thanksgiving recap
Last year I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time and told my friend Jamie it was going to be “the biggest cooking event of my life so far” (she snickered appropriately in response). It turned out fine and was pretty low-stress. No disasters, no drama, and the food was decent.
This year I stuck to the same procedure of doing as much as possible ahead of time, a little bit each day over 4 days or so. Thanksgiving seems to be the only time I am calmly ahead of schedule, which is remarkable and makes those close to me wonder how they can get me to treat all events like a big holiday dinner. Ingredient motifs this year were pork, apples, maple syrup, and pecans, which was nice because it kept the shopping list manageable.
Bacon-Wrapped Maple Pork Loin (recipe)
I was kind of traumatized by last year’s turkey leftovers (the meat and stock I made with the bones had this oily oniony flavor that I just couldn’t stomach for some reason… and I like onions a lot so that was weird) and confirmed that my in-laws are cool with alternative holiday meats, so I took the liberty of choosing pork rolled in pork. It smells as wonderful as you’d imagine, and tastes just as good.
Cranberry, Apple, and Pecan Conserve (adapted from this recipe)
I think cranberry sauce is one of the easiest things to make instead of buy, especially if you really like the stuff and want to have lots of leftovers. I really wanted to work in apples to go with the pork.
Herbed Cornbread Stuffing with Andouille Sausage (adapted from this recipe)
This was a loose, kinda dry stuffing that would’ve worked well with really drippy saucy things. I reheated the leftovers with extra jus from the pork recipe.
Maple-Glazed Sweet Potatoes (recipe)
Hard to go wrong with glazed sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving, even without marshmallows on top (which have never been my thing anyway).
Green Vegetables
As usual, there were Brussels sprouts, this time with carrots, honey, and thyme. There was also a salad with baby arugula, apples, celery, candied pecans, and a mustard vinaigrette.
Around 8:30pm, I blurted out that I felt ready to throw up, something all polite hosts should tell their guests. But I pushed forward.
For dessert we had homemade apple cider ice cream, aided by tips from my friend and ice cream entrepreneur Diana. Also, spiced pumpkin ice cream. And John made gingersnaps (which, several days into their staleness, are having a really good second life crushed up and mixed into either ice cream). And then I went overboard and baked some oatmeal cookies with raisins, cranberries, and walnuts. I know that at least half of my guests skipped breakfast the next day, which I will take as a compliment.
