 |
|
|
|||
|
|
7 Takes on Turkey
By Jeanne McManus
One year a daring cook, yearning to break free from a family entrenched in Thanksgiving tradition, took a pair of scissors, snipped a few leaves of tarragon and folded them into the turkey stuffing. Tarragon, not sage. The scissors proved to be a weapon of destruction. The uproar at the dinner table was finally quelled when she opened another bottle of Pinot Blanc and promised never to change the family recipe again. (The cook wishes to remain anonymous.) Another year, another feast in another part of the country, another cook deliberately and with malice aforethought omitted creamed pearl onions from the excessively lengthy Thanksgiving menu that had been laid down for generations by her husband's family. Aunt Marge blew the whistle on her; perhaps Marge's will was rewritten later that night. Pearl onions are back on the buffet next week. The First Commandment of Thanksgiving: Family recipes for stuffing and side dishes are never to be altered or omitted whether by intention or accident. But who says you can't tinker with the turkey? There it sits, a great hulking bird, cosseted, maybe stuffed, basted, tended to, sliced and presented--and yet somewhat overlooked. Can't it be more interesting? Maybe you'd like to just continue to bow to the Thanksgiving ritualists. Or maybe you'd like to foment revolution. Will your guests push aside those creamed onions when they pull up to the table and see a bird with a Sichuan glaze, or a pink smoked interior, or a golden brown fried crust or (gasp!) grill marks? Aunt Marge: You talking to me? The Recipes
• Deep Fried Turkey |
|
