Left Behind

Saucyman – I think I am sick of Thanksgiving food. Any ideas? Don't say hotdish, don't say hotdish, don't say hotdish...

The freezer.

I am guilty about not following my own advice. Rather than freezing the excess for a time when I crave it again, I am just plowing through the leftovers. Between work providing a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Friday and 2 people foisting - a good foisting though - leftovers on me, I have had 8 meals involving turkey & 2 of the 3: pie, potatoes, stuffing, green beans, Brussels Sprouts or cranberries since Thrusday. There has been a little variation - a delicious potpie, a few sandwiches but mostly it has been straight up microwaved. Tonight I am adding okra, shrimp and rice to turkey for a gumbo. Despite the presence of turkey, I am very excited about tonight’s dinner. Very. Excited.

This violates USDA recommendations for not using turkey more than 3 to 4 for days after it has been cooked. That is extremely cautious, I find 6 to 7 days is a good time frame for properly cooked and stored food, especially when it is going to be reheated.

Stuffing though, I am going to agree with the USDA and say after 2 days of storage, it needs to go. Gravy too gets iffy before a week is up. The shorter window for these two has more to do with how thoroughly they were cooked and how quickly they were stored, rather than some intrinsic fault. Pie is generally the first thing to go, so you don't have to worry about it lasting more than a week. Wild rice should be frozen after 5 days. Potatoes can make it for a week – also easily frozen, though the consistency is never quite right after thawing. Veg are pretty much useless after 5 days or after they have been reheated once.

Despite government advisories to the contrary, there is still time to use the meat and bones from the turkey. Slice the meat from the bones, place in your favorite storage container and freeze – it will keep 3 months. The bones can be easily turned into stock: Place in a stockpot with an onion, 2 carrots and a couple ribs of celery, bay leaf and thyme. Cover with water and simmer for 90 minutes to 2 hours. Strain and freeze. Turkey stock is a little more pronounced than chicken stock and a cook might want to avoid using it in risotto, polenta or any recipe that calls for chicken stock. While turkey stock isn’t so good in delicate dishes, it does make for good soup. Two quarts of stock, ¾ cup of wild rice, carrots and celery – maybe a few mushrooms added to a handful of the leftover turkey makes for a nice December - baby it is cold outside meal.

Everyone gets so excited about turkey dinner leading up to Thanksgiving Dinner, wondering out loud why they don’t have it more than once a year. Then 5 days of leftovers coupled with unique interpretations like tetrazzini, ala king, curry - people are so sick of turkey and its variations, it takes 11 months to forget. BTW–none of the above have to be bad things, all I’m saying is how often do you tetrazzini, ala king or curry something at home? If you want to use leftovers, they shouldn’t carry the stamp of out of the ordinary/utility, especially when you are a little tired of the ingredient going into the meal. Leftovers should be used in ordinary meals. Around the Saucyhouse that means enchiladas, soup/stew and tonight’s gumbo, which I think I mentioned, I am very excited about.