Around Thanksgiving, lots of Americans are thinking of turkey and pumpkin pie… traveling to see family and friends, maybe waking early on Friday morning to initiate the Christmas consumption. Many people also take a brief moment to give thought to what they are thankful for in this life: the family and friends come back into the picture, maybe our health or vitality, something usually registers on this day of pensiveness around our fortunes.
I feel extremely fortunate for eggs! Specifically, the eggs of one of my favorite feathered friends: the chicken. While I am also grateful to Aurore, the other winged friend featured in this year’s bountiful Thanksgiving feast, the eggs really shone through as I was making all of the various dishes for this year’s meal. Eggs are a necessary and ubiquitous component of many of the side dishes which make their way onto the Thanksgiving table I have had the fortune to share the last few years. The sheer volume of egg consumed this year will be staggering:
- 2 quiches — 4 eggs each (two whole eggs, two eggs yolks) — 8 eggs total.
- 2 pumpkin pies — 4 eggs each — 8 eggs total.
- 1 casserole of mac n’ cheese — 2 eggs.
- 1 bread stuffing — 3 eggs.
That makes for 21 sweet delicious eggs. The dishes not featuring eggs are only the turkey herself, and vegetable based dishes (raw salad, roasted root veggies, greens, brussel sprouts)—everything else calls for that jack of culinary trades: the egg; for which I am especially grateful this year. Having cracked and opened each one, I am trying to picture them now. Sticky and slimy. The gelatinous whites dusted in nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves before mixing. Being beaten into milk and cream, creating the frothy beginnings of custard like desserts. Mmm, thank you eggs.
To all you seasonal chefs out there, what are you thankful for in the kitchen this year? (Or if the day has passed, of what were you appreciative?)
Octopoe 