Today:

• Make brine for turkey breast. DONE. The turkey breast is brining in the fridge in its nifty Ziplock brining bag, tucked inside my stock pot for easily handling.
  
• Thaw frozen pie crust. (What can I say? Pillsbury frozen pie crusts rock my world when I'm making pastry as part of an already labor-intensive meal.) DONE.
  
• Hit the liquor store for some scotch, and the Stop&Rob for the eggs I forgot to buy last night. Oops. I don't care if they cost an arm and a leg, no way am I venturing into a supermarket today! DONE.
  
• Bake little bitty pies (pecan, lemon meringue (sans meringue, which will be added tomorrow) and a couple of small apple galettes.) Two apiece, in six-inch tart pans, so we can enjoy a variety of pie without a surfeit of sweets. DONE, photographed and blogged.
  
• Make cinnamon ice cream. Because I can. Using Ben & Jerry's Sweet Cream Base No. 1, my favorite for the Donvier ice cream maker, with the addition of a teaspoon of vanilla and a sufficiency of ground cinnamon. Yes, I know, it calls for raw eggs. DONE.
  
  

Tomorrow (with time estimates, essential for getting everything on the table at once:

• Make oatmeal for breakfast. Because a day of cooking demands morning sustenance.
  
• Peel, roast and mash yams for doctoring (with allspice, butter and a little maple syrup) and reheating after the bird is done (30-45 min.)
  
• Prep the cornbread dressing (except for the stock, which I'll add tomorrow.) I meant to do this today, but got caught up in the pie-baking.
  
• Put out some little bowls of olives and pickled garlic to nibble on while we wait for dinner time.
  
• Make meringue, and finish the little lemon pies. (30 min).
  
• Rinse and dry the turkey breast, halve it with my big Chinese cleaver, massage compound herb butter (minced fresh sage and rosemary, I think) under the skin and oil the outside (15 min)
  
• Preheat oven, finish prepping the dressing and assemble the main course(15 min)
  
• Roast bird and dressing together (45 min-1 hour)
  
• "Make" gravy (open jar of turkey gravy, pour in pan, add some minced fresh sage, a tablespoon or so of brandy and a spoonful of duck fat (because the turkey drippings will all be absorbed by the dressing; heat, stirring, until the alcohol taste has evaporated off. (15 min.)
  
• Clean Brussels sprouts, halve, toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and lay out on a baking sheet. Add to lower rack of oven 15 minutes before the bird comes out.
  
• Doctor the yams and reheat in the microwave (5-10 min). Persuade johnpalmer to clear off the dining table, lay out the silverware and plates, and open the wine.
  
• Open the can of jellied cranberry sauce from both ends and push it out onto a serving dish.
  
• When the bird is brown and crispy, slice the meat and snatch nibbles of crispy turkey skin. Lay everything out on the kitchen counter for serving.
  
• Eat. Make "ooooh," noises. Eat more.
  
• Put what's left of the bird and dressing in containers and refrigerate so the leftovers don't kill us.
  
• Play computer games or watch "Heroes" or something until dinner settles enough for dessert.
  
• Eat some more.
  

Notes:
Brine: I've been brining birds (turkey, chicken, duck) before roasting for a couple of years now; I often brine large pork roasts, too. It makes for tender, juicy and surprisingly not-salty meat. This year I'm using an Alton Brown brine, scaled down to make about a gallon-and-a-half, because I'm only cooking a 4-pound breast, not a whole turkey). The veggie stock the recipe calls for came from the freezer, one of several batches I've made this year from vegetable trimmings, simmered with herbs and lots of water till they give up all their flavor and then strained; the cooked-out vegetable matter went on the compost pile. I love making food out of stuff I'd otherwise discard. (-:

I found food-grade brining bags at Safeway last night, which relieves the food-safety concerns anisoptera raised, quite rightly, about using garbage bags.

Tags: cooking, holidays, thanksgiving, to-do