You need an environment with smoke and low heat. There are many affordable water smokers out there. Check out the book Smoke and Spice.
Posted on 11/17/2006 9:43:00 AM PST by DogByte6RER
Move over, turkey
April E. Clark Post Independent Staff November 17, 2006
If Margie Garrett had her wish, she'd be having a turkey at her Thanksgiving dinner.
But this turkey wouldn't be roasted, fried or stuffed. It would be a guest.
"I'd love to invite one to dinner," said Garrett, who has worked at Good Health grocery store for 10 years. "I would love to have one as a pet turkey some day."
Each year, Garrett hosts a Thanksgiving spread that features enough food to make anyone forget about turkey. She's been a vegetarian since 1972 and, more recently, is a vegan, a lifestyle that avoids using or consuming all animal products.
"I'm telling you, by the time you finish dinner, you don't even miss the gobble gobble," she said. "I have all the trimmings."
Garrett's Thanksgiving menu includes homemade vegetarian stuffing covered with mushroom gravy, cranberries, salads, mashed potatoes, creamed peas, and baked squash stuffed with wild rice. Dessert features homemade pumpkin pie with organic whipping cream.
"People always ask me, 'Well, what do you eat?' But look at all this," she said. "The stuffing is so good when you make it from scratch."
For a turkey alternative, vegetarian-friendly stores such as Good Health sells Tofurkey, an organic, meatless tofu product that can be served alongside traditional Thanksgiving recipes. Tempe and tofu can also be substituted as Thursday's main course.
"If you're looking for a fake meat-type thing, one of the dishes I make - and I raised my family on it - is tempe or tofu diced up, sautéd in olive oil and coated with nutritional yeast on it," she said. "It makes a crispy brown coating that is almost like fried chicken."
Garrett has so many recipes for a vegetarian Thanksgiving, she doesn't even miss the leftover turkey sandwiches.
"I'm so determined for my love for the little animals, I don't miss the leftover turkey sandwiches," she said.
Being thankful doesn't require a turkey on a platter, Garret said.
"We're thankful, right, that we live in this valley," she said. "There's much to be thankful for, and it doesn't have to involve a poor little turkey."
Unless, of course, it's sitting at the kid's table enjoying a home-cooked meal.
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs Colorado CO
LOL!
My Cockatoo is more a Monarchist....
I'm the serf and she's the Queen.
Last year we were walking down the merchants' row past The Knight's Barbecue. I overheard two people behind me.
Woman: "Oh! The smell of meat makes me so sick."
Man: "It does?"
Girl: "I'm a vegetarian. The smell of meat is disgusting!"
Man: "Oh. I'm going to eat there."
FOOD PING!!
I researched frying turkeys on the web before "giving" my husband the turkey fryer - one website said "Do not get drunk and throw ice cubes in the hot oil." Gee, HOW did they learn THAT?
Was it a Tony Chachere's? That's the one I've seen at Super Wally. Last year, hubs was in hospital and I went there and got a frozen smoked turkey. All I had to do was thaw it out. It was awesome, although there are lots of BBQ places here who do it very cheap. We got a gas grill and don't know much about smoking with it.
OH great now I'm craving turkey/duck/chicken/bacon at once!
Smoking... is the best. So good.
Ask the local fire department how they feel about turkey frying season ;)
I don't think so - I vaguely remember it being a French sort of name. I think they spelled it Tur-Duc-Ken. We have a charcoal smoker that I'm going to try the extra turkey on.
You need an environment with smoke and low heat. There are many affordable water smokers out there. Check out the book Smoke and Spice.
I think I'd have to have at least two hours to listen to the answer, and it probably wouldn't be good for their blood pressure. If people would just follow BASIC safety precautions, like not throwing ice cubes in the hot oil, not frying the turkey in the house OR the garage, it really wouldn't be a problem, but every year, a couple of idiots burn down their houses.
We used to have a water smoker until it rusted out. Then we had a custom made smoker which was so good people for fighting over it when we left it at the curb, to copy the design.
It was a regular oil barrel, but the meat drawer was on the side and pulled out the width of the barrel with a locking rack like an oven. This way, you could pull out the rack and turn the meat without getting a face blast.
Kind of like "Do not use hairdryer while bathing" or "Do not place hand in disposal while running" LOL!
I had a coworker who got up extra early on TG morning to start frying the turkey....
under the carport,
next to the house with plastic siding,
on a windy morning...
And after he dropped the bird, he remembered he needed something from the store....
So he left his sleeping family and an unattended turkey in a vat of hot oil with an open flame.
And came home to a house about to catch on fire,
a melted power line and a spouse ready to kill him.
...and Scratch was such a faithful, loving dog, too... :-)
If you crave something that (allegedly) tastes and looks like meat, why not just eat meat? Sheesh.
Glad I could help!
OMG! Thank goodness it was caught in time.
I've had and enjoyed plenty of vegetarian thanksgivings in the past....and tofurkey...actually all of those faux-meat products are pretty good considering. Wheat gluten or seitan and tofu have been used in asian societies as meat replacement for centuries...so it's not like this is a new thing. It really is all in the gravy anyway...not to say I don't enjoy a great turkey either...I have a wonderful source for freshly killed ones.
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