Keep It Simple, Turkey

As I was sipping a cup of coffee Sunday morning, I was listening to the morning news program on NPR. The topic was recipes for the Thanksgiving table and the guest was a cookbook critic. She was asked first what was the most elaborate recipe she’d found for turkey preparation. She sighed and then went into a long, somewhat laborious overview of a “project” that would take, in all reality, at least 72 hours to do well. Just like the first Thanksgiving, right? In a way, yes…

The Pilgrims, of course, didn’t have the stress of getting the bird thawed in time to make that little red button pop at just the right time for cooling and carving. They did, however, need to actually find the bird, kill it, pluck it, pick out the buckshot or arrow, etc. Then there was that issue of the heat for the cooking of said turkey. Cutting wood, building a fire, keeping it going (did it snow during the cooking process thus dampening the fire?)…misery, in a word. All this is the most extreme conditions.

And so, some 400+ years later, here we are “stalking” our birds still (some ordering from some far-away farm for the “just right” bird), brining, thawing, wringing our hands—the 21^st century version of extreme conditions. Just how often does the basic cook tackle cooking something that has 20 pounds of girth?

The best way to honor our ancestors is in gaining wisdom from their travails. So, let’s keep it simple this Thanksgiving. No orange/pomegranate/coconut/curry stuffing that 90 percent of the guests around the table will politely taste while secretly yearning for a taste of oyster, or sage ,or whatever simple dressing is made faithfully year after year after year.  Let’s save the extravagant and questionable recipes for a separate occasion. Thanksgiving is the one holiday that has probably been the least adulterated—let’s keep it simple, turkey.

Have a fine day.