The first things that will attract you to the books in the Williams-Sonoma collection are the mouthwatering photographs of the dishes. They've probably caught your eye in their stores. But beyond the eye candy, their books usually have good recipes and, in their Essentials series, a lot of useful information about the topic at hand. Williams-Sonoma Essentials Of Roasting is their definitive guide to roasting and probably a good reference to have on hand if you're thinking of starting up the tradition of the Sunday (or Monday, as tomorrow is Christmas) roast in your home.

The book begins, as do others in this series, by covering the basic techniques of oven roasting and the equipment that you'll probably need to be successful, like a good roasting pan. It has over 130 recipes for both traditional and updated dishes, including meats, vegetables, fish and fruits, as well as a variety of sides to complement them.

For years, the "Tofurkey" seemed like some sort of make-believe food item and I pictured blocks of tofu stuck together and carved into a giant turkey shape. This particular mental image was smashed the day I first spotted an actual Tofurkey at the market. The product is a 100% vegan roast made out of tofu and vital wheat gluten (this is the combination, with seasonings, is known as "Tofurkey"), stuffed with a brown rice stuffing and accompanied by a side of "giblet and mushroom gravy," which contains more Tofurkey, mushrooms and a variety of seasonings, oils and thickeners.

I decided that I'd give it a try and see what it was like. After all - how bad could it be?

When brewing coffee, there are two factors that play a huge part in the final flavor. The water-to-bean ratio is important, but first you should have fresh beans and they should be ground as soon before brewing as possible. Fresh grounds will have the natural oils of the bean still in them, which will give you the fullest flavor, eliminating much of that flat and bitter aftertaste that can come from stale grounds - and ground coffee can stale very, very quickly. This is why, if you brew coffee at home, it's a good idea to buy a grinder and grind your own beans. Since that's another step between you and coffee in the morning, however, many opt for preground. The all-in-one coffee makers, which have built in grinders, are a good option for anyone who wants to get the best cup of coffee with the least amount of work.

The machines are programmed in advance and they heat water, grind beans and brew your coffee all with the touch of a button. A recent test showed good results from each of three machines. The Melitta preformed well, but had no insulated carafe, which keeps the coffee from becoming burned or overly strong sitting on a heating pad. The Cuisinart made a slightly better cup of coffee than the Melitta, but the Capresso, with a burr grinder to ensure even grounds and smooth flavor, won the test.

All in all, you can't really go wrong with any of the machines from the sound of it, but if you already have a machine you like, look into getting a grinder instead of a whole new machine to really improve the quality of your morning brew.

Many of us only use a large roasting pan a few times a year and even though the meals we are using it for are holiday dinners, where to is important to try to get the food as perfectly cooked as possible, it is hard to justify spending $200+ dollars on a pan that gets so little use. Cook's Country tested some inexpensive roasting pans, all under $100, to see if they would do just as good a job as the more expensive pans while staying in our budgets.

Each of the pans they tested was designed to work both on the stove-top, so they could be used to brown meats, and in the oven or under the broiler. They chose pans with a minimum size of 15" x 11" inches, to accommodate largest turkeys. Overall, they strongly preferred pans that had sturdy, upright handles, which were easy to grip and did not interfere with the way the pan fit into the oven by adding an extra 2-3 inches to the length. They also found that stainless steel pans with aluminum cores offered the best heat distribution, while plain stainless steel could be a bit spotty when it came to browning. Their top picks were:

• CALPHALON Contemporary Stainless Steel Roasting Pan ($100)
• CUISINART Chef's Classic Roasting Pan ($80)
• KITCHENAID Gourmet Distinctions Roasting Pan ($50) - Best Buy
• GRANITE WARE Oval Roasting Pan ($22) - Best Buy for very infrequent roasters

A turkey needs to reach an internal temperature of 165F in the thigh meat before it can be considered done. To achieve this, the bird must be cooked at a temperature greater than 165F for long enough to cook it through. The lower the temperature, the longer the time. A common temperature is about 325F, which results in a time of "about 20 minutes per pound." By increasing the temperature to 475F, roasting might take only 2 hours. Time, clearly, is a factor in choosing the latter method. Other advantages include getting a crisper skin and, according to many proponents of the faster method, a moister bird. In the end, it's a flavor and time preference as long as you check the meat with a thermometer to ensure that it really is done.

The name of the Sili Sling is derived from the fact that it is made of silicone, but it seems fitting for such a strange looking kitchen tool. The sling is designed to lift heavy foods out of a roasting pan, making it a perfect choice on Thanksgiving, as an 15-lb turkey can be difficult to maneuver, to say the least. No one wants to drop the turkey, but you can't leave it in the pan until it is cool and easy to handle, not unless you have no interest in making gravy, anyway. The oval sling is perforated and will not interfere with cooking, nor will it interfere with browning. The handles drape over the side of the pan and should be cool enough to handle after a few moments outside of the oven. Once Thanksgiving is over, you don't need to retire the sling for another year. It can be used for any other type of roasted or baked meat, from ham to fish, and has a maximum capacity of 18-pounds.

Frozen turkey thawing timetable
Weight In refrigerator In cold water
4 to 12 pounds 1 to 3 days 2 to 6 hours
12 to 16 pounds 3 to 4 days 6 to 8 hours
16 to 20 pounds 4 to 5 days 8 to 10 hours
20 to 24 pounds 5 to 6 days 10 to 12 hours

There is no doubt that America's Test Kitchen takes Thanksgiving seriously. Not only is it the biggest food holiday of the year, so they have a sort of professional obligation to at least mention it, but they decided to tackle the biggest of all Thanksgiving challenges: Turducken.

Ok, so they didn't make the Turducken - a Turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken - themselves, but they did test out several different suppliers, which is where most of us would turn if we wanted to put one of these creations on our holiday table. They ordered birds from Cajun Specialty Meats, Cajun Creations, and Cajun Grocer, then defrosted and roasted them. Unfortunately, none of the birds turned out well, as all required longer cooking time than indicated on the packaging and, consequently, ended up dry and flavorless. The ATK team also reported that the stuffings and overall presentation were disappointing in general. If you're willing to devote the 12-or-so hours needed to make the real thing, that is the only way to go if you want to serve one to friends and family. You can find a good how-to at Paul Prudhomme's site, as well as here .

The only thing more impressive than a turducken is stuffing even more birds into one giant one. But perhaps ATK will tackle that next year.

Before you consider investing in La Caja China, there are a couple of questions that you need to ask yourself. The first is, how serious are you about cooking pork? The second is, how much meat do you want to cook at one time?

La Caja China is - quite literally - a large box that is used for roasting a pig in Chinese fashion, though it is hugely popular in Florida's Cuban community and anywhere else that people want to roast whole pigs. The medium sized model costs almost $300 and can hold up to a 70-lb pig (the large can handle a 100-lb swine). If you don't want to go the whole hog, it can also be used to roast 16-18 whole chickens, 4-6 turkeys, 8-10 pork ribs slabs, 8-10 pork shoulders or any other type of meat, all at the same time.

The way that it works is that a dressed pig is laid inside the box. The box is shut and covered with charcoal. After a few hours inside the aluminum-lined Caja China, the meat of the pig is cooked. At that point, the pig is flipped over - getting the skin side nearer to the indirect heat source - and the skin crisps up to be a dark golden color. The whole process takes a few hours, but connoisseurs say that the juicy meat and crispy skin is worth every minute of waiting time, although you may want to run errands or something while the pig cooks.

As for getting a whole pig, you're on your own.

Asparagus is a vegetable, which is actually a member of the Lily family, and one that has been grown for more than 2,000 years. It is very high in antioxidants and was valued for its perceived medicinal purposes in ancient Rome, where it was used to treat everything from cuts to toothaches. They also thought of it as a aphrodisiac.

It takes about 3 years after a "crown" is planted that an asparagus plant will begin to produce stalks. Once they get started, the plants grow fast - very fast. Under optimal conditions, such as mild, warm weather, the spears may have to be harvested every 24 hours during their season, which begins in late spring and lasts for about three months. White asparagus comes from the same plant as green, but is grown underground. Lack of exposure to the light prevents chlorophyll from developing and keeps the stalks white. Almost 80% of the country's asparagus is grown in California, and while many states have small crops, the balance of the commercial product is grown in Washington and Michigan.

Cargill, Inc., the US's second largest meat processor, has done some research on consumer knowledge of beef. As it turns out, people don't know a lot about it. To remedy the problem, as well as hoping to boost sales, the company has launched a program to educate meat buyers on meat, including the differences between things like chuck roast and tri-tip and how to cook them properly. The target age group is people between 25 and 45 who may not have grown up in a family that cooked a lot in the home, so they have limited experience with meats.

BeefQuiz.com is a site launched by the company to help consumers learn about meat. As an incentive, people who do well will get a coupon for up to $1.50 off Sterling Silver beef, a Cargill brand. There is also a beef buying guide on their website, though you can check out our list of the leanest beef cuts if that is more your style. Consumer-friendly labeling is another one of their strategies, adding cooking tips and recipes right onto the packaging.

From a consumer standpoint, the campaign will help people to eat better. If you have no idea what a skirt steak is but know that you can make hamburgers from ground beef, you might never get around to trying the skirt steak. Knowledge gives consumers more options and, in this case, might help eliminate a beef with beef.