Cooking with local flavor
Thanksgiving is almost here, and we are all looking forward to it. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite times of the year. It’s hard to beat good food and a long weekend, but there’s more to than that. In fact, I’d argue that Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year, turkey dinner with all the trimmings, watching my favorite cowboys and spending time with family, what’s not to love? Let’s not forget the next day, Black Friday shopping! I hope I can get up at 4:00 am again this year.
At my house, I am usually the chief cook for the Thanksgiving dinner with some help from my wife, Pam and daughters. I get most of the food the day before to save room in the fridge. For the past two years, I’ve bought a fresh bird at the last moment and started cooking in the morning. I look up several new recipes from the food network to find something a little bit more interesting for my bird each year. My wife loves turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. In fact she could have the turkey dinner all year round. I’ve been joking with her that I am going to deep fry the turkey one of these days as some of my friends have said fried turkey is the moistest and most flavorful ways to cook the turkey. Of course I only kid, aside from the dangers of cooking in a hot vat of oil in the drive way, it just wouldn’t be the same without the smell of roasting turkey in the oven all morning.
My theory of cooking is to keep it simple, simple to cook, simple to serve and simple to eat. All the ingredients must be fresh and with local flavors are the key. I watched Paula Dean and other celebrity chefs prepare their thanksgiving dinner on tv and it looked great but it was so complicated. Paula’s Turducken (a turkey stuffed with a whole duck, stuffed with a chicken!) was unusual and complex. She had a calorie busting oyster dressing on the side and hamburgers wrapped in puff pastry. It all looked good but I’m sticking to my New England favorites.
This year, I plan to purchase a locally grown turkey from Diemand Farm in Miller Falls. Pete, the owner of the farm, is a great fellow and always comes to UMass for our Pioneer Valley Harvest Special. Since 2005, UMass Dining has also purchased brown eggs and free range turkeys from Diemand Farm.
To accompany my Turkey, I also plan to cook carrots glazed with maple syrup, mashed potatoes, squash, green beans, and local spinach. I bet a dessert or too with local cranberries will appear at dinner table as well!
I look forward to the Thanksgiving! It’s not all about the food and it’s really all about being with family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving and have a safe holiday!
This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.
Ken Toong
Director
Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu
You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong