The Thanksgiving Cookbook
Thanksgiving: a time for family, friends, and huge platters of savory foodstuffs. Every year you look forward to a slow-roasted turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, and succulent dressing. Sometimes you get it. Other times, the turkey is dry, the dressing overseasoned, and the marshmallow sweet potato casserole gloppy. Whether you need to improve your traditional repertoire or you're looking for new recipes,The Thanksgiving Cookbookis the way to go.Filled with traditional, variations-on-the-traditional, and nouveau recipes,The Thanksgiving Cookbookoffers more than 340 ways to create your own personal Thanksgiving. Start with light appetizers of Honey-Roasted Almonds and Smoked Salmon Mousse to whet the appetite (and to keep hungry guests out of the kitchen). For the main dish, there's always turkey, or try your hand at a capon, goose, duck, or standing rib roast. Author Holly Garrison gives tips on buying your main course and how to clean, cook, and carve it. Serve with relishes like Gingery Apple Relish or Spicy Cranberry Conserve and sides of Mashed Potatoes and Carrots, Braised Endive and Pears, and Steamed Asparagus and Green Onions. And the dressings: New Orleans Oyster Dressing, Winter Vegetable Stuffing, and Sausage, Mincemeat, and Cornbread Stuffing, to name a few. There's a whole chapter on creating smooth, hearty gravies to go with your meal. Don't forget a bread basket filled with Double Corn Muffins and Seeded Bread Sticks. If you're not groaning now, you will be by the time you get to the Autumn Cherry Pie and the Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce.The Thanksgiving Cookbook"devoted to all the familiar and comforting foods of Thanksgiving" makes you hungry and nostalgic. And it almost--almost--makes you wish that you were having 25 to dinner so you could try more of the mouthwatering recipes.--Dana Van Nest