Phew. Marathon shopping, cleaning, cooking, clean up. We had a nine people to celebrate Thanksgiving with. Yes, it is Sunday p.m., and I still have some dishes that require attention.
At the end of the meal, I could barely straighten up. But everyone enjoyed themselves. All of the dishes turned out perfectly. My Black Friday, is sitting on my putookus and doing nothing...because I can't.
I'm a pretty accomplished home cook. On Wednesday a.m . I watched Chef Jean Pierre at 2 a.m. because I needed to make a crust for my Maple Pecan Chocolate Tart (my signature dessert found in Bon Appetite some decades ago). It requires 2 hours of refrigeration because it is a fussy, buttery thing. So of course, I was awake.
I found Chef Jean Pierre--most particularly, I found his video on making gravy.
Most TG gravy that I have either made or consumed has been crap. I watched this video, and I underwent a transformation.
I had made a lovely chicken stock for a side dish and for the gravy. I found this video, and it was transformational. Though he calls for 3 necks, I had but the one. But because I spatchcocked my turkey, I had a back. So I browned my turkey bits while I caramelized my onions (and then added shallots...another interesting lesson). I let that cook and cook. I then added the flour as JP does...and what a light bulb going off. Using a sieve (handheld), that you set slightly in you stock and to which you add flour and whisk, whisk whisk...you incorporate the flour in a way that that there are no lumps.
After adding the flour this way and gauging the thickness, (which I did perfectly with no further thickening agents needed), I let it cook on intermittent heat (gas stove) for several hours.
Never have I had or made better gravy. A f-💣game changer.
I'm pretty critical of the dishes that I make...all turned out perfectly.
And that sounds snobbish, though not meant to be. There are so many who are hungry in the world. If my mashed potatoes needed more salt, or if something needed to be cooked more or less....it is a shameful thing to worry about.
My gratitude for THIS holiday, that I had not more to worry about than such a trivial thing.
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