Okay, okay…

So it’s been a month. Feh.

Allow me to take time this lovely morning to cover our Thanksgiving for two. That’s right — just me and Stephen and a lot of food. We have a few traditions. One — I love turkey, so we definitely have to have our Thanksgiving Day turkey. Period. No exceptions. We also take the holiday as an opportunity to make the involved but amazingly delicious wild mushroom and sausage stuffing that takes over the kitchen but is oh so good. Wow, my grammar is not-so-good today. Ah, well. Let’s start with the turkey.

First, we brined the turkey overnight. When it came out of the salt-water bath the next day, it was beautiful and milky-white. Then we stuffed the bird with carrots, celery, onion, and some Meyer lemons from the garden (even the secret compartment!) and closed up with a simple truss. We’re getting better at those, but making a truss is still a two-person job for us. We rubbed the skin with butter and the turkey went into the V-rack breast side down. Yup, that’s right. Thank you, Cook’s Illustrated, we love you.

45 minutes later, we flipped it onto its side:

15 minutes later, onto the other side:

And 15 minutes after that, back onto its back:

Sure, it’s a lot of work, but the results are definitely worth it:

We’ve actually gotten pretty good at timing the whole thing, even accounting for the stuffing-creation process. We use 3 pounds of mushrooms and a pound of sausage. Some herbs, chicken broth, some onions, and a packet of stuffing and it’s good to go. The problem is all that mushroom prep. This is only half a pound of oyster and (for decadence) Matsutake mushrooms:

And then there’s the Enoki:

Not pictured are the portobello, cremini, and shiitakes that also gave their all for the delight that is stuffing. It takes a long time to saute that many mushrooms.

The electric skillet is a great help, as is the handy-dandy casserole that we use to mix it all up. When it’s ready to be put into a baking pan, this is what you get:

But this is also when it’s most vulnerable to attacks by stuffing thieves!

45 minutes in the oven until that’s GBD (a la Alton Brown). Now, what’s left. Oh, of course. Pie.

It isn’t very attractive, but it IS tasty. Still. As leftovers.

This morning, the house is scented with the delicious aroma of turkey stock simmering away on the stove. The soup after Thanksgiving is one of the best parts. Well, and the stuffing.