Thanksgiving cocktail and deviled eggs
I’m sure you’ve probably noticed by now that Thanksgiving season is one of my favorite times of the year. I love all things Thanksgiving from copious amounts of turkey with all of the traditional accompaniments to pieces of pumpkin and pecan pie for dessert that could probably pass for being half of the entire pie.
Thanksgiving is the one day out of the year where large amounts of family, food, football and relaxation are encouraged (in that order). It’s a great day and needless to say, I circle it on my calendar every year.
All of the traditional Thanksgiving festivities, food and accouterments made it a challenge for me to find a great Thanksgiving cocktail and hors d’oeuvre pairing that would seamlessly fit on your already crowded table. However, I think I came up with something fun and delicious for your holiday celebration.
For the cocktail I wanted to include some traditional holiday flavor profiles. Dried cranberries that have been macerated in Applejack was where I started this endeavor. Applejack is made from concentrating apple cider either by the more traditional method of freeze distillation or by true evaporative distillation. Applejack was popular in the American colonial period and if I had to guess I would say that our forefathers probably partook in some Applejack around their Thanksgiving tables.
Now, selecting which spirit to use for the cocktail was an incredibly easy decision. You simply can’t celebrate Thanksgiving without turkey. Therefore Wild Turkey seemed to be the appropriate choice. To make the cocktail a little less ordinary for this special occasion, I chose to use Wild Turkey Rye instead of the traditional bourbon whiskey.
American rye whiskey (which Wild Turkey is) must be distilled from a mash of at least 51 percent rye. Rye whiskey was actually America’s first distilled spirit, so there is some historical context in the booze too.
Wild Turkey describes the flavor profile of its rye as “Less sweet than bourbon; rich aroma of vanilla and spice; subtle hints of rye toast with a light smokiness.” Vanilla and cranberry are a classic holiday flavor pairing that is quite delicious and fits Thanksgiving perfectly.
Basically I designed a Thanksgiving cocktail that covers the turkey, cranberry sauce, apple cider for this time of year, and also throws some vanilla in there for good measure. It’s like drinking a Thanksgiving dinner, figuratively speaking of course.
The hors d’oeuvre I chose to pair with the cocktail are my Smoky Deviled Eggs. First and foremost I am a sucker for deviled eggs. You can ask anyone in my family and they will attest to that. They’re just delicious and are the perfect holiday (or any day according to me) hors d’oeuvre. Think about it – they come in their own handy container made out of their own egg whites. The egg as an hors d’oeuvre was simply fate.
To make these deviled eggs a little different than the traditional deviled egg I used smoked paprika to give them a slightly smoky flavor profile. The smokiness goes great with the rye in the cocktail and also with all of the other foods of Thanksgiving. Eating a Smoky Deviled Egg before indulging in juicy roasted turkey just makes sense.
It also answers the age-old question — What came first the chicken or the egg? In this story the egg comes before the turkey and it does a darn good job of it too. Give me this cocktail and hors d’oeuvre combination before a large Thanksgiving dinner and I am a very happy human being.
Have a fantastic, delicious and filling Thanksgiving! I think this goes without saying this week but I’ll say it anyway — this Thanksgiving, Just Cook It!
Mario J. Porreca of Belle Vernon is a food personality, author, and the host of Just Cook It on WMBS Radio 590 AM. He can be reached via his website at: www.JustCookIt.net.
Smoky deviled eggs
Yield: 5 servings
8 eggs
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher pickle juice
¼ teaspoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Sea salt to taste
2 gherkin pickles, thinly sliced, to garnish
Procedure:
1). Place the eggs in a pot with enough room-temperature water to completely submerge them (water level should be approximately 2 inches above the eggs).
2). Cook the eggs over medium-high heat, being careful to only bring the water to a simmer. Start timing the eggs when the water comes to a simmer and cook for 13 minutes.
3). After 13 minutes, carefully remove the eggs from the water and place under cold running water just until they are cool enough to handle with your hands.
4). Peel the hardboiled eggs and refrigerate to chill completely.
5). When the eggs are completely chilled, slice them in half lengthwise and carefully remove the yolks. Reserve the whites for later use.
6). Press the yolks through a potato ricer into a medium size mixing bowl.
7). Gently fold the mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice, Tabasco, and smoked paprika into the yolks until thoroughly combined. Season the egg yolks to taste with sea salt and then spoon the yolks into a piping bag with a medium size star tip.
8). Pipe the yolks back into the egg white halves and garnish with a dash of smoked paprika and a thin slice of gherkin pickle just before serving.
Thanksgiving cocktail
Yield: 1 cocktail
½ cup teaspoons dried cranberries
½ cup Applejack
½ tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 ounce Wild Turkey Rye
4 ounces cranberry juice
1 slice of lime, to garnish
Procedure:
1). In a small bowl, combine the dried cranberries and Applejack and allow the cranberries to macerate in the Applejack for at least one hour (but preferably longer) before proceeding.
2). Place two teaspoons of the macerated cranberries into a rocks glass and then add five cubes to the glass as well.
3). Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour the lime juice, rye, and cranberry juice over the ice and shake to thoroughly mix and chill.
4). Strain the chilled cocktail over the ice and macerated cranberries in the rocks glass and serve immediately with a slice of lime to garnish.