My love affair with Thanksgiving started when I was 9 years old. My grandmother decided to make a key lime pie instead of the traditional pumpkin pie and I hid my new cassette recorder under the main table to record what the grown ups talked about while the children were busy hiding peas in their napkins. Despite my stealth efforts, the recorder was discovered and played back several times because as luck would have it, I recorded something hilarious about this key lime pie….the recording is long gone but the memory of that key lime pie remains. Not a Thanksgiving goes by where I don’t think of that day and laughter that ensued over a pie. It was the ice breaker we all needed, because what I did not tell you is that only moments before sitting down to eat, Hollywood drama filled the kitchen over a lost carving knife.
Keep your kitchen drama to a minimum and stock your kitchen with these 15 tools every Thanksgiving cook needs for a fabulous dinner:
- Brining Bag: A heavy duty supersized bag will offer the juiciest bird. Similar to marinating it, add your bird to the bag the night before to infuse it with your choice of seasoning.
- Roasting pan with handles: Invest in one that works both on the stove and in the oven to produce not only a succulent bird but a fabulous gravy.
- Stainless steal measuring cups: Great for measuring and for using as mini sauce pans for melting butter, or making glazes.
- Turkey baster: Nothing fancy here, a simple generic baster is all you need to keep the bird moist and succulent.
- Digital food thermometer: For instant results every time.
- Potato ricer: Like the one your grandmother used to use because it gives silky smooth mash potatoes.
- Spider strainer: Not just for your stir fry’s, it works great for blanching green veggies
- Gravy separator: For making fat free gravy in seconds without using an ice cube.
- Carving board: A heavy duty wooden carving board that fits the size of the turkey with room to rest is essential for carving.
- Carving knives: Sharp, with a good handle, spare no expense when buying these.
- Linen butcher twine: You may have outgrown those cute little turkey socks, but butchers twine is a must have for any roast turkey.
- Kitchen brushes: Great for basting, glazing and marinating everything on your menu.
- Rolling pin: Wooden, marble, or steel, every cook needs one for rolling pastry and tenderizing meats.
- Pie weights: Ceramic pie weights, rice or pasta shells are great for blind baking your piecrusts.
- Pastry blender: The pastry chef’s best friend and offers up perfect pastry for those all-important Thanksgiving pies.
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