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Country Traditional - The Deep-Fried Turkey
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Take a beer keg and cut the top off, so the keg is essentially a
very large, tough pot. Fill that pot with cooking oil and put it on
top of a propane burner, the type you use for a crawfish boil. Heat
that oil up to frying temperature, and drop in a turkey that has
been rubbed with salt, pepper, and a little seasoning. The end
result: a crispy-fried skin with juicy meat on the inside. I first
discovered this dish a couple of years ago working at a client site
in Norco. Definitely an outdoors, country sort of thing to do. You
don't just heat up a keg full of oil to frying temperature in your
backyard. This is one of those "don't try this at home" dishes.
Creole Thanksgiving Dishes
We do the turkey thing here, of course, but it's the side dishes
that make for a Creole Thanksgiving. Everybody's momma has one dish
or another that makes its annual appearance on either Thanksgiving
or Christmas.
Appetizers
~~~~~~~~~~
We always begin a meal in New Orleans with something to pick on.
When the whole family is gathered, that's a great time for one of
your sisters or cousins to try out some sort of hors dUoeuvre that
she's been wanting to do for a while. These usually include a hot
crab dip, cold shrimp spread and artichoke balls.
Soup
~~~~
In spite of the fact that the words "soup" and "gumbo" are almost
interchangeable here, many families here choose a different soup for
special occasions like Thanksgiving. There are two main reasons for
this: First, you're usually preparing a lot of food for a number of
people, so it's easier to make a simple soup rather than a gumbo.
Second, we eat gumbo all year 'round. Popular soups for
Thanksgiving include a cream of vegetable soup, like cream of
broccoli or cream of asparagus, or perhaps an oyster-artichoke soup.
The gumbo comes after Thanksgiving, when you've got leftovers to get
rid of. That's when it's time for turkey gumbo.
Da Bird
~~~~~~~
In his cookbook The Frugal Gourmet Cooks With Wine, Jeff Smith (who,
by the way, is my favorite TV chef) says that New Orleanians use
more thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco (although we locals
prefer the more generic term "hot sauce.") than just about any other
place on the planet. If you want to do a New Orleans-style turkey,
liberal use of these three ingredients would not be that far off the
mark. Others use cayenne pepper, some add a bit of sweet basil for
an Italian touch. These are the most common flavors you'll find in
our cooking, so it's natural you'll find them in the turkey.
Stuffing
~~~~~~~~
The most popular variation on the traditional meal is in the
stuffing. Instead of a standard ground-meat or cornbread stuffing,
many New Orleanians do an oyster dressing. Some are based on bread
crumbs, others on cornbread, but they're usually spicy and chockfull
of oysters. Another popular stuffing uses andouille sausage or tasso
instead of regular ham. Still others make "dirty rice" and give up
on bread crumbs altogether.
Vegetables
~~~~~~~~~~
Thanksgiving dinners are often family efforts, where folks make
something at home and bring it with them. That's why you see a lot
of casseroles, vegetables au gratin, and other "made dishes."
Common this time of year are sweet potato or green bean casserole
and cauliflower au gratin.

Submitted By SAM LEFKOWITZ On 11-29-95

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