A Cooking Life

Notes on Thanksgiving

I cooked Thanksgiving here again this year, and had some great successes by doing a few things a little differently: I mostly boned the turkey and roasted it flat, fiddled with the creamed onions, and figured out how to bake a custard pie without a soggy bottom crust (and perfected a buttermilk pie while I was at it). I just wanted to write up some notes for posterity.

Chestnut Rum Jam

‘Jam’ is really something of a misnomer for this seductive purée. It may be perfectly delicious on toast – I wouldn't know. I prefer to treat it as a sort of luxe dessert ingredient (when I'm not eating it straight from the jar). Plainly spooned over best vanilla ice cream, it shows just how exotic ‘simple’ can be. Blended into whipped cream, buttercream, or dense chocolate ganache, it becomes a decadent filling or frosting for crepes, tortes, and roulades. Hilaire Walden (my recipe is adapted from hers in Sensational Preserves) suggests layering it with whipped cream in parfait glasses. I'm of a mind to work it into a bavarian cream for a Christmas charlotte.

’Tis the season, of course, and chestnuts are in markets everywhere. Perfect timing, as this jam is a fine thing to have around for the holidays. It even cans well, and put up in fancy jars makes a lovely gift. The recipe follows, along with some useful tips for buying and peeling chestnuts.

Garden’s End

It's a melancholy thing, putting the garden to bed. Never mind the heartbreak of hacking back, uprooting, burning, and composting plants that were so lovingly nurtured. I can think of no more poignant herald of the long, cold months to come.

But gardeners are optimists by nature, and no sooner have I finished tearing down a season's effort than I've begun preparing and planning for another round. Maybe it's just a sophisticated form of denial.