Happy Thanksgiving

I'm back from a great trip to Shanghai and Tokyo. I was going to tell you about my cooking and eating adventures there, but I have Thanksgiving on my mind. (Full details on my trip next week.) If you want a taste of Asia now, you can try my recipe for Shanghai Noodles with Golden Garlic and Soft Tofu.

Thanksgiving is the one day each year when about half of the customers at Jean Georges are kids. Families come to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which passes right by our windows. Our customers wander between the outdoor patio and the restaurant, marveling at the giant balloons between bites of buttermilk pancakes.

Our Thanksgiving breakfast customers are often too preoccupied to order, so we offer everyone an array of dishes. Rather than having a breakfast buffet where the food gets soggy, I have my servers continuously circle the restaurant with trays of dishes like French toast, smoked salmon and bagels, and caviar on toast. This way, customers can choose small plates of fresh, hot dishes throughout the morning.

Our Thanksgiving breakfast books quickly-mostly by our regulars. It's nice to have the same families year after year and to see how much their kids have grown. Even though both dining rooms are packed with nearly 250 people, it still feels like family.

After breakfast, the restaurant returns to its normal lunch and dinner service, but with a special Thanksgiving menu. We serve an incredibly moist turkey breast and a pressed turkey leg confit with crisped skin. Our stuffing is made with sourdough bread softened in milk and sautéed shallots and garlic, chestnuts, black truffles, chervil, parsley, tarragon, and foie gras. I form the mixture into little patties and when they cook, the foie gras melts into the chunky bread cubes.

The stuffing is as good as it sounds, so I'm bringing some home for my own Thanksgiving dinner. This year, I'm thrilled to have a lot of family in our home. My son, my brother and his family, Marja's mother, and my oldest daughter, who attends college in Washington, D.C. I'm doing a whole turkey, using a recipe from my V.P. of Operations, Daniel Del Vecchio. He brines the turkey for 6 hours, then dries and refrigerates it for another 24. Onions, carrots, celery, and thyme go inside the bird and around the pan with some water. He brushes the bird liberally with melted butter, then bakes it at 400ºF breast side up for 45 minutes. He then bastes it, turns it on one wing side for 15 minutes, and then repeats the process on the other side. The bird finishes baking breast side up for 35 minutes after another basting. A 30 minute rest under tented foil prepares the turkey for carving.

I'm responsible for only the turkey and desserts because Marja makes fantastic sides. Her mac and cheese is so good, it's the most requested recipe from friends who dine in our home. She uses four types of cheddar (varying in sharpness), cream cheese, and a custard base seasoned with nutmeg. Her sweet potatoes with brown sugar and ginger are also delicious. There is one thing that worries me: Marja's told me that this year she wants to share a Thanksgiving tradition from her upbringing in suburban Virginia and pop open a can of gelatinous cranberry sauce. I'm sure she's just teasing me, but I'm not taking any risks. There's no way I'm serving canned cranberry sauce—I just can't do it. So I guess I'm making the cranberry sauce too.

I'm looking forward to watching the parade with Chloe, cooking with Marja, and enjoying good food with my family.

I hope you too have a wonderful Thanksgiving feast!