Bittens, we are done!
We made it through 15 recipes for Thanksgiving this year. We have had so much fun writing about these dishes and hearing your thoughts on them -- and we can't WAIT to hear how your own Thanksgiving dinners turn out.
In case you want a refresher, below is our full menu from this year's Thanksgiving posts. And if you need any further inspiration, we've just updated our Favorite Holiday Recipes page, where you can find all sorts of good ideas from years past.
Thanksgiving 2013
Cocktail
The Pilgrimage
Main Course
Pimentón-Roasted Whole Turkey Breast with Chorizo
Sausage Pear Stuffing
Extra-Crispy Skillet Stuffing
Roasted Onion and Chestnut Compote
Cabernet Cranberry-Kumquat Sauce
Side Dishes
Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Bananas with Honey
Green Beans with Benne and Sorghum
Carrot Mash with Orange and Mint
Winter Greens with Preserved Lemon
Turnips with Bacon and Pickled Mustard Seeds
Desserts
Pear-Rosemary Pie with Cheddar Crust
Brûléed Pumpkin Pies
Sweet Potato Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting
Meanwhile, we thought you'd enjoy a little behind-the-scenes look at the Fakesgiving dinner we threw a few weeks back.
Want to see some photos from the dinner?
Fakesgiving, for those of you who are new this year, is an annual gathering we throw in late October/early November. We invite as many friends as can fit in our apartment (that was 18 people this year), cook as many dishes as we possibly can in a short time, and enjoy a big meal together. Then, in the weeks following the event, we tell you all about the food and weigh in on the dishes. We are always so focused on photographing food at Fakesgiving that we somehow never end up with nice shots of the actual party -- the guests, the mingling, etc.
This year we asked two of our guests -- our friends Ken and Jeff -- to bring their camera and take some photos. They're both really talented photographers, as you'll see below. All the photos in this post, including the one up at the top, are from Ken and Jeff. Thanks so much to them for their great skills, and for sharing their photos of the day with us!
Snacks
Rum Manhattans, serve-yourself style
The menu and placesetting
Zach's sister Cassidy, in the Bitten Word kitchen
Crowded kitchen
Our bedroom becomes a staging area when we run out of space elsewhere. Those are photo props on the floor.
Everything has its place.
Zach brûlées the pie.
Guests mingle while waiting to eat.
We try to capitalize on the last light of the evening by photographing the turkey outside. It's hard to tell in this photo, but it's quite dark at this point.
The meal begins!
And that was Fakesgiving! Happy cooking this week -- and remember to have fun with it!
-- Zach & Clay
