A Bountiful Feast (part two)

The Friday after Thanksgiving was significantly more laid back. A little more than 1/10 the people were in attendance and there was a discernible beginning and end to the meal, as opposed to the hungry pillaging of Thursday. Only one turkey this time but it elicited quite the positive buzz. My boyfriend was able to sit down with us on Friday (Thursday was a hectic bustling between both our houses that ended in separate meals but plenty of relative interactions) and claims he has never had such a juicy turkey - quite the bold proclamation considering his mother was responsible for their thanksgiving turkey. The turkey was grilled on a charcoal grill and had a similar taste to the smoked turkey (in fact, the most common reaction was to the smokeyness) but was by far the most moist and tender of all four turkeys this year. We served it with the (inevitable) leftover mash potatoes and my mother's intensely handmade gravy. Turkey neck, giblets, hearts, and wings were roasted in a pan filled with chopped onions and apples sprinkled with rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage. After the pan had accumulated the coveted "brown bits" at the bottom, it was basted with hard apple cider. Meanwhile, apple cider and chicken broth reduced in another pan. The apples, onions, and basted turkey bits were added to the cider and chicken broth along with cream and more seasoning for a worth-the-labor apple turkey onion gravy. She has made it every year and people are newly impressed each time.

Dessert was the leftovers from Thursday. Knowing I would have to write this blog I admitted for the first time this year to my family, and I will do so publicly here, that I, Hannah Keyser, do not like pie. I realize this makes me unAmerican or even insane but it's true. Why separate the sweetness from the comforting carbs into two separate elements? I recognize that this makes me uniquely unqualified to comment of Thanksgiving dessert but I suffered through a few bites of pecan pie and I can tell you that if I liked pie, I would have loved this pie. I even when back for a second bite. But Thursday I indulged in dessert worth indulging in: chocolate cake. The same culinarily ambitious aunt responsible for the fried turkey has recently pursued a cake decorating hobby that results in multilayer confections that are almost too sweet to eat. This particular one was a chocolate cake base, a chocolate mousse, a while chocolate mouse and chocolate ganache on the top and outside. It was not Thanksgiving at all and I loved it.