dressing consisting of olive oil, vinegar, anchovy, and a fuckoff lot of roasted garlic. I could sense from my result what a wondrous thing it would be in the hands of the actual restaurant, but I didn't really Achieve It. Probably didn't help that I had to do a bunch of the work far earlier than was desirable.

The roasted cauliflower salad supposedly served 8. Yes, maybe if that's all they're eating this week... LOTS of leftovers. It is from a recipe they serve at Steve's work cafeteria, and he was somewhat surprised to see actual salad greens in it. (!) Apparently the samples they give out is just the roast cauliflower tossed with the dressing, some pine nuts, and a wee bit of radicchio. Done according to the actual recipe, the cauliflower & nuts are more of an accent than a focus, and I think I would scale back the greenery in future. (Even if it's good for us.)

Pumpkin pie: old familiar hat, this, but a particularly good one even so.
Dense chocolate cake: also just right.

During movie time was cheese & salami brought by elibalin, and I pushed the apple crisp back to then as well. (Did not make the bar nuts. May do today or tomorrow.) Apple crisp: even older familiar hat, and astoundingly simple to make, so I am not even giving myself a back-pat for it. (In my family this is called "apple pudding", I don't know why; it is like neither American pudding nor British pudding.)

During late-night PS2 time was TJ's dark chocolate pistachio toffee. My complexion will be utterly doomed next week. But oh my Christ is that stuff good.