Thanksgiving Day 2: An Assortment of Images

Yesterday during our Friday Thanksgiving I was a bit more focused on food than blogging - go figure. Unfortunately, that means I don't have that many pictures of the amazing meal we ate, but I did manage to snap a few shots that typified our non-traditional turkey day.

My Dad and Uncle David grilling the turkey

First off, we decided to do our turkey on the grill instead of the oven. And by grill, I mean The Green Egg - the best invention in grilling since the smoker. It gets incredibly hot and cooked our 23 lb. turkey in 3 hours and 45 minutes. Even with that heat, it was still super juicy and had this great texture to the skin. We started this tradition last year, and I think it's going to continue on. The best part is the boys like taking over the bird cooking now that it's on the grill...but I don't think it's too much of a chore.

The day was full of an all around team effort, with everyone helping out in the kitchen. The one ever present person was Matto, the matriarch, guiding everyone though the thanksgiving menu. And when people were not to be trusted in the kitchen, they were given the manual labor tasks, like sucking corn and peal/mashing potatoes. She was a very good taskmaster.

Matto leading Mercedes in
potato mashing

Ian shucking corn

One this did remain traditional, at least following the Dullum tradition - there was a ton of dessert. From fudge, to brownies, to 3 kinds of pies, everyone had a dessert to themselves. My favorite dessert, possibly because it is one that requires an assembly line of cooking, is Cotty's cookies (named after my Great Uncle Cotty). I don't feel like it is truly the holiday season until I've eaten one of these cookies. Here's the recipe:

1 Cup Butter

5 TBS Sugar

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup crushed pecans

Gen putting the cookies into the oven

First thing you do is crush the pecans. The best way I've found is to put them into a plastic bag and beat them with a tenderizer mallet. It's fast and surprisingly fun. Next, you rub the butter and sugar together, then add in the flour. This is all done with your fingers so you can get nice and messy. Then, you form the dough into 1 inch balls then smush them onto an ungreased baking sheet. Put into the oven for 45 minutes at 300 degrees. 

After they are cooked, the assembly line comes it. You take the cookies while hot then roll them in powered sugar. You have to do it while hot so the sugar sticks to the cookies, but about halfway through your fingers get too hot and someone else has to tag in. It's not a long assembly line, but it is one that you can make a bit of a mess with (maybe this is why I really like it?). When done place them into a tin lined with wax paper so the powered sugar doesn't come off. They are best hot, but they last forever without going bad - I never make it except in double batch. 

Very short and messy assembly line

I don't think I can give away any more family recipes without risk of revolt, but trust me, with how many amazing cooks we had in the kitchen, everything was beyond delicious. It was great to have family everywhere, and I can't wait for the last day of feasting before we head back to the real world. And I think Sophia enjoyed her first Dullum thanksgiving as well:

My adorable niece, Sophia with her first taste of meringue