11.20.2007

Turkey Time? It's All Gravy Baby!

In 2003 Elon and I hosted our first "Orphan Thanksgiving" with all our friends who would also be spending their Thanksgiving away from the family. It was kind of a big deal for us both, and we had no idea where to begin with the turkey. Enter Williams Sonoma .

If you are ever hosting a dinner or Thanksgiving of your own and feel hopeless or unsure of what to do with food, look no further than your local Williams Sonoma. We knew we were in good hands when the whole front half of the store was Thanksgiving themed, full of ideas to try out and best of all lots of samples to taste of all the goods!

I found this jar full of dried fruit, salt and sugar and asked the sales associate, "What is this?".
She explained that it was a brining mixture, a popular method of marinating meat. I thought the idea was genius and of course bought the jar. The directions couldn't have been easier to follow, and the results were fantastic (some of our friends said it was better than their parents - which was music to my ears). You can buy the brining mixture at the store or find brining recipes online and make your own. Brining was such a success that we have continued the tradition of brining year after year.

The next addition to my basket were these yummy herbs which I added to some softened butter and spread all over the outside of the turkey as well as a little bit inside of the turkey for that golden, delicious taste. Elon's secret trick (not so secret), was to puncture a can of beer and stuff it half way into the turkey (so you can pull it out). As the turkey heats up the can releases some of the beer, assuring you a moist turkey to enjoy.

Being our first year cooking Thanksgiving dinner, we did have one major error...the gravy. Who knew it was so difficult to make good gravy?

Problem solved with Williams Sonoma's Turkey Gravy Base. You just add turkey drippings, some milk/cream and viola! It tastes like you are a seasoned gravy-making pro, and once you throw it in a gravy boat, no one has to know that you didn't make it from scratch!

So if you are hosting your first Thanksgiving dinner, try out the items above and I promise your guest will gobble, gobble, gobble all the food right up!

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