Of Selfish Academics' Thanksgiving Traditions and Pastry

I know you don't really want to know that much about me (justshowmethelowcalorieicecreamrecipes) but here's some unsolicited storytelling.

During our first two Thanksgivings together, Nate tried to give the expat a true experience of the holiday (on the appropriate date, with his family). Then we gradually made some changes. The most significant of these is that we started cooking our Thanksgiving meal early on purpose and having something completely nontraditional on Thanksgiving proper. The second is that we essentially stay holed up at home and savor the fact that it's just the two of us (perhaps with a choice guest from north of the border who doesn't like turkey anyway). Eating leftovers alllll weeeeek long. That's a lie, we usually run out in 3-4 days.

The rationale: we've been on an academic schedule (as grad students, as post-docs, as profs) our whole life together. The minute "Fall Break" starts you want to pop open the bubbly. Waiting another 6-7 days for the feast you've been waiting for? No way. And then, you realize that "break" is really just time to catch up on all your work, so you are glad you can sustain yourself with minimal shopping, guesswork, or cooking over multiple days as you hunker down and curse your procrastination habits.

This year we stepped up our leftovers game with this beauty on the last and fourth day of leftovers (Tuesday) for the 18-lb turkey. That's right: two people can eat and process a whole turkey in four days when they set their minds to it. I don't think I really pulled my own weight, but I did my best. By the way, thawing the bird in a big cooler outside, using the ANOVA instead of periodically replacing the water bath (because we couldn't pick up a turkey early enough in the week)? Genius.

Conceptual inspiration: Paul Hollywood's Boxing Day Pie

Philosophical inspiration: You Suck at Cooking's Turkey Sandwich of Victory

Whereas my apple pie crust was an architectural failure (who subs pastry flour for all-purpose flour on a whim in a recipe that's been perfect for 7 years?), the hot water crust pastry was amazing. It help up beautifully to all the fillings and the leftovers were quite nice as hand pies filled with leftover cranberry sauce and mincemeat (no pics, sorry).

What's that? You want to look inside?

Closer, you say?

Nate made this nifty diagram, which I am fairly certain was shared with students shortly thereafter.

In all fairness, the bacon was left over from another leftovers permutation (turkey club sandwich). The Turkey Day asparagus was long gone, but we had extra to get us through a few days of miscellaneous leftovers. Also, that stuffing? It's Stovetop. I'd love to tell you that it's because we ran out of some fancy sausage and sage homemade stuffing, but no. Our first homemade Thanksgiving meal featured the box, and we shall for ever have The Box. Apparently I am not the only immigrant to the US to think this is one of the best culinary and cultural contributions to my existence (The Splendid Table, you magical workout fuel you). For the purposes of this pie, I made a batch (in the microwave, naturally!) with less water and butter than called for by the instructions. Soggy bottom insurance policy.

Had creating a more photogenic product been our intent, I would have alternated the layers with color and texture contrasts in mind. However, this was functionally appropriate, with the dense potato and stuffing to absorb any excess moisture, and otherwise fitting from a taste standpoint. At least in my head it made sense.

One thing we'd change for next time is to at least toss the chopped turkey in some gravy to infuse it with additional flavor. The crust, as filled, can handle the extra liquid. I might still serve pie slices with gravy on the side, though. Having run out of turkey before Thanksgiving came around, I then moved to... chicken. Baked falafel-crusted chicken fingers with fat-free renditions of mutabal (roasted eggplant) and muhammara (roasted pepper) dipping sauces, that is. Missing from this picture is the bucket of spicy braised kale and considerably larger servings of dipping sauces actually consumed (because they're a perfectly respectable veggie side dish in their own right). Clearly, this is the "Being Good" part of the post...

In case you're wondering, our actual Thanksgiving meal this year was Montréal-style Hunan dumplings with the classic peanut sauce as requested by our guest, but these were not photographed for posterity. What a shame.

#poultry #savory #splurge