What was your favorite Thanksgiving dish yesterday?

[Jenise]

Good save, Jenise. It's nice to hear that you make your pie with real pumpkin. I do the same. One year I decided to smear the chunks of pumpkin with EVOO and roast them until they caramelized. I then tossed some fresh rosemary into the puree. It was just yummy!

Robert, I love pumpkin pie and even canned pumpkin makes a good pie, but once I used real pumpkin myself there was no turning back. That said, I think using half and half or full cream is possibly even more important to a good result--commercially made pies that have something lesser as their liquid ingredient lack a neccessary richness that makes the difference between edible and inedible for me.

That was the other thing I noticed and will try next time: that you used .5&.5 instead of evaporated milk. I'll try heavy cream next time .

rwj

Never had a venison pate. Could you really tell that it was game meat vs., say, beef or pork?[/quote]

Not really, it wasn't gamey at all. But, I do think there was some other meat in there. Need to check with the cook.

Louise's Cranberry Crunch Pie was the most popular and most delicious dish. She had used a new recipe for the turkey, and it was up on a rack, which left it a bit tough. The stuffing was very good, and the thin sliced sweet potato circles were interesting. I think it was here that I learned how to deal with the canned cranberry sauce/jelly. Our son was home so we wanted to stick to tradition and have a can-shaped cylinder of cranberry sauce. I had to poke a hole in the bottom and blow it out into the bowl, because the bottom rim is now too fat for a can opener.

It's not a surprise that Louise's pie was the best thing on the menu...

Frank

Observations on cranberry sauce:

It's interesting how many people prefer canned cranberry sauce to the real stuff. It must be a childhood memory thing.

But if you ask people who say they don't like cranberry sauce, invariably they say they've only eaten the canned, jellied stuff, not the fresh. Frequently, after trying the fresh stuff, they discover they [/i]do[/i] like cranberries.

Your right Larry. That's an interesting observation. My husband is one of them. Every year I make a Gourmet recipe--Port Wine Cranberry mold. It's is delicious and he LOVES it. BUT, he still has to have his Oceanspray. And what a pain now that they rounded one of the sides of the can. You can no longer open both sides and push it out into a perfect cylinder.

... Oceanspray. And what a pain now that they rounded one of the sides of the can. You can no longer open both sides and push it out into a perfect cylinder.

I actually wrote to them about that one year, got a fluff answer and a couple of coupons. They insist that all you have to do run a knife around the edge of the can and then stuff should come right out. Bulldukey!!

Carrie - can I have that recipe for the Port wine Cranberry mold?

I hate that Oceanspray stuff, but my mother brings a tub of it every Thanksgiving. I think two people might take a spoonful out of it. What is that stuff anyway? Has a cranberry ever even seen it?

Sure, Jo Ann!

Jellied Cranberry and Port Sauce
Gourmet | November 1991

Serves 8.

a 12-ounce bag of cranberries, picked over
1 1/2 cups sugar, or to taste
1 cup Tawny Port - (I cut it with a little water so it's not so strong tasting)
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste

In a large saucepan combine the cranberries, the sugar, the Port, the zest, and the lemon juice, simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the berries have burst and the mixture has thickened, and let it cool. Spoon the mixture into a lightly oiled 1-quart decorative mold and chill it, covered, for at least 3 hours or overnight. Run a thin knife around the edge of the mold, dip the mold into warm water for 10 seconds, and invert it onto a serving plate.

This year I bought this to mold it in -- I may buy another now that it's on sale.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku7100134/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C15%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Ccranberry%20mold&cm%5Fsrc=SCH

Thanks, Carrie. Think I might invest in the mold from WS also. appreciate the link.