Plate-o-Thanksgiving meal
At the close of every year, after months of seemingly non-stop activity at a frenzied pace, yet wondering if I’ve actually managed to accomplish anything, it happens. Thanksgiving sneaks up on me – again. Without any warning, the holidays arrive and strike fear into the heart of many of us, thinking of how we might tackle preparation of the holiday feast, how to make the house presentable for a multitude of guests, how to entertain the out-of-town guests, and whether we dare to brave the crowds for Black Friday.
I was ambitious this year, and after consulting with my brother, decided that we would try to smoke a leg of pork, along with making the usual turkey dinner. My family typically forgoes a holiday ham and has lobster instead. However, this year, to celebrate my sister’s recent abandonment of pesco-vegetarianism, we decided to skip the lobster and make lots of meat. I have to admit that this was quite exciting for the whole family, as the decision to not eat pork seems downright un-Taiwanese, considering pork is the basis of so many traditional dishes. But I digress, particularly since the concept of Thanksgiving holiday itself is not exactly a traditional Taiwanese affair. We did have to add some fish to the Thanksgiving menu and vegetarian versions of the sides for my mother-in-law, who was not as ready to join us on the dark-side as my sister was.
The menu consisted of crudite with spinach dip, a cheese plate, broccoli-cauliflower soup with roasted garlic, herb-roasted turkey served with mushroom gravy and orange fennel cranberry relish, smoked leg of pork served with Grandma’s mustard sauce, broiled salmon steaks, roasted sweet potatoes, fennel sausage stuffing with pine nuts and kabocha squash, sauteed carrots, beet salad, and apple and pumpkin pies.
Rather than the standard wine with dinner, Jer had made some beers for the occasion, and we had several beers to choose from on tap, including the black mild, lemongrass wit, and a Thanksgiving dubbel. The lemongrass wit was a nice was to start the evening while snacking on the crudite and cheeses, because it’s light and refreshing. Although people typically think that wines go well with cheeses, I’ve found that beers tend to work better. Not only do the flavors tend to compliment each other nicely, but the carbonation of the beer also helps to break up the heaviness of the cheese. Why do you suppose that beer cheese soup is such a popular recipe and not wine cheese soup? I haven’t seen too many other witbiers flavored with lemongrass, but some good commercial examples of witbiers that would also work well are: Hoegaarden, Allagash White, Blanche de Chambly, St. Bernardus Witbier, and Brasserie Caracole’s Troublette.
Piggy hovering over the leg
I have to admit that the experimental leg of pork turned out quite well, despite a mix-up at the butcher shop which delayed the pork getting onto brine as early as I would have liked. I brined it for about 16 hours in all, then dry-rubbed it with a mix of brown sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and cumin. We basted it with a mix of Jer’s Thanksgiving dubbel, apple cider vinegar, and a bit of the dry rub spices. The beast was smoked for about 10 hours over apple wood, pecan wood, and a bit of mahogany. Since the pork was basted with the dubbel, we paired it with that, and it was fantastic! The herb-roasted turkey also turned out to be really moist and delicious! The spiciness and full body of Belgian dubbels holds up well to the earthy, robust flavors of holiday time food. The sweetness and fruity (typically like dried fruit) esters of this style of beer also compliments the savory flavors of the foods well. Commercial examples of Belgian dubbels include Chimay (red), St. Bernardus Prior 8, Ommegang Abbey Ale, Affligem Dubbel, or Maredsous 8 to name a few. I would imagine that a good doppelbock would also work well with the dinner for the same reasons, although doppelbocks tend to have less spiciness to them.
Basting with beer-based baste
Lastly, the black mild works very nicely as a post-dinner session beer while sitting and chatting with the family and snacking on roasted chestnuts later in the evening. (See Soup Weather post for commercial beers that are similar to black mild. After a long day of cooking, eating, cleaning, and giving thanks, I felt very very thankful for the comfy couch, fuzzy slippers and a good beer at the end of this adventure.
