Tick tock, you don't Strop? well, you should.

I am a classic non-listener. I can't explain it. It's not that i don't hear you...it's mostly that I think I'm right...about everything:) ok, I hope I'm not that bad (no comments on aforementioned subject, wifeshow), but I kind of feel like I can get that way about certain things. for example, I thought that I had a pretty decent idea on how to sharpen my knives properly. They were in need of some love, so I got out my stones and steel and as I was getting ready to take them to a respectable level of sharpness, I thought, "Hey...maybe I will do some research on knife sharpening." You see, I recently bought a new pairing knife and it pretty much floored me with how much sharper it was than my current line-up. I thought that maybe I was missing something. I found a pretty informative website called japaneseknifesharpening.com. it was talking about stropping your knives after sharpening them. I had never really done this before. WOW! couldn't believe the difference that it made. I used an old belt and stepped on one end, pulling the other end tight and then ran the knife's edge up and down the back side of it at a slightly aggressive angle (a little more than you would use to "steel" it) 5-6 times. if you want to take your knives to a new level (we're talking razors here, my arm hairs are scared to death, like they went to a midnight showing of paranormal activity) try it out. You could, however, buy a super fine grit expensive stone to get rid of the burr, but come on, whose wife doesn't have an old leather belt lying around? HA! (just kidding mames, used my own:)

ok, food: It's fall, which means it's time to get your roast on. all you beefeaters out there (the meat not the gin) had better fire up the oven, set it to low, grab some root veg and a hunk of meat, a dutch oven and set your watches to party. I like to chunk up some onion, potates, carrots, turnips, etc., season liberally with salt and peps olive oil drizz, and then set my beefhunk (a little thyme, a little rosemary, salt, peps, and paps) on top and then add some stock or beer (enough to come up about 1/2 way), put the lid on and slow roast at 300F for about 2 hours. can't be beat. after it's done, I let the meat rest, take out the veg with a slotted spoon (put in a bowl, it's too hot for your face at the moment), and thicken up the gravy with some roux and more stock. tasty.beefy. other pics are red beans and andouille and also shahi paneer. I based it off of this recipe, but ended up using a little tomato paste (my pal anuj tipped me off on that one) and also red chile instead of green and also some chaat masala (mdh brand. actually a long story, couldn't find any here and ended up getting some brought back from chicago. really funny, because they don't have it on their website either:)

So, I imagine that everyone making a thanksgiving dinner is either freaking out about everything they have to do, or has already started. Hopefully, most everyone is in the second category. Start doing little things like prepping veg that is preppable and making your compound butter that you are going to shove under the skin of the breast. You were planning on that, right? of course you were, but if not, I'll post it at the end.

DISH recommends:

le creuset 5.5 quart dutch oven:

or

Staub 5 qt dutch oven

either of these is a great pot to have in your kitch. I use mine every week and can't say enough good things about them. a bit of change to fork over, but so worth it. good for braising, stews/soups/frying/risottos/sauces/justabouteverything. would make a great gift for the hols. alittletip: there is a red one at tjmaxx right now for way less than the one I linked up. cheers

compound butter for your turkey:

1 stick butter

leaves from :

2 sprig rosemary

2 sprigs thyme

3 sprigs italian parsley

and about three sage leaves.

throw it all into a food processor, and blend it up. after combined. roll it up in parchment and fridge it. do this ahead of time. one less thing...

when you are ready to cook your bird. loosen the skin of the breast and rub (well-softened, as in take out the butter on thanksgiving morning and let it hang out for an hour or so) the compound butter all up in that turkeys business. super basty, super tasty. Do this after the brining process! and for extra goodness, lay some bacon/prosciutto/pancetta/jambon across the breast for the first hour and a half of roasting. once you are close, remove it (this will even out the browning process) and set aside. I like to crumble this stuff into my gravy.

going to have thanksgiving here in dishville this year with nance and carroll and three dogs. should be a good time. pieces.