The Bitten Word

Swordfish Puttanesca

Saveur (January 2012)

One of the best things about cooking our way through magazines is that we're always learning something new. Whether it's an ingredient, a preparation or an actual dish, we're constantly finding out about new techniques or being confronted with dishes that we have long heard about but never tried.

Puttanesca is a perfect example. We've always heard about it, but if we'd been pressed to define it, the best we would have come up with is, "It's like an Italian...sauce...right?"

Well, puttanesca, we're sorry it's taken us so long to get to know you. Where have you been all our lives?

Thanksgiving 2011: Cranberry Pomegranate Gelatin

Martha Stewart Living (November 2011)

You know how people like to make fun of Martha Stewart by saying how unnecessarily complicated her recipes can be? And you always feel the need to defend her, but your friend is all, "Oh no, it's like, 'Here's a recipe for roast chicken. First step, raise a free-range chicken from birth before killing and dressing it.' " And you're all, "Whatever, some of her recipes may involve a few steps, but it's worth it." But your friend is all, "No way, it's ridiculous and over-complicated."

This is the kind of recipe your friend is talking about.

Thanksgiving 2011: Cranberry Chutney with Fennel and Golden Raisins

Cook's Illustrated (October/November 2011)

O, cranberry sauce! You may be our favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. A tart oasis amidst a desert of savory sameness. A refreshing, zesty dip into a pool of sweet-sour bliss. A cool, calming cloth on the fevered brow of Pilgrims'---

Eh, whatever. We really like cranberry sauce.

And we love this version with fennel and golden raisins!

Thanksgiving 2011 Recipe Index: What the Food Magazines Are Recommending

Our Fakesgiving + Our Favorite Holiday Dishes

A little more than a week ago, we had Thanksgiving.

Or really, we had Fakesgiving, our annual tradition with friends and family where we pack as many seats as possible into our apartment, make a bunch of new dishes from November food magazines, and see what everyone likes and dislikes. This year, there were 13 of us. Zach's mom and sister came and helped cook the day before (we literally could not have done it without them), and we made 17 new Thanksgiving dishes. 

(This year's Fakesgiving crowd, minus the two of us.)

Below, you'll see the initial list of recipes we started with: more than 250 Thanksgiving recipes from 10 magazines. To be included in the index, the recipes had to be part of the magazine's Thanksgiving coverage. So this is not meant to be comprehensive -- there are many more recipes in this month's magazines. If the recipe is hyperlinked, it is available online. If not, it's not there yet. 

In preparation for this year's Thanksgiving coverage, we've also created a page of Our Favorite Holiday Recipes. There, you'll find a collection of dishes from Thanksgivings, Fakesgivings and holiday dinner parties past. We'll be updating it as we introduce new content and recipes on the site.

Enjoy the index! 

Pesto di Noce (Walnut Pesto) with Flank Steak

Saveur (August 2011)

As people who have grown basil for the past five or so years, we are well accustomed to making pesto.

Ours has typically been the basil + Parmesan + pine nut + garlic + olive oil variety.

But honestly, we've found pine nuts a little unnerving since reading stories like this one. Plus, they're expensive. The combination of shadiness plus cost easily pushes them down our list of ingredients.

So we were eager to try this take on walnut pesto from Saveur.

Thanksgiving 2010: Send Us Your Photos!

We're all done with our Thanksgiving posts! We really enjoyed trying all these recipes, and we've loved hearing from you about what you're planning to cook!

Now comes the fun part: Are you making a dish from a food magazine this year?  We'd love to feature your dish in a round-up of reader experiences after the big day. Whether you tried something new this year or you cooked some family favorites, we'd love to see your pics! Email them to us along with your thoughts on the dish and we'll post a round-up sometime after Thursday.

Below, you'll find every dish we made this year for Thanksgiving -- click on an image to read the recipe. And remember, don't lose your head on the big day.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving! We hope it's full of love, family and really, really good food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

>> More Thanksgiving recommendations from the Bitten Word

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Thanksgiving 2009: Beet Chutney

Bon Appétit (November 2009)

 

If our Jellied Cranberry Sauce was a country club debutante, and our Nutty Cranberry Relish was the same girl with messy hair and artsy jewelry, then this Beet Chutney is that girl's wild and worldly best friend, the one who used to get drunk and dance on tables but now has shaved her head and joined an ashram.

Thanksgiving 2009: Nutty Cranberry Relish

Food Network Magazine (November 2009)

As we said before, we just love cranberry sauces. And we really liked the Jellied Cranberry Sauce we tried out earlier. Simple, basic and delicious, it's the sort of polite, restrained gelatin you'd serve at a country-club luncheon.

But we wanted to try something with a little more texture, a little more edge.

If our earlier Jellied Cranberry Sauce was a country-club society girl, this Nutty Cranberry Relish is the society girl who's started mussing up her hair and ditching school to make her own jewelry.

Thanksgiving 2009: Jellied Cranberry Sauce with Fuji Apple

Food & Wine (November 2009)

Pity the cranberry sauce! Nobody would ever consider it the star of the Thanksgiving show. But can you imagine a Turkey Day dinner without it? 

For lots of folks, cranberry sauce is a complete afterthought. (Many people wouldn't even recognize it without the imprinted ridges left from the can.)

We, however, love cranberry sauce, with its tart, refreshing burst in the middle of all those mashes and dressings and casseroles.

A great cranberry sauce need not be fancy. And it doesn't get any more basic than this Jellied Cranberry Sauce.

Thanksgiving 2009: Cream Gravy

Gourmet (November 2009)

We absolutely loved our spatchcocked turkey! The skin was crispy, the meat was moist and flavorful.

But let's be honest. For many people, the Thanksgiving turkey is nothing more than a delivery vehicle for gravy.

We wanted a great, classic gravy to go with our turkey, and we love the one we found, this Cream Gravy from Gourmet.