All About Leftovers

Day 47: Predictably, everyone is posting photos of yesterday's Big Dinner, so since I'm short on material, I'll jump on the bandwagon to offer my twist. First off, let me say that those are popovers, not Yorkshire puddings. To the best of my knowledge, the only difference is that butter is used for popovers,, whereas meat drippings go in Yorkies, and mine were made entirely from scratch (recipe is in "Joy of Cooking"). They reheat well by being placed in a 325-degree oven for a few minutes, but keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

And Thanksgiving is all about leftovers, isn't it? For that reason, I made a 16-pound turkey which I shared only with Merry because in my opinion, the best part of the holiday is Carcass Soup. Oh, I'lll nibble bits of meat over the next few days and possibly put a little in the freezer, but every bone, every piece of gristle will be saved for the stock pot. It will be boiled for hours until the meat has the texture of wet cardboard, at which point, the crows get a feast. When congealed, the broth will have the consistency of set gelatine, thick enough to cut, and that will form the basis for a simple noodle soup. I prefer to use small shell pasta, seasoned only with salt and pepper, but you could add veggies if you wished. The remnants of a turkey this size should make about a quart and a half of gelatinized broth, hearty fare for those cold days we know are coming in January.

Now Them's Popovers!

Day 282: A couple of days ago, I received a surprise box from one of my sisters-of-the-heart, shipped directly from Stonewall Kitchen in York, Maine. Of course, no gift from Stonewall Kitchen is complete unless it includes a package of their famous popover mix, but since I'm trying to lose a little weight, I put it in the cupboard for later. Well, my will power failed, and yesterday, I made popovers. And man, did they pop over! I suspect my popover pan is meant to make medium-sized ones, but I managed to get all the batter into its twelve compartments anyway. I've used the combination of the Stonewall mix and this pan before, but I don't recall them ever leaping quite so high! Them's some tall popovers! Thank you, Patty!

Perfect Popovers

Day 290: It's a well-known fact that I don't like to cook. If a meal takes more prep time than five minutes and if it's going to dirty up more than one pan, I can't be bothered. The exception to my avoidance of culinary excursions is baking. If I do say so myself, I'm a good baker. I've been making my own bread for more than forty years, and cookies are the mainstay of my diet. As such, I am no stranger to creating puff pastries such as creampuffs and eclairs, but popovers were a new adventure. Having been introduced to them during a trip to the east coast several years ago, it followed that sooner or later, I'd have to make my own. To that end, I purchased a heavyweight Silverstone popover pan. It arrived today, and here you see the results, minus two which I gobbled while they were still hot.

There are many recipes for popovers on the internet, and about 50% will recommend preheating your oven. I followed "Joy of Cooking," a cookbook which has never let me down. I substituted powdered milk for whole milk (something I never have on hand), buttered each cup and dusted it lightly with confectioner's sugar ("to give the popovers something to stick to," per "Joy"). The recipe said it would make nine, and that proved to be quite accurate. A little less than a quarter cup of batter went in each cup. Every popover rose to crispy perfection and slid right out of the pan. Since I had to have a split one for the photo, I only had six left to put in the freezer for later treats!