For Thanksgiving 2025, we shifted our day of celebration to Black Friday so that our dearest regulars could be with their respective families on the official holiday. But there was very little change to our menu and we proceeded as if it was indeed the proper occasion for this glorious spread of food...calendar and Presidential Proclamations be damned. The standard foodstuffs were there, although I opted for a whole turkey and put it through its buttermilk brine paces, with an appropriate mix of herbs from the kitchen garden. It roasted up golden and juicy and was warmly embraced by the diners, with whom excellent company was kept by that remarkable and unparalleled house pooch Sumner, content to be close to all, in cozy repose under the table.
A well-mixed (rather than layered!) green bean casserole is our modernized answer to the traditional version created in the Campbell Soup Kitchens. It comes through in a cheesy and creamy goodness, and the buttered-Ritz-and-almonds topping brings in a toasted medley of complimentary tastes and textures. The new-and-old favorite of Mary Margaret's dressing offered up a new flavor slant, thanks to a California-sourced bag of dry stuffing, and I liked how its spice profile brought me immediately back to the Eastern North Carolina deviled crabs of my younger days. It was a pleasant reminiscence even though the RoHo dressing contains no previously living animals (i.e., sausage or chorizo) nor any known creatures of the sea—oysters, crabs, or otherwise. And I do love sweet potato casserole, made easier to include because it does its transformation in the easy paces of the slow cooker. Sometimes when I mix it up, I end up with something more sloshy and less stiff, but that's never slowed me down when it's time to take it on from its assigned quarter on my overfilled plate.
That plate, by the way, is from Mother's wedding china collection, with the additional special feels of the formal dining room where we conduct ourselves with gracious informality, this marvelous mix of family and old and new friends, co-workers and neighbors, dog people and cat people, and altogether a happy Thanksgiving crew.
That morning dawned arctic ugly, real-feel temps in the mid-20s, one weather app saying 28°F, and a marrow-marring rounded 30°F on the house weather station. Icy winds, whetted on atmospheric antagonism, cut with cruelty across exposed skin, and simultaneously upped the return-on-investment value of our cozy inner abode.
But from the inside looking out, a semblance of gorgeous day surrounded us, with full but impotent sunshine and crystal Carolina blue skies. There is indeed much to be thankful for, here in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem, and another day of joyous gathering wrapped up with small regret that the time inevitably runs out and we have to go our separate ways.
Buttermilk-Brined Spatchcocked Whole Turkey based on:
- "Want to Make a Wonderful Flavorful Roast Turkey? Brine It in Dairy," by Nik Sharma. Features "Golden Garlic Roast Turkey" and "Golden Turkey Gravy." Published in This Is a Cook Letter, 20 November 2021.
- "Samin Rosnat's Show-Stopping Buttermilk-Brined Turkey Breast Recipe," by Samin Rosnat in GoodFood: Autralia's Home of the Hats. [Published 30 November 2020]
- "Crisp-Skinned Spatchcocked Roast Turkey with Gravy," from J. Kenji López-Alt, former Culinary Director and current Culinary Consultant of SeriousEats.com. [Updated 21 October 2020]
- "This Thanksgiving, Let Science Help You Roast a Tastier Turkey," by Maria Godoy. From National Public Radio's Short Wave. [Published 21 November 2021]
"Layered Green Bean Casserole," a long-time Jones family favorite.
Adapted from "Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping," from Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook, (Oxmoor House, 2006), p. 234-235.
"Mary Margaret's Dressing," from Mary Margaret McKnight of Buies Creek, NC. Recipe obtained November 2002.
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