2 turkeys. 4 chickens. side dishes. 5+ pies. one man to rule them all

[digitalsm]

9" Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of shortening
3-4 tablespoons of cold water

Mix the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening. Combine lightly until coarse meal. Sprinkle with water a tablespoon at a time. Mix lightly with a fork using only enough water so that the pastry holds together when press in to a ball. Roll the ball of pie crust two inches bigger than the pie pan.

Pumpkin Puree(makes 2 1/2 cups)

2 pounds of cooking pumpkin, in large chunks with skin on.

Place the pumpkin pieces into a steamer rack over boiling water in a large pan, cover and steam for 30-45 minutes. Check after 30 minutes. Remove when the interior of the pumpkin is soft. Scrape the pulp pumpkin pulp from the skin. Place the pulp in a bowl and whip with and electric beater.

Pumpkin Pie

Pie crust
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 1/2 cups of cooked pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups of evaporated milk
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs slightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 425. Place the pie crust in the pie pan. Mix sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a small bowl. In a large bowl beat the two eggs, and mix in the pumpking puree. Mix the sugar mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Mix in the milk. Gradually mix in the evaporated milk. Blend well. Put the pumpkin mixture into the pie crust. Bake for 10 minutes at 425. Lower heat to 300, bake for 45 minutes or until done.




9" two crust, pie crust

2 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups of shortening
6-7 tablespoons of cold water

Mix the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening. Combine lightly until coarse meal. Sprinkle with water a tablespoon at a time. Mix lightly with a fork using only enough water so that the pastry holds together when press in to a ball. Roll the ball of pie crust two inches bigger than the pie pan.

Apple Pie
Two crust pie crust
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tablesppons of flour
6-8 large tart apples
2 tablespoons of butter

Prehea the oven to 425. Place one of the pie crusts into the pie pan. Mix the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour in a large bowl. Peel, core, and slice the apples. Toss the sliced apples into the sugar mixture, coating the apple slices well. Pile the apple slices into the pie pan, and dot with butter. Drape the second pie crust onto the pie. Crimp the edges and cut several vents on the top. Bake for 10 minutes at 425. Lower the oven to 350 and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until done(when the apples are tender.



9" Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of shortening
3-4 tablespoons of cold water

Mix the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening. Combine lightly until coarse meal. Sprinkle with water a tablespoon at a time. Mix lightly with a fork using only enough water so that the pastry holds together when press in to a ball. Roll the ball of pie crust two inches bigger than the pie pan.


Pecan Pie

9" Pie crust
3 eggs
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/4 cups of pecan halves or coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 425. Place the pie crust into the pie pan, set aside. Beat the eggs in a bowl with a fork, until the yokes and egg whites are blended. Add the corn syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Blend well. Stir in the pecans, then pour the mixture into the pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 425. Lower the oven to 350 and continue balking for another 15-20 minutes. DO NOT OVER COOK. Let the pie cool before serving.

Also a suggestion. Cook almost everything the day before, or theres now way in hell you will be able to do it. Then just heat everything up on Thanksgiving. The pies will stay fresh for 2-3 days, so you could make them 2 days before thanksgiving, and then do the sides, as well as the chickens the day before, and then cook the two turkeys on Thanksgiving morning. Or alternatively cook two if the chickens and one of the turkies the day before, carve them all and store them in the, and then the other two chickens and the remaining turkey the morning of Thankgiving.

 

[sciencetoy]

You can also make mashed potatoes without peeling, they're kind of "natural style" with the brown parts on them. Not as fluffy-white but a heck of a lot easier. If you throw in a bunch of other things (cooked chopped spinach and broccoli, for example) you can call it a special potato dish and get away with the peels in it.

Gravy: okay, you have your pan drippings. The drippings have two major parts, one is fat and the other is "liquid". Basically, you want to cook a bunch of fat with some flour (or some other substance that will give it body, but let's keep it simple here). You cook the flour-n-fat for a bit otherwise it has a raw flour flavor, yucky. Then you add liquids: the liquid from the drippings (yum), cream, bouillon cubes, whatever. That's gravy. White gravy is cream (milk) and fat (you can use butter if you don't have or want to use drippings) and flour, and don't let the fat and flour brown when you're cooking them together. Brown gravy you let the fat/flour brown, and you use a bigger ratio of dark-colored pan drippings and less cream. Be sure to stir in the gunk from the bottom of the turkey pan, it tastes great. You can also fry up some mushrooms, onions, what have you, in the fat and then add the flour, etc. Giblet gravy has, natch, giblets in it. Got the idea?

In order to keep the gravy from separating, you keep your cook temperatures in the medium range (don't boil gravy or it'll separate) and you don't cool it before you serve it. You need to get the ratios of fat, flour and liquid right also.

Pies: I can make a great crust (I use lard) but I don't bother on Thanksgiving because so darned many people just eat the innards and leave the crust. I use those packaged "Pillsbury" pre-made folded crusts, not the already-shaped ones. Use a good-looking pie pan and people will love them. Pumpkin in a can has a recipe on it that is very good, and you can spice it up to show off. This year's batch of pumpkins isn't as good as other years, not really worth the time to do pumpkin from scratch.

Apple pie from scratch is worth the trouble. Get good cooking apples (rome, for example) and remember to get large apples so you don't have so many to peel. Trust me, saves time. Also (but don't tell anyone I said this) canned apple filling tastes pretty good, and if you spice it well you can pass it off as your special recipe.

Lemon meringue pie is a real crowd-pleaser at Thanksgiving. Easy from scratch, as long as you know what part of the lemon-peel to put in the recipe - just the way outer layer, anything else and it's bitter. Meringue secret is to use a few extra egg whites to make a big, fluffy layer.

Pecan pie if done well is great - but you're better off practicing on other occasions so that your Thanksgiving one isn't the first. Pumpkin, apple, etc will taste great even the first time. I make a pecan-fudge pie that's easy and really really good. Much easier than a standard pecan pie.

Darn, I'm getting hungry. Good luck.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by: RalphWiggum
Thats a hell of a lot of food. I think you're being a bit ambitious. Have you ever cooked anything near that scale? It would suck to have it not turn out well. Anyways..,

It takes a while to bake turkeys and prep them also. You better start the day before if you want to make sides also, or you better enlist a lot of help.

Making pies from scratch also isn't that easy. Baking times come into play, and getting fresh fruit means you have to do it the day of if you want to preserve the freshness. I think you should stick to the pre-made pies.

As for sides for 70, that will be a lot of work. Can't you have people bring some sides while you provide the main course?

I've cooked a turkey + sides before, but never this scale. I'm pretty ambitious when it comes to cooking and it usually works out fine. 😉

I'll probably start with the pies and sides the day before, so I can just finish up with birds and more sides the next day. I will have some help, my sister will probably whip up some stuff also. I might just stick to premade pies though, I think that will make my life so much easier. Either that or we can purchase pies from Marie Callenders or something