Page 1 | Page 2

This is the week of the bird, the big bird we as American’s love to stuff and over eat on this holiday of excess.

When the culinary bug bit me I was so excited to show my family what I could do with the tired and true Thanksgiving dinner. Fresh out of culinary school with huge ambitions, I would show them so many different and unique ways to take the turkey over the top. I was not going to play with the gaudy turducken; no, I was going to cook my first Thanksgiving dinner in the most traditional of fashions. I was going to cook the Thanksgiving dinner as the first Pilgrims would have, and my family was going to be so impressed with the authenticity of the entire meal.

Start with the bird -- it had to be free range, fattened on the neighbor’s farm, and raised as close to a wild bird that I might find in the frozen woods of the east. Accompanied by: wild rice, Indian flat bread, homemade preserves, and authentic squash pie. This was going to be my greatest accomplishment as a young and up and coming cook. My family was going to realize what a great gift I had and how much I learned in culinary school.

Page 1 | Page 2