If you’re still in planning (or panic) mode, the classic recipes from our “Essential Thanksgiving” last week are available , where you can watch a video of me making gravy (scroll down and click on the gravy boat).
We cooked and photographed the whole dinner at food stylist Daniel H. Tseng’s Capitol Hill apartment, and the voices in the background belong to the staffers who put the section together and then ate all the evidence.
For another take on gravy, Ellen Sweets uses giblets in the stock and then chops them up and adds them to the gravy. (Close readers of the Food section might have noticed Ellen’s absence. Her 97-year-old mother died in St. Louis earlier this month, but Ellen will be back in town this week.)
The Food staffers are home cooking today and the rest of this week, but you can hear me and G. Brown playing a menu of Thanksgiving-related songs and chatting about gravy, turkey and pie on KCUV 102.3-FM () from 9-10 a.m. Thanksgiving Day. If that’s not enough, the following hotlines and websites can answer any last-minute questions:
Tomorrow morning from 9 to 11, tune in to Lynne Rosetto Kasper, former Denverite and host of “The Splendid Table,” broadcasting Turkey Confidential, her live call-in show. Colorado listeners can hear the show on KUNC 91.5-FM or , and can call 800-537-5252 with their questions. Kasper can handle just about anything, including the time a trucker called wanting to cook a turkey on his engine.
from Cook’s Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen has 25 new recipes, a detailed timeline and turkey-carving video. Slight irritant: You have to sign up to read some of the features, but it’s quick and free. I like the magazine’s equipment tests: Thermapen instant-read thermometer, $75, Trudeau Gravy Separator with Integrated Strainer, $9.99, Norpro Nonstick Roasting Rack, $9.75.
has re-packaged its 200,000 user-generated recipes in a more colorful, navigable design. This is the place to go to hear from real cooks like Rita L., who brined, injected, rubbed and deep-fried a turkey and posted its its picture (with the recipe) on the site. You can search through 13,000 ingredients, calculate nutritional values and chat with other cooks.
: If these folks can’t help with brining, then put the salt away. In its Ultimate Guide to Brining, you’ll see how to give your turkey a safe salt-water bath.
offers how-to videos from thawing to carving and serving, in addition to recipes from Gourmet and Bon Appetit. Can’t decide what kind of stuffing to make? Epicurious has 473 recipes. Confused about cranberry sauce? With 407 recipes, you’re sure to find one that’s better than canned.
If you prefer to call for help, the ladies (and rabbis) in aprons are ready with answers:
Butterball Turkey Talk-Line (800-BUTTERBALL) answers questions and preguntas 7 a.m.-7 p.m. today, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, and 7 a.m.-5 p.m. through Christmas Eve. Meet the talk line ladies and download coloring pages and games for the kids at .
Empire Kosher’s year-round hotline: 800-367-4734, 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 6 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday. “Ask the rabbi” at .
