A View of the Valley

by Linda Schwanke Easily the best part of Thanksgiving is that is one holiday that’s all about food. Food, glorious, traditional, trendy, lovely food. I’ve been thinking about not just the food we eat for Thanksgiving but learning about the true history of Thanksgiving. I’ve been planning ahead and want to share my thoughts. First the history. It wasn’t, as we all know now after teachers lied to us (I’m teasing – it wasn’t their fault it was just too romantic a picture to pass up), about pilgrims and Indians celebrating that first holiday. The truth seems to be that a bunch of people – White people and First People/ Indigenous People, got together in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621 and celebrated the harvest together. And it grew from there. In the 1840s, a woman named Mary Josepha Hale (of course it was a woman) started lobbying for making Thanksgiving a unifying, national holiday for the entire country.  This part is interesting. According to History.com, Hale “author, among countless other things, of the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb — launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For 36 years, she published numerous editorials and sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians, earning her the nickname the ‘Mother of Thanksgiving.’ “Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to ‘commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife’ and to ‘heal the wounds of the nation.’ “He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.” History.com also says “nearly 90 percent of Americans eat the bird—whether roasted, baked or deep-fried—on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation. Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.” Finally the food part of the best food holiday.  I am a big fan of turkey. My family makes turkey year round, when we can find them. Putting a turkey on the grill served with potato salad, green leafy veggie salad with apricots, pasta salad, Waldorf salad, fruit salad, any summer-y salad and a floofy dessert like strawberry shortcake, is a big fan fav. Turkey slow roasted in the oven comes in at a much loved second place for us. The science of food caught my attention this year for unknown reasons. Did you know that resting a turkey, or any meat, will help make the meat juicier? I never really thought about it and often don’t let a turkey rest in my rush to get a hot meal on the table all at once at the time I said it’d all be ready. (One of my brother-in-laws loves to tease me that I never get a meal on the table when I say I will. I do. I just have to preface the time with an ish and about.) “As meat cooks, the muscle fibers start to firm up and water gets pushed out. This moisture moves outward toward the surface of the meat, where some of it eventually evaporates. “When you take your roast out of the oven, the moisture still inside needs some time to redistribute back through the meat. If you cut into it right away, the liquid will actually pool out and your beautiful roast will end up very dry. By letting it rest, the moisture is re-absorbed and your meat will be tender and juicy,” from the kitchnn.com  Fascinating. And it works. Daughter Gwen and I made our turkey dinner a couple weeks ago so she could film a video for her day job at Century 21 Spring Green. We let the turkey rest for half an hour. The turkey was still piping hot when she carved it and it was the juiciest bird we’ve ever had. After Gwen sauteed the celery, onion and mushrooms for the dressing, I had her set the pan aside. When the time came, I used it for the gravy to get a boost of flavor and was pleasantly surprised at how much flavor it added. It was lovely and a practice I recommend.  While I had the corn starch out, I mixed up a batch of non-Newtonian fluid for Mildred. It’s just corn starch and water. Non-Newtonian fluids are liquids that change their viscosity or flow behavior under stress. In this case it can be pretty messy but it’s more than interesting to push the corn starch around with the water and see what happens. And what are holidays for if not making huge messes? Really, once I pour the potato water into the turkey pan drippings, I almost don’t need the corn starch but it’s the way I’ve always made gravy.  I’ve been using kosher salt, a kind of sea salt, in my cooking, of late. It’s got longer grains that draw out moisture and it seems like it’s probably easier to use. I’m happy with it.  I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned that I’ve been using white pepper a lot lately, too. It’s perfect for Thanksgiving sides because it’s more aromatic and earthier than black pepper and doesn’t have the same heat. It is especially good in squash, one the centerpieces of the meal. Give it a try. We haven’t made pumpkin pie yet. We’re saving that for our actual Thanksgiving Day dinner. And I think we may order hand-made tamales from Lubbock for the day so maybe we’ll make flan instead of pie. I found a pumpkin flan recipe and a pumpkin flan cake recipe online that sound yummy. We could try one of them. Add a black bean salad and some tropical fruit and it will be a perfect meal.  Hope you have a fun, messy, wonderful Thanksgiving. Stay in touch. My phone number is (608) 574-3159 – call or text me anytime. You can also email me at homenewseditor@fingerpub.com  Visit our website at homenewsrv.com The news deadline is 9 a.m. on Mondays and it won’t change for Thanksgiving. Deadlines for ads for the Buyer’s Guide will move up 24 hours. Get in touch with Gwen for sports or features at homenewssports@fingerpub.com Call the Finger Publishing central office at (608) 767-3655 for subscriptions, past issues. and all other information Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Fridays. Write to us at P.O. Box 286, Black Earth WI 53515.