Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Bon Appetit

“Strata, that eggy breakfast casserole, is an excellent catchall for things like leftover stuffing, green beans, and turkey.” —BONNIE MORALES, Kachka, Portland, OR “I turn my leftovers—turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce—into a hot pocket with one of those dorky circular sandwich presses.” —SARA JENKINS, Nina June, Rockport, ME “Congee made from the leftover turkey stock is the best remedy for a Thanksgiving hangover. I fry the turkey meat so it’s crisp like cracklings to put on top.” —JAMES SYHABOUT, Hawker Fare, San Francisco “Pull the turkey meat off the bones and make simple tacos. I transform the cranberry sauce into a sweet-and-spicy hot sauce using guajillo chile paste.” —TELLO CARREON, Nixta, St. Louis…

How does Thanksgiving go in the Hammer household? “We try to alternate holidays between my family and my wife’s [Elizabeth Chambers]. I married into the perfect family—about four of her immediate relatives are actual chefs. There’s a lot of oneupmanship of who can make the best dish, so everything is just fantastic. And those who aren’t in the food industry are in the spirits and winedistribution industry!” So what are you eating? “Obviously there will be a turkey. There will probably be more than one turkey because no one can agree on how said turkey should be cooked. Everyone’s got an opinion: Some people want to put butter and herbs under the skin; some people want to fry it; some people want to smoke it.” What about sides? “My wife…

Ever watch an oyster shucker at a restaurant work through a dozen Beausoleils or bluepoints? You probably thought to yourself, “There’s no way I could do that.” Except you can. And should. With a little advice from the experts (and the miracle of overnight shipping), it’s easy to start any night like they do at chic raw bars and cool natural wine spots across the country—with some briny bivalves on the half shell. How to Source Like a Chef Some oysters are like Birkenstocks (stay with us). One day, the only person you know who wears the sandals is your former camp counselor; the next, you can’t walk down a city street without seeing a pair. This year there were two oysters we saw over and over again on menus.…

1–GRATE JOB Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Grate 6 oz. extrasharp white cheddar cheese on the medium holes of a box grater into a medium bowl. 2–TOSS AND TURN Add 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¼ cup very thinly sliced chives, 1½ tsp. kosher salt, ½ tsp. sugar, and a pinch of cayenne pepper to bowl and toss with your hands until all of the cheese is coated in flour. 3–BE KNEAD-Y Add 6 oz. chilled cream cheese, cut into ½" pieces, and quickly smash into flour mixture with your fingers. Work mixture until only a few dry spots remain, then knead dough in the bowl to bring it together. 4–LOG IN Seal dough in a 1-gal.…

IN THE ’90S, downtown Durham, North Carolina, was a ghost town, its streets home to empty tobaccoprocessing plants and vacant storefronts and, well, not very many people. But over the last decade, particularly in the past several years, those empty spaces have turned into exciting new restaurants and stores within blocks of one another—many opened by North Carolina natives who wanted to bring life back to the city they love. Today that central square mile, mostly a cluster of places lining Main Street and the surrounding blocks, has emerged as one of the country’s most vibrant— and most walkable—dining, drinking, and shopping destinations. During my visit, I didn’t need to call Uber once to make the most of the city. PIMIENTO CHEESE WITH YOUR REUBEN? If you arrive in Durham…

Thanksgiving isn’t the time to get ambitious with the drinks menu. You’ll definitely have more pressing things to do than mix everyone’s cocktail to order. That’s why a house punch that’s a snap to make and relatively low in alcohol will save the day. This apple cider and rum punch keeps the ingredient list short and uncomplicated, so it’s as easy to throw together as it is to drink. It requires so little effort that you might just manage to seem gracious when someone inevitably requests a martini instead.…

“Why haven’t I ever done this before?” That’s what I asked myself as I hoisted a Dutch oven onto my countertop. Inside, rich stock bubbled away, while browned, lacquered turkey legs bobbed to the surface. The aroma alone had me at hello. But when I dug into the slowly braised turkey legs, my head just about flipped. It was juicy and saucy, and it pulled apart with just a tug of the fork. Unlike the dark meat on a traditional roast turkey, you don’t need to saw at this stuff. And unlike white meat, well, legs and thighs actually taste like something. To coax them into their unctuous state, I braised them, covered, in an oven for a few hours, and then, at the very end, I lifted the lid…

Traditions define Thanksgiving. But no one wants to talk about the ones that make you question your family loyalty. Take my mom’s cranberry sauce. You don’t need an invitation to her house to know what it tastes like—the recipe is printed on the back of every bag of cranberries. It’s sweet, sticky, and completely uninteresting. I loathe the stuff. So when it came time for me to host my inaugural Thanksgiving dinner 15 years ago, you can probably guess the first thing I put my stamp on. The November 2002 issue of Bon Appétit had a few cranberry-sauce recipes, but one caught my attention, not because it had orange or mint or ginger but because it was uncooked. Yes, raw! Since then, it’s been the one constant on my Thanksgiving…

When I design a centerpiece for my holiday table, I sidestep the grocery store flowers and start with the foliage that’s already growing around me. Before the meal, I take a walk through the park with my family to gather branches and vines to decorate with. Whether it’s beautiful oak leaves from the yard or a bundle of eucalyptus from the farmers’ market, these modest, natural materials celebrate the season—something that imported flowers won’t necessarily do.…

We all know there are strong opinions when it comes to which pie is the MVP of Thanksgiving dessert: apple versus pecan versus pumpkin. The thing is, there’s a good chance all three will end up on the table no matter what—sometimes even multiple versions of each. But what if I were to say that cookies—you heard that right—are the true MVP? Enough with the pie overload. When you’re fall-asleep-at-the-table full, what you really want at the end of a giant meal is the perfect chocolaty, nutty, buttery, crumbly, sweet bite.…

THE DRINK Apple Cider and Rum Punch 8 SERVINGS Hard ciders can range from bone-dry to rather sweet, so take a sip and adjust the simple syrup if needed. 1 cup aged rum 1 cup sweet vermouth ½ cup fresh lemon juice ¼ cup simple syrup 4 dashes Angostura bitters ½ red apple, very thinly sliced, plus more for serving 3 3x1" strips orange zest, very thinly sliced, plus more for serving 1 12-oz. bottle dry hard apple cider Combine rum, vermouth, lemon juice, simple syrup, and bitters in a large pitcher. Add 2 cups ice and stir until ice has mostly melted and punch is very cold. Stir in apple slices and orange zest; gently stir in cider. Divide punch among ice-filled oldfashioned glasses and garnish with more apple…

R.S.V.P. pp. 12–16 DESTROYER 3578 Hayden Ave., Culver City, CA; 310-360-3860; destroyer.la HAWKER FARE 680 Valencia St., San Francisco; 415-400-5699; hawkerfare.com KACHKA 720 SE Grand Ave., Portland, OR; 503-235-0059; kachkapdx.com NINA JUNE 24 Central St., Rockport, ME; 207-236-8880; ninajunerestaurant.com NIXTA 1621 Tower Grove., St. Louis; 314-899-9000; nixtastl.com QUALITY EATS For locations, go to qualityeats.com ROLF AND DAUGHTERS 700 Taylor St., Nashville; 615-866-9897; rolfanddaughters.com STARTERS pp. 19–40 BAR NORMANDY 19 Broad St., Charleston, SC; 843-789-4509 CITY HOUSE 1222 Fourth Ave., Nashville; 615-736-5838; cityhousenashville.com THE DABNEY 122 Blagden Alley, Washington, D.C., 202-450-1015; thedabney.com EVENTIDE OYSTER CO. 86 Middle St., Portland, ME; 207-774-8538; eventideoysterco.com HOG ISLAND OYSTER CO. For locations, go to hogilsandoysters.com KIMBALL HOUSE 303 E. Howard Ave., Decatur, GA; 404-378-3502; kimball-house.com LITTLE CREEK OYSTER FARM & MARKET 37 Front St., Greenport, NY; 631-477-6992; littlecreekoysters.com MEDIA NOCHE 3465 19th St., San Francisco; 415-655-3904;…

DEAR BON APPÉTIT, THE PRESERVED-LEMON CHICKEN AT ROLF AND DAUGHTERS IN NASHVILLE IS CRAZY GOOD. HOW DOES THE CHEF MAKE IT SO FLAVORFUL? —LEON WAHLER, Toronto CHICKEN WITH GARLIC CONFIT AND LEMON 4 SERVINGS Save the flavored oil left over from cooking the garlic and use it to make a salad dressing or drizzle it over roasted potatoes, steak, or pizza. 10 garlic cloves, peeled ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 chicken legs (thigh and drumstick), patted dry Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth 2 Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces 1 preserved lemon, flesh removed, peel finely chopped 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice 4 Tbsp. finely chopped mixed tender herbs (such as parsley, tarragon, chives, and/or chervil), divided Preheat oven to 400°. Heat garlic and…

Contain Yourself I have seen the horror of cabinets overflowing with mismatched Tupperware. But this year you’re going to take control of that nightmare cabinet and your whole holiday will go smoother. First, find your inner Marie Kondo and get rid of it all. Then replace it with a brand-new set of matching containers—the practical, affordable kind that restaurants use. Consider a set of these no-nonsense, great-for-leftovers wide ones, or build a stash of the cylindrical quart-, pint-, and “the small one”–size containers that come with takeout. A uniform set means no more frustrating games of Match the Tupperware. A nice stack means no avalanches. Yes, life can be this simple. You just need to let go. —ALEX BEGGS Use Your Yard Like a Fridge Let me guess: Despite your…

Dinner Tonight Weeknight dinners in the Rapoport-Shubuck house are a tag-team affair. Midafternoon, my wife and I bandy about ideas on email (“what about pasta?!”), and then we divvy up the shopping duties. Maybe she’s near the Greenmarket and can grab some peakseason veg; maybe I’ll swing by that nose-to-tail butcher for some heritage pork. Either way, by the time I get home, there’s a bottle of wine chilling, and after a quick bear hug from my nineyear- old, I get chopping (and dicing and sautéing). I keep it simple, aiming for maximum flavor. I invest in good ingredients, season them well, and rely on pro-style techniques stolen from chefs (pasta water for a silky sauce, butter-basting a pork chop, homemade croutons). I don’t need to get overly creative or…

ADD A DRIZZ… …to prosciutto and Parm, to feta and red pepper flakes for instant apps. BETTER THAN BUTTER? When it comes to baking our everlasting olive oil cake…yesss! DOES COLOR MATTER? Nope. Whether yellow or green, it’s not a marker of quality. BEFORE THERE WERE SUPERFOODS, there was olive oil. (Just ask Odysseus, who also swore by it for skincare.) Three thousand years later, olive oil is one of the ingredients cooks reach for most often—the first and last thing used in making some of the world’s greatest meals. A drizzle can elevate a simple vegetable to star status, and a few cups will transform chicken into something luxuriously tender. It can also be incredibly confusing. The green liquid in the $30 botlte looks just like the $5 option,…

You’ve heard it before: Homemade stock makes the difference between good and great cooking. It’s true all year but especially at Thanksgiving, when a flavorful, full-bodied stock can upgrade everything from gravy to stuffing. For me, stock isn’t done until it has the consistency of Jell-O when it’s cold—that’s when it has enough body to make you swear off the thin, watery, store-bought stuff. I make it way ahead of time, and on the big day, no matter how much I’ve got going on the stovetop, I always earmark a burner for a saucepan of warm stock and use it for more than just gravy. When I’m sautéing onions and notice they’re a bit dry, I’ll loosen things up with a splash of stock. I’ll add just enough to the…

Dryness is the mortal enemy of any Thanksgiving dish— whether it’s wallpaper-paste mashed potatoes or overcooked turkey breast. But nothing’s sadder than crumbly stuffing. Fortunately, there’s a solution, and it doesn’t involve dousing your plate with gravy. Instead, when making it, you want to whisk together more broth (or that stock from page 118) and eggs than you think you need to create a binder for larger-thanusual dried-out hunks of bread. This combo takes on a satisfying custardlike character once the stuffing is out of the oven. Classic flavors keep it crowdpleasing, and that balanced texture (crispy and moist) brings it all to another level.…

1 Actually, do bring up politics. It’s 2017. 2 Make a toast about what you’re thankful for. And make your kids give one too. 3 Never take the last roll unless you’re under ten or over 65. 4 Large-format meal? Buy large-format wine. 5 The lateafternoon meal is superior. 6 You can rent anything—plates, glasses, napkins. 7 Children are about two-thirds the size of an adult, so they should have to stay at the table only two-thirds as long as the adults do. 8 Buffet is the only way. But a few gravy boats on the table are a must. 9 You don’t need one of everything on your plate—that’s what seconds are for. 10 Do a seating chart.…

After the turkey, nothing inspires quite as much anxiety as the gravy. A lot of this pressure comes from the hectic, hands-on making of the roux, separating the pan drippings, and heating the stock while your turkey is resting. This year we went with a do-ahead gravy that skips the pan drippings and is backed by a fortified stock made up of browned chicken wings, mirepoix (onion, carrot, and celery), white wine, and some of the herbs from that ’60s folk song. ROCK THE BOAT Cheaters Do Prosper Rather than waiting to enrich the stock with pan drippings from the turkey (the traditional method), bolster it on your own time in advance. Start by browning chicken wings in a large saucepan along with vegetables and herbs to create a l…

1 “Anyone who didn’t cook is invited to clear the table” is the way to do it.XSX 2 Take a break and wait a half hour before serving dessert. 3 Move to the living room to enjoy your pie. 4 Finish the meal with a digestif. A little amaro does the trick. 5 Play a game of “celebrity” after dinner. It’ll get people off politics. 6 The Shawshank Redemption is a perfectly good alternative to the NFL. 7 Donate 5 percent of your Thanksgiving grocery budget to a food-focused charity. 8 Talk to the old folks. It’s gonna be you someday if you’re lucky. 9 Send everyone home with leftovers. 10 But roast an extra turkey breast for yourself.…

FROM P. 56 WHERE THERE’S SMOKE… …there isn’t always heat, at least when it comes to fish. Most smoked salmon is dry-cured, then cold-smoked. But hotsmoking (after a wet brine) works for salmon and many other types of fish. The texture is drier than gravlax; here’s what else to expect. —CHRIS MOROCCO A. WHITEFISH This fatty freshwater fish falls apart into lush pieces at the touch of a fork. As good on a Triscuit as it is on a bagel. B. MACKEREL This oily and briny fish loves smoke and can stand up to strong players like mustard, horseradish, garlic, and chiles. C. SALMON Smoky, rich, and flaky, hot-smoked salmon can be used as a topper for a rice bowl or stirred into creme fraiche with shallots and lemon juice…

When you’re the star of the matriarchs-gone-wild comedy Bad Moms and this month’s sequel, A Bad Moms Christmas, there’s no harm in reminding people that art doesn’t always imitate life. Mila Kunis takes the opportunity on Thanksgiving, when she shifts into full overachiever mode to plan the perfect meal for husband Ashton Kutcher and their two kids. “The tradition is that I exhaust myself,” she says. “I cook all day long, taste all day long, and when it’s time to sit down, I’m too tired and full to eat anything.” The usual made-from-scratch spread: a deep-fried turkey that Kunis brines for 48 hours, corn soufflé, mashed potatoes with gravy, roasted root vegetables, and her secret shame—a green bean casserole straight out of 1950s home ec. “For years I tried to…

Meet: PHILIP KRAJECK, chef-owner at Rolf and Daughters, No. 3 BA’s Best New Restaurant in America 2013 Cooking for: 18 years “We think of this pan sauce almost as a vinaigrette because there’s so much acid in it. To pick up all those salty caramelized leftovers at the bottom of the skillet, we deglaze the pan with stock, then add butter and tender, sweet garlic confit while it’s thickening up. A final hit of preserved lemon, which is more intense than regular lemon, cuts the richness and brightens the whole thing.” *SUBMISSIONS BECOME THE PROPERTY OF BON APPÉTIT.…

As the pastry chef at City House in Nashville, Rebekah Turshen has tinkered with candied citrus peels over the years but never loved the results. One version was too bitter; another was flatly sweet. It was when she experimented with an errant tub of citric acid— the organic, citrus-derived preservative responsible for the mouth-puckering tang in Sour Patch Kids— that she finally cracked the code. “It was a lightbulb moment,” Turshen says. “Adding citric acid into the sugar toss at the end brings back the pure sweet and sour of the actual fruit.” The revelation resulted in candied Meyer lemon “sours” for City House’s signature holiday cookie plate, though she says the method works equally well with Cara Cara and blood oranges or pink grapefruit. The candied peels can be…

Don’t lie. Even if you love (and know) wine, pairing bottles for a Thanksgiving feast can be a pain. I’ve spent hours stressing about which wine to drink with what course and how much of each wine to get. But no one has time to play sommelier while also playing chef, host, and family mediator. So don’t. Give yourself a break and buy a case of one (yes, one singular) light-bodied red wine. If you’re buying just one variety of wine, you need something that can work from start to finish, and a light-bodied red like Gamay is the wine world’s Day to Night Look. Juicy, refreshing, and extremely food-friendly, chilled Gamay can keep you cool while you’re slaving over the stove all afternoon and then hit the dining table…

“THANKSGIVING IN JULY” sounds like a lame ’90s romcom. But for the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, it is very real, a multiweek sprint of recipe development for the November issue done in the thick of summer. Many of the recipes require earlymorning starts to get turkeys and pies done and rested before our three o’clock tasting. Such days demand a protein-packed breakfast to keep us optimized. For us, that means egg breakfasts. Fast and endlessly riffable, they accommodate even the tightest schedule (and are worth banking for your own Thanksgiving-week marathon). In the morning, I can look across the workstation I share with Andy Baraghani and tell what kind of day he has in store just by glancing at his plate. If he’s wolfing down plain scrambled eggs with a…

1 Set the table Wednesday morning. 2 Be kind, don’t take the bait, don’t get drawn into the same old family fight you always do. 3 If that’s not possible, download the Headspace app now. 4 Always run your dishwasher so it’s empty and waiting. 5 D-E-L-E-G-A-T-E. 6 Invite a few friends. Your family will behave better. 7 Never drink a martini on an empty stomach. 8 But go light with the predinner snacks: Spiced nuts are ideal. 9 You can never have enough club soda. Someone’s going to want a mixed drink. Someone’s going to spill red wine on the tablecloth. 10 Cocktail hour should be at least one hour but never more than two.…

Cotton terry, flour sack, and linen towels all have a place at my house, but my go-to towel isn’t meant for the kitchen. It’s a cotton surgical towel. (My father would bring them home from work when I was a kid.) They are marvelous in the kitchen: They’re lint-free, they soak up spills, and, folded over, they’re dense enough to use as pot holders. And they aren’t so nice that you’d feel bad if they got saturated with gravy. These days they’re available online (get six lint-free cleaning cloths at caldrea.com for $10), so you don’t need an insider to get your hands on some.…

Naturally, most families would riot if you didn’t make a turkey. But let’s be real: Nobody truly loves the bird, which is why in my family there are two Thanksgiving nonnegotiables. One: There will always be turkey. Two: There will always be an entrée protein that guests are actually excited to eat. Sound crazy? It’s not. A secondary protein takes pressure off the poultry, allowing you to buy a smaller, tastier bird than you would if it were the main event. And if you pick the right secondary protein—say, this crunchy, juicy, slow-roast-the-night-before pork shoulder—you’re barely adding to your workload at all. Just don’t act surprised when it steals the show.…

Around midnight we go back to leftovers in their purest form—directly out of the fridge—but the day after, they taste different. The textures are different. Things are more, or less, salty. Sauces have congealed, gotten stronger, or developed more flavor. Put them on a sandwich and you can make them familiar again. When I was growing up, it was always cold turkey (usually the dark meat) and reheated gravy on white bread with little else on there. When I got older and more adventurous, I started putting weirder leftovers on my sandwich. Eventually, if you’re like me, you graduate to a sandwich like this, stacked with green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, greens, and gravy mayo. When you put it all between two slices of bread, you give your leftover meal…