Newsletter: In the Kitchen: How to cope with Thanksgiving jitters
We all deal with stress in different ways. And there is little that is more stressful than the impending Thanksgiving holidays, with all of those mega-menus that need to be planned, shopped for, cooked, and cleaned-up-after. Have I depressed you yet? Let’s throw in visiting relatives. How’s that?
Here at The Times, we each have our coping mechanisms for dealing with the situation. And as always, we’re here to help.
— Russ Parsons
Your Thanksgiving guide
We've been doing Thanksgiving a long time around here, and we've got a pretty good idea of what it is you want to know. Brining, roasting and carving a turkey? It's all here, with videos. Stuffings? Cranberry sauce? Potatoes? We've got 'em. Want to put together a killer cheese tray? There's that too. And, of course, we've got pie, pie, pie. Yes, you've got a few days before the cook's holiday, but probably not as many as you think.
Sugar cures all
Test Kitchen director Noelle Carter handled her pre-Thanksgiving jitters by developing a gigantic sweet tooth. One day she went out and gathered up five of her favorite French toast recipes: There’s brioche dipped in crème anglaise, mascarpone-stuffed with orange compote, you get the picture. The next day it was bread pudding recipes: one made with croissants, another with chocolate and even a couple that are savory if, for some reason, you want to go that direction.
Recipe: Pete’s bread pudding
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Beer makes you stronger
On the other hand, beer columnist John Verive suggests that you might just want a drink. What else would you expect from a beer columnist? First he asked five prominent Southern California craft brewers what they recommended serving with the Thanksgiving dinner and got five different answers. So now you have ideas about which beer to serve with dinner. But what about which beer to serve with dessert? Hadn’t thought of that, had you? Verive says a coffee stout is the best beer for your pumpkin pie, and he’s got four suggestions for good ones.
Broccoli, broccoli and more broccoli
As for myself, when I get stressed, I just think of broccoli. Really. It works. Broccoli pasta, broccoli salad, broccoli soup. Broccoli is the great cure-all.
Kimball out at Cook’s Illustrated
On a serious note, Christopher Kimball, who co-founded Cook’s Illustrated magazine and over 20 years built it to a circulation of nearly a million readers, and also starred in their long running public television series “America’s Test Kitchen,” was pushed out of the company.
Check out the thousands of recipes on our Recipe Database.
Feedback?
We’d love hear from you. Email us at [email protected]
Are you a food geek? Follow me on Twitter @russ_parsons1
