Eric Longenhagen and I have a too-early top 30 ranking for the 2016 MLB draft up for Insiders. Paste posted my review of the boardgame Cacao on Wednesday; it’s a big hit around here as the rules are pretty easy to pick up but there’s still some strategy involved. I posted my annual list of recommended cookbooks here on Monday.
Many of the best boardgame apps are on sale this weekend; I haven’t updated my rankings since last January but will do so around the holidays. In the meantime, here’s the ones that are on sale, starting with my favorite and working down in rough order:
1. Carcassonne: $6.99 for iOS, $2.49 for Android
2. Agricola: $2.99 for iOS.
3. Caylus: $2.99 for iOS.
4. Galaxy Trucker: $2.99 for iOS or
Android
5. Pandemic: $4.99 for iOS.
6. Elder Sign: $0.99 for iOS or Android
7. Lost Cities: $2.99 for iOS.
8. Hey, That’s My Fish: $0.99 for iOS or Android
9. Steam: Rails to Riches: Brand new app, $2.99 for iOS. I’ve played it three times, and so far I’m enjoying it.
10. Lords of Waterdeep: $2.99 for iOS.
11. Kingdom Builder: $1.99 for iOS or Android
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A little post mortem on yesterday’s Thanksgiving feast, which went pretty well overall.
With three guests who are gluten-free, I had to tweak the menu in a few ways, thickening the gravy with tapioca starch, for example, and making the cornbread with gluten-free flour. The chocolate tart was also gluten-free (recipe from Bon Appetit, includes a small amount of wheat flour which I swapped out), and was one of the two biggest hits of the day, along with the carrot soup, which came from Hugh Acheson’s must-have cookbook The Broad Fork. The beet dish gave me some trouble as roasting them for an hour still didn’t make them soft enough to smash as I’d intended.
Spatchcocking and salting (“dry brining”) the turkey was a huge success, and I’ll cook the bird that way for the foreseeable future. It definitely created crispier skin and juicier meat, and the whole 16.66-pound bird cooked in about 90 minutes. I pulled the bird when the breasts registered 152; the tenderloins were a touch less cooked than I’d have liked, but everything else was cooked perfectly. I now also have a backbone and neck to use to make stock, as well as the remains of the carcass, and a lot of leftovers.
As for the dish that must not be named, I used Alton Brown’s master recipe to make it 1) less gross and gloppy and 2) gluten-free, as condensed mushroom soup often has wheat flour as a thickener. I also fried the onions with rice flour, although I think I needed to crank up the oil’s temp to something higher than 350 to get them to brown faster and thus absorb less grease. (Sitting them overnight on paper towels took a lot of oil off them.) It was fine for a first attempt but that dish clearly needs work, since it’s demanded by several family members even though I think it’s a cruel thing to do to vegetables.
I hope all of you had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I’ll be back Saturday with a links post and on regular duty again starting Monday, by which point I hope we’ll get some signings and/or larger trades to discuss.
Made the Cook’s Illustrated pumpkin pie this year based on your recommendation. Thank you. It was totally worth it. Maybe I’ll try the chocolate tart for next month.
Cheers and many thanks.
Wanted to chime in, exact same response on the turkey. Just a hair under 17 lb., spatchcocked and salted for 24 hours, herbed butter applied before roasting, 450 degrees for 95 minutes. Pulled it when the breast hit 151. And again, perfect except the tenderloins probably needed a tad more, I will enjoy but didn’t want to freak out the company. After messing around with liquid brines the last few years, I am now a dry brine convert.
I did the America’s Test Kitchen makeover of the dish that shouldn’t be named. For some New Mexican flair, I added roasted Hatch Green Chiles to it. Outstanding, it’ll definitely be the way I go.
I still go with the Alton Brown wet brine, but I may try The Food Lab prep of a turkey after the holidays end in prep for next year.
Beets take much, much longer to soften up when roasting than any other root vegetable I’ve done. Whenever I do a mixed vegetable roast, I give the beets about a half hour head start.
I spatchcocked a 21-lb bird, but then the darn thing was too large to fit in a jelly-roll pan, so I ended up cutting it in half. Still, it cooked in about two hours and the skin was amazing, even with no brining and no particular finesse in seasoning it (just salt and pepper). Got rave reviews from even the dark-meat-only crowd.
(Next time with a group that large, I’m going with two smaller birds.)
The gravy from the Serious Eats video (made with my chicken stock and the turkey backbone) was also a huge hit.
Also spatchcocked this year. Thanks for the recommendation. Followed suggested changes for the bigger bird. It worked great.
Thanks for the rec on Jaipur! Played a few games of it last night.
Do you ever try to play with more than 2 people?
We’ve done the Smitten Kitchen variation of Alton Brown’s G.B.C. for a few years now and love it. We do add the extra flour to thicken it some. Man, those onions are worth the effort.
Is that your printed lettering? It’s very distinctive (and obviously not a font).
The handwriting? Yes, it’s mine.
Can you share the cornbread dressing w/andouille recipe?