Making a Meal

Goliath, 22 lbs. of moist, flavorful 2011 deliciousness

 

     Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. We have so much to be thankful for, and even though I try to acknowledge that every day, it is really nice to celebrate our blessings on a larger scale with food and family. I think my love of Thanksgiving is also intrinsically tied to the food of the season and its preparation. I used to love to wake up on Thanksgiving morning with the smell of celery and onions sauteing in butter while my mom readied the turkey for the oven. Warm is the memory of watching my mom and grandmother work in the kitchen, and how secretly pleased (as a sulky teenager) I was the year I first worked side-by-side with my mom when she deemed that it was time I learned to make the Thanksgiving meal.

     I remember running back and forth with messages and ingredients between my mom and aunt in the upstairs and downstairs kitchens, sometimes realizing the pertinence of the saying "Don't shoot the messenger." When a kitchen got a little too hot, or a cook a little too harried, someone was sure to shout "will someone open the wine?!" - a family joke so old that the original incident is lost in the annals of our history. There are Thanksgiving memories that make me laugh like the first year I was hostess and my mom and I had to perform an almost obstetrical procedure to remove the giblet bag from an already roasting turkey. Or the time my Uncle Colin and I tried to convince my brother to play a practical joke with the turkey, but he was too wary of the potential consequences from my mom to comply. There are also the memories that bring a twinge of poignancy, like watching my grandmother stand at the sink washing cranberries for her family-famous cranberry salad the night before her last Thanksgiving with us. 

     A few of my Thanksgivings have not been at home. The first was during my sophmore semester abroad in Austria when we introduced the holiday to our Austrian hosts and one of my fellow students helped the house chef make a spectacular meal. Then, several years later I watched my mom commandeer that same professional kitchen instructing her students in the finer arts of potato peeling, pumpkin scooping and dough rolling. She pulled off a Thanksgiving meal for almost fifty Americans and Austrians with the same ease that she had made our dinner at home. And then there was my first married Thanksgiving, a potluck in Okinawa with a fun crowd of new friends. We had toddlers tied to chairs (as highchairs were scarce in Japan and almost every mama carried a strap for that purpose) and our friend Alan tried to convince me to toss a bowl of dressing "out in the alley for the dogs" so that I could take home some of their mashed potato leftovers. 

     This year, we will be having a quiet meal at home followed by phone calls and video chats with our family in the States. As a tribute to my love of the holiday and its food, I'm still going all out with the meal. I've spent the past few days delightfully poring over my old copies of Thanksgiving magazines and flipping through some family recipes to plan the menu. As I write, there is a pie in the oven and I have a colorful apron tied neatly around my waist. I might have to call my mom later for some instruction on the cranberry salad, but I will definitely remember to remove the giblets before I put our little bird in the oven tomorrow morning. I hope wherever you are, and however you are celebrating that you have a happy and wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Langford's Thanksgiving Menu

Roasted Dry-Brined Turkey

Herbed Dressing

Whipped Potatoes with Giblet Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Cranberry Salad

Sweet Rolls

Maple Pumpkin Pie

Nutella Swirled Pumpkin Pie