My turkey meatloaf was delicious but a little dry. Mashed potatoes with insane amount of butter--excellent but very labor intensive . My arm might need to be iced because of the workout it got.

Everything was ace and the turkey was so good that it was great on its own with no need for garnish per bite!

Turkey xx
Gravy for turkey (unnecessary)
Sweet potatoes with Marshmallows
Stuffing

Cranberry sauce - TJ’s
Cranberry jarred sauce

pb&j

Raw veggies

cornflake ring dessert :-)

This was my first plate, came out very tasty. I gave my Pumpkin Pie away to a neighbor who had all of his grandchildren show up unplanned. I also had a large amount of the Candied Yams, so I gave him a large Baking Dish of that as well. Finished off the meal after a second serving with Haagan-Dazs Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
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I would have used my mixer to whip them up. Like Bacon, Butter makes anything I put it on taste better.

No...mixer makes them gloopy. Ricing them and hand whipping after is best.
This calls for about 3/4 butter to be cubed and chilled and beaten gradually....a few cubes and as they melt add a few more . I thought my arm would fall off.

My immersion blender has a potato mashing attachment. It's got 3 settings depending on how rustic or creamy you want it. Works really well.

I prefer them whipped with a mixer, but thick and gloppy. Yum. I also like to use Yukon golds or a mixture of Yukons and russets for a more gluey texture. Makes them seem richer to me. But I also never use more than a tablespoon or so of butter to about 2 cups of mashed taters.

As I said....this is a specific French potato recipe from Joel Robuchon. It is like making risotto...you have to let the previous cubes of chilled butter become incorporated before you can add more. I don't always make potatoes using a half pound of butter but I wanted to try a Michelin chef's recipe.
When I am not making his recipe I still would not use a mixer as it will release more starch causing a gloopy potato and I prefer a fluffier mash than a wallpaper paste one. A ricer is awesome for this.

I only started to cook mashed potatoes this year and I use the old-style masher tool. It’s not a ricer and it’s not refined but I prefer it over a blender or mixer because of limited space and ease of using a 12” tool instead of an electrical appliance. Despite knowing that Yukon gold is a good potato for mashed, I just use russets. Maybe one day I’ll feel inspired to use gold and russet together :-)

I used the mixed petite potato bags from Trader Joe’s. I started mashing with a potato masher, but switched to my Pampered Chef mix and chop, because it had a longer handle. But all hand mashed and totally worth it. My friends refer to my potatoes as CrackPotatoes.

We also made Joel Robuchon's mashed potatoes recipe.

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Brussels Sprouts Salad

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Dry brined turkey, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes (Robuchon), roasted yams with pecan and maple (Ottolenghi), blistered green beans with shallots and pistachios (Nik Sharma), homemade gravy and cranberry sauce.

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Spiced pumpkin pie (Ottolenghi)

So do we all love Joel’s potatoes recipe? I have passed by his place in Paris a few times.

cornflake ring is really good - what makes it different from Rice Krispie treats is lack of marshmallows and use of other glue agents.


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Dinner tonight will be the same as yesterday's. Roasted butternut squash soup, turkey, home made cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole (so tasty), corn casserole, candied sweet potatoes, biscuits and speculoos cooke butter pie.

I gave all of the leftover stuffing ("stuffin' muffins") to my cousin. I don't like stuffing (any kind) and try to make something palatable for me (this year - apple and onion, easy on the poultry seasoning).

Three of us also went through a bottle of Veuve Rose and a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Demi-sec.

Didn't you say it had corn syrup? there's your glue. Interesting choice for thanksgiving dessert. :p

And shouldn't there be a big scoop of vanilla ice cream in the center? :)

Not needed but all desserts taste better with any ice cream :-)

Yes, that explains... :-)
the cornflake ring is one of the desserts at our past thanksgiving buffet, along with other desserts. My spouse and my in-laws love this dessert and some years there would be such scarcity that it was key to get this dessert before getting regular food. Other years we ordered one for the table.
Now that we are satisfied with our own, it’ll be easier than ever for me to want to just cook thanksgiving in the future - total costs must be $95 plus labor, which yield bountiful leftovers. I’m pretty sure the buffet is $50/adult and maybe $15-25/child and zero leftovers. I’ll be happy to just cook our own thanksgiving at the house, whether ours or a future vacation rental house.