Step aside Halloween, it is time for Thanksgiving and all of its amazing foods and drinks. Thanksgiving is the best food holiday of the year. On second thought, Thanksgiving is the best food day of the year. As you can tell already I am a big foodie.
I remember my grandma cooking as if she were preparing for the army, but she only had ten people at her house. Yes, I would steal a dinner roll before dinner and no, I did not get yelled at. Okay, my mom caught me once and yelled, “ Charles Tyler stop taking food and eating before dinner!”
All of these years either my grandma or my mom would cook Thanksgiving dinner. They spent days preparing for the dinner. I remember my grandma making turkey, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, potato salad, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, corn and green beans So, I figured it was time for me to be the chef.
Early in the morning of homecoming I decided to go to Wal-Mart for ingredients. I already had milk, butter, flour, sugar, salt, and half and half. So, all I needed to pick up was a huge butterball turkey, four pounds of bread, more eggs, potatoes, corn and a pumpkin pie.
The day before I spent the day in the cold rain because I had to work at the Homecoming game I had to wake up early to get started on the dinner. Plus, I was saving room in my stomach, so I had to get the dinner done as soon as possible.
The first thing I did was I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. I, then took the bird out of the bag and took out the neck and guts. Then, I put it in the roasting pan. I oiled and salted the bird. My mom taught me technique called trussing. Just tie the legs together with cooking twine. This allows the bird to cook more evenly. The kind of looked cartoonish. It made laugh.
The oven bell rang, so I knew it was time to put the turkey in. In a sense I was stuffing the oven the way I would stuff the turkey with stuffing.
Also, keep an eye on the turkey every once in awhile. Do not check it all of the time, because the oven would lose heat,but you do not want the turkey to dry out like in the movie Christmas Vacation.
While the turkey was cooking I started on the cranberry sauce. First, I boiled 2 ½ cups of sugar in a pot of water. I had to stir the sugar until it dissolved. Then, I put the cranberries in to sit in there for fifteen minutes. During those fifteen minutes I stirred the berries once in awhile. The berries have a natural thickener called pectin. So, I added orange zest to the cranberry sauce and it was finished.
Making the cranberry sauce freaked because it was around Halloween. It reminded me of some sort of alien blood goo from a horror movie. I was freaked out and frankly disgusted by the thought.
The next thing I made was the stuffing. I cut four pounds of bread into cubes and put it in a bowl. In a separate bowl I put in milk, some salt, twelve eggs and melted butter. Then, I mixed all of the liquids together. After that I poured all the liquids into
the bread bowl.
So, I felt like I was back in fourth grade when I mixed all of the ingredients with my hands. After everything was mixed
together I put the stuffing into two pans. At this point I was without a doubt hungry. The mere thought stuffing made me hungrier.
The turkey was finally done at eleven a.m, so it could rest for an hour. By rest I mean take a short nap. This allowed me to bake the stuffing for about an hour.
An essential Thanksgiving dish is a big helping of mashed potatoes. First, I peeled a bunch of potatoes. Then, they boiled until they were tender. When the pot was drained I added butter, salt, pepper and half and half. Finally, I mixed all of the ingredients up. I had to test the mashed potatoes. They were good to say the least.
The gravy was the last thing that I had to cook. So, I put butter and flour in a skillet. I stirred them together for about a minute. Then, I added turkey drippings until it all thickened. The smell of the gravy is indescribable. I believe it smelled like the best day ever
Everything was ready to eat. I did not eat breakfast or lunch to save room for this amazing meal. Apparently, my family liked my cooking. The pumpkin pie that I bought was in the words of Larry David, “Pretty pretty pretty pretty good.”
I just want to end the article by saying how thankful I am to have amazing parents who are always supportive of me. I am extremely fortunate to be at an amazing university with amazing professors. I am thankful for all of the friends that I made at Seton Hill. Lastly, I am thankful that I get to write for the Setonian. Thank you all that helps me to improve.