Recession? What Recession? (Detailing a Thanksgiving Spread)

Thanksgiving is far and away my favorite holiday. Not so much for the murky origins and questionable intentions - I'm simply a fan of a major holiday that's both proudly secular and devoted to food and company. For the last seven years, Thanksgiving has been my chance to shine, culinary-wise (culinarily?), as I shove everybody else out of the kitchen and set about concocting a large spread of ever-shifting dishes that best reflect the season and the ingredients of the area. The turkey's my least favorite part - I find it to be a rather one-dimensional food, and notoriously dry. A few years back, I made a rich Mexican-inspired turkey dish that incorporated an authentic mole, and it was both the most time-consuming and the most delicious variation on turkey I've ever been a part of. But I focus on the side dishes....the root vegetables and such.

This year, as we welcome Jane's parents and two close friends to dinner, I'm getting ready to start prepping. The theme this year (there's often a theme) will be traditional Northern European dishes. As in, really far north. As in, must represent a cuisine found in a European country located above 55 degrees longitude (bean-counters will hopefully be satiated by my insistence that Germany comes close enough, with the city of Flensburg just scraping the edge of 55 degrees). The menu will thus both reflect our northern European heritage (Jane's Russian-Irish, I'm a broader mixture of German-Dutch-Other) and help suggest a suitably chilly atmosphere in our perpetually-sunny corner of the country. The spread promises to be both rich (as in hearty) and decadent. For those interested, the tentative menu follows below, translation provided when necessary.

Salmon Mousse (pureed wild sockeye smoked salmon, served on crackers - the salmon may hail from Alaska, but the recipe comes out of Scandinavia, reflecting the centrality of salmon to the Nordic diet)

Turkey (Jane's in charge of this - Trader Joe's supplied the bird)

Schwammerigemuse / stewed mushroom stuffing (a German dish, straight out of the Bavarian woods, tweaked a bit to slightly resemble the traditional stuffing I've been told I must provide)

Jansson's Freselse / Jansson's Temptation (traditional Swedish dish which may or may not have come from bass singer Pelle Janzon or a Swedish minister from America. Whatever the case, I've adapted it slightly, but it remains a rich sweet potato/onion/anchovy (!) baked dish)

Rote-Bete-Gemuse (Rhineland-area German preparation - beets and lemon juice boiled with cream)

Cumin-Baked Parsnips (a Norwegian dish taken from Andreas Viestad's wonderful book Kitchen of Light: New Scandinavian Cooking)

Caviar (never sampled it before, and figured no time like the present wintry economic climate to spring for some Russian soul-approved extravagance. Don't worry, we'll eat it with a plastic spoon, like they recommend)

Toddy (traditional belly-warmer from the Scottish Highlands, we'll make ours using The Balvenie Distillery's Founder's Reserve Malt Scotch Whiskey (direct from Dufftown, Banffshire) and filled with bobbing cloves)

That's the plan. Now to start prepping.