RevGal Friday Five

(Link in meme-roll)
The Thanksgiving (food) edition

1. Turkey: love it? hate it? self-basted? fry it or roast it? Tofu-turkey? Tell me more. (I've only had one roasted turkey come out totally delish so I’m fishing for your tips!)

I love making turkey. We haven't yet had a bad year, though there've been a couple years when the bird was a little dry. We buy a fresh, unfrozen turkey, clean it, fill the cavity with lemons (and some herbs if I remember to buy them) and cover it in the roaster. I try to baste every half hour or so. I'm not so keen on leftovers...but I do like freshly-baked bird.

2. Stuffing: bagged? homemade? sage? sausage? cornbread? oysters? nuts? Got any inspiration for me?

Bagged with no adds unless I feel like adding celery.

3. Cranberries: When we celebrated Thanksgiving in Europe one year, our French friends thought we were nuts to choose a very sour berry and then load it with sugar. (Let alone the stuff that comes out of a can in a blob of gelatinous ooze!) What do you do with cranberries?

I love that gelatinous ooze! Real cranberries bite, but the canned stuff is like...heaven.

4. Potatoes: (Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew…) What's your pleasure?

I cook and mash at least ten pounds of potatoes every Thanksgiving. There are usually no more than 9 people in the house, but I usually figure a minimum of a pound of potatoes per person including planned leftovers. This year we'll have something between 6 and 9 and I'm probably going to start cooking and mashing and fridging potatoes tomorrow, aiming at twelve pounds total.

5. Pie: I’m married to the Pie Man. Anything but coconut pie floats his boat. What do you make? (or buy?) Pumpkin? Pecan? Apple?

I buy pies since we never finish them. I loathe pumpkin, so I buy a small one of those for Beast and Sparky, and some kind of fruit pie for me. And whipped topping...or vanilla ice cream.