The Day After
November 28, 2008 by Heather R.
Filed under Recipes
How was your Thanksgiving?
Except for a couple of sickies (including me!) ours went pretty well! We stuck with our Foot Network-inspired menu and while it was fun to try new things we’ll probably stick to our traditional dishes next year.
The brining that we did for the turkey was a hit. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a moist turkey, it was awesome. We found some brining bags at Whole Foods the day before, which was good because my husband was reluctant to use one of his beer making buckets (I don’t blame him!). I made the brine early Wednesday afternoon and got it in the fridge so it’d be cold enough for the turkey, and the whole process was pretty painless. This’ll definitely be part of our yearly prep!
The turkey turned out beautifully but with the hustle and bustle I didn’t get a decent picture of it (this picture was in the background of a shot my husband took, right before we took the turkey out).
The one thing that didn’t turn out was the gravy. I’ve made gravy a lot and never had a problem, but this time it separated and looked awful but tasted fine. I even had Alton’s segment on the DVR and rewatched it a few times and did everything he did, so I’m not sure what happened.
Tyler’s dressing was ok. My husband’s really the only one crazy about Italian sausage but it added a really nice flavor to the bread anyway and while it wasn’t a pain to make there was some juggling getting what should be a simple side dish going. Oddly enough the chestnuts really didn’t add anything to the dish and I’m glad we didn’t spend anymore time trying to find them fresh, roasting them ourselves, etc.
Giada’s potatoes were delicious and we’ll probably make them again in a non-holiday meal. Make sure you don’t add any extra salt to it while making it – the cheeses definitely take care of that for you!
I also made my usual dinner rolls, some steamed veggies, and pumpkin pie. Overall it was a fun day (I love trying new recipes!) and everyone enjoyed the food.
Did you try anything new yesterday? How did it turn out?
