While rattling around, looking for old recipes, I ran across this one that caught my eye.

Every Thanksgiving should have at least one totally experimental side dish, as this, for me, was this year’s trial.

This is a particularly old recipe, having been published during George Washington’s presidency.

As such, the recipes of that time often were suggestions, with the cook usually substituting what was called for with what they had on hand, a practice that, unfortunately still holds true to this day for most home cooks.

Also, this is from a time where published recipes often omitted ingredients, especially herbs and spices were often omitted so that they could be served by chefs in a restaurant better than a recreation at home.

In this particular case, I feel like cinnamon and cloves were left out, possibly a bit of ginger and/or grains of paradise as well as I believe this was a slightly savory apple pie recipe, but I could be wrong.

And after making it this Thanksgiving it will definitely be making a future appearance on a holiday table.

I did make some adjustments for what I thought would be an authentic version of this recipe, such as replacing the few bread crumbs with larger bread cubes because it reads more like a Bread Pudding than a mashed sweet potato dish, and after all, it’s CALLED Pudding.

It came out tasting like a slightly sweetened version of a stuffing recipe, with the same texture.

Anyway, the following is the recipe as best as I can translate it from old American writing to today’s internet friendly version with additions and translations provided following the recipe.

One other note, this recipe tastes really familiar, as if you “know” you’ve tasted it before but just can’t put your finger on where.

By Amelia Simmons

1796

A Croockneck, or Winter Squash Pudding

Core, boil and skin a good squash and bruise it well; take 6 Large apples, pared, cored, and stewed tender, mix together; add 6 or 7 spoonfulls of dry bread or bicuit, rendered fine meal, half pint milk or cream, a spoons worth of rose-water, a do. Wine, 5 or 6 eggs beaten and strained, nutmeg, salt and sugar to your taste, one spoon flour, beat all smartly together, bake.

The above is a good recipe for Pomkins, Potatoes, or Yams, adding more moistening or milk and rose water and to the two latter a few black or Lifbon currants, or dry worttleberries scattered in, will make it better.

I will now attempt to translate, organize, and add to it further.

Ingredients:

2 Yams
3 Apples
¼ cup Bread Crumbs (I used several handfuls of dehydrated bread cubes)
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 tps Rose Water
1 ounce of wine
3 Eggs
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Cinnamon (addition)
½ tsp ground Cloves (addition)
½ tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar
1/8 to ¼ cup of dried Blueberries (worttleberries)

1.       Roast the Yams in an oven at 325F for about two hours and a half. Allow to cool completely and peel.

2.       Peel, core, and chop the apples and put them in a small pot with just enough water to cover by 1/2 inch.

3.       Boil the apples for about 15 – 20 minutes.

4.       Drain apples and add combine them with the yams and mash together.

5.       Add breadcrumbs and stir to combine.

6.       Add the following, stirring after each addition to homogenize:
Cream
Rose Water
wine
eggs

7.       Now add the nutmeg, salt, sugar, and Blueberries and give a final mix.

8.       Transfer to a casserole dish and bake at 325F for about an hour, or throw into the fridge to bake later.

9.       Remove from oven and allow to rest for about 10-15 minutes and serve.

That’s one of the biggest mistakes in cooking that most people make.

Most dishes really do need this time.

Food’s not just about heat and flavor, but texture and love also, and often times texture can only be achieved through the rest period.

And this is the most chaotic day of cooking all year, chances are, if you’ve been following along with our posts and recipes. you’ve probably been at it for at least a month by now with all the preparations

BUT if you HAVE been following along, you should have most of the small stuff done and out of the way, and it’s simply assembly time.

That time you’ve spent in the kitchen leading up to this point will be paid back as you now have precocious family time to be able to actually spend and not just from the kitchen, but from the couch with them.

So enjoy your family time this week and hopefully these recipe’s allow you to join in all the fun this year instead of sitting on the sidelines again.

If you haven’t kept up, consider this a last minute warning to start getting on it, today, you still have just enough time to catch up, but your week will be nothing but cooking now.

Ginger Snaps
Butter - melted - 6 Tbsp
Salt
Sugar - 3 Tbsp

In a food processor, crush enough cookie so you have about 2 cups of crumbs.

In a separate bowl add the sugar and a pinch or two of the salt.

Stir to combine.

Mix in enough butter so that the mix clings together when squeezed but still falls apart easily.

Pour into a pie dish and tamp down being sure to create a side crust for the pumpkin mix to pour into and not touch the side of the dish.

Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to rest about 10 minutes before adding the pumpkin.

Turn the oven temp down to 325F for the next step.

Pumpkin Mix Ingredients

Pumpkin Puree - 425g
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 400g
Eggs - 2 + 1 Egg Yolk
Salt - 2g
Ground Cinnamon - 3g
Ground Cloves - 1g
Ground Nutmeg - 1g

Combine the Pumpkin Puree with the Sweetened Condensed Milk, whisking until smooth.

Add the eggs and egg yolk and again whisk until smooth.

Add the remaining ingredients and once again, you guessed it, whisk until smooth.

Now pour the Pumpkin mix into the pie crust and bake at 325F for about an hour or until it the middle of the pie is still a little wobbly.

DO NOT bake until completely set or the pie will be overcooked and crack when it cools.

Allow to cool on the counter for about an hour and then in the refrigerator overnight.

Whipped Cream Ingredients

Whipping or Heavy Cream - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 Tbsp
Vanilla Extract - a dash

Combine into a tall, narrow vessel and, using a stick blender, whip until the desired consistency, DO NOT over whip.

Place a dollop on each piece of the pie and serve.

In the month or so prior to Thanksgiving you should have a couple chicken dinners.

Ingredients below.

What you are looking to do is collect the bones from those meals, so boneless, skinless should not be in your shopping cart for these meals.

Personally, I like to purchase whole chickens for this time of year.

Although it may be intimidating to butcher a chicken, it's not that difficult and you can find countless videos of how to do it on YouTube if you've never done it before.

Once you're done with the meal, or even before you're done, if you butcher the chicken into boneless servings, be sure to gather all the bones and uncooked chicken skin, yes, this is essential to keep, and put it into a ziplock or vacuum sealed bag and throw it into the freezer.

Once you've gathered enough bones to half fill your largest stock pot, it's time to turn your attention to the chicken stock.

Here's where things will be different from other chicken stock recipes that I've seen, and why I have suggested that you acquire cheese cloth bags.

Place the bones into a cheese cloth bag, as well as as much of the mirepoux as you can but still be able to close the bag. Put the rest of the mirepoux into another bag and set it aside but do not close it yet.

Put the closed bag with the chicken into your stock pot and cover with water, then bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat.

One the water comes to a boil, back the heat down to low, until it fades back to a simmer.

This usually takes me a few minutes as I slowly back down the heat, first to medium until is begins to simmer, then to medium low until it again simmers, then a bit lower again, then once more.

I usually end up just above low to keep the simmer.

As you are doing this, be sure to take a spoon and skim off the crud that floats to the top.

These are proteins given off by the bones and if left they will add an unpleasant bitterness to your broth.

One your broth is simmering regularly at a low temp turn to the other open bag you've set aside and add your herbs and spices then seal it up and add it into the broth along with enough fresh water to cover that bag as well.

Now it's sit and wait time.

It will take somewhere between 8 to 12 hours for the broth to extract all of the goodness from the bones.

Occasionally while this is happening, check in on it and skim off any crud that rises to the top, as well as topping it off with more water to submerge the bags again.

After 8 hours if you need to be done with it, although you should wait the full 12 for maximum goodness, you can take it off the stove and place it into a sink full of water to cool it down.

You may need to drain the sink once or twice as the water in the sink heats up as the cooling slows.

This should take about 30 minutes to an hour, I know, long day, huh?

Once it is cool enough to touch it's times to remove the cheese cloth bags and just toss them into the trash.

And you will now see why those bags are key to this recipe of mine, the broth left behind will be almost crystal clear.

Now transfer the broth into containers you can seal and put into the fridge.

I usually use large plastic containers or glass bowls with lids.

Leave those in the fridge over-night, then, the next day when broth is cold transfer it into one cup sealable plastic containers and stack those into the freezer.

Whatever you're left with you can, and should, use within the week.

After that, just dump it down the drain and use the frozen stock until you need more.

You'll find that using the stock as a replacement for water in your recipes will elevat the flavor of the dishes subtly but dramatically at the same time.

Also, if you did not use the cheesecloth bags, expect to spend about an hour retrieving all the solids and filtering the broth by hand.

Really not something you want to be doing at the end of a long day.

Plus, your broth will be cloudy and not so clear.

Ingredients

All ingredients other than the chicken bones are optional

Chicken Bones - at least a whole chicken’s worth
1 Large Onion - Quartered
2 Large Carrots - Broken into 3-4 pieces each
2 Large Celery Stalks - Cut into 3-4 pieces each
2 Leak Stalks - Roughly chopped
1 Large Parsnips - Cut into 8ths
Garlic - 4-5 whole cloves

Herbs and Spices

Whole Black Peppercorns - 1 Tbsp
or
Whole Red, White, Green, and Black Peppercorns - 1 tsp each
1 whole Bay Leaf
Fresh Thyme - a couple sprigs
Fresh Parsley - a couple springs
Fresh Dill - a couple sprigs

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This is another recipe you can make the day before to clear up time for the big day, just cover it with plastic wrap after it has cooled. Then pop it into a 350 oven for about 20 minutes to reheat.

Amounts shouldn’t be thought of as absolute because this is really a to taste and the amount is dependent upon how many people you are looking to serve recipe. But I have added amounts as a rough estimate guide.

Ingredients

Yams - 3
Brown Sugar - half cup (110g)
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick, (225g)
Ground Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp (~1-2g)
Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp (~1g)
Vanilla Extract - (4g)
Pecans (if desired)

Wash the Yams but do not peel.

Bake the yams for about an hour in a 350 oven in a casserole dish.

Remove from the casserole dish and allow to cool for about 20 minutes on the counter.

Add the butter to the still hot casserole dish and whisk to melt.

Once melted, add the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix.

Pour this mix into another vessel that you can pour from, I use a Pirex 2 cup measuring vessel.

DO NOT WASH the casserole dish, you want that layer in the bottom of the dish.

After 20 minutes are up, slice the yams into 1 inch thick slices.

Put the yams meat side down, peel side out into the casserole dish.

Pack them in as best you can, but just so they touch, not where they start crumbling.

Pour the sugar mixture over all of them and return to the oven for about another hour, or until they are soft.

Remove and allow to cool about 20 minutes (or overnight in the fridge) before serving, which should be enough time for the sugar mix to form a crunchy shell on the outside.

Note: cornfree recipes for the brown sugar and vanilla extract can be found on the site.

Looking down the barrel of a short week, usually a half week thanks to most employers allowing their employees to have a half day off on Wednesday to give them time to prep cook for Thanksgiving the next day, but if you’re like me, you’ve been prepping since last month.

The list of dishes on the list to be made that day is short, as you’re still prep cooking in a way:

• Pumpkin Pie

• Begin to the brine on the Turkey

• Mushroom soup

• Dressing/Stuffing

You can do Dinner Rolls the day before, but they are best made fresh the day of, and storing them can be a little difficult to keep them from going stale.

But it IS an option for lessening the crunch time as they do take time for the yeast to rise and you can’t do that in the oven (like you did for the stuffing cubes) as it will be used almost the entire day.

The day of cooking is everything else and final assembly:

• Turkey and Stuffing (with the extra Dressing in another dish)

• Mashed or Smashed Potatoes

• Candied Yams

• Brown Sugar

Anyway, if you haven’t begun to plan out your cooking schedule by now, you really should start today.

And doing kitchen cleanup today is best to make this week go much easier.

So, the recipe for assembling the stuffing is approximate here, as I said, it’s really a cobbled together dish where amounts are less important and many of the normal ingredients you would see on a recipe have already been used in the Mushroom soup recipe, posted a couple days ago.

Ingredients

Bread cubes (made previously)
Mushroom soup
Onion (chopped)
Celery (chopped)
Carrot (shredded)
Apple (peeled and chopped)
Fresh Cranberries
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
Butter
Black Pepper (freshly ground)
Salt
Chicken Stock (made previously)

Over Medium heat brown half of the Onion in butter.

When the Onion appears about 5-10 minutes away from being done, add half of the Celery and half of the Carrot.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool about for at least 20 minutes (remember you’re about to handle it, so be careful to cool it down).

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and mix together.

Be sure to check that all surfaces of the bread are covered with the soup, if not, then add a bit more of the chicken stock, if they are, then do not add any.

Cover with saran wrap and place into the refrigerator to rest overnight.

This will allow the Stuffing/Dressing time to soak up all the goodness.

When it is time to stuff the bird, put a little stuffing into a cheesecloth bag and put that into the cavity of the bird, with the open end sticking out, then fill the bag with the stuffing.

Place the remaining Dressing in an oven proof dish, cover with foil, and place that back into the fridge to be put into the oven when the bird is done.

When it is time for the Turkey to come out of the oven and rest, place the refrigerated Dressing, still wrapped in the oven for about an hour at 350.

Also, probe temp the stuffing when the bird comes out of the oven to make sure the stuffing in there is AT LEAST 165F.

If it is not, put the stuffing in another oven proof container, cover with foil, and back into the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes and probe to make sure of the temp.

My turkey will be coming out of the freezer the prior weekend as it needs a day per 5 pounds to thaw, and this year I’m working with a 17lb bird.

This step is one that will take multiple days, even if you plan on brining it the last day or two.

But the most complex part of the meal every year, for me at least cooking from scratch, are the stuffing/dressing ingredients, which has to be assembled the night before, and allowed to be refrigerated overnight.

A lot of people, like with a chili recipe, are very protective of their stuffing recipe, I am not.

Much of it was handed down to me, but I’ve managed to also make it my own and corn free with a few changes and additions.

One of which is the cream of mushroom soup, which helps to hydrate it with a velvety mouthfeel.

That used to be added from a can, but unfortunately with my corn allergy, most soups contain corn, either the syrup to sweeten it, or more often than not, starch to thicken it.

And, if I’m being perfectly honest, unless I’m ill, I just don’t like soup anyway.

But the cream of mushroom soup is critical in this stuffing recipe, and is usually made the day before.

And the thing about the stuffing recipe is that there’s really not specific amounts that go into it, so trying to judge and write down what amounts I will be using is quite a bit harder than I thought it would be.

But here goes...

Ingredients

Fresh mushrooms, not pre sliced, whole white ones, about a half to 3/4 of a pound.
A stick of unsalted butter
Half a chopped onion
Crushed or minced garlic
Chicken Broth, about 2-3 cups (that if you’ve been following along you should have in you fridge or freezer)
Heavy Cream
Herbs of your choice (I usually add sage and thyme, maybe a little rosemary) you can use fresh, but I usually don’t because this is going into the stuffing and the freshness gets lost.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Chop up the onion, and slice the mushrooms and put them in a pan over medium heat. Add the butter and stir until the butter is melted.

Cook until the onions are soft and just starting to turn brown.

Add the garlic and continue to cook for about 30 seconds to a minute.

Add flour, about a quarter cup and stir until most of the raw flour has been incorporated.

Add 2 cups of the chicken stock and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any bits that have gotten stuck and getting the roux incorporated into the stock.

Once that happens add a cup of the heavy cream and the herbs and slowly stir until it comes to a boil and starts to thicken up.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Normally I would say serve at this point, but as I said earlier, I don’t like soup.

So this is taken off the heat and allowed to cool, usually about an hour or two, remember you’re going to be putting in as an ingredient for the stuffing, so it needs to AT LEAST be cool enough to touch.

1 cup white sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp molasses
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt

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1. Using a paddle attachment, combine sugar, oil, molasses, and egg in a stand mixer on 1 or if you don’t have a stand mixer, use a whisk in a bowl.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt together.

3. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture in the stand mixer bowl and combine till smooth.

4. Form into 1/2 to 3/4 inch balls and place onto a foil lined cookie sheet with about 2 Inches separation. it will take more than 2 batches. place the remaining dough into the fridge between batches.

5. Place into a preheated 375 F (190C) Oven for 10 minutes.

6. Remove the cookie sheet and allow to cool for 2 minutes until removing from the cookie sheet and resting on a cooling rack.

7. Allow to completely cool to room temp before serving.

8. Store in an air tight container for a maximum of 2 weeks.

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Yukon Gold potatoes (about a half a pound)
Salt
Black Pepper (freshly ground)
Unsalted butter (about half a stick, cut up)
Milk or Heavy Cream, your choice, but the more fat the better (the amount here is difficult to tell because different batches take different amounts, so start with 1/4 cup and go from there until you get the consistency you’re looking for)

If you want to make the smashed variety, save the peels, and include:

Minced Garlic
Onion (chopped, about half an onion per 3 pounds of potatoes, then grilled)

Wash and peel the potatoes and allow to soak in water that’s been salted.

Remove potatoes one at a time and cut into large semi cubes of equal size.

Allow to soak for about 30 minutes.

If you’re making the smashed variety, wash the peels in a separate bowl of water to removes as much remaining dirt as possible, but most of the dirt should have already been removed while washing them prior to peeling.

If you are making the smashed potatoes, you should now grill the onions, which you should brown in butter with a dash of salt while the potatoes were soaking and boiling, adding the garlic only at the last minute.

Remove potatoes from the soaking water and transfer to a pot.

Fill the pot with enough water to submerge the potatoes.

Also, the peels should be boiled alongside the potatoes in a separate pot.

Add salt to the water and bring to a boil, adjusting the heat to prevent boil over, and boil for about 20-30 minutes, or until the potatoes break apart with almost no effort with a fork.

Strain the potatoes and return to the now empty pot.

Add the salt and pepper and start to mash the potatoes, but not too much as you add the butter in small doses.

Keep smashing until the butter disappears before adding more.

When all of the butter has disappeared, switch to a whisk, and begin to whisk, now adding the milk.

Add just enough milk so that it has an almost, but not quite liquid feel, almost like pancake batter, but thicker.

Salt and pepper to taste.

If you’re making simple mashed potatoes, you’re done.

If you’re making smashed potatoes, add the onions and garlic now and stir.

Just allow them 10 minutes to rest before serving to allow them time to thicken up.

Multiply this recipe by as many people as there are at the table, for instance, if there will be 10 people, then there should be 5 pounds of potatoes.

That’s it.

But you probably already knew all this.

Yes, I know it’s a LOT of butter, but that’s one of things that makes Thanksgiving special, it should be a “cheat day” for dieters.

It’s time to address the Turkey and how to prepare it.

I do few odd things to my bird that over the years I’ve found help to create a wonderful experience for myself and those around me.

I have heard, and I do not know from personal experience, that deep frying a turkey produced the most moist meat.

However, the risk seems to too great to chance it for me.

I’ve seen countless videos of people attempting to deep fry their turkeys and the whole thing almost explodes in flames.

All I can tell you is, having worked on a recipe for chicken wings, now that the prices have come down to a more reasonable level again, you cannot deep fry a frozen poultry item without the oil rising and spilling over everywhere.

At least with a deep fryer, the heating element is submerged in the oil, but for a lot of people deep frying a turkey, they are heating the oil using an outside flame, and when the oil spills over, the entire thing erupts in flames as the oil itself catches fire.

All that to say, the defrosting of the turkey is a critical step in the process, and should begin, depending on the size of your bird, a minimum of 1 day every 4-5 pounds of the bird, so for instance, a 12 pound turkey should begin defrosting at least by Monday, whereas a 20 pound bird should start on Saturday.

Also, if you’re going to be brining the turkey, like I always do, that should give you a little more wiggle room to work with, as the brining process will help speed up the defrosting process.

Simply begin with a container, I like to use my stock pot, and add in more salt than you might think you need and herbs and spices, the choice is yours, and I have yet to find a supreme brine myself, so I play with it every year, the recipe I currently use is as follows, but can be adjusted as desired, and probably will.

Ingredients

Chicken Stock (mentioned in This article)
1 cup of Salt
1 Tbsp Rosemary
1 Tbsp Sage
1 Tbsp Thyme
1 Tbsp Savory

Bring that to a boil so that the salt is dissolved in a small pot.

Take it off the heat, and pour into a large stock pot.

add about a gallon of cold water and ice, to bring the temperature down,

Add the turkey, and pour mor water in until the bird is submerged.

Throw the pot into the fridge and allow to brine overnight.

The next morning, remove the bird from the brine and pat down to dry.

Then take a large cheesecloth bag and put a couple cups of stuffing mix in it, then insert that bag into the cavity so that the open end of the bag is facing out, and put more stuffing into it, so it expands into the cavity.

Doing this will save you time and burning your hands after it cooks when trying to remove the stuffing.

Believe me, once I learned this hack, I will never stuff a traditional way again.

Once the bird is stuffed, insert the bird into an oven bag and onto a tray with deep sides so that if the bag breaks it will not drain onto the floor of your oven.

Be sure to insert a probe thermometer before you put the bird into the oven so it will cook quicker without you having to open the door to check on it in the late stages of cooking, when an open door can add as much as 10 minutes on the cook time when everyone is beginning to get ravenous.

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Cook at 275F for approximately 5 hours or until the probe thermometer reads 165F.

Remove the turkey from the oven and allow to rest at least one hour, preferably in the bag.

And if you didn’t know, the single best piece of the Turkey is what is called the oyster, it’s the muscle at the base of the wing that is round and attached to the back.

This is the one piece of the bird that never makes it out of the kitchen in my house.

In fact, it’s usually the first piece to get eaten.

Now, the oil and juices that are accumulated at the bottom of the bag are going to be used to make the gravy.

Add them to a large skillet and add about a cup of flour by sifting in about a 1/4 cup at a time, mixing using a whisk to combine until completely incorporated before adding the next 1/4 cup.

And I do mean, sift, don’t simply dump the flour in in clumps as the resulting gravy will have clumps of raw flour in it, and that’s no good.

Do this over medium to low heat and allow the gravy to come up to a boil and begins to really thicken up.

Salt to taste, then pour into a gravy bowl and serve.

P.S. - The links provided are to give you examples of the products mentioned in this article, so you are properly ready when the time comes.

If you do not already have these items yet, you can order them today to be delivered in time enough for the big day.

I usually make mine on Tuesday.

I also make my Cream of Mushroom soup that day as well.

Those recipes are upcoming.

But now that we are in the final stretch, there’s no time left to put anything off.

On Wednesday it’s time to make the pumpkin pies as they need to rest in the fridge over night.

Same thing with the stuffing mix, which combines many of the prior made recipes.

The stuffing need to be mixed the day prior as the rest period is critical for the flavors to combine.

Also we need to have the Turkey to brine.

And the candied Yams can be prepared as well up until the point of the final bake.

And now we get to the Thursday cook.

I go for a 4PM supper time, which means I start doing the final assembly at 8 in the morning when I being mixing the dough for the dinner rolls in the stand mixer.

Those should be ready to bake by around 9:30.

While those are in the oven, I turn my attention to stuffing the Turkey and putting it into the bag, with inserting the thermometer probe, and that goes into the oven around 10AM as it will need to cook for about 5 hours and then rest for at least an hour after the cook.

Round about 2PM I remove the Yams from the fridge to allow them time to come up to room temp to go into the oven when we remove the Turkey.

Also the remaining stuffing goes into the oven as well.

Use the thermometer to test the stuffing that comes out of the turkey (you did remember to put the stuffing into a cheesecloth bag, right?) and if it is not 165F, put it in a casserole dish and cover in foil with the thermometer inserted to let you know when it is up to temp which should only take a few more minutes.

While those are in the oven, turn your attention to the mashed potatoes, which should take about the same time to cook as the resting time of the turkey, so when you finish the potatoes it’s time to turn your attention to carving the turkey if you want to have it carved prior to everyone sitting down.

And while the turkey is being carved be sure to throw the dinner rolls into the oven to warm up.

However, if you want to start the meal with a whole Turkey on the table, go ahead and load all the dishes onto the table.

Congratulations!

You made it to the finish line!

And now you can see, despite all the work, how easy it is to make a Thanksgiving meal without any corn in it, and I dare you to say it is not the best Thanksgiving meal you ever cooked.

It’s recommended that you write out a schedule so you can get everything ready in time for the big family get together on time.

Thanksgiving is a feast, not usually eaten in the evening time for my family, but at the unusual time of mid-afternoon.

As such planning is key.

By the time Thanksgiving week rolls around, you should have several things ready to go.

If not, your work is still cut out for you, and can still be done, however, you are going to need to get going at least by Sunday to still get ready for Thursday.

Items you should have ready to go are as follows.

Stuffing Cubes – These will take the longest to make, as they require two separate oven cycles and should have been done over two days, although, in a pinch, it can be done in a single, albeit long day.

Stock – This is another extremely long process that will take you the better part of an entire day, although you can do it in conjunction with the Stuffing cubes as this is done on the stove top, and most of the time is simply waiting as the stock simmers.

Cranberry Sauce – This one takes less than a half hour, but can and should be done prior to Thursday as you need to give it time for the pectin to set before serving.

Pumpkin Puree – This one will take you an hour or so in the oven as well as about a half hour prior to get the pumpkin ready for cooking as well as at least an hour to cool before being able to put it in the food processor as the pumpkin will retain a lot of the heat for a long time.

Ginger Snaps – These will take you less than an hour to make, but they need to be made prior to making the pumpkin pie as they will be needed for the crust.

Turkey – As it will take several days to defrost and brine the turkey itself, you absolutely need to have the Turkey by at least Sunday prior to the big meal.

Now you are staring down the barrel of a few days work with Thursday being the main event.

But you are still not done with the preparation.

Because we are making the entire meal from scratch we have to make things that others will open a box or a can to make.

As such we need to schedule our upcoming week.

If you are missing anything above, you need focus on those before moving ahead, because the will be the foundation of the meal.

But now you are looking at hitting the store for the final shopping trip.

You will need to acquire the veg, including Yukon Potatoes, Celery, Onion, Carrots, Mushrooms, and Yams.

You will also need to pick up the dairy, including heavy cream, milk and butter.

I am making the assumption that you already have the herbs and spices you will need, but if you don’t, you need to pick those up as well.

Up next, is the schedule for Wednesday and Thursday as well as a couple preparation steps that can only be done the same week.

One easy way to know which berries are good to use is to pour them into a bowl of water.

Those that float are good.

Those that don’t get tossed.

Another thing to remember about making fresh Cranberry sauce is to jar it up for later in the year or next when the hankering for a turkey sandwich hits you because cranberries are only available in the store about 3 weeks of the year, so if you don’t figure out a way to extend the shelf life, you have to wait a year to get another shot.

Unfortunately, most cranberry sauce on the shelves in the store contain corn syrup, an obvious no no to those of us that are allergic to corn.

However, fortunately, homemade cranberry sauce is better than the canned kind.

Also, the recipe for the sauce is unbelievably simple, and could be done Turkey Day because it takes so little time to do, but it keeps well enough if you’re thinking beyond just Turkey Day that doing this in advance doesn’t diminish the quality up until about a year.

And with having so much else to do come Turkey Day, preparing it ahead of time almost becomes necessary.

Ingredients

Fresh Cranberries - 12 oz
oranges - 2
Honey - 1 cup
spices you prefer (I usually add cinnamon and all-spice berries that are blended in an old coffee grinder that I use just for spices).

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You can scale up this recipe, if desired, but don’t do, say 5 times as much all at the same time, because this is really all about achieving a certain reaction in the berries, and cooking too much at the same time may prevent that from happening.

Wash the berries in a bowl, so can remove those that sink in the water, fresh cranberries shouldn’t sink, they should float.

Throw all the ingredients into a small pot covered and set on med-high for about 15-17 minutes stirring occasionally for the first 10 minutes.

Nothing will seem to be happening for the first 10 or so minutes, but then the cranberries will begin to pop.

Start stirring gently to distribute the heat once this begins to happen and you will see the mixture begin to change before your eyes.

DO NOT cook longer than 17 minutes or the pectin, the stuff that turns the sauce into jelly when it cools, will denature, and the consistency will be all wrong.

If you are looking to have smooth cranberry sauce, run them through a wire strainer, using a silicone spatula to push through and clean off the underside of the strainer.

Pour the mixture into sanitized jars and allow to cool for about an hour, or until they are cool enough to hold while you run them under running water to wash of the excess that will inevitably pour over the side.

To get a better handle on this, look into canning your own, where you can learn all about how to use Mason Jars to can.

It’s an incredibly easy thing to do, and will be addressed later on next year as canning season begins.

Until now, the recipes have been preparation recipes, things you can do long ahead of time.

But now we start getting to the meat and potatoes of the Thanksgiving week.

We will also include a schedule that you can follow along with for Thanksgiving week that should help spread out the pressure so that you are not in as much of a crunch time come Thursday.

Our list will include:

• The Bird/Gravy

• Stuffing/Dressing (made up of multiple recipes)

• Pumpkin Pie (several recipes as well)

• Mashed and Smashed Potatoes

• Candied Yams

Also, if a recipe calls for an ingredient that has a recipe of it’s own, there should be a link in the article to that recipe elsewhere on the substack.

Remember that, Thanksgiving is a familial holiday, not yet corrupted by corporate greed, although Black Friday, the Holiest of Holies of the corporations has steadily been creeping into and over Thanksgiving itself, with may people grabbing their wallets in great anticipation of spending more money than they can actually afford on their family and friends.

Christmas used to be about friends and loved ones as much as Thanksgiving is, but those days are long past, and now it’s all about the gifts.

Sad really.

But for those of us that just love to cook, Thanksgiving is the greatest holiday of the year.

And remember, traditions are a hard thing to forget, even years after my Grandmother passed, our family still served Jell-O with canned fruit inside of it, on a leaf of lettuce and topped with a dollop of mayonnaise.

It was disgusting, and the reality is that no-one actually ate it, it was just there for table garnish as we felt it was in her honor.

So remember, Thanksgiving is all about those whom you choose to share it with, first and foremost, the food is a distant second, so think of these as only mere suggestions.

Expect a deluge of articles coming up over the next month as we take a crash course toward our favorite holiday of the year.

There should be at least 3 articles a week, most being recipes, and we’ve tried to have them posted before you actually need them.

And after we created an outline of the articles coming up, believe us when we tell you, you just cannot procrastinate until the last minute if you plan on using these recipes to make a corn free Thanksgiving.

We even have had to postpone several upcoming articles to make room for those needed for the holiday.

So prepare for torrential down pour of recipes coming up for the next month.

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It includes all of the best parts of the meal in one dish.

We’ll discuss the actual mix in an upcoming article, but first we need to create the cubes that are at the base of the stuffing.

Now stuffing is a rather different dish that each family holds dear to them, and varies from household to household.

But the cubes themselves usually are purchased in a box at the store, but let me tell you, not only is the stuffing better when made from scratch, it is absolutely cheaper and won’t contain any corn, of which most of the stuffing cubes sold in the store actually contain.

Now, this will keep for at least a month when properly dehydrated, which can be done in a couple hours if you have a dehydrator, or an afternoon if you do not.

But it all starts with baking a loaf of bread.

Now the length of time necessary to prepare can be prohibitive, but if you do this a few weeks ahead of time, say on a Sunday afternoon while cooking your Sunday dinner, it can be accomplished with minimal effort.

If you have a bread maker, just make a standard white bread loaf, and add in some Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme (just remember that old Simon and Garfunkle song and you’ll be golden) and walk away, the breadmaker will do the rest.

If, however, you do not have a breadmaker, it’s still relatively easy to make.

Ingredients

1 Cup Warm Water
3 Tablespoons White Sugar
3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 Cups Bread Flour
5 teaspoons of Live Yeast

1 Tablespoon each of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

Combine all into a bowl or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and mix until the dough comes together (1 on the stand mixer) then kneed for 10 minutes (4 on the mixer).

Transfer the dough into a greased bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel and allow to rise for 45 minutes.

Punch down and transfer to a greased bread pan (They are going for cheap this time of year if you don’t have one), I use Grapeseed oil, but you can use whatever type you like, including butter and cover with a tea towel and again, allow to rise for about an hour.

Place into a 375 F oven for about 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

I usually do this the day before I turn them into cubes, and the addition of the extra oil into the bread allows for it to remain softer than a normal loaf of artisan bread will be the next day.

If you would like to omit the oil, you can, but realize that more than likely you will need to do all steps on the same day.

Now, once the bread is cool, at least an hour and a half to two hours, slice the bread into normal sliced bread widths, about 1/2 inch wide and place into the dehydrator at 135 F or your oven on the lowest setting with the door cracked to allow for steam to escape.

If you’re using a dehydrator, give it about 30 minutes or until the top of the bread is dry to the touch, if you’re using the oven, it takes at least an hour to 90 minutes to achieve the same consistency.

Now slice the slices into strips, and then turn the strips 90 degrees and cut the strips into cubes.

By the way this is the messiest step, and you WILL find yourself with the urge to clean up the crumbs along the way, don’t do that!

Allow the crumbs to gather, then when you are finished cutting the cubes, gather them and brush them into a bowl, or if you’re using the oven, dump them onto the cookie sheet and allow them to ride along for the rest of the dehydration.

If you’re using a dehydrator it should only take another hour to hour and a half to get the cubes fully dried out, if you’re doing it in the oven, then stir the cubes every 30 minutes or so until they are fully dried out.

When they are dry, put them into gallon sized Ziplock bags, and store anywhere.

Remember, this is something you can do a month ahead of time, I’ve even done it as early as two months, but you might not want to do it that far in advance.

Now, you’re ready for when the big day is just around the corner.

There’s nothing else to focus on other than the food and the warmth of being with your family and friends around a table piled high with delicious delights.

However, this is also one of the biggest minefields a person that is allergic to corn, or just is attempting to avoid corn, can face.

Grocery stores have begun assembling their holiday meal displays this week, and as such, whenever you head to the store, you will be inundated with displays of shelf stable foods that, unfortunately, are inedible to us because of the amounts of corn sweeteners and corn by products used as preservatives.

As such, I have decided to begin the process of writing down various methods, techniques, and recipes I use to avoid the corn that inevitably shows up on the plate when you sit down with family.

Unfortunately, no matter how much they try to do their best to exclude any and all corn from the food, as way to welcome you to the table, inevitably there will be some things that you just cannot have.

As a result, the effort here is to produce recipes and guidelines as to how to create similar items that actually end up better than the store bought ones, but do not have any of the bad stuff in them.

Granted, it does take a little work, but as you will see, that work can be spread out enough so that it really won’t become all consuming during crunch time.

It just takes planning and preparation, that’s all.

You see, most of the food in the American Diet is created to be made with time and effort giving way to convenience, and corn has been designed to accomplish that goal.

Flavor and presentation are a consolation to that goal.

As such, the actual food that we eat is much different from the food our forefathers and mothers had and had access to.

In fact the meal itself that has come to symbolize the great meal back several hundred years ago is a far cry from what they actually had.

Sure, there was Turkey, because it was native to the America’s, but the turkey itself looked and tasted far different than the butterball everyone now associates with the holiday.

And the vegetation, and preparation was much different as well.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that the very corn that was used in that first holiday meal might be so fundamentally different as to not actually trigger the allergies sufferers of today have.

But alas, thanks to political or societal influences, corn has become what it is today in this country, which means that much of what is presented during the holiday is simply unable to be consumed by us.

And so, in the following weeks and months I will be dedicating my time to present to you, dear reader, alternatives to the prepackaged offerings available in the store that contain corn.

In many cases, especially early on in this series, I will be focusing on making ingredients themselves that will eventually be put together during the final week to create a Thanksgiving where zero corn will be used.

It’s something I’ve been developing over the past few years, usually twice a year, once in November and again in May or June, simply because it is my favorite meal of the calendar year and it doesn’t quite take as long as it might seem to take, it just takes planning.

So settle in, as you inbox will contain an actual from scratch, Thanksgiving, and I believe, after reading this, you will realize it doesn’t take a trained chef to do, but I guarantee you, even if you incorporate only a few of these into your holiday meal, you will notice the difference.

The thing is that most of those cans have very little actual pumpkin in them, if any.

And to think, converting actual pumpkin into the recipe takes less than an hour and is amazingly simple to do.

The reason why I am bringing this up in mid-September is that this is when Pie Pumpkins begin to come to store shelves, and there are so few of them that you need to grab them when you see them, and do not wait.

And the emphasis is on “Pie Pumpkins” they are smaller and sweeter than the ones used to carve Jack-o-lanterns out of.

Look for pie pumkins specifically.

Converting pie pumpkins to useable pie ingredients is amazingly simple, and all it takes is splitting the pumpkin in half, removing the seeds and other inners, rubbing it with oil and placing it into a 350 oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

when you can puncture the pumpkin without effort, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.

Then scoop out the rind into a food processor and blend into smooth, which will take less than a minute.

Transfer the mixture into a freezer safe container or containers, preferably in 1 cup volumes and freeze until needed.

Then use with your preferred pumpkin pie recipe using the volume needed for the recipe.

Believe me, your family WILL notice a difference over the canned pumpkin.