Thus: I think you know what needs to be done. Finally, if you’re thinking that it would be pesky to take the simplest of Thanksgiving sides and make it complicated, consider that this can be made in one skillet, if you’re into that kind of thing. You cannot even imagine the deliciousness inside a sandwich of turkey leftovers. Finally, I probably don’t need to tell you that onions, cut thin, coated in a little flour, salt and breadcrumbs before being fried or baked until they’re crunchy like stringy potato chips are astoundingly good when homemade. Thus: this dish is actually a gratin we like gratins. The sauce needn’t come from a can in fact, if you think about it, it’s really a mix between a velouté (that gorgeous broth-based sauce that makes pot pies so wonderful) and a bechamel (think: great lasagna or mac-and-cheese, minus the cheese), and mushrooms give it a hearty depth of flavor almost unimaginable from a meatless dish. ![]() To wit: Green beans needn’t come from the freezer, in fact, the little market by my apartment has been piled with perfect ones all month, and they take five minutes to cook. But reading this book will get you caught up in nostalgia for even the most picked on (second only to marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes, and yes, I have plans for those too this week) of Thanksgiving dishes, and got to wondering if it deserved reconsideration. The book doesn’t even include a recipe for it maybe Sifton was suspect of canned or frozen green beans mixed with canned condensed cream of mushroom soup and topped with canisters of crispy fried onions? I can’t imagine why. Speaking of, I don’t think before reading this book I would have ever considered making a green bean casserole at home, as I didn’t much care for them. Thanksgiving does not have to be a drag,” and continues in that empathetic but not remotely patronizing tone for the remainder of the book, cheering you on through turkey purchases and homemade stock, classic sides and newer ones worthy of consideration, game plans and even tidbits on seating, such as whether it’s okay to separately seat the Republican, Marxist and Free Spirit factions of your extended family (in short: yes, absolutely yes).īut it’s more likely because the book is compact, something you could drop in your bag and read later on the subway and be transported away from the crowds and airlessness to a glowy evening late in every November when you can shed all the crutches usually required to get through the day (shortcuts, irony, rushing, a mega-latte in a to-go cup, permanently adhered to your hand), set a table (any plywood over milk crates will do), forgo the appetizers (Sifton is adamantly anti-salad or anything else on Thanksgiving that will take up valuable stomach space better saved for foods draped with butter, cream, maple syrup and bacon*) and reminisce about that silly time you spent half the day making an gourmet sous-vide vegetable confit when all anyone really wants is the casserole they’ve always secretly loved and only get to revisit once a year. ![]() Maybe it’s because one of the earliest lines in the book is “You can go your whole life and then wake up one morning and look in the refrigerator at this animal carcass the size of a toddler and think: I have to cook that today. ![]() And although I realize there is barely a page on the internet or of printed matter near you right now not currently angling to be the one that gets to walk you through the biggest home cooking holiday of the year next week, I like this one more. One of the best food books I read last year but rudely never got around to telling you about (in my defense, this time last year was a little nuts) was a 135-page, photo-free and straightforward guide called Thanksgiving: How To Cook It Well by the New York Times former restaurant critic and sometimes newsroom editor Sam Sifton.
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