12 Comments

Lovely. I gotta ask though: HOW did you get the chestnuts so clean??? I've been roasting chestnuts at the holidays my entire adult life (my dad's Italian heritage) and I've never had them consistently separate from that annoying membrane. If I did exceptionally well 1//4 will still have membrane to be scraped off. What's your method?

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We did nothing (my wife did the chestnuts) - they're a variety that was grown in central VA and they were dried/cured which helps separate the membrane. All we did was cut, soak, and roast them. The meat just popped right out!

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I made a turkey roulade as part of a French-themed meal. It turned out pretty nicely, retaining its moisture and flavor. The best turkey I’ve had otherwise was buttermilk-brined and then deep-fried, a merging of my technique with my Tennessean brother-in-law’s. Happy Thanksgiving!

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I love roulades. That sounds great. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy T-Day. Your food always looks nice. I am trying a standing rib roast this year. This is a first, so wish me luck.

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Thank you! Rib roast is amazing. This is the recipe we always use and it's perfect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cgtAw21MM4

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Happy thanksgiving- I too do not like turkey all that much. My favorites are stuffing and green bean casserole but they need to be made from scratch, although a local bakery has a wonderful stuffing kit with a base made of their own bread that works for me.

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Interesting! I find that the scratch/elevated versions of stuff like that end up not being as good to me as the classic processed ones. But in theory I should prefer the more natural one. Enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving!

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The mushroom sauce and blanching fresh beans for the casserole are easy for people who know how to cook. I do draw the line on not frying my own onion topping. French does a good enough job.

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Congratulations on having the courage to disable your smoke detector—one less censorious voice in your life.

I was inspired by Jonathan V Last of the bulwark to come up with a Trump coping mechanism for use during the next four years. The question being, when can we safely ignore trump? Unfortunately, unlike a smoke detector his batteries cannot be removed.

https://kathleenweber.substack.com/p/the-mouth-that-roars

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"His batteries cannot be removed" - that's a funny line. Happy Thanksgiving!

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My family table is split down the middle on Trump but hospitality prevails. It's where MAGA sits next to the federal attorney. We've learned to share the table without using the moment for gibes and digs, which are never Shakespearian-clever enough to pass unrecognized amid the yams and giblets.

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