Primal Thanksgiving page

[jocks]

Hey all, My husband and I are doing our own thing for T-giving (separate from both extended families) this year and have decided to keep it primal. Being that its the two of us, I thought it would be cool to do a different kind of bird instead of a huge turkey--maybe duck or squab or something we would normally order from a restaurant rather than prepare ourselves. Does anyone have a good recipe for a 'showstopper' kind of dish? Also, any idea where to get these? I imagine it would be special order...we have an international market with everything you could imagine in town, but the quality of some things I've gotten there has been iffy so I don't trust that for meats...
Also planning on turnip puree instead of mashed potatoes, spinach and crumbled sausage 'stuffing', regular ole cranberry sauce, and a crustless pumpkin pie...that's enough food for 2 people but just out of curiosity does anybody have special primal T-giving recipes?

[naiadknight]

One of my go-to meats for a holiday is Garlic Stabbed Prime Rib.
After getting the meat up to room temperature, but before preheating the oven, slice an entire head's worth (not a clove, a head) of garlic into thin slices (~1/8". Take another head of garlic and puree it with 1/2 c olive oil and a teaspoon salt. Now, stab your roast at 1/2" intervals on all sides that aren't bone. Start poking those slivers of garlic into those wounds you just made on your roast. If you run out of garlic before you've finished all the roast, slice up more. If you run out of wounds before garlic, which is more likely unless it's huge, reserve some for garnish, stuff it into some of the deeper holes, or puree it in with the olive oil garlic. Now, take that olive oil garlic and liberally smear it all over the roast. You aren't done smearing it on until you're out of garlicky goodness. Now, pepper the fuck out of it. We're going for a garlic pepper crust, so don't be stingy with either.
Start the oven and follow the recipe.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

If you want to go traditional, show stopper, "other" bird, try goose. The rest of the meal should be a snap if you think in season veggies (roast root veggies are my fave), and fix yourselves up with a veggie tray to munch on while the spruce goose cooks

Oh and for mash, I like parsnip/turnip combo, mashed cauliflower (steam cauliflower then throw in food processor with 1c sour cream and 1/2c grated parmesan), or parsnip/cauli mix.

btw, here's your pumpkin pie:
http://theprimaljunkfoodie.blogspot....mpkin-pie.html

[vb66]

They have black chickens at one of the Asian grocery stores near me. Those always stop me in my tracks.

[Thistle5]

Turkey has always been my favorite part of T'giving-I smoke it in a WSM, but I would also consider smoking some salmon or mackerel. Only sides I can think of right now are sautéed mushrooms, garlic, & green beans, a starter of pickled shrimp & crudités, I don't really like sweet potatoes, but I imagine if you doctored them up w/ chiles & bacon, they might be palatable. I've been trying to limit my dairy, but a little cheese on anything would be great. Dessert could be fresh fruit, garnished w/ mint & coconut shreds...

[brighthorse]

Wow! You all plan way far ahead. Good for you.

[jocks]

Wonderful suggestions! I'm especially liking the goose idea...do you think this would be a special order?

[DadGrocks]

Im a turkey fryer...in egads! PEANUT OIL! now im primal so what should i fry it in? needs to be high temp right? and cost is an issue need about 4 gals. But the taste of fried turkey OMG!

[Goldie]

Cornish hens are also a good poultry alternative. We do them on the grill--rub coconut oil + whatever spices you like on the skin. For Thanksgiving, I like to use allspice, nutmeg, and teeny bit of cinnamon.

I make cranberry relish instead of cranberry sauce. I put fresh cranberries in the blender and chop them fine, then add a little lemon zest and just enough maple syrup to take away the extreme pucker factor.

[Paleobird]

I once had cornish hens at the home of a Turkish student of mine. The lady made the best stuffing for them that was chopped dried fruit, nuts, onion and some kind of spices that included coriander and cardamom. The fruit, (which was mostly apricot), flavor infused into the bird. Delicious.

Also like the goose idea. My asian supermarket has geese in the freezer all the time. The fat that drains into the broiler pan from a goose makes great cooking fat so don't let any of that go to waste.