Thanksgivings in The Time of Covid

Thanksgivings in The Time of Covid

Patsy R. Brumfield, the Thanksgiving meal inheritor

by Patsy R. Brumfield

The Southfacin’ Cook

           My mother, the late, great Betty Dial Brumfield, loved Thanksgiving, probably more than any other holiday.

            She’d start menu-planning months ahead and may very well have set her dining room table a week ahead.

            Perhaps it was the sure knowledge that all her family was to gather around and enjoy the food she prepared with love. Perhaps it was washing her good china, made during the post-WWII time when the U.S. occupied Japan, or polishing her Buttercup sterling silver flatware, and using the linen tablecloths, which our usual workaday, children-a-day, lives made impossible.

Betty Brumfield, 1981 with first grandchild, Will Bardwell, in her front porch swing in McComb, MS

            But the worst happened on Halloween Sunday, 1999 — just weeks away from the big holiday magic: She suffered some kind of fatal attack, in church of all places. And she left us all bereft of what to do with ourselves, our hearts broken.

            She also left me, her first-born and the one daughter who claimed to know how to cook, with three weeks to figure out the proper way, Mother’s way, to observe Thanksgiving. Oh, sure, I had her recipes, but anybody who really knows how to cook knows that’s just the half of it.

            Frankly, we muddled through. No one complained about the turkey’s being too dry or the dressing not quite what it should be. The gravy, one of my mother’s specialties, was not too bad, and thank goodness, her special congealed cranberrry-apple-pecan salad actually turned out properly although my sister and I are the only ones who really love it.

            Across the 20 years, I’ve learned a lot and I’m a much better cook because I’ve worked at it. So as we approach this family holiday, I am teary-eyed still – making plans for the changing times.

            The experts say Thanksgiving and Christmas 2020 should not be the same. Covid-19 is just hoping for a big ole get-together with lots of possibilities for germs and other troubles. It’s also flu season, and everybody’s been urged to get their flu vaccine. I got mine, you can bet on it. The Cook cannot be sick, the holidays’ first law.

             Thanksgiving has evolved since it came to wrest on my shoulders.

            Thanks to cooking guru Alton Brown, I now know the superiority of a brined turkey. He’s also given me a better, fresher recipe for green-bean casserole (sans that soupy glop). We’ll have healthier roasted vegetables like onions, mushrooms, sweet potatoes and winter squash, although I’ll cheat slightly with Sweet Potato Queens pecan-topped casserole.

            The most difficult dish took me about 5–6 years to get “right”: the dressing, which I came to realize is a pudding and must be a very wet consistency before baking. These days, I make it ahead of time, half-bake it and then finish it off on the holiday to avoid being late for serving a hungry crowd.

            Sister Schubert’s rolls, home-made cranberry sauce and green salad, plus at least one “tube” of that jellied stuff some folks demand, will make it to a great-aunt’s sideboard. And dessert likely will be some flavor of pies, most certainly one key-lime in honor of my mother’s being a bit of a Parrot Head.

            Covid-19 will not be invited. My sister’s family has had it. My brother’s family has enjoyed their holidays in far North Mississippi since I moved from Tupelo to Jackson in 2013. My daughter’s family, with a toddler and an infant, will celebrate in place from Brazil since flying twice across a month’s time makes no sense with concerns about exposure.

            And so, my son’s family with two youngsters will be my only guests.

            A reasonable Thanksgiving for just we five. But we will certainly need an extra turkey breast for left-over sandwiches. I once got in a lot of trouble for not ensuring an extra supply for this purpose. I learned!

            Regardless of the changes necessitated by this awful virus, you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be cooking like crazy, like Betty Brumfield, even setting the table but not like her, with the very best disposable dinnerware I can acquire.

            The 6-year-old and the 2-year-old will try to destroy the holiday decorations, I’m sure. But I’ll get over it.

            The cranberry-apple-pecan salad will be all mine. It’s OK this time when nobody likes it but me.

            I framed my mother’s handwritten Thanksgiving menu, listing all the delights for which she loved to plan. The best part was her note about desserts: “Ambrosia? Nobody likes it anyway.”

            Correct. And Happy Thanksgiving everybody. There’s still plenty to be thankful for.

HOMEMADE CRANBERRY SAUCE

Cranberry chutney instead of jellied “glop” in a can!

Looking for a better option than Cranberry Sauce out of a can? I’ve got it, adapted from a great recipe by Magnolia’s own Sally Johnson. My daughter Margaret thoroughly dislikes the canned stuff, so I’m so happy to have a homemade alternative. It’s my go-to now!

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sugar

½ cup cider vinegar

1 ¼ cups finely chopped fresh onions

½ cup raisins or currants

½ teaspoon allspice

Pinch of salt

1 ½ tablespoons finely grated ginger root (peel, freeze it first)

2 packages fresh cranberries

Wash and cull cranberries for softies. In a large sauce pan, combine sugar, vinegar, onions, raisins, allspice and ginger root. Cook uncovered on medium-high until sugar dissolves and bubbles (about 5 minutes). Add cranberries and cook on medium heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until all the berries have popped. * Add salt. Allow to cool about 10 minutes, then pour into 2, 8-ounce jars and seal. Refrigerate (or freeze in plastic bags).

This makes a “smidge” more than the two jars. Try the “smidge” on your breakfast toast.

NOTE: Sally recommends adding walnuts, pecans or almonds. If you like, add ½ cup after the berries pop. Her idea: Spoon sauce over a block of cream cheese to serve with crackers. Can’t say I disagree.

BETTY’S CRANBERRY SALAD

(I double this for a crowd)

2 cups whole cranberries

½ cup pecan meats, chopped

1 medium apple, chopped finely

1 package gelatin

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup boiling water

¼ cup cold water

Wash cranberries and toss the ones that don’t look good. Grind them with water in blender, then drain them in a fine colander.

In a medium sauce pan, cook the ground cranberries in boiling water about 10 minutes. Add sugar and cook another 5 minutes. Be careful to lower the heat slightly because the hot, sugared juice can pop on you. Add apples and pecans. Stir.

Soften gelatin in the cold water, then add to cranberry mixture. Mix thoroughly then pour into a small casserole dish (I use a round Pyrex dish). Let it set, chill in the refrigerator and then serve as is or with homemade mayonnaise all on a lettuce leaf.

HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE

(Modern style, using an immersion blender)

1 egg, room temperature

2 teaspoons mustard

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

¼ teaspoon paprika

1 cup vegetable oil

In a tall container (I use a Mason jar), add everything but the egg. Mix loosely with a fork.

Add the egg and place the blender into the jar atop the egg and other ingredients.

Whisk with blender, around/up and down, just a few seconds to 1 minute. That should emulsify everything. Taste and adjust for salt.

 Serve in a bowl alongside the cranberry salad.

NOTE: Get ready to make more of this mayo because a turkey sandwich demands it. BTW, I also spread cranberry sauce on my left-over turkey sandwiches.

NOTE 2: It’s slightly possible the mayo won’t emulsify. It’s happened to me a few times. Just throw it away, get a clean jar, wash the immersion blender and start over. That’s cooking for ya!

NOTE 3: Patsy’s recipes for brining a turkey, Southern cornbread dressing and other culinary delights can be found on PorchScene.com.

Photos and “turkey art” by Patsy R. Brumfield