Happy Saturday and Thanks Giving eve to everyone in Canada. Unless you are celebrating and having your thanksgiving feast on Monday then wait until tomorrow night and read this.
I LOVE Thanksgiving. The food, drink and company truly make this one of my favorite times of year. Each year for thanksgiving no matter where I am living or who I am celebrating with it is a lovely day. There is always plenty of food and drink be it potluck style, home cooked, or otherwise thanksgiving brings people together... Even the thought of it brings a huge smile on my face.
This thanksgiving I am fortunate. Tomorrow I will be cooking with a good friend a ThanksGiving dinner for 70 wedding guests, and then on Monday for some people very close to my heart. Today as I prepped the wedding dinner for tomorrow with my friend we started talking about some of our top tips on how to make thanksgiving the BEST meal ever.
1) Have respect for the turkey that you buy. This means don't just pick up any ol' butter ball from the grocery store. Take a few minutes to do a bit of research, see what local farmers are selling turkeys at the market and snatch one up. You WILL taste the difference, see the difference and feel great!
2) Brine your turkey! This introduces flavor and juice, and can reduce the cooking time of your bird. A basic wet brine is 1 Cup Table Salt to 1 gallon water (or until your bird is submerged) I like to add fresh herbs and a sugar to my brine. In the pictures I used a chicken that I brined (turkeys work in the exact same manner, I just wanted to take photos to show you..) I suggest putting your turkey in a bring for between 4-12 hours depending on how much time you have and how big your turkey is. 3) Cook your turkey breast side down. This may sound weird however you will find that the breast take in so much flavor from being constantly basted from all the juices flowing to the bottom of the pan. Then turn the turkey back over 10 minutes before you are going to take it out of the oven so that the top of the bird has time to brown.
4) Do not overcook your brussel sprouts. They will turn bitter. I love sauteing my brussel sprouts in brown butter and sage. Take 1/4 cup butter add a few sprigs of fresh sage and put in a pot on medium heat. Then wait. As the butter melts, and heats you will see the fat solids come to the top of the pot (this will look white) and the clarified butter on the bottom will begin turning brown and you will begin to smell nuttiness. There you have it some sage brown butter to toss your brussel sprouts in. 
5) Have a good assortment of vegetables! But don't feel as though you have to keep them all separate. Try making a fall veggie medley and roast some sweet potatoes, squash, onions, carrots and parsnips together with butter, salt, pepper, and a bit of maple syrup. Then after it's roasted and happy, to finish it toss in a bit of fresh purple cabbage and crumble goat cheese on top 6) HAVE FUN!! Cook with people you care about and for who you care about. This is the best way to ensure a lovely meal, memories for ages, fantastic flavors, and contagious laughter. Ahhh the true indulgence of life.
Eat, drink and enjoy!
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