I think it actually worked!

This Thanksgiving, we celebrated the life of my late, lamented uncle. Now, he was an odd man - after his death, 5 (FIVE) guillotines were found in his house. One (which I particularly remember) was dedicated to chopping the heads off asparagus; particularly effective over dinners when - as kids - we visited him. The gravlax went over well - of course, these are my relatives, but two of them lived in Norway for several years, so I'm feeling confident. :) The salmon was firm, deep red, and quite tasty when served with capers, onions, some lemon and dill.

And the turkey (all 18 lbs) was quite delicious - the consensus was that it was better than last year (wow!). I think that might have had something to do with the fact that this year it wasn't a Butterball, but rather a "natural" turkey that didn't have hormones/ antibiotics injected like the usual Butterball behemoth. While it wasn't a heritage turkey, the dark meat sure did taste good, and it was done in 3 hours flat. Yum yum YUM! The only thing I missed was a decent pecan pie - I'm definitely making one next year.

Tomorrow we'll eat leftovers and joke amongst ourselves about the previous night's stories. In the meantime, happy Thanksgiving one and all!

Thanksgiving

Made the "Judy Bird" this afternoon: a dry-brined recipe from Judy Rogers of the Zuni Cafe in SF. I shouldn't say I made the bird, just started the process of brining and will cook it on Thursday (all 18 pounds). It came out beautifully last year so I'm looking forward to my second time around.

And I tried something new today - I prepared gravlax. I've always wanted to make things like cured meats, and gravlax is basically cured salmon. I rubbed equal amounts of sugar and salt into some nice salmon fillets, covered them in dill, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and put them in the fridge where they'll sit quietly for the next 3 days, upon which they'll turn into something resembling smoked salmon without the smoking. A classic Scandinavian or North Baltic dish, which I'll be serving prior to my family's Thanksgiving feast in Florida. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Americans, wherever you are!