Sleep deprived and with a second batch of chicken pho broth simmering under my better half's watchful eye, I ducked out to the ByWard Market two hours before our guests were scheduled to arrive for Thanksgiving dinner. Before you think this my deserting the kitchen to frivolously go shopping, Jenn and I decided to serve a Mongolian-style Hot Pot this year using the aforementioned broth. The meat, seafood, and vegetables had already been sliced and layered in between plastic film, ready for "service." I needed to re-stock the fridge, every piece of produce spoken for for dinner.

Here's what $20 CAD got me at the ByWard open air market, which was bursting with Autumnal vegetables that October weekend.

$20 of produce

Tomatoes, Russet Apples, and Uncured Red Onions
The majority of this produce was purchased from the Rochon Farms stall, my favourite local farm. Rochon also has a stall at the Ottawa Farmer's Market at Lansdowne, Gerard Rochon sitting on the board of that farmers' market.

Besides incredibly fresh tomatoes, apples, onions and carrots, I also picked up a pint of vegetables dreaded by many children at Thanksgiving.

Brussel Sprouts
Chosen for their tight and firm heads, this pint of brussel sprouts ran me $3.

Taking some inspiration from fellow local foodie @spoonsie, Ottawa's Bacon Princess, I cooked them up with bacon and onions.

Bacon and Onion Brussel Sprouts
The bacon was standard single smoked breakfast bacon, sourced from Saslove's Meat Market, $2.46 worth (approximately a half dozen rashers).

To make "Spoonsified" Brussel Sprouts, boil a pot of salted water (preferably kosher). Carefully add the brussel sprouts and cook for 10 minutes. Remove them to an ice water bath to cool. This "shocking" process will give the sprouts a brilliant green.

Chop the bacon and render them in a pan set to medium low. Essentially, slowly cook the bacon at relatively low heat to draw out its fat. When a couple tbsp of drippings "comes out", turn up the heat to medium and crisp the bacon.

Remove the crisped bacon bits, draining them of their drippings and set them aside. Pour the bacon drippings into another pan. Alternatively, you could do what I did: reserve the drippings, de-glaze the pan with some water, dump out the water, wipe the pan, and replace the drippings.

Halve the brussel sprouts and dredge the cut side in a very thin layer of corn or rice starch. Place them in the pan of bacon drippings, the brussel sprouts cut side down and the bacon drippings heated on medium to shimmering.

Carefully, placing the brussel sprouts in the bacon drippings.

Fry them in the bacon drippings for 1.5-2 minutes.

Frying to crust the brussel sprouts

Remove the brussel sprouts from the pan once a crust forms and the sprouts heat through. For a pint of sprouts, this will take two batches. You may need to supplement the bacon drippings with vegetable oil.

When all the brussel sprouts have been crusted, de-glaze with a medium chopped onion and sautee until coloured.

Assemble everything, chopped onion, crisped bacon, and crusted brussel sprouts together and serve.

The resultant brussel sprouts take on a bacony flavour while remaining earthy, crisp, and green. The onion and bacon add savory. They disappeared quickly...

As for what happened to the rest of the produce, the carrots and onions were sweated and the tomatoes roasted for a sauce.

Roasted Tomatoes

Roasted Tomato Sauce
The russet apples...Well, I'll leave that for another blog.

Particulars:
Saslove's Meat Market
50 Byward Market Square
(613)241-9266

Thanksgiving in Canada came and past October 11, 2009. With a dear friend then getting married the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, several compromises had to be made. Firstly, there was no time to prep a turkey dinner. Normally, we intend Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner to be "cook from first principles" meals. Everything is made from scratch and, as much as is possible, we purchase local ingredients. Every year, with at least 5 guests invited (family and friends), our turkey dinners typically require a day's prep and cooking. Before you ask why a turkey dinner takes an entire day's prep, we cook up a very large batch of turkey stock for a soup course and a veloute gravy; we bake up pastries for dessert; and, given that our guests don't all like turkey, we confit at least 2 entrees of duck. This all happens before the turkey, sans legs, enters the oven for roasting. The legs are braised separately.

With my better half's entire family (brother, 2 sisters, and both parents), a family friend, and a neighbour invited over for Sunday night dinner, we opted to serve up a Mongolian-style hot pot, using chicken pho broth (yes, I know the difference between stock and broth). Why? We could prepare the broth in a slow cooker while we attended our friend's wedding ceremony and reception.

For the pho stock, we took 2 lbs chicken bones and placed them in a stock pot, submerging them in cold water (approximately 2 quarts). Then, we placed it on a burner, set to medium, and brought it up to a simmer. Lowering the head to medium low, we simmered the bones for an hour. Afterward, we fished out the bones, washing off any scum in the cooking liquid and set them aside. The cooking liquid was discarded and the pot washed.

The French tradition for stock involves roasting bones to develop colour and flavour before simmering for the "long term." Then, everything is strained through a chinoise and/or clarified using egg whites. The Asian tradition involves par-cooking to remove scum. It is then strained, but is partially clarified beforehand.

To simmer for the long term, we placed the par cooked bones back into the stock pot and added the flavourants: one large onion, a dozen cloves, 3 whole pieces of star anise, a small head of garlic, an inch of ginger, a tbsp of black pepper corns, and a dash of kosher salt. The flavourants were chosen according to the chicken pho (pho ga) recipe by @wanderchopsticks, author of the amazing Wandering Chopsticks blog (home of the 100 Vietnamese Foods to Try list).

Characteristic Pho Broth Flavourants
According to the recipe we were supposed to roast the spices to release "aromas." We didn't have time.

Once assembled, we again brought the stock back up to a simmer. Then, we placed the entire batch into a slow cooker set to low and let it cook, very slow simmer, until we came home. The scent that awaited us was amazing. The stock had darkened. The bones were about to crumble. The onion had almost liquefied.

Unfortunately, the resultant stock had also reduced, so the next day at 6:00 am, I repeated the process with another 2 lbs of chicken bones. This time, it cooked on the stove top.

Eventually, we mixed the two resultant stocks, de-fatting them first, and used them to poach fish, pork, beef, and vegetables. Here is what the resultant hot pot soup (can't really call it a broth anymore) looked like with Pho noodles.

Bowl of Chicken Pho

Soup
The soup was very rich and deeply flavorful. To serve, I finished the soup with a tbsp of fish sauce, some added umami.

Fear not, besides the Chinese greens we poached, I innovated a more traditional Thanksgiving vegetable side: "Spoonsified" Brussel Sprouts.

Bacon and Onion Brussel Sprouts

A prime example of the convergence of traditional push media and more modern push-pull media is the semi-viral marketing campaign employed by the American Turner Broadcasting Station to promote its sitcom, 10 Items or Less. According to wikipedia.net, the show debuted on TBS on November 27, 2006. It is currently aired in two countries outside of the US: Canada (on Global) and the UK (on the F/X channel). However, due to poor ratings, the show, which has been renewed for a third season by TBS, will be dropped from Global's roster.

To promote the show during the holiday season, TBS launched the lesliesturkeybowling.com website and filmed amateur video of college-aged kids "turkey bowling." Turkey bowling has nothing to do with bowling 3 consecutive strikes. It involves commandeering an aisle in a grocery store, blocking each end with merchandise, and setting up a 12 pin frame using full 2L drink bottles at one end. To bowl, a frozen turkey is hurled along the floor towards the drink bottles. The standard rules of bowling apply. The lesliesturkeybowling.com website hosts an Adobe Flash version of the game with detailed instructions on how to play. The amateur video was posted to YouTube.

Here are screen captures of the Flash game on lesliesturkeybowling.com:

Opening Screen

Score, during my first try

Here is one of the amateur videos:

It was posted on December 19, 2008. At the end, the lesliesturkeybowling.com url is displayed with a warning that turkey bowling is more than likely illegal and, if caught, could lead to prosecution if not a civil lawsuit.

On December 22, 2008, another video, featuring two main characters from 10 Items or Less was uploaded. It resembles a public service announcement, warning other grocers about the sport and encouraging zero tolerance. Needless to say, it goes horribly wrong and hilarity ensues.


More amateur footage, featuring the lesliesturkeybowling.com url appeared after new year.

You will notice that some of the footage from this video was used in the public service announcement.

Did the folks who write for 10 Items or Less come up with turkey bowling? Probably not, but it now has a following.

The boys from CollegeHumor.com responded to the public service announcement with their own video of their staff turkey bowling in their office space.


A youtube user who goes by the handle shaycarl has posted a series of videos of he and his friends going to random supermarkets or department stores and turkey bowling. The following was filmed at a Walmart.

Amazingly, shaycarl, who is announced to be born and bred to kill deer and eat turkey, even gets a random shopper to participate.

While we at foodiePrints cannot condone the practice of turkey bowling, we find the turkey bowling lexicon hilarious.

• White Meat: A fresh, clean turkey straight from the freezer.
• Dark Meat: A turkey that has been used for several frames and has become dirty and worn. Also known as a "Ground Turkey"
• Deep Fried: A turkey so heated by bowling friction that it actually begins to cook a little.
• Drumstick Hook: Gripping the turkey by the left or right drumstick when rolling to create enough side-spin to make the turkey curve as it rolls toward the soda bottles.
• Gobbler: A turkey bowler known for rolling the turkey with extreme force, making it hook more.
• Gravy Boat: A turkey bowler known for timing and delivery as smooth as a Grandma's famous Thanksgiving gravy.
• Gravy Gobbler: A turkey bowler who combines the high hooking power of a Gobbler with the smooth delivery and timing of a Gravy Boat. Also known as a "Tom Turkey".

Seriously, please don't try this in real life. Besides the standard misuse or potential destruction of merchandise, I'm pretty sure you don't want to purchase a turkey that was once used as a bowling ball.

Why is it that some of the more interesting Thanksgiving-related "food-stuffs" appear after the Canadian Thanksgiving? It always seems that the American Thanksgiving (4th Thursday of November) is celebrated with more pomp and pageantry than its Canadian counterpart (2nd Monday of October). More magazines are devoted to the preparation of turkey and "fixings." More television shows put out Thanksgiving episodes, especially on the Food Network. More advertising is spent on both Thanksgiving and "Black Friday."

Perhaps the disparity has something to do with "Black Friday." "Black Friday" is the Friday after Thanksgiving. It is considered the unofficial first day of the Christmas shopping season. In Canada, Thanksgiving's statutory holiday is Monday, which means Canadians get an extended weekend (3 days, instead of 2). In the United States, the statutory holiday is Thursday, which means that Americans are obligated to work the following Friday. However, because of "Black Friday" sales, worker absenteeism spikes that day. Are Canadians given a day's rest, while American are encouraged to "work off" the turkey while shopping?

As an example of American Thanksgiving-specific food-stuffs, take the following poll that I gleaned from the TV.com website last year:



Television Chef Poll: Whom would you want to prepare Thanksgiving dinner in your home?
Even the Canadian counterpart to the Food Network, foodnetwork.ca, has yet to do anything similar.

Though, I am somewhat concerned by the popular choices. Accordingly, the top three TV Chefs polled were Tyler Florence, Gordon Ramsay, and Giada de Laurentiis. Tyler Florence is an American chef, whose various cooking shows, including my favourite: "Tyler's Ultimate", celebrate American cuisine. He is an appropriate choice. Thanksgiving originates in the new world as a harvest festival celebrated by "pilgrims." As such, it is a North American tradition. Giada de Laurentiis serves up contemporary Italian dishes on her show. Gordon Ramsay is a British chef of the classic French tradition. When he's not balking at the kitchen brigade in any of his dozen restaurants, he's trying to uplift the world's opinion of British cuisine. Thus, neither chefs (yes, Giada has chef's papers from le Cordon Bleu) cook food that normally celebrate Thanksgiving. To my utmost surprise, down home Southerner Paula Deen and Bobby Flay faired poorly.

And, here is a more recent list of novel ideas for Thanksgiving leftovers from the, Yahoo.com-affiliated, Better Home and Garden Magazine's website.

1. Bountiful Herbed Turkey and Waffles
2. Sweet Potato Pankcakes
3. Slow Cooker New World Chili
4. Quick Potato-Topped Beef Bowls
5. Layered Turkey Enchiladas
6. Mile-High Turkey Panini Sandwich

Source: BHG.com
Similar whimsical or unorthodox recipes did not appear during the Canadian Thanksgiving...

BTW, the Sweet Potato Pankcakes link leads to a cupcake recipe.

BHG's Novel Ideas for Thanksgiving Leftovers
"Pank" is more than likely a typo.

Regarding leftovers, my better half and I have been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for family and friends during the past several years. This year, we instituted what I hope will become a tradition for leftover turkey. We sent our guests home with freshly-made turkey pot pies. They were put together and baked during the dessert course. Ingredients included leftover turkey breast meat, freshly sweated vegetables, a milk bechemel (seasoned with summer savory), and sheets of puff pastry. Since, we serve Thanksgiving dinner Sunday evening, my guests have something ready-to-eat for lunch the next day.

Anyhow, cheers to my American neighbors! Have a good Thanksgiving!

To Canadian content providers, shape up! Next year, you'd better show me the turkey!