I will not be preparing Thanksgiving dinner. This should come as no surprise to anyone and somewhat of a relief to my family.
However, having spent a few minutes speaking with good folks at Honeybee Ham & Deli, Crav at Gourmet Gallery and Secret Chef, I'm now convinced, if I were to prepare Thanksgiving dinner, I could knock it out of the park. Not only that, I could bring to the table something for multiple generations, dietary restrictions and dietary preferences.
You want a big-breasted turkey with ample white meat? Got you covered.
What's that? You want a vegan pumpkin pie? I'm your huckleberry.
You're craving a John Madden-inspired turducken? Just say the word.
Would you like cranberry sauce made with port wine and an orange liqueur finish? Bam. Done.
See what I mean? These three specialty food stores could help someone as culinarily challenged as me become a Thanksgiving hero. And they probably have just the thing a Thanksgiving kitchen veteran needs to put their meal over the top.
I'll start with Crav, which operates out of Gourmet Gallery. Proprietor Juanita Barrientos created a Thanksgiving menu designed to meet specific needs as six of the seven menu items are either gluten free or vegan or both. The maple cardamom pumpkin cheesecake, which is vegan, looked delicious. Sadly it was the last one she had available, so I didn't get to taste it. Someone will have a treat though.
Barrientos has sold out of a couple of items, but she still had vegan pot pies and green bean casseroles available as of early Tuesday afternoon.
BTW, Gourmet Gallery would be a good spot for chefs to make sure they have all their cooking gear in order.
And tonight it's the place for kitchen ninjas of all ability levels to learn some new moves. Chef Reenie Werr will host a beginners cooking class from 5:30-6:30 this evening, followed by an advanced cooking class from 7-8. Werr said she'll be dishing out recipes for cranberry sauce, pumpkin yeast rolls and pie dough along with an ideal timeline for cooking for the beginners. For the advanced class, she promised some tips, like the best way to pre-make mashed potatoes and keep them fresh.
So that's sides and specialty items sorted. But what about the procrastinator who hasn't taken care of the turkey or ham situation yet? Honeybee Ham & Deli can see you through.
Another aside, there have been rumors that Honeybee is closing. Not true. The deli is temporarily on hold during the Thanksgiving holiday. They didn't say when the deli would be back, but, I repeat, Honeybee Ham is not closing.
On Tuesday afternoon, Honeybee had cases full of ham and turkey, some of them already spoken for, but still many available for late-comers to purchase they said. Also, at least one rare beast known as a turducken was taking shape in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, at Secret Chef, Billy Garrett and company worked diligently boxing up all manner of Thanksgiving dinners. If needed, a person could have ordered a Thanksgiving dinner from salad to dessert and passed it of as home cooking by calling Secret Chef. If this is your situation, it might be a little late now, but there's always next year.
However, it's not too late to nail the cranberry sauce. As of Tuesday afternoon, Secret Chef had more than a dozen containers of cranberry sauce made with port wine and finished with orange liqueur. The alcohol in the port wine is cooked out, apparently. But the orange liqueur goes in after the sauce is cooked, so it provides a little kick.
Does that make it adults-only cranberry sauce?
Question: "Why is Unlce Joe trying to tune in the Cowboy game on the record player?"
Answer: "Second helping of cranberry sauce."
