Is your Thanksgiving menu finalized? My mother is hosting dinner this year so Alex and I are responsible for very little. We’re bringing a charcuterie platter for the appetizer, brussels sprouts (probably pan roasted with homemade bacon) and Alex’s dressing. If your menu isn’t full of family traditions, here are five suggestions for seasonal but unique additions to the table: 1)Buffie Wellies – a tasty rich buffalo appetizer 2) Cranbellini – Add one ounce of [...]

Cranberry sauce is the most neglected dish on the Thanksgiving table. It is over-sweetened to the point of tasting like jam, or worse, dumped and sliced from a can, ridge marks remaining. Why should these tart orbs be subjected to such a fate? Cranberries are easy to obtain fresh in November and full of flavor and vitamin C. It is impossibly easy to make them into an all-natural sauce. And once you do, you’ll find [...]

We love to prepare for holidays by reading books with Lil. Good Thanksgiving picture books are a little hard to come by because so many perpetuate myths about Native Americans. This year we are enjoying these food and family focused stories: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott with illustrations by James Bernadin A rural 19th century New Hampshire family is preparing for a harvest feast when the parents need to leave for an emergency. [...]

Thanksgiving is a little over a week away. This week I’ll share some of my favorite recipes. Cooking a whole bird is a beautiful thing. The cook has the ability to infuse the meat with distinct flavors and a whole bird can feed a family for many meals. Use these techniques for a perfect Thanksgiving turkey, family style chicken dinner, or delicate individual game hens. Brine – A sugar/salt brine infuses the bird with flavorful [...]

Are you planning turkey day already? You can bet I am! I know friends are too because the questions about ‘where can I order a turkey?’ are pouring in. Here are the best local options I am aware of: Turkey Bowman and Landes – I grew up visiting my grandmother who worked at Bowman and Landes farm in Springfield, OH. The turkeys have ample room to roam and the meat is free from hormones and [...]

I have no pictures of the turkey or family portraits or plates of food from this Thanksgiving.  Instead, I have pictures of Big Mac. Big Mac is a hog raised by my mother’s cousin’s family, the Barkers.  After Thanksiving dinner (including the delicious ham of one of Mac’s former barn-mates) a group of us went out to visit the pigs.  We found Mac, a solid large Hereford. And when he turned around, we saw Big [...]

We at Hounds in the Kitchen have many things to be thankful for this year: family and friends, a garden that filled our pantry with home canned goods, a dog finally healed, and new projects like cider pressing. On Thanksgiving, especially, we are thankful for animals that give their life to feed us. In turn, we use every bit of the nutritious goodness in each animal we cook. When we buy, brine, cook, and carve [...]