Pics of Thanksgiving Feast

[Saccopoo]

Let's see...

Was up last night until about 2:00 a.m. working on the Pumpkin cheesecake, which was accompanied with a Cabernet and Balsamic reduction and Cranberries with fresh whipped cream. The turkey was in the brine at this time.

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Started the smoker this morning for the turkey. Breast down, a 750 of Chardonnay and 1/2 gallon of apple juice and 1 gallon of water in the smoker's water bowl. A 75/25 combo of apple and hickory wood.

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The real fun was crafting the Turducken Lasagna. I don't watch much TV, but I remember when some guy on Top Chef mentioned this about five years ago or so and it stuck with me. We always do a family Thanksgiving, and everyone revolted against anything going against the traditional, so I've never really got to play with it. I procured some duck breast meat, but as of this morning, I had no idea where I wanted to go with it. (I was seriously contemplating making grilled cheese when I got stoned with this shit this morning.) Anyway, I started cooking off the duck, grilled the chicken breasts, fried off the ground turkey and the andouille sausage.

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Made a veloute with a base from the gizzards and a bouquet garni. Real rich with a lot of butter and cream and wine. Made a stuffing with some day old bread I picked up from the grocery the day before. I didn't want to go totally off base, so I made a Ricotta/Cottage Cheese/Fresh Mozzarella mix for moisture as is usual for standard lasagna. Did a rough mushroom duxelle as well.

Layered the traditional lasagna noodles with all the stuff mentioned above. Cooked at 350 Convection until it looked deemed done.

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Oh, shit. Was insane good. Seriously. I'm thinking of going up into the bathtub and smearing it all over my body and dancing. That good.

Stuffed acorn squash was the veggie.

Good meal this year.

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