Thanksgiving brings out dinner party anxiety in the best of us, but it's really just a heightened version of the more common dinner parties we all throw throughout the year. So how does one plan a Thanksgiving meal — or any other big meal for lots of people? Here are a few thoughts on planning a well-balanced meal and staying (relatively!) unstressed while preparing it.
Cooking for a Crowd: How To Cook a Stress-Free Feast
Honey Butter: Perfect with Popovers (And A Lot More!)
Our craving for popovers last week brought back another craving: honey butter. As kids, this was the must-have accompaniment to popovers in our house. It's so simple to make and yet so completely addictive that it's a wonder we didn't beg for it on everything!
Chocolate-Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Ganache
Delicious links for 11.19.09
Here's one more cake to add to your lineup of Thanksgiving hopefuls!
Top Chef Las Vegas: The Mini Bocuse d'Or
This week's episode highlighted the Bocuse d'Or, a culinary competition filled with screaming fans, giant shiny platters and impossibly complex dishes. After getting a glimpse of it, putting together a Thanksgiving meal seems like a breeze.
Note: We reveal the winner and losers below.
What Should I Do With These Garlic Greens?
Good Questions
Q:At the market this weekend, I bought what I was told to be garlic greens (see pictures). I had to have them, they are beautiful!
Are they garlic greens? I've never cooked with these before, any suggestions? Is the bud at the tip edible?
Sent by Mila
Look! Metal Mixing Bowl As Dining Accessory
I came downstairs the other night after an extra-long day of work to find that my husband had not only very kindly provided dinner, but had appropriated one of my mixing bowls for a higher purpose. Can you see what it is?
Rethinking Tradition: Making Thanksgiving Your Own
The moment inevitably arrives when the torch gets passed and hosting the Thanksgiving feast shifts from being someone else's honor (and possible burden!) to become our own. When this moment comes, the question is "Which traditions do you keep and which new ones can you wiggle in?!"
All About Cidre de Glace (Ice Cider)
Good Eats! A Weekly Roundup from Serious Eats
Every week we bring you our favorite cooking and eating from our friends at Serious Eats. This week we were fascinated by this ice cider, the eiswein-esque version of hard cider (which is a popular topic here lately). This plus chocolate peanut butter mousse pie, a ham daiquiri, and how to spatchcock a turkey.
Cranberry Holiday Decor
By late next week, most of us will probably be eating cranberries in some form or another. But what about using the pretty red berries in holiday decor?
Kitchen Tour: Rachel's Busy Single Girl's Kitchen
When I first asked Rachel Cole about her kitchen, her whole face lit up. "I love my kitchen!" she said with a big smile. Rachel has one of the best jobs in San Francisco for anyone interested in food: she's the Program Director for 18 Reasons, a new style of community center created by Bi-Rite Market where people connect around good food and art. She spends her days dreaming up amazing food-related events and classes like Butterfest 2009 and Peanut Butter & the Pen, a food writing workshop for kids.
Thanksgiving Dinner 2009: What Are Your Plans?
We've been talking a lot about Thanksgiving, but now it's your turn to talk. What are your plans for Thanksgiving dinner this year? Are you hosting? Visiting? Cooking? Taking a break? If you're cooking, are you going all-traditional, or mixing it up? And is there anything you're looking for right now to round out your plans: Turkey help? Side dish recipes? A great pie? Table setting ideas?
Recipe Template: Easy and Delicious Stuffed Squash
With so many beautiful and unusual squashes available right now, we can't seem to come home from the market without at least one new variety to try! Happily, stuffed squash is one dish that will work for just about any squash we happen to pick up. We don't really need a recipe - just a few basic steps and dinner almost makes itself!
Non-Alcoholic (Yet Special!) Sips for the Holidays
Thanksgiving and the holiday season call for special sips at parties and dinners. But not everyone drinks alcohol, and it's a little sad to think of drinking water or apple juice with your turkey. Never fear, though — there is a growing space of sophisticated, grown-up, yet alcohol-free drinks that are just as good (really!) as bubbly. Here are our favorites.
Fair Food: The Farmworkers, The Growers, The Advocates
With Thanksgiving around the corner, we have been contemplating gratitude not just for the good food in our lives, but also for the farmworkers whose unseen hard labor brings this nourishment to our tables. We just watched a new online documentary on this subject, called Fair Food: Field to Table, and highly recommend it.
Quick Upgrade: Put Chopped Apples in Store-Bought Cider
We picked up this tip from one of the vendors at the Union Square Greenmarket. We bought a cup of hot cider a few weeks ago and noticed floating slices of apple in our cup. If you already add cloves and cinnamon sticks to jazz up store-bought cider, we highly recommend doing this, too. The soft, sweet chunks of apple are so yummy to slurp up.
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