It's a shame that I didn't see this vegan turkey recipe before I tried making the rather... interesting... Tofurkey shortly before this past Thanksgiving. The Tofurkey was a tofu-based "roast" with a wild rice stuffing and a faux-giblet gravy on the side. The vegan turkey from Two Vegan sisters almost reverses the order of ingredients, ending up with something that sounds much more appetizing. At the center of their "turkey," they used seitan, a wheat-based meat substitute, and covered it in a layer of stuffing that was shaped into a turkey-like mass and had turkey/stuffing legs added. The whole construction was covered with a layer of homemade (vegan) puff pastry and baked until golden. A turkey and stuffing savory pastry? It seems hard to go wrong with that!

And if you're not a vegan, this idea could still work for you. I can picture sausages or even real turkey in the center of this faux bird. It would certainly be an interesting take on the traditional bird at your next family dinner!

[via the ppk blog]

Roughly 45 million turkeys are eaten each Thanksgiving, so it's not too surprising that we - and just about everyone else who writes about food - spend a lot of time talking about what we're doing with our turkeys for Thanksgiving and presenting alternatives to the traditional roast bird. But not everyone is planning on having turkey at his or her Thanksgiving dinner. A few might opt for steaks or pasta dishes for the main meal and a handful choose Tofurkey, but the second most popular main course for this particular holiday is ham. HoneyBaked, which is one of the most popular sources for ham, says that they can sell 50 times more ham for Thanksgiving than the do during the average week. Even more than that is sold leading up to Christmas.

I'm still serving turkey on the big day in addition to all the usual sides. What's going to be on your Thanksgiving table?

First things first. Salon's Diary of a turkey killer is decidely not the daily musings of someone who works in a slaughterhouse. It's a thoughtful piece by a former vegetarian turned carnivore who decides to raise and kill her own bird. The author is also quite an engaged gourmand. She grows her own heirloom tomatoes, and thus chose to purchase a heritage bird. A Heritage Bronze, like the one pictured here, to be specific.

There can never be too may turkey taste tests or suggestions about different methods of cooking turkey before Thanksgiving, whether you are trying to choose the perfect bird, find the perfect temperature or narrow down your list of useful gadgets. After all, the holiday comes only once a year and anyone motivated enough to cook their own bird is going to want to do it right. In their quest for the perfect turkey, the Washington Post tested out several more expensive local brands against the ubiquitous Butterball. Their food section staff and chef Todd Gray got together and tasted four birds prepared by Chef Bryan Voltaggio of Charlie Palmer Steak (who shoots and plucks his own wild turkeys).

The favorite was the free range, all-natural turkey from Maple Lawn Farms, with moist and full flavored meat. In what came as something of a surprise to everyone, the ordinary Butterball came in second, pleasing taste buds with its familiar flavor even though it was a bit dry. The judges did not like the flavor of the fresh, free-range, organic, certified humanely raised and handled American Bronze heritage breed turkey from Ayrshire Farm or the fresh, natural Shady Brook Farms turkey.

Chef Voltaggio said he could see the difference in textures in the two mass produced birds (Shady Brook and Butterball) and would prefer to serve one of the other two brands. But the taste test here is a good reminder that it doesn't matter what you pay for the bird as long as your guests enjoy what you're serving

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.

Perhaps some of you are just going to run out to the supermarket and pick up the first turkey that you see on the shelves of the meat section a few days before Thanksgiving. While this strategy will get you a bird, it will not necessarily get you the best bird, as evidenced by the NYT's cook-off of different types of turkey. The first step in turkey shopping is to find out what kind of turkey you actually want and how much it is going to cost you.

• Heritage turkeys are the types of birds that were served more than, say, 50 years ago when a turkey with breasts larger than the rest of the body was not necessarily desirable. Most of the breeds of bird are not commercially bred and some may even be endangered, so a limited number of them are available at a premium price.
• Free Range turkeys are ones that, like free range chickens, have the option of going outdoors instead of being completely confined, although some free range birds are actually raised completely in the open, so you might want to ask your meat provider about the origin of a free-ranger.
• Organic turkeys are raised on organic feed and without antibiotics and "natural" turkeys make similar claims. Whether you want an organic bird is a personal preference, but Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, is quick to point out that "growth hormones and preservatives are not used in California chickens or turkeys, so you just don't have to worry about [that aspect]."
• Conventional turkeys are the least expensive and easiest to find. Some say that they have somewhat less flavor than other birds and, because they have such a large amount of breast meat, they have the potential to be drier than the meat from other birds.

Once you have the turkey, all you have to do is defrost it (unless you've found a local source for frozen turkeys), cook it to perfection and enjoy. You might also want to mention to your dinner guests the amount of time you put into the turkey-finding process so they, too, can appreciate it a bit more.

The "discerning cook" is no longer content with what local supermarkets have to offer (note: although many at least in my area, actually do seem to offer these foods) an is willing to search far and wide for the best of the best ingredients to improve Thanksgiving sides. Among the most sough out foods: pie apples, farm-fresh brussel sprouts on the stalk, high fat butter, Italian chestnuts, cornmeal, organic cranberries, Russet pecans, potatoes, squash and wild rice.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, shares the secret of baking great bread at home with a surprisingly easy recipe that requires no kneading and produces great results.

Does Domino's Brooklyn-Style pizzas actually compare to a real pizza from Brooklyn? Their pizzas are thinner than the standard, with "large, floppy slices" so big you can fold them in half. Reviews are mixed over how good the Domino's pie is (Adam from SliceNY thought that it was okay), but the bone of contention for New Yorkers seems to be the fact that there is cornmeal in the crust.

Six turkeys - Bourbon Red and American Bronze, heritage birds; farmed "wild" turkeys; organic; "natural"; and Butterball - were cooked up to see which type was the best fro T-day. The conclusion was that, while Heritage, organic and natural birds came out slightly ahead of the rest, the key factors are cooking time and temperature.

Some Chilean sea bass, namely that from one sea bass fishery in the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic near Antarctica, is sustainable and Whole Foods is carrying it again.

Frank Bruni eats at Picholine and gives it 3 stars.

Menus already chock-full of details about the soil quality in the area the salad spinach was grown and the precise variety of vanilla in the crème brule are soon going to have another detail: the sire of the steak. Always looking to be on the cutting edge of dining trends, some chefs are getting involved in animal husbandry to custom breed specific, and often rare, varieties of meat for their restaurants. They feel that this gives them an edge over companies that contract with well-known high-end producers. Whether or not there is any truth to the belief that things which are rarer are necessarily better or higher quality, chefs like David Burke are beginning to do things like buy bulls and find farmers to raise what will be a future meal, according to an article (subscription required to read it online) in the Wall Street Journal.