Are you cooking for Thanksgiving? How to change your holiday meal from A to Z
Whether it’s your first time cooking Thanksgiving or your 40th, we all could use a few fresh ideas to make the feast a success.
In 2014, Evan Benn, then food editor of the Miami Herald, compiled an alphabetical rundown of the essentials to know.
We’re bringing it to you again from the Miami Herald archives. Here’s the list from A to Z:
Aperitif: Have a signature cocktail ready to welcome your guests. Keep in the spirit of the holiday by using fresh cranberries to garnish a big bowl of punch.
Brining: The experts favor dry brines over wet brines for flavorful, moist turkey meat and brown, crispy skin. Essentially, you salt the bird in your fridge two days before cooking. Keep reading for a step-by-step recipe.
Cauliflower: You can make the versatile vegetable dozens of ways (like this no-carb mash). Your oven will be busy enough, so use the stovetop for this quick side of garlicky braised cauliflower with capers, from the Los Angeles Times: Warm several anchovies in olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes. Add cauliflower florets and a little water. Cover tightly and cook on medium-low until the florets are slightly tender. Remove the lid, raise the heat to high and cook until the water evaporates. Add capers and parsley, and warm through.
Dips: Don’t focus all your energy on the meal’s main attraction at the expense of appetizers. Artichoke, spinach, hummus — they’re low-fuss, high-reward noshes.
Espresso: Strong-brewed coffee serves double duty on this holiday. Yes, it’s a good night cap to send your visitors home alert and sober. But it also amps up the flavor of chocolate desserts: Try a shot in place of water or other liquid in your favorite recipe for chocolate cake or cookies.
Fennel: For a salad, nothing beats the crunch and cool refreshment of fennel. Slice a bulb as thin as you can, arrange it on a platter, then top it with grapefruit segments and cubed avocado. Dress it with a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, honey, minced shallot and a pinch of salt.
Gravy: Do yourself a favor and make it ahead of time, using turkey legs and thighs from a bird other than the one you’ll be serving on the big day. Gravy keeps well in the freezer, and making it early will bring your Thanksgiving Day stress level down a notch.
Ham: The other white meat cannot and should not be ignored. Miami Smokers is selling 10- to 20-pound candied hams from its new shop in Little Havana (306 NW 27th Ave.). Order by Friday for pickup next week: 786-520-5420.
Ice cream: You can go fancy with pints of Ben & Jerry’s Pumpkin Cheesecake or other fun flavors. But, really, just get vanilla. Everyone wants vanilla on their pie.
Jam: As in music. A mellow but uptempo playlist is key to any good dinner party, Thanksgiving included.
Knife: You don’t need an expensive Japanese blade or even the biggest knife in your kitchen to properly carve a turkey. Just make sure whatever you use is sharp and well-honed to ensure clean, even cuts.
Leftovers: Save everything you like. Next Thursday, we’ll show you how to use it.
Meat thermometer: Even veteran chefs can’t eyeball the doneness of a turkey. Invest in a meat thermometer and take out the guesswork.
Nutmeg: A key ingredient in many spiced desserts, including apple pie and gingerbread, as well as savory dishes like sautéed spinach and béchamel sauce. Buy whole nutmeg and grind or grate it yourself as needed.
Organic: As with so much else in supermarkets these days, turkey may be labeled as “natural” or “heritage” or “free-range” or “organic” and other buzzwords. If you are willing to pony up the extra money for a hormone-free, humanely raised bird, ignore the ones marked “natural” (a marketing term, really) and pick one that is USDA-certified organic; the real deal.
Pie: Make it pumpkin. And spike it with bourbon. And bacon. See the recipe that follows.
Quince: A cousin of pear, quince is especially tasty when cooked down to a red-hued paste. Find it in your local supermarket, and serve it as part of a cheese platter with manchego, chevre, gouda and crackers.
Roasted Potatoes: With rosemary and garlic. Cut in half 2 pounds new red potatoes. Toss potatoes in a bowl with 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary, 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 2 teaspoons black pepper and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Arrange on a baking sheet and roast in 375 degree oven about 45-55 minutes, turning occasionally with a spatula, until deep golden-brown.
Spatchcock: A funny term for a brilliant cooking method. To spatchcock a turkey, remove its backbone with kitchen shears (or ask a butcher to do it for you), flip it over and press it flat on a cutting board before seasoning and roasting. This reduces cooking time and helps promote even cooking, so your bird’s breasts won’t dry out waiting for the dark meat to cook.
Tomatoes: Kidding! T is for Turkey, of course. How big of a bird to buy? Figure on 1 1/2 pounds per guest; you’ll have leftovers.
Umami: Known as the fifth flavor that humans can taste (along with salty, sweet, sour and bitter), umami is essentially a savory, pleasant flavor found in some of our favorite foods: parmesan, mushrooms, beef broth, tomatoes, soy sauce. If you can sneak any of these into your recipes, your end result will be packed with umami.
Vinturi: You know how wine snobs like to decant their bottles for hours before imbibing, and then talk about how letting it “breathe” opens up the flavors? Well, they’re kinda right. But you can simplify and expedite the process with Vinturi, a line of products that aerates wine as you pour. It pretty much can make a $10 bottle taste like a $20 bottle. vinturi.com.
Walnut: Add walnuts to your stuffing or salads or sides (they’re great with green bean casserole) for an extra crunch and flavor that’s very of-the-season.
Xérès: Admittedly, X is a tough one. But Xérès, or Spanish sherry, the fortified wine commonly sipped after dinner, is a winner. Pick up a bottle of Osborne Pedro Ximenez ($25), and impress your guests with its notes of raisin, toffee and chocolate.
Yams: Cook them however you like, and top them with all the brown sugar and marshmallow you want, then impress your family with this fun fact: Real yams — starchier, drier than and unrelated to sweet potatoes — are mostly grown in Africa and the Caribbean. What you find in U.S. grocery stores and farmers markets labeled as yams are really a variety of sweet potatoes.
Zest: You’ll be amazed at how much the finely grated outer peel of lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit can brighten a dish’s aroma and flavor. Add zest as a final garnish to the fennel salad, potatoes, cauliflower or pretty much any savory dish on your Thanksgiving table.
