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Your Thanksgiving advice, questions, etc…

OK, everyone. Erin Friedman started the ball rolling with her Thanksgiving cooking-advice comment. (Thank you, Erin.) I copied it and pasted it here, so it has a more prominent placement during this wild and wonderful Thanksgiving week.

That’s what I’ll do with your words of wisdom about all things related to holiday cooking and entertaining, too.

Bring ’em on. I’ll post them here.

Thanks for sharing! I really appreciate it and look forward to your comments.

Erin Friedman: My tip: roasting the turkey unstuffed. I can’t believe how many years I was SURE the only way to get flavorful stuffing was to roast it inside the turkey and cook the beast for half the day.

Wrong — good stuffing can be prepared and baked separately (bacon is a trusty addition, along with good-quality chicken or turkey stock) and even a 20 pound bird can roast, unstuffed in a few hours. The meat is SO much better – and it survives the re-heating/leftover cycle with its flavor intact.

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Celeste White: Wow, I’ve never heard this–thanks for letting us know!

As long as we’re sharing Thanksgiving horror stories, I’ll never forget the time that we were serving twelve guests for Thanksgiving and at the EXACT moment that we were inviting everyone to the table, a guest came rushing out of the bathroom to tell us that something very, very horrible was erupting–geyserlike–out of the bathtub drain. Put a major damper on the festivities, I can tell you.

But about cleaning ovens–when I read the instructions for cleaning my oven, they recommended I pre-clean the dang thing to the point that I couldn’t figure out what else would need to be done. At any rate, I’m with Erin. Delighted to have permission not to clean something

p.s. Hey, Judy–

Another source of additive-free stocks are the brands Shelton’s and Imagine, which both make a number of healthy (some organic) broths and stocks and are found in most health food stores or equivalent sections of supermarkets. Sunset Market carries Imagine products in their soup section.

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Andrea Charroin: Here is an easy pie crust for everyone.
I usually make my crust by hand unless I am making 100+ pies….not this year! ;)
A sugguestion, double. Freeze your left over crusts already rolled out or in a dough ‘disc’

2.5 cups Flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks/ 1/2 lb UNSALTED butter(COLD)

1/4 cup ice water

In a medium size mixing bowl:

Cut butter into small bits. Let’s say dime size.
Toss into the flour and salt mixture

Using the best kitchen tool ever…YOUR HANDS work the butter into the flour until the flour/butter mixture looks like rocky sand.

SLOWLY add the ice water, there are times when you won’t need all of the water, and times you might need a little more. Work the water into the flour until JUST combined. Take a small handful of the dough, squeeze. If the dough holds a shape, you are done.

Form into 2 rounds. Wrap or place in your favorite container. Let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Make your favorite pie!

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Ren: Erin – you’re right on about cooking the stuffing seperate from the bird! Alton Brown, who does the show “Good Eats” on the Food Network did a special that they run every Thanksgiving called “Romancing the Bird”. In his words, “Stuffing is evil”. Well, cooking it inside the bird is, anyhow. He also talks about brineing your bird before you roast.

You can watch the episode on YouTube, it’s in 4 parts.

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acUg1jaUzOY

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUEOnhF9OM

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2eTYhlQoAg

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEIDTZIqgUE

As far as ovens, I’ve never had a self cleaning oven. That’s a spring time job when you open every door and window in the house (oven cleaner stinks!) and spend half the day on your knees… typically going through at least 5 scrubber pads, several pair of gloves, and a small trees worth of paper towels. That job takes the meaning of “elbow grease” to a whole new level! I ought to write into Mike Rowe (he does that show “Dirty Jobs” on Discovery) and tell him I’ve got a dirty job for him… my oven!

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Judy Darting: My hubby and brothers-in-law have deep fried turkeys. They turned out great! It is an outdoor project that requires the correct equipment and lots of peanut oil. Be sure to read up on how to do it. I have seen clips on TV of the oil spilling over as the turkey is lowered and a big fire starts……………..my guys are very careful though and there has never been a problem. The turkey has to be thoroughly dried, inside and out and there must be room for the oil to rise up as the turkey is lowered. Oh ya, don’t stuff the turkey. ; – }

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Doni Chamberlain

Independent online journalist Doni Chamberlain founded A News Cafe in 2007 with her son, Joe Domke. Chamberlain holds a Bachelor's Degree in journalism from CSU, Chico. She's an award-winning newspaper opinion columnist, feature and food writer recognized by the Associated Press, the California Newspaper Publishers Association and E.W. Scripps. She's been featured and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, L.A. Times, Slate. Bloomberg News and on CNN, KQED and KPFA. She lives in Redding, California.

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