Thanksgiving Dinner for the small kitchen

Cuisine Food & Drink
1

Much has been posted about the terrible imitation Western meals around Taiwan (exceptions noted). Pricey too. Well, here are some ideas to “do it yourself”. I know, it’s not like mom made but is a reasonably priced delicious dinner away from the comforts of mom’s kitchen. This menu is for 2 so adjust upwards accordingly

You will need:
Turkey
Giant EDIT: Now A-MART (and others) carry pre-roasted turkey legs. Other stores do too and you can get a whole turkey at Costco but this is for the small kitchen and my oven simply won’t do a whole turkey. So, get 6 legs (2 are for the stuffing coming later)
Before dinner, simply pop 4 of the legs into your toaster oven and warm well.

Mashed Potatoes
Get 4 potatoes
Peel and cut into bite size pieces. Pop them into a pot, cover with water and boil until a fork sticks into them very easily. Don’t worry about overcooking but watch the water level and stir occassionally. When they are done, pour off the water and mash the hell out of them with a wire wisk or get a hand masher at your local market. Stir in a little milk, bit by bit, until the spuds are creamy but thick like they should be. Add garlic, if you like, and salt and pepper to taste. (If you want to get a bit fancy, instead of milk, you can use whipping cream or condensed milk for more richness)

Gravy
Since the turkey legs are pre-cooked it’s difficult to get good turkey gravy. Here is an easy way to get a very good quick mushroom gravy.
Get 3-4 of the local fresh mushrooms from the market. (not the white button ones)
cut them into small pieces and cook in about 1 cup of the turkey stock (coming later)
Put 2 cans of mushroom soup in a pan. Scoop in the cooked mushrooms and add enough of the turkey stock while you cook and stir the soup to a boil. Don’t add too much stock. You won’t need much as you are making gravy, not soup. Stir constantly as this will scorch easily. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Optional Acorn squash
Get 2

Cut them in half and remove the seeds and pulp. Plop in a 1/2 Tablespoon of butter in each half and some brown sugar. Bake at 170 C. for about an hour or until a fork goes into the orange part easily.

Turkey Stuffing
Get one large loaf of bread. I like the thick sliced bread for this.
1 finally chopped medium-sized yellow onion
ground sage (available at some Wellcome stores and UAT at 125 MinLe in DiHua area)
1/4 cup veg oil
Two pre-cooked turkey legs.
Optional: 2 plastic bags of oysters
salt and pepper

Strip the meat off the 2 turkey legs and cut into small pieces. Boil them in some water for about 1/2 hour. This will make the turkey stock and provide the meat for the dressing. Lay the bread out in your toaster oven and make dry crispy toast. Cube the toast into bite size pieces and add to a large bowl. Put in the chopped onions. Add some sage. The amount will depend on your taste. I like sage so I usually use about a Tablespoon. Add the oil. (Optional - drain and rinse the oysters. Add them raw.) Add about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Now add just enough of the turkey water to make the whole bowl a soggy lump of goo. It should be the consistancy of oatmeal cereal after it has cooled. Soft and thick.
Bake at 170 C for about 1 1/2 hour. Put foil over the top if the top starts to get too brown. It’s difficult to under-cook this.

Vegetables
Your choice. I like boiled carrot cubes with a little butter but it’s hard to screw up fresh vegetables so I won’t elaborate.

Pumpkin Pie
If you want to make it easy, Costco has a fairly good fresh made large pie at 300 NT. Otherwise, you will find pre-made crusts and canned pie filling at UAT - address above. Follow the receipe on the can. UAT has all the ingredients. It’s easy and makes 3 pies with one can of filling. Problem is, that I can only fit 2 in my oven at one time and the oven gets a bit busy with all this cooking so I make my pies the day before and have a midnight snack.

Egg Nog
1 egg for every 8 ounces (1 cup) of milk.
Blend well, add some nutmeg and cinnamon.
Corn syrup sweetner to taste
Pour into a large cup, add a little whiskey and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
Use store bought eggs for this as the local market eggs from the bin can be a little messy and since these are raw eggs, botulism (and who knows what else) can be a problem. Of course, if you use enough whiskey, the problem is lessened.

This looks like it will be my menu this year. It is alot of cooking but everything here can easily be done with only a small cooktop and and toaster oven, along with a few utensils. I hope others take the time to post some other Thanksgiving easy cook items.
Happy Thanksgiving

2

Pretty cool, but if the legs are pre-cooked, I’d suggest making the stock by stripping off the meat and boiling the BONES to make the stock. It’ll be a much better stock that way.

3

Looks like a nice, easy, how-to-do, but I would suggest that you also put in about a quarter stick to half of butter in the mashed potatoes. Also, I would warn the uninitiated about OVER mashing the potatoes as that turns them into an unpalatable goo. Also, if you’re feeling REALLY frisky, you can use baked garlic cloves in the mashed potatoes. It adds a bit of sweetness and some nice garlic flavor. To bake garlic, you put whole cloves into the oven and bake for about half an hour, periodically brushing with olive oil.

Furthermore, for the turkey stuffing, you can find chestnuts pretty easily here in Taiwan. If you like them, I highly suggest adding 5-10 boiled and quartered chestnuts to that stuffing. I’d also substitute butter for the veg oil, assuming you aren’t calorie conscious or vegan.

This is a pretty good menu, actually. I might do some cooking this Thanksgiving! Thanks for the ideas.

4

I do it by putting whole bulbs in. When its done, you can just grab the whole thing and squeeze out the pulp like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. Very quick and easy, and its so cool to see people’s faces when they taste it – “You’re putting ALL THAT garlic in? God it must be HORRIBLE! OK OK just a little taste, then… HEY! That’s applesolutely fanfuckingTASTIC!” :laughing:

5

I do it by putting whole bulbs in. When its done, you can just grab the whole thing and squeeze out the pulp like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. Very quick and easy, and its so cool to see people’s faces when they taste it – “You’re putting ALL THAT garlic in? God it must be HORRIBLE! OK OK just a little taste, then… HEY! That’s applesolutely fanfuckingTASTIC!” :laughing:[/quote]

Thanks for correcting me. Was definately not in my right mind when I wrote that.

Mostly because I was salivating so heavily and I STILL haven’t had anything to eat.

6

[quote=“Enigma”]

You will need:
Turkey
Giant (and others) carry pre-roasted turkey legs. Other stores do too and you can get a whole turkey at Costco but this is for the small kitchen and my oven simply won’t do a whole turkey. [/quote]

Where would that Giant store (or others) be, and how would one get there if one were dependent on public transportation? I know where Costco is but I don’t have a car to get there. Thanks.

7

Get a duck instead (they fit in those little convection ovens you can get at any appliance store and taste better than turkeysanyway).

  • Salt pepper and slather good olive oil on duck like Greek wrestler
    -Roast on med tmep. for 20-30 min and then take off skin (save). Duck is still mostly raw at this point, but skin is easier to take off. Cut skin into strips.
    -Take the legs off, bread in grained mustard and breadcrumbs + whatever fresh herbs you might have.
    -Take skin and put back in convection oven and roast at high temp. until done. 30 -40 min or so.
  • Do the same with the legs
    -Take breast meat off duck and slice. Saute butter and shallots in a pan, add slices of breast, add some wine and cook until pink.

3 dishes out of one duck in a shit convection oven.

8

fe-geant.com.tw/

Above is the URL for maps and address for each store in Taiwan. Below are 2 of the stores. The first is the one I use and that I know has the turkey legs. The second is on Jhongshaio in Taipei. The drop down boxes at the top of the main URL will get a more wide selection.
fe-geant.com.tw/store/panhsin.asp
fe-geant.com.tw/store/chunghsaio.asp

9

My first year here I was in Hsinchu and ended up having Thnaksging dinner at Nobles Steak house alone. These days there is simply no need in this lonilness. Here are some suggestions.
Thomas Meats has smoked turkeys which means they are already cooked. If you call and ask before you go there, they will cut in half so you can fit 1/2 in your toaster oven. Of course, with no toaster oven, just cut some of your favorite pieces and fry.
Another option is to make it to an RT Mart and buy some wings to cook. They used to carry legs but I haven’t seen them lately. Tomason is www.thomasmeat.com.tw or call at 02 2932 3807.
Then, maybe some mashed potatoes. Just peel and cut in 1 inch cubes… Boil until tender. If you are new here, you probably don’t have a mixer so use a fork and mash the hell out of a couple of the spuds… When they are all mashed up, add a slice of butter and a dribble of milk. If you have some garlic, add a pinch.
How about some easy gravy? Get an extra wing or two from RT Mart and boil them, even though already cooked, in about 1 quart of water for one wing and 2 quarts for 2 wings. Just let it boil until you finish all the other stuff. When you have time, pull the wing(s) and strip the meat from the bones. Keep skin, fat, and all except for bones. Put what’s left on a plate and cut into little pieces. Set aside. Put 2 cans of mushroom soup into a pan and add just enough of the turkey water to make a thick soup. Add the turkey pieces.
I hate this running out of space so I’m going to a new screen to finish.

10

For the fruit salad, use a drained can of fruit cocktail. Add a chopped apple, one chopped mandarin orange (easily available at RT Mart) and some halved grapes. Some mangos bits if you have time and money. Add enough whipped cream to make it like you like. While you are at Costco, buy one box of whipped cream, 1 pumpkin pie, 1 can of fruit cocktail and a bottle of your favorite wine.
While at Thomas Meats, buy a can of cranberry sauce.
Now, with minimal effort, you have dinner for two that includes
Smoked Turkey
Mashed potatoes with turkey/mushroom dressing with
Cranberry sauce
Fruit salad
pumpkin pie with whipped cream
The whipped cream will be a problem if it’s just you. If you have a date, put him/her busy early with a fork to whip the hell out of some of the cream. I like to use cream also into the mashed potatoes so there might not be a whole container of cream. It will tke awhile to whip the cream and frankly I wish I could tell you an easier way. It just takes along time. After the cream starts to thicken, add sugar until it tastes right.
Now, all this being said, there are a number of people who have been here for many years. I appreciate their views and perhaps they can add. I only ask them to understand I am speaking to the new people, without much of a kitchen nor applainces. Make it easy and inexpensive.
I didn’t tell you about dressing but it takes a few days to dry the bread without a toaster. If anybody wants more, just let me know. I’ll post more or PM more.
Have a non-lonelu T-Day and hope you can entice a friend to share your cooking…

11

[quote=“Enigma”]For the fruit salad, use a drained can of fruit cocktail. Add a chopped apple, one chopped Mandarin orange (easily available at RT Mart) and some halved grapes. Some mangos bits if you have time and money. Add enough whipped cream to make it like you like. While you are at Costco, buy one box of whipped cream, 1 pumpkin pie, 1 can of fruit cocktail and a bottle of your favorite wine.
While at Thomas Meats, buy a can of cranberry sauce.
Now, with minimal effort, you have dinner for two that includes
Smoked Turkey
Mashed potatoes with turkey/mushroom dressing with
Cranberry sauce
Fruit salad
pumpkin pie with whipped cream
The whipped cream will be a problem if it’s just you. If you have a date, put him/her busy early with a fork to whip the hell out of some of the cream. I like to use cream also into the mashed potatoes so there might not be a whole container of cream. It will tke awhile to whip the cream and frankly I wish I could tell you an easier way. It just takes along time. After the cream starts to thicken, add sugar until it tastes right.
Now, all this being said, there are a number of people who have been here for many years. I appreciate their views and perhaps they can add. I only ask them to understand I am speaking to the new people, without much of a kitchen nor applainces. Make it easy and inexpensive.
I didn’t tell you about dressing but it takes a few days to dry the bread without a toaster. If anybody wants more, just let me know. I’ll post more or PM more.
Have a non-lonely T-Day and hope you can entice a friend to share your cooking…[/quote]

12

Costco has pre-roasted turkeys, $2000 NT each, in a box with stuffing, cran. sauce and gravy, (acc. to the box, prepared under the supervision of the head chef of a big hotel here). 11.5 lbs +/- .5 lb. There were still some on the shelf tonight around 7:30 pm.

13

What kind, thoughtful, and helpful posts, Enigma.

14

YEah, thanks Enigma, really useful tips there! :thumbsup:

15

This is useful for Christmas as well. I’d like to get a roasted turkey or ham or some other large, cooked meat to share at home with a couple of friends, but I don’t have much of a kitchen to heat anything substantial. Does Costco have hot food or should I be asking restaurants to prepare something for take-out?

16

Costco has hot roasted chickens, and racks of ribs; other stuff may be cold (if they have it) like turkeys. You should check out this thread (among others) if you want prepared Xmas dinner stuff, but you’ll have to check with each supplier individually to see whether the items will be hot upon delivery, and availability and prices will probably change each year:
viewtopic.php?p=805769#p805769

17

Even one of those cheap convection ovens can do the trick, I roasted a 12-pound stuffed turkey just fine in one for thanksgiving.

18

The link to that thread was very helpful. Even thought it was from two years back, I went to Jason’s and found out they do indeed offer a turkey dinner. Yesterday was the last day to order for the 24th, but you can still order today for the 25th. For $1799 you can get a pre-cooked turkey which you can either heat up yourself or they can heat for you. For $2300-ish you can get a full meal with pumpkin pie, bread, cranberry sauce, etc.

19

So, I’m thinking about Thanksgiving, search for this thread, go to Thomas Meat, find the turkey and see that it says “please inquire.” Sent an e-mail and got this reply back:

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 554 554 Sorry, message looks like SPAM to me (state 18).

Sheesh. Maybe I’ll try sending in English instead of Chinese and see what happens. I hate making phone calls.

Update: Sent in Chinese from a Taiwan Yahoo account (instead of my Gmail), and got a reply. They have the 5-9kg turkeys in stock, and the price is very reasonable, NTD 775-1,395 per turkey.

20

Anyplace to get a Thanksgiving Day Dinner ready to eat? Barring that, where can I get the sides such as cranberry Sauce, Candied Yams and stuff. I’ll cook up a couple chicken breasts to substitute for the turkey.